245. The $0 Marketing Strategy Makes "Boring" Businesses Earn Millions

0:00Ryan Atkinson:In 2021, a plumber said four words nobody in the trades had ever seriously said before. I want to TikTok? His marketer said yes. And what happened next quietly changed how an entire industry thinks about social media. Today, we're sitting down with that marketer. She went from running social for restaurants and bars to becoming the go-to agency for home service companies, building brands for plumbers, HVAC techs, and roofers that rack up thousands of five-star reviews and organic volumes without spending a dollar on ads. Her name is Jen McKee, founder of Key Heart Marketing. And her philosophy is simple.

0:37Ryan Atkinson:If people do not notice who you are, they cannot work with you. I'm Ryan Atkinson and you're listening to the Uplit Podcast where we interview entrepreneurs to hear their advice on how you can start a business too. And I am so excited to welcome Jen to the podcast today to talk about all things reviews, content, branding. So Jen, thank you so much for being here. So excited for you. Thank you. That was a great intro. Yeah, I appreciate it. Well, I'm excited for this today and I want to lay the groundwork for our audience. Give us a quick synopsis. What exactly does Jen do? So I own Keyheart Marketing.

1:10We specialize in social media for home service companies. I mean, now I'm the leader of that company, but I'm still obsessed with what social media, the impact that social media can have on businesses is the coolest thing to me.

1:24Ryan Atkinson:And that's what the whole conversation is going to be today. And I love this topic here because we really haven't had social media specialists for the trades here. So excited to talk about that. But before we do it, let's go to early like 2021 because you looked at that trade space and virtually nobody was on TikTok. What did you see that like owners were missing in early 2021? So funny. I love that intro. And I'm just going to correct you because it wasn't a he, it was actually a she. It was a husband and wife team, but it was the wife that I was originally talking to. And a little backstory is that TikTok really blew up in 2020.

1:58So I know now it's like so normal to us. But before 2020, it was just early adopters, which happened to just be really young people dancing, which is why like that was the young people dancing app. And in 2020, a lot of millennials started using the app as just like a way to share things that they were doing. And so there were definitely like plumbers and technicians that were just sharing their work, but there wasn't anybody creating content for the homeowner. And so that was what we really saw as the opportunity is that they had a plumber that was creating a lot of like plumbing content for other plumbers.

2:35And I was like, okay, I love that you're creating content, but let's create it for homeowners. And so we started just like creating like videos that were helpful for homeowners, just simple things that he would share about what he would see and what he was doing and what homeowners could do to avoid like big plumbing mishaps. So we were really like not sophisticated at all as far as like we weren't doing these crazy edited videos or trends. We were just providing value and we got a lot of attention for it from the beginning.

3:02Ryan Atkinson:Yeah. Well, let's talk about like those early results because I'm super curious. I remember back in like 2019, I was like the manager of a pool. And I remember a lot of like the lifeguards are like teenagers at that time. And they're like, oh my gosh, like TikTok's like back, like whatever, like this is like the new trend. And I didn't really take it seriously. And I kind of regret doing that. But I do want to talk about like 2021. What were some of like those earlier results that you saw where you're like, okay, this like is the future. We were able to grow followers super fast. And so like when you had a video go viral, you got a ton of followers really quickly, which was cool.

3:34But what was really cool is that they started getting calls from people who said that they were seeing them on TikTok. People wanted to work for them because they saw them on TikTok. And then they started getting a lot of attention in the industry. They were part of best practice groups where people were like, okay, like I want my social media to be like that. They got to be on industry stages and talking about the marketing strategy that they were taking. So I feel like it got to the point and especially now where you don't have to convince people that this is a good idea, but people were like, clearly like this is a good idea.

4:02And so more people should be doing it.

4:04Ryan Atkinson:Oh, that's so good. Well, let's talk about how more people can be doing it. So for someone that is interested in like the home services space, now? They're starting a company there. They have a company there either way. And they have never posted like a single piece of content. What is like the very first thing that they should do like this week to like get started on it? Document something that you're doing and post it. And like you don't have to edit it. You don't have to overthink it. Literally like selfie at a job site. If you're going to a BNI or chamber meeting, anything that can like, hey, this is me and this is what I do basically.

4:40I'm here at the job down the street doing a maintenance call before it gets too hot out here or had a drain clog, had to clear it. This is what we found. And they could have avoided it by doing this. Like I look at social media as like three stages or phases. And so many people don't want to post because they're like, well, I don't know how to edit. I don't know like what I would post. I don't know how to make it look like these people with millions of views. Okay. That's like, you're not going to figure that out without starting from the beginning. So like phase one is literally just documenting what you do and posting it and not overthinking it, not worrying about strategy, not worrying about editing it, literally just getting in the habit of documenting and posting.

5:24Ryan Atkinson:What would phase two and three mean then? Phase two would be more like having a little bit of strategy. Maybe you're learning more about what social media could look like. Maybe you're even taking what other people are doing and trying to emulate it. And then phase three would be like looking at your data, trying to create more content based on what you're seeing is working. And so you're kind of doing all three of them at that point. Interesting. I want to talk about a little bit of the strategy of like the phase two part, because like I feel like, as you said, like everyone who isn't on TikTok now, like I could think of a million people just like there's so many who isn't on TikTok now, essentially.

5:59Ryan Atkinson:My question is like what's that unique angle though that like someone could take or like think about that like so they just don't get like categorized with everyone else like should people be thinking about that unique angle they have or should they just like be posting what's your take on that there's a couple things like right now what we're seeing work in the hvac industry which is so silly but i've seen it a couple times because we'll just like look at what other people are doing is like these dancing videos like literally lip syncing and dancing and it's like getting tons of views and followers.

6:28You don't have to do that, though. But like, that's what I mean. Like, you can see what other people are doing. And how could I take that and make it my own? That's where like trends come in. That's a really easy one to jump on. It's a fun way to create content is just like you see these, you know, lip sync trends or just trends that other people have done. And how can I do that myself? But I think that the best part about short form video is that you have the opportunity to just be you like and so just sharing who you are and seeing what people resonate with is it probably your uniqueest angle that you could take is like what makes you different what do you know about I just saw and you know Gary V post stuff and I don't know how long ago he said this it could have been like three years ago or it could have been yesterday but he did say something that is true and it's like you're probably gonna get the most followers on like your most random content.

7:19So like, you're not going to get a ton of followers talking about HVAC. Like for me, I had a video where I was talking about this theory I had about Vanderpump rules that went super viral. It's like one of my most viral videos. And I'm like, well, how else am I going to talk about that? You know, like, what else am I going to do around Vanderpump rules? But when you have, you know, really specified knowledge on something that people can relate to, that's one part of your content. Like when I talk about building your personal brand, And 50 % of your content is about who you are. And so that's where that comes in.

7:49Like, what do you know that's interesting? And then, you know, then you tie in all the other stuff.

7:54Ryan Atkinson:Are you ready to launch, grow, and scale a business? Inside the Upflip Academy, you'll get a complete roadmap to shortcut your success with 25 plus step-by-step programs taught by active business owners, not gurus, who share their step-by-step blueprints, plus ongoing live workshops, skills training, a business idea database, and community to share resources and celebrate your wins. Click the link in the description below to join the Upflip Academy today and start surrounding yourself with the people and tools that can change everything for your business. That's actually what I wanna ask and it's really timely because I'm kind of in this stage where it's like, you know, I have my own business.

8:34Ryan Atkinson:Like I get to do a bunch of Upflip interviews. Like I've interviewed over like probably like 400 people and I've done some like very fun interviews and stuff. it's like maybe I should start like actually like building a personal brand. Do you think about like pillar content or content pillars for people to like post about so they can do it like consistently or like what advice would you have for like me that like wants to post like has like some decent knowledge? I like to think what advice would you have when it comes to that as well? You can think about it however you want. So we do everything around the 3S framework, which is that's how you make sure that your content gets into the newsfeed and you're still sharing what you do at the same time.

9:05So like it stands for show up standout scale. So 50 % of your content is show up content. So that's like who you are. So yeah, you might have some pillars in there. Like for me, I talk a lot about my fitness journey. I talk a lot about things I might do on the weekends or with the kids. I don't share my kids on social media, but it's still something in there. I talk a lot about mindset. And then your standout content is your thought leadership content. So that's like what you know. So depending on what kind of business you have, for me, it's a lot of social media stuff just around like what to post or whatever.

9:37And then your scale content is 20 % of your content. And that's like what you sell basically. So your services or offerings or anything like that. From a personal brand standpoint, depending on like how big your marketing ecosystem is, like we sell things at Keyhort Marketing that I might post about like content calendars or masterclasses or things like that. But it's still, it's like, it's such a small part. It's like 20 % of your content because people don't really care. That's like the least thing that you wanna post about. And so who you are is like the most interesting thing. And so that gets to be 50%.

10:06So you can create some pillars around there. Like, what are the things that I want to talk about? What do I want to be known for? Who am I that is relatable to other people?

10:14Ryan Atkinson:Yeah, that is a really good advice. That's what I did when I was like doing like my three or four like content pillars that like I want to do there. But what's the way to like systemize? Because I feel like social media and like, especially for someone that's just starting out, it's easy to post three times in a week for the first week. but maybe week two, you post twice. Week three, you post zero times. Week four, you post one time. It's hard to be consistent. So how should someone that's starting with short form content think about consistency and like systems so they can be consistent? The only way to really be consistent is to have a plan.

10:46And so that's like, even for our clients, we plan a month at a time. And so we start off, we have the four C's of content creation. So like the first one is your consistency. And so it's how often are you going to post and how much time you have really plays into that. Do you have four hours a week to spend on social media? Because recording content, editing content, creating captions, uploading it or scheduling, it all takes a lot of time. And so you have to be realistic because what happens is a lot of people are like, I'm going to post like six times a day. That's like six hours a day. I mean, if you want to be a content creator, then great.

11:29But if you don't have a team and you're doing this on your own, maybe just three times a week to start off with is a really great place to be like, OK, I can consistently do this. I can create one video a week and two static posts a week. And that's I'm going to start. And so then your next C is your calendar, which is looking at what do you have going on this month? Like, what are you doing? Are you traveling for work? If you work in HVAC? Do you have an install next week? Are you going to a chamber meeting? Is it your birthday? Like, what are these important dates that you know that make great content that you can like take pictures of or get video of or whatever?

12:04And then you fill in the blanks with the 3S framework. And so something else about you, something else about what you know, something else about what you sell. And then the third C is your content. So like, if you're going to record four videos, put that in your calendar, get it in your, you know, record the videos and get it out there. Or if you need to get photos and you need to put yourself a reminder so that you can do it. And then the 4C, I don't know why I can't think of it right now, but what it is, is having accountability. And so it's like maybe joining a group or letting somebody, you know, or just getting it in your calendar right now.

12:42But like, if you don't have a plan, you're not, it's never going to work. Like you're always going to just like get to it and then lose it. Oh, it's your commitment, commitment and consistency.

12:53Ryan Atkinson:Yeah. And that's something that I've been doing is like, I plan like a whole month of content that I wanted to just like write on LinkedIn just to like start. It was like a two hour thing and it set me up for like a whole month. And it's like, okay, I can do that consistently and I can like commit to that to like once a month, two hour activity for a whole month. So if someone's listening, I think they could learn something about that as well. The part that I want to hit on is the team aspect. So one way that can help with the consistency of systems is to hire editors, hire script writers. Obviously, you can't do that from day one.

13:19Ryan Atkinson:Maybe you can if you're lucky enough to do it, but people will get there. How should people think about like hiring someone to freelance it? Like what are some like key aspects of like actually putting a team in place for this? Yeah. I mean, I think that you have to determine like what you're bringing to it or how much support you actually need. So like for me to hire somebody, I'm going to lead the strategy. I know what I'm looking for. I could hire somebody to edit my videos because I already know what videos I'm going to record. I already have someone to help me record them. I already, you know, and so then to just hand them to somebody over to edit, they might charge$30 a video to edit.

13:55But if you don't have that piece and you're looking for strategy or maybe you need to hire a videographer. There are videographers who specialize in the hooks and the scripting and the shooting and the editing, you know. So you really have to determine like what support it is that you need. We at Key Heart Marketing do all of it. Like we do all of the scripting. We bring the videographer out. We do all of the editing and we do the posting. So the investment is going to be much higher than someone that is just doing the editing Or a lot of people, especially in home services, I find people like are like, oh, well, could we get an intern for the summer that could do it?

14:31Or my niece likes to take videos. So let's bring her in. And you can, but it's the same thing. Like, so who's leading the strategy? Do they have a background knowledge in this? And then the other thing that I find is like getting people comfortable to record on camera is a skill also. And like young people struggle with that. Like you're asking somebody to get way out of their comfort zone, go up to somebody that they don't know who's older than them, who's working and say, hey, I need you to do this trend for me. Like so some people have the right they can do that. They have the right personality for it and some people don't.

15:03And so that's really where you're you got to figure out your investment level.

15:07Ryan Atkinson:Yeah. And I feel like the editing piece is like, is that the most time? What is I should ask? What is video editing for sure? Forever. Talk to us about that. And what are some good resources for that? A really cool one is Opus Clips. It is paid, but it's great. You can take like a long form content like this. You could even, you know, record yourself with your phone for 30 minutes doing different topics and then put it into Opus clips and it'll split it up. So it's not like the greatest stuff, but it's someplace to start and it does it for you. Opus will even schedule for you. Like you can set it up to schedule onto YouTube and TikTok.

15:41And yeah, so that's super cool. It's an AI tool and AI generates captions for you. You can put some B-roll in there. So that's a really good one. And we use a ton of CapCut and I've had my team test everything and they tested like Premiere Pro and they test it and like they're like CapCut does everything that everything else does. And so CapCut is a great option for video editing.

16:03Ryan Atkinson:Cool. I like it. Another question that comes to mind that I want to ask here is about scripts and hooks. That's an important part of like the whole process. How do you think about writing like the scripts and like the hooks to like be effective on these platforms? That's a skill and it's a tough one. Like it's hard. AI doesn't really do a great job with it. It's really like what we find is if you can get somebody to just answer a question, then we can find the hook in there usually. Or like kind of if we're sitting with somebody and they're talking, then we can pull a hook or ask them like, okay, and I'll say this at the beginning or something.

16:38But a hook is just for anyone that's listening that doesn't know. It's just something that's going to catch their attention. So we also want our clients to like, if you're talking about HVAC, like go stand in front of a unit and talk about it in front of it. That's a lot more interesting and intriguing than like sitting at your desk and sharing information. So that can visually can be a great hook too.

16:59Ryan Atkinson:Yeah. There's so much that like goes in like the whole process of it, of like strategy, execution, editing, all of that. But another really key piece of this is that like multi platform strategy because your team is posting on the TikToks, Instagram, Reels, LinkedIn, YouTube, really all of it. Walk us through like why that matters from a distribution perspective and why everyone should be doing that and be thinking about that instead of just posting only on TikTok. We cross post everything. So we don't have separate strategies for all the platforms, which you absolutely can do. But that comes back to like how much time do you have and what is your goal here?

17:34What's great about cross posting is that it takes less time, but you get a lot more visibility. And so instead of just getting visibility on Facebook, now you have Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and LinkedIn to reach more people or reach the same person multiple times. And so all of that can help with brand recall. I was meeting with another vendor in this space that does a lot of brand awareness and they do geolocation targeting for households, household targeting. It's super awesome. But they found that it takes 121 days for somebody to convert to a customer. That's their average 121 days of seeing their content.

18:14So I just wonder like how much shorter you can make that process when they're seeing you more, you know, or how many times they saw you in those 121 days. And so we just like the amount of content that we all consume throughout the day of, you know, picking up our phone in between meetings or at lunch or in the car at a stop sign. And like, we're just seeing so much content that it's really hard for just like one thing to stick in our or something that we see one time to stick in our head.

18:44Ryan Atkinson:Yeah, it's crazy. And I think another key aspect of this as well is like when you're thinking about the broader strategy, because it's one thing to get views, who doesn't want use, it's a whole nother thing to like actually get leads and like gets results that like actually moves the needle and can get an ROI from video. One way that video is playing a big key in this, I feel like is like SEO through video. Tell us more about that and why people should be aware of this and kind of break that down for us. Yeah, super interesting. So Google started indexing videos. I want to say like TikTok videos, probably like three or four years ago, it was like big news that TikTok was being indexed.

19:18For those of you listening, YouTube is owned by Google. So like anything that goes into YouTube, it's like you're putting it into Google. So we assume that Google is using YouTube as part of its search. TikTok and the meta platforms are not a part of Google. But when there are now in Google, when you search, obviously, or maybe not so obviously, but like AI results pop up first and actually now just like completely shut off. You can't even see anything else, which is what's so tough for marketers now. But videos are being indexed as well. And so you can search for like air conditioning repair in Camarillo, California and go to video or short form video.