This week's episode of Automation Unplugged we’re bringing Kat Wheeler, Account Executive at One Firefly.

About this episode:

Kat joined the One Firefly team in 2023, bringing over 22 years of experience in the Custom Integration industry. Throughout her career, she has excelled in growing businesses, managing teams, boosting revenue, and crafting innovative marketing strategies across various sectors.

In our chat, Kat shares her expertise on dealer communication and how to forge meaningful connections with your customers.

In the episode, we’ll cover:

• How major life events—like buying a home, starting a family, or retiring—open doors for AV integrators to connect with customers in impactful ways.
• Creative partnerships that help integrators align their services with life’s key milestones.
• Practical strategies to shift your messaging focus from technical specifications to showcasing the lifestyle benefits that AV solutions deliver.

SEE ALSO: Show #291: Scaling Success: Building a Nationwide AV Workforce with Frank Papayianis

Transcript

Ron:

Hello there. Ron Callis here with another episode of automation on plugged. I hope you all are doing well. Thanks for tuning in. If you're watching this live, really not live, right? This is live on the replay on the day we launched it or put it out there. Or maybe you're, you're watching it days, weeks, or months later.

Ron:

Thank you for tuning in. And , today we have a really fun subject. We have another member of our team here at One Firefly. , today's show is within our marketing content theme. And today's guest is our Account Executive. She's a member of our sales team and this is, , Katharine Wheeler.

Ron:

We call her Kat. Many of you that know Kat call her Kat. I actually don't know anyone yet that calls her Katharine, but I'm sure you're out there. , we'll have to ask her who calls her Katharine. Maybe it's family members. Well, let's go ahead and bring her in. And today we are going to be talking about some marketing strategies , along the lines of communication to your core customers.

Ron:

And Kat brings some really neat perspectives to the table. So let's go ahead and bring her in and get the conversation started. Hey, how are you today? I am well, thank you. How are you?

Kat:

I am doing super well.

Ron:

And, you know, today. We're going to be talking about communication strategies and you, , you have spent some time in our industry working with integrators.Um, and from that time and experience, you have a, I think a really fun and fresh perspective. Life events and how those life events should be woven into the marketing strategies, , and ultimately the, the specific tactics that integrators are following to, to grow and represent their business in their communities.

Ron:

Before we go there, talk us through, talk us through a little bit of your background and actually what I'll, I'll do is, , you have very kindly presented, , , this really cool. deck. Let me go ahead and get this shared to the screen. I'm going to do it right here. , we're going to call this life happened.

Ron:

That's like a replacement for shit happens. Life happens.

Kat:

Yeah. Life, it happens. It happens to all of us. And I think You know, what we forget sometimes with our customers is even though there are, you know, luxury customers that there are certain, you know, inevitabilities in life that happen to anyone regardless of your wallet size.

Kat:

And then with our customers' lives, it happens to all of us.

Ron:

And so life happens. And if you. Ultimately design those realities that happen in your life, whether it's having a child or getting married or any of the other abundant number of things that could happen to any of us and do happen to any of us all the time.

Ron:

Yeah. You're advocating being mindful of that and designing that into the marketing strategies, correct?

Kat:

100%. And we'll kind of get into some specifics around it, but there are certain stages of people's lives where they're making changes and setting budgets and looking at what their reality looks like and how that changes.

Kat:

And if you can be essential in those parts, you can stay with them through the rest of them.

Ron:

I love it. Well, let's tell the world a little bit about your background. You and I have obviously known each other for a number of decades. A lot of folks probably tuning in, have known you, , for some time in this space, but what does that, what does that background look like?

Kat:

Yeah. So, um, I guess kind of, you know, the perspective that I'm bringing to the table today is I've been in this industry for over 20 years, so I'll update myself a little bit there. , but I've had the luxury or the opportunity to work for AV integrators, distributors, manufacturers, , on the marketing side.

Kat:

So it gave, it's given me a unique perspective into kind of all of the different facets of our business and where people find success and where sometimes we just, we get stuck in our day to day and we forget to like, look for new solutions or new ideas or bring new things to the table. And one thing that's happened, you know, in my role here at one firefly is I spend a lot of time talking to our customers about growth.

Kat:

You know, we talk to them about what their goals are and how they want to change their business and grow it. Cause that's the theme. It's like, you know, whenever we talk to a customer, it's what do you want, what do you want next year? And they're like, I want to grow by X percent. And it's like, great.

Kat:

How do you want to do that? What's successful? What's not, what works, what doesn't. And. While some people have that strategy set forward, a lot of them are looking for ideas or, you know, knowing that you can't just grow doing the same thing over and over and over again, you have to bring something new to the table.

Kat:

So that's what we're going to talk about today.

Ron:

I love it. Well let's just start out with what are you defining as life events?

Kat:

So life events are anything that happens in your life that's going to produce a major change. So if that's, you know, buying, buying your first home, having a baby, your kid gets their driver's license, anything that's really changing your scope of life.

Kat:

So, you know, even retirement or downsizing, buying a vacation property, any of these like really big investments that people make in their lives, that are significant milestones that change their priorities.

Ron:

I'll tell you one reason this subject, when, when you, Rebecca and I were brainstorming topics that this really resonated.

Ron:

One of the many reasons is, you know, I had a life event and that life event was I injured myself and it got me thinking I injured my shoulder. , for those of you that are listening and care deeply about my, my personal health, I hurt myself and it wasn't fun and I'm dealing with doctors and all these things.

Ron:

It makes me think about there's lots of people out there that are, I'll just say maybe they are having an illness or an injury for, to them or a loved one, and that might impact the way they might want to interact with their home. Maybe they, and I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to be facetious here, but maybe they normally would walk over to the thermostat and change the temperature.

Ron:

But maybe if they were not able to walk across the room, they would better appreciate technology or automation that would make it easier for them to, in this example, probably a bad example, change the temperature. And it's like being mindful that your audience that you care about is having these things happening to them.

Ron:

And then how might you message that? So that ultimately you're, you're. You're more effective at relating to them. Is that really the position you're coming to this from?

Kat:

Yeah. And I'll throw some, some numbers at you. So 70% of the disposable income is controlled by boomers who are looking at big changes in their lives right now, whether that's downsizing or, you know, retirement or, you know, changing homes or whatever it is they're doing.

Kat:

There's, there's a huge opportunity or a big pile of opportunity when the messaging to them Effects, what the changes are that they're going through in their lives and how it can bring value to that. You know, millennials are the largest home buying demographic. Right now. They're at 43% and 86% of those 43%.

Kat:

If that's not too much crazy math for you. , they want smart home features in their home. They want some level of home automation. So again. Big potential when you're talking to them about what they're interested in, engaged with and then 64 percent of second home buyers prefer automation in their homes because they're buying a second home.

Kat:

So they want access to it remotely. Same thing with people that are investing in Airbnbs and vacation properties. So there's a lot of interesting opportunities. With these, and I don't want to call them niche markets because they're a huge percentage of the population, but maybe a niche segment of your customer base or a base that maybe you're not addressing directly or speaking to.

Ron:

I love it. All right. So what I'm, I'm putting on the screen, hopefully large enough for everyone. To see is, if you created this very fun graphic and it says life events and you, you've named a bunch. You said kids getting their driver's license, first time home buyers, transitioning to remote work, vacation, property owners.

Ron:

I'm just going to read them all. I'm just going to keep going. Well, some people are listening to the podcast. They can't see the slide. Welcoming of a new baby, remodeling and renovating, retirement, hosting milestone events, selling a home, becoming an empty nester, becoming a landlord or Airbnb host. I mean, I'm going to make a bold statement, Kat, , all of these life events could become a part of messaging of our clients.

Ron:

No. Yeah.

Kat:

Let me give you, let me give you an example from one that I don't think people think about, which is your kid getting their driver's license for the first time. And this is an interesting idea because how does that affect your home?

Ron:

Right? My son just turned 16. So literally this just happened and by the time the show airs, he will be able to drive by himself.

Ron:

, within weeks of this show airing. So to say my wife and I are mildly terrified is an understatement.

Kat:

I'm terrified for you. So maybe you want to think about automated door locks on your home that you can track and set scheduling on. So, you know, when he's there and when he's not, you want to set outdoor lighting up.

Kat:

So when he's bringing the car home at night, it, you know, it lights the pathway for him and it's safer and less dangerous for a new driver. You want to set up automation on the garage door. So again, you can see who's coming and going and when it's also easier for him to get in and out at night, you know, So you're saying my

Ron:

son might try to sneak away.

Ron:

Is that what you are?

Kat:

I mean, I don't want to say from personal experience or anything, but I think it's a common situation in teenage households. I'm not saying your son would do it. Cause we know he's not that kind, but there are some people that

Kat:

children that might think about it and might want window sensors.

Kat:

I don't know, but long story short, there's a story to tell there. Around what solutions are customers can provide around something that every family is going to go through, and probably your customers don't think about when they think about you, they think you're the TV guy, or you're the light guy, or you're the remote control guy, you're not the guy who's going to help With their kid who just got their driver's license, but you should be.

Ron:

I love it. So now your next slide that you prepared for me very kindly, it says the big word. Why? And I'll let you take us through all of the why's that you have on the screen.

Kat:

Sure. Well, I mean, first and foremost, it for, it forges an emotional connection because when you're meeting people and they don't know you from anyone and they're getting ready to spend, you know, quite a big chunk of change with you, you know, feeling a connection around you, what you provide, the services is only a good thing and helps you get that close.

Kat:

, relevance and timing. It's relevant to their current lives when you're speaking of, you know, milestone events. And it does push a stronger timeline because there's something in their life that's happening, and this is a solution for that thing. Um, it encourages larger purposes, or purchases, excuse me, um, because they've already set up budgets for most of these things, i.

Kat:

e. buying a new house, downsizing, those kinds of things already have budgets attached to them. And you being a part of that budget is an easier hill to climb versus getting a separate budget set up just for fun toys, which we wish was a thing sometimes. And sometimes it is, but if you're part of a bigger budget, it's an easier pill to swallow for most vendors.

Kat:

Um, it differentiates your brand from your competitors. When everybody else is out there talking about the new widget and we'll talk about that widget in a few, but you're going to be talking about. Use cases, solutions, ways that people can interact with their systems, things that actually matter to them.

Kat:

It will increase loyalty to you and your brand because you've helped them. You know, you've helped them get over a hurdle they were going through in their lives. life events are fun. I mean, having a new baby is great. You know, getting married is amazing. Buying your first house is a great time. But all of those things come with a lot of stress.

Kat:

So when you're the partner that can help them through those things, You are, your value to them soars. It will drive referrals. It will help those customers, again, feel your value and want to share that with their friends and family. , it enhances ROI for marketing. You get more engagement from this kind of strategy than you do with just talking about a widget.

Kat:

And it boosts the customer's lifetime value because if you get a customer who's buying their first home, You help them through that then they have their first baby you help them through that And then as they journey down the path of their that their life takes you're helping them at every stage So the lifetime value of that customer grows exponentially.

Ron:

You said life events are always happy. They're probably usually happy but sometimes like my shoulder injury, not happy. Like as the opposite of happy, I was very unhappy but I, I was you and I Kat have been in sales for our whole careers. And I know that I have talked to you and our team about from a sales standpoint, you always desire in sales.

Ron:

To have a reason to outreach to your customer, right? It's to give them, you know, good news, to give them bad news, to tell them something, to ask a question. It's just always helpful to have a purpose when you call somebody, right? Versus saying, hi, I'd like you to buy my stuff. No one wants that phone call.

Ron:

And if you think about now the businesses that are watching or listening to this, what they. should want is a reason to communicate with their customers or their influencers and to have a pointed message. And so what you're advocating is that they empathetically put themselves into the lives of their customers.

Ron:

Think about what's happening to them in their lives and then communicate from a vantage point of understanding it, acknowledging it, and then speaking to it, regardless of maybe you're, you're trying to pitch a product or service, or maybe you aren't. But just simply acknowledging it is going to help you help any business that's doing that with their audience to build trust.

Kat:

Yeah. There's a fine line, I think. And I think most people have a lot of the advertising that we see thrown at us as people as transactional advertising. So we get used to that kind of deliverance of messages by this new sale, 20 percent off. That's not who we are as an industry. We are not transactional.

Kat:

And in most cases, we're not retail. We are consultative salespeople. We are not designing. It's not a one size fits all. There's no more buying two black and silver, put one in stock. That's not how we do things these days, right? We are consultative salespeople and not transactional. So when you meet these people, showing them that you can meet them on their level and be an advocate for them and understand what their life is and marketing towards that really helps you stand out.

Ron:

Great. So you have artwork now on the screen. I just, I just clicked to the next slide and you're, you're putting yourself in the shoes of an integrator wanting to, in this case, maybe putting an ad in a local builder magazine or something like that. And you've got one ad that's very widget focused.

Ron:

Black box focused and stats and figures and numbers. And you've got another one that clearly I see a man walking as a little baby down a lighted pathway in a hallway. All right. I'm immediately drawn to that. Why am I drawn to that? And how, how should the folks tuned in implement more of that? Into their messaging and communication.

Kat:

Yeah. So, you know, the first image is what we commonly see on our industry. So let's say the hypothetical here is that your biggest lighting vendor, the one you do all your business with, you're a triple diamond, silver, platinum dealer, and you love them and you want to sell all their stuff. They just came out with a brand new widget, the widget 5.

Kat:

0. Great. You want to sell all of these brand new widgets. To all of your customers. So you put together a campaign, you're going to send them an email. You're going to put it on social media. You're going to do all the things that we do to touch your customers. Is it more effective to send them the first image that's got a picture of the widget that talks about the specs and doesn't really tell them why it helps them.

Kat:

It's a motion sensor light. Great. Why do I need that? I don't know. Right. Like I just, I mean, not

Ron:

exactly pulling my heartstrings by telling me the stats and figures and, and. And specs.

Kat:

No one

Ron:

cares. No

Kat:

one cares, but they do care. If you say, Hey, I know it sucks getting up in the middle of the night with a newborn baby.

Kat:

How many times have you stubbed your toe going to feed the kid? Oh, is it crying again? What if when you walk from your bedroom to the nursery, the hallway lit up, you didn't have to touch a light switch. You didn't even have to think about it. It's a soft glowy light in the middle of the night. And I don't know any new parent that's not going to say, Oh my God.

Kat:

Yeah, of course, of course, that's the obvious thing. I need one. The widget 5. 0 is the coolest thing I've ever heard of because it does that for me there. I mean, there's such a difference in that story and we don't, it's not something we're great at doing.

Ron:

What's your opinion, Kat, in terms of the dealers.

Ron:

Thinking about their customers they serve. And is it enough to just think they know, or should they write it down or should they round table together? And if so, who in their business should get together to pow wow, and kind of define this so that all the messaging and, and outreach to those audiences is maybe more focused.

Ron:

How do you advise people to think about approaching that?

Kat:

I think it is a team wide effort because every person on an integrators team, the service and support techs, the sales team, you know, everyone, everyone that touches those customers in some way has had questions or has heard things or gotten to know your customers in a certain way and can speak to what they respond to.

Kat:

So it is not a, and a lot of it as a lot of marketing is, is testing and measuring too. So trying some things and seeing what resonates. Because while we say this will work and it does, you know, different things work for different audiences at different life stages in different parts of the country better than others.

Kat:

So let's find out what your audience wants because it is going to be different from the demographics, say, in Florida and the communities you have there versus the demographics in, say, Wyoming. You know, and the people that are buying homes there and what they need and want for, you know, the weather that they deal with versus the same in Florida.

Kat:

It's just, it's a different strategy. So let's talk about what matters to people where they are.

Ron:

Lot snow here in Florida. That's for sure. So I think 2025 is going to be the year of the specifier. That's at least, , I can't say that's one Firefly's opinion. Maybe that's Ron's opinion. I don't know.

Ron:

Just kind of been hearing rumblings and discussions about how. Um, the businesses we serve can better serve and appeal to specifiers. How, you know, architects, designers, builders, other trades, people, um, where, where does this tactic or this, sorry, the set of communication strategies, where does it apply to them?

Kat:

Yeah. I mean, obviously working with specifiers, not new to our community. And we love it because it's not just one job. It's 50 jobs over the course of your relationship with them if you're lucky and that's, you know, an amazing thing. So, how do we do that better? Offering AIU and CE, CE, AIA and CEU courses is a wonderful thing and you should keep doing it, but what if we could be more tailored.

Kat:

You know, talked a little bit about how new homebuyers want smart home automation in their homes. What if you could partner with local realtors to do like a smart home audit on, you know, homes that they're listing and be their trusted partner and, you know, say, this is what's in the house you're buying, you know, new potential homebuyer and then when they buy the house, They get your information.

Kat:

Who does that? You know, hosting events at your showroom for these people to do those kinds of things. Um, I'm a shopper, so I don't know if everyone out there is, but that's my main girly trait is I'm a big shopper. And I don't know if you guys know this, but like, you know, Babies R Us isn't the only kid's store in town.

Kat:

In every store, Every community, there is a luxury baby store where things do not cost less than 500 or you're buying that 2,000 stroller. Those are your people, right? Meet those people, find out about how you can do those kinds of integrations with them. There are more people than just interior designers, architects, and builders.

Ron:

Yeah. Well, that just got me thinking. I've heard so many integrators like partnering with the luxury, you know, car shop in town, the, the, the Ferrari dealer, the Porsche dealer. You just gave me heck. I had never even thought of that. What did you do with the luxury? Baby store

Kat:

or the luxury, you know boutiques who sell, you know, all of the luxury items I mean we're talking about the luxury car dealerships Yeah, the cool garage is great for the husband But I want the cool closet the big closet with the lighting and the drawer that is amazing And so those kinds of people can really Get you in the door with again, we're just looking at different audiences, people that you might not be able to get in front of in another way.

Kat:

And, you know, you talked about these partnerships and there's something to be said for having a referral partnership, you know, giving somebody a little skin in the game, always makes them more invested in helping you and then there's, you know, in some, you know, Areas of the country, , that's not kosher to do.

Kat:

, so you could do other things. You know, offering them to use your showroom as a place to host events. Offering them to have meetings there, you know, putting coffee and tea out and letting 'em use your space when they, when they're remote. Most of these people, you know, some of the interior designers don't have offices.

Kat:

Let 'em use yours. There's a lot of ways that you can partner with them and not just always financially.

Ron:

Love it. Makes, makes a lot of sense. So I think you've got a little bit of a. What are these specific directions? Take us through what we're looking at here on screen.

Kat:

Yeah. So you mentioned it a little bit earlier, but when we're talking about doing this kind of marketing and how you want to tailor it, there's a couple of things to think about.

Kat:

So when you're getting your team together and everybody's brainstorming around, you know, how, what do we want to pitch? How do we, what's our, what's our goal here? You want to look at your target demographic. So who is your customer? Who, where were you successful, you know, over who's been your best customer and look at those target demographics.

Kat:

Is it, you know, couples over 50? Is it, you know, Millennials? Is it who that person is and what matters to them? Um, and you want to again, like we talked about just a second ago, look at those creative partnerships. Can they bring you any relationships that you might not already have? And then thinking about your digital presence, which is something we at One Firefly do, you know, 24 hours a day, but thinking about how people find you and when they do, what message they get about who you are.

Ron:

Yeah, something I'd have everyone tuning in really just be mindful of is that you, the business, get to define The message that's being consumed online, who you're targeting and what message they consume about your business. So if you're not in the driver's seat, defining that and, and really controlling that message, then that means you're in the passenger seat.

Ron:

Someone else is driving the car. And

Kat:

I'm going to put this out to you. Cause I think this is a really good example of this right here. Yeah. I love our dealers and I love businesses and they're great. And I can't remember who I was talking to and he was like, well, we don't, we don't need to market. We don't need any of those things.

Kat:

We're just here. And I'm like, that's great. But if you, if you have a business, it's wonderful and you don't tell anybody. No one knows. And if you're just, you have, you got to tell people, I say this to people because, okay, so I wrote two books, you know, this about me. And I feel like everyone knows that cause I told a couple of people and I'm pretty sure they told everybody else they've ever known.

Kat:

And now everyone in the world knows. And that's not true.

Ron:

I'm pretty sure most people might not know that cat. So now they will now, because you're on automation unplugged and the word is going to get out.

Kat:

Yeah. Well, no. And even at that, like I still run into people that I've known for 10 years that don't know that about me.

Kat:

And so it's one of those things that we intrinsically think that because we know it, everyone knows it. And that's not true. You have to So now

Ron:

that we've covered it, Kat, you have to name drop the books. What are the books called? Because people are going to go search Amazon and they're going to pick them up right now.

Ron:

They're not.

Kat:

It's called there is no cloud. And the second one is called cloud judgment. And there are murder mysteries about AV, but that's besides the point. The point is that everyone sees and retains information in different ways. Some people do it via email. Some people do it from online searches.

Kat:

Some people do it over referrals. Some people, there's a million, some people really respond to events. There's a million ways that we as human beings process information and find it. And our jobs is to be in front of them anywhere they want to be.

Ron:

I love it when I talk to a business owner or some person in the company and they're like, yeah, that marketing thing, we don't need that.

Ron:

And, um, and I, of course I can't help myself, but ask, you know, a bunch more questions if they'll allow me. And we'll, we'll quickly learn generally through analysis, if we've had a chance to get some of their information in advance, that You know, we'll point out to them, I understand marketing doesn't matter.

Ron:

And I understand the messaging and definition of your brand and brand voice don't matter, but there are like 1800 people a month visiting your website. And that seems kind of a lot. And I'm betting some of those people that, , That ultimately hired your firm in recent weeks, months, quarters, or years, probably spent some time on your website or on your Facebook or on your LinkedIn or reading your newsletters or reading your Google profile or reading reviews about you online or end, end, end, end, end.

Ron:

And it's in all those touch points that you're advocating controlling the message.

Kat:

Yeah. And making that message. Accessible to people because there are a million times that I'm sure your website gets seen you don't even know about and people discard you before you even had a chance to talk to them.

Kat:

And if you could just talk to them, you know, you could turn them around. But if you don't have that opportunity, if you can't get them past that, You know, that first step to reach out to you, then you don't have any opportunity to do that.

Ron:

I think we covered a lot of this before I put the slide on the screen, but you said, why understanding life events matters, personalization and sparking creativity.

Ron:

It's really, when you look at your target audience and you look at the life events and the messaging, and then you look at the channels for communicating. I mean, it feels like you're almost unlimited or unbounded in the places to be creative and ultimately put that messaging out.

Kat:

Yeah, and if we go back to our widget 5.

Kat:

0 example, and let's say that it doesn't apply to everyone that your your existing customer base, you've sent out an email about it. It's beautiful. And somebody sees it and you know, they're retiring. And so lighting a hallway to a child's bedroom is meaningless to them, but they're getting a little older.

Kat:

They're starting to, you know, not get around super well. And so having their hallways light up to see where they're going is now a matter of safety, you know? So, so maybe it just sparks a little creativity or sparks a little bit of recognition in their eyes, even if it's not exactly what you put it out for.

Kat:

So there's so many more opportunities than people see just from one simple message.

Ron:

Awesome. So break us down the typical tactics here in terms of marketing.

Kat:

Yeah, , so there's organic marketing, which is content like blogs or videos that educate and inspire people and tell stories. And, you know, you can put those up on your websites, use them for social media, get attention and bring, you know, new visitors to you and to your website.

Kat:

Um, but I think the most important one for this kind of tactic and the one that we've talked about a little bit today is your existing customer base. So they are your people. You should love them. They are the most likely to buy from you again, and they're the most likely to refer you to their friends and family.

Kat:

So really hitting those existing customers to stay top of mind to them is super important. And email campaigns in our industry are really successful because those customers really respect and value that partnership. And we can only build on that. Um, and the new customers, we all want new customers, right?

Kat:

They're, they're great. So if we run targeted ads. Around, you know, these typical demographics, we can really hit and be really successful at targeting those specific markets for new customers to drive into.

Ron:

Love it. Let's wrap it up here. What, , what do you want people to absolutely take away from, from this conversation, Kat?

Kat:

I would like to leave our dealers thinking, , out of the box and sparking a little more creative ways to drive home our industry story by telling stories to customers about things that are important to them, , for all of the reasons that we kind of talked about today. But number one, it makes that, that connection.

Kat:

Builds that trust. Builds that loyalty. Um, it focuses on outcomes, not specs. So we have something to tell people about. You know, most people don't know how to use a lot of the things we sell. I have. There's very few people that are gonna call you and request Wi-fi. But people all know that they don't get Wi Fi in that one room of their house, and that's super annoying.

Kat:

Right. So there's, there's a different way to flip what we want to say. So I want dealers to start thinking creatively about how they can tell those stories rather than talk about parts. Um, and then I want people to start thinking a little bit more out of the box about the kinds of partnerships and specifiers that we can work with.

Kat:

There are a lot of people in a luxury market that aren't just builders. Architects and designers that you can work with to do things that would bring value to your customers and new customers on your doors. And then I just think it's such a really positive way for our dealers to think about growing their business.

Kat:

Like I said, at the beginning of this call, you know, all our dealers want to grow their business and I asked them how, and You know, we don't know, right? So thinking about how we're going to grow your business, whether it's in expanding your existing customers, wallet share, bringing in new customers, all those kinds of things can be accomplished by using these kinds of strategies and telling these really great stories.

Ron:

Love it. Folks are listening to you, Kat, and they want to get in touch. We've got some contact info here on the screen. Take us through it.

Kat:

Sure. Well, I mean, obviously you can reach out to me at one firefly. I'm a happy employee here and I am Kay Wheeler at one firefly. com. You can reach us on the one firefly website at one firefly.

Kat:

com. You can find me on LinkedIn. I'm Katharine Wheeler on there, or you can give me a call.

Ron:

Love it, Kat. Thank you for joining me here on one of our special marketing episodes of Automation Unplugged, where we get to shed the spotlight on a lot of the amazing team members and marketers on our team. And , I appreciate you sharing your wisdom with our audience.

Kat:

Thanks, Ron. I appreciate you having me.

Ron:

All right, folks, I'm going to sign off and we'll see you next time. Next week. That's right. Why next week? Because we're now releasing episodes every Wednesday morning. There's a drop of a new show. You can watch us on. LinkedIn on YouTube and on Facebook and the audio podcast also drops every Wednesday.

Ron:

We're working hard over here at One Firefly to serve all of you and bring you value. Let us know what you like. Let us know what you don't like. It's all welcome. You know, all the feedback is welcome. It ultimately helped us sharpen the blade and get better. And , I look forward to seeing you Kat. And I look forward to seeing all of you out there in the wild at the upcoming industry events.

Ron:

Thanks everybody. Be well.

Ron Callis is the CEO of One Firefly, LLC, a digital marketing agency based out of South Florida and creator of Automation Unplugged. Founded in 2007, One Firefly has quickly became the leading marketing firm specializing in the integrated technology and security space. The One Firefly team work hard to create innovative solutions to help Integrators boost their online presence, such as the elite website solution, Mercury Pro.

Resources and links from the interview:

• One Firefly Digital Marketing Services
• Kat Wheeler LinkedIn Profile