EMT #43 with Matt Williams - Turning Trade Shows into Year-Round Relationship Engines

In this episode of Event Marketer’s Toolbox, Chris Dunn and Brendon Hamlin sit down with Matt Williams, the creator of the Plant Grow Harvest framework - a simple, honest approach to social selling that helps sales and marketing teams stop lurking and start connecting.

Matt brings years of experience bridging sales and marketing through authentic relationship building — online and in person. Together, the three dive deep into how LinkedIn and trade shows work hand-in-hand to drive meaningful business growth before, during, and after the event.

If you’ve ever wondered how to make your trade show investment last beyond teardown, or how to align your online brand with your in-person presence, this episode is full of insight, humor, and real-world examples you can start applying right now.

Key Takeaways

1. Relationships Don’t Start on the Show Floor
Matt reminds us that trade show success begins long before you arrive. The work you do before the event - commenting, supporting, and engaging on LinkedIn - builds familiarity so people already know who you are when they walk by your booth.

2. Support > Sell
“The biggest mindset shift”, Matt says, “is going from being a supplier to a supporter”.
When you show up online to add value and celebrate others, your audience becomes more receptive and your conversations more genuine.

3. Create a 90–120 Day Plan
Treat your next trade show like a campaign. Use that window to:

• Follow and engage with prospects.
• Post about the show and tag the event hashtag.
• Build your visibility and relevance leading up to your appearance.

4. Events Are Content Gold Mines
Brendon and Matt discuss how to use live events to capture authentic content — behind-the-scenes footage, setup shots, and real conversations — to create relatable, evergreen material for months after the show.

5. Follow Up Like a Human
Forget the post-show “nice to meet you” email blast. Instead, use personal notes and short video DMs referencing your real conversation. As Matt says: “People remember faces, not follow-ups".

6. Empower Your Team’s Personal Brands
Matt urges companies to “weaponize” their employees’ personal brands. People connect with people — not logos.
Your team’s authentic voices will outperform polished company posts every time.

7. Play the Long Game
This isn’t a 90-day hack. Building trust takes patience. “You can’t throw 10,000 emails through a filter and expect results anymore”, Matt says. “The timeline for trust has been extended — but the return is bigger”.

Matt Williams reminds us that LinkedIn is the modern trade show floor, and the relationships built there can drive real business when approached with patience, empathy and creativity.

👉🏼 Join us for more insightful discussions like this by tuning into 'Event Marketer's Toolbox,' where industry leaders share the tools, tactics, and trends driving success in the event world.

This Show is sponsored by Blue Hive

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Chapters

• 0:00 Intro: Chris, Brendon, and Matt set the stage
• 3:39 Matt’s background and the birth of the Plant Grow Harvest framework
• 9:39 Why trade shows are relationship engines
• 15:39 The 90–120 day pre-show strategy that changes everything
• 22:39 Content creation before and during the show
• 27:39 Leveraging video and behind-the-scenes moments
• 33:39 Post-show follow-up: from notes to video DMs
• 39:39 Shifting from supplier to supporter
• 46:39 Building personal brands inside your company
• 52:39 Playing the long game and letting trust compound
• 58:09 Matt’s final advice and key takeaways
• 1:00:09 Wrap-up and where to connect with Matt

Transcript

0:00:01

(Chris Dunn)

Hey, hello, and welcome to the Event Marketers Toolbox. I am Chris Dunn. I am wearing glasses here. Not all three of us are. I'm with Bluehive Exhibits, and I got a couple of friends with me today. You know, I met both these guys on LinkedIn here, and the platform, which we will talk about today, is a pretty amazing place that connects people. 

0:00:22

(Chris Dunn)

So I got these two friends, one guy, the guy with the beard over there, Mr. Hamlin, met him a year and a half ago. I believe you commented on one of my posts about a beer. And I don't know, fast forward, here we are, you're co -hosting the podcast. We're actually getting together in real life for the first time next week. And just been great to get to know you. So Brendan, who are you and what do you do? 

0:00:48

(Brendon Hamlin)

Well, thank you, Chris. And look, look how far we've come. 

0:00:51

(Chris Dunn)

So happy to happy to be here. 

0:00:53

(Speaker 8)

Yeah. 

0:00:54

(Brendon Hamlin)

I am Brendan Hamlin. I run Hamlin creative. We're a production company, video photo production company, we spend a lot of time in the event space. So that's, that's trade shows, that's conferences, that's experiential, the whole world of live events where people are kind of coming, you know, one on one interacting with each other, like like humans do. And That's a special place where content is unique. And we really like to, you know, capture and create in that in that world just came back from a piece up in Louisville, Kentucky, where we're spending some time with some, some bourbon folks and then have a an AI conference coming up next week in DC and then another conference up in New York later in November. 

0:01:42

(Brendon Hamlin)

So it's really a great opportunity to create special content and excited to talk with Matt today and learn a little bit about his background and how that sort of all comes from this connection point here on LinkedIn. 

0:01:59

(Speaker 8)

Yeah, awesome. 

0:02:00

(Chris Dunn)

Awesome. 

0:02:00

(Chris Dunn)

So the guy without glasses, Matt Williams, you and I met a while back. I wish I had my custom sneakers today because that was one of the, one of the first things that we started talking about what you had gotten involved with a guy named Caleb Williams, not related, right. Who was producing this custom sneakers. You kind of became that marketing end for him. Um, but anyways, I got these really cool kicks, uh, from Caleb, but it all came from Matt. So you never know where your inspiration is going to come from. 

0:02:30

(Chris Dunn)

But Matt, tell us a little bit about yourself and, and, uh, how you got here. 

0:02:34

(Matt Williams)

Yeah, well, first of all, I wish I would have commented on the beer to become a podcast host. That sounds like an easy intro, Brendan. Nice job. Easy. No, I listen, I'm a journeyman business, business development guy, right? I've been in business development my entire life, whether it's creating business units for startups, typically founder led pre IPO, and really identifying revenue opportunities through this dev and marketing. 

0:03:00

(Matt Williams)

Right. On the flip side of that, I've been an entrepreneur. I've run my own DTC wine company, which is all keto based wines with a nutritional label on the back of the wine label. I've had marketing agencies that have spanned from intramural collegiate sports to COVID agencies trying to get into medical facilities. I've always kind of lived in both worlds of working for a company and working for myself. And I've found over the years that getting attention is really the hardest thing now, right? 

0:03:32

(Matt Williams)

And I think we all in the sales world killed it, right? Because we started leaning into automation. Everything was basically auto this, sequence that, and we just crushed everyone's ability to actually listen. And what I found, and Chris and Brendan, you guys have found the same thing, is LinkedIn has become kind of that secret weapon for branding. through the noise and being able to whisper at scale through relatability. And so with that, it's kind of a long intro, but I started the Plant, Grow, Harvest Social Foundation, which allows people to understand how to use LinkedIn in a more strategic way. 

0:04:10

(Speaker 18)

And it's kind of a blue collar approach to building relatability on the platform. 

0:04:16

(Chris Dunn)

Nice, nice, nice. Well, So the name of the show is Event Marketers Toolbox. And I was telling these guys earlier, sometimes I get in my head a little bit, I'm 30 years in the trade show industry. We have a lot of folks on from the corporate event side and guys like Brendan. And we've also had a lot of people on who are somewhat similar to Matt in that they're not really in the event world, but they are marketers. And they figured out what that bridge looks like, because at the end of the day, as a marketer, whether you're an event marketer, or digital marketer, or whatever the case may be, or generalist, your efforts are there to drive eyeballs and ultimately lead to sales opportunities. 

0:04:59

(Chris Dunn)

Everything that we're going to chop it up with Matt on today is really going to be the secret sauce behind building those relationships, and how do you use a platform like LinkedIn in conjunction with live events? Because at the end of the day, that in -real -life, human -to -human, face -to -face experience is something that I think all of us are, other than COVID, we're appreciating that face -to -face stuff as much as at any time because of AI, because of the demand of, you know, everything needs to happen at scale and send a gazillion emails out there and, you know, burn through these lists like they're not even real people, just to kind of get numbers. So anyways, looking forward to that conversation. Before we do that, just two things real quick about our sponsors. So I work for Blue Hive Exhibits. 

0:05:51

(Chris Dunn)

We are a creative agency. We're about 20 years old. We have a presence on both East Coast and West Coast. So I'm currently standing here in central Massachusetts, about an hour from Boston. I live nearby, and this is kind of where the company started and is headquartered. But we recently also expanded within the last few years out to Vegas. 

0:06:11

(Chris Dunn)

And we have about 50 ,000 square feet in Vegas where we're actually doing production. We store. We do all the same things out there at a similar scale with a smaller team. I like to think that from, you know, who's a good fit for Blue Hive? We are creative first, we are customer service first, we are kind of white glove service first. And I guess, you know, throwing that out there and saying, we know we're not a fit for every company out there. 

0:06:41

(Chris Dunn)

There's a lot of companies out there whose budget just doesn't really align with where we're trying to be and the type of companies that we're looking to help. So, you know, you got to know who you are and be okay with the fact that, you know, you're not a fit for everybody. You know, in that 20 years of business, we've, we've really kind of really blazed a pretty impressive trail with a lot of great brands. And I still love it 30 years in and still, you know, love coming to work every day. In addition to Blue Hive, another sponsor of ours is the group that's actually hosting our podcast and live show. And yes, this is a live show. 

0:07:20

(Chris Dunn)

So please check in, let us know where you're listening and watching from, and feel free to drop in questions as we go. So in that group is Fist Bump. So we've got a producer, her name's Juana. She's behind the scenes right now, keeping us between the sticks and making sure everything's good. I had gotten involved a couple of years ago with Fist Bump. And initially, it was really kind of a link 

0:07:45

(Chris Dunn)

coaching program. And I was working with a guy who's become a friend also, his name is Brandon Lee. And really that first year was spent kind of working on personal brand and ideas on how to stand out and cut through the noise, which Matt will talk about. And it turned into like, hey, Chris, you know, this would be a great opportunity for Blue Hive to become a real thought leader in the industry. So we kind of leaned into, you know, this medium that is, that is the podcast world. So not only are we hopefully sharing really good conversations on a weekly basis with people, but also we're capturing this content, which Brennan can then speak to as well. 

0:08:24

(Chris Dunn)

And then we use that content chunked up into small pieces, and we use it to basically kind of continue to tell our story and promote the brand and the message, all without being a commercial for ourselves. So that's the goal anyways, and Fistbump's awesome at it. So hopefully there's folks out there who've been thinking about how to lean into this podcast medium and create content like this. Fistbump, those are the guys that you want to talk to for sure. So I've been babbling quite a bit. 

0:08:51

(Brendon Hamlin)

I'm going to kick it over to my co -host, Brendan, and let's start this off. We got some great questions for, for Mr. Williams. Yeah, yeah. Well, it's, um, I mean, I think, you know, we're going to talk a lot about LinkedIn and how to sort of, you know, prime the, prime the pump, so to speak, as you're, as you're going into an event. I know when I was first going to, to conferences and that kind of thing, it was, you know, years ago, you just kind of showed up and maybe there was a phone call or two beforehand, but like, there just wasn't the, the lead up strategy. 

0:09:23

(Matt Williams)

And maybe you can talk a little bit about how the best strategies really start well before the event and the event is sort of the culmination of that work you've done before you even get on site. That's kind of your point of view there. Yeah, well, I mean, listen, I've gone to countless trade shows and events, and I love it. And I think we talked about this earlier. It's just the, the depth that you're able to create at a trade show or event is just undeniable, right? 

0:09:50

(Matt Williams)

That's, that's where you're basically grabbing a coffee, grabbing a drink, grabbing a taco, just creating relationships with people. But that doesn't just happen, right? That happens based on all the investment you've done throughout the past year, past two years, past three years to kind of build that relatability. And that comes through right now, social, right? And it's not about pitching and trying to be transactional. It's about being supportive. 

0:10:18

(Matt Williams)

And there's a big mindset shift that I think needs to happen between really the companies and the sales teams to quit trying to close business and start trying to be a partner. And being a partner is a totally different ballgame, because you got to have patience, and you got to have creativity, and you got to turn more into a marketer versus a transactional salesperson. And that's where I kind of come in. And from an event standpoint, the biggest difference I see is whenever you can basically create content, year round that speaks to your audience. And it's not always about your product, but more about who you are, you become more relatable. So when you get to the event, whether you're in booth or walking around the event, people recognize you, right? 

0:11:03

(Matt Williams)

And you actually have that instant connection with people for isn't like, Hey, can I speak to Barbara who's in charge of X? It's more like, Hey, is Barbara here? 

0:11:11

(Speaker 26)

We've been conversing over the last year through LinkedIn or through email. 

0:11:15

(Brendon Hamlin)

Is she here by chance? I'd love to talk to her. And then you just get a warm welcome versus cold call in a booth, and it's just a different ballgame. And people that are out there kind of like, driving the numbers, you know, there's the there's the you get the cold emails, you get the cold calls, and it's a and they're just driving those numbers. It's so like, you know, right off the bat, like when it's when it's going in that direction that and I know I probably get to it, we all get anxious and get too excited. And like, Oh, how can I help you? 

0:11:47

(Brendon Hamlin)

You know, like, you kind of blow it. 

0:11:49

(Matt Williams)

Like, but how do you how do you advise people to really start you know, be building that relationship so that it can be you can have that familiarity when you walk on the floor to see Barbara and be like, Hey, how's it going? You know, and then you really do have that relationship. Yeah, well, first of all, I'll admit I was a guy that loved to get an email list and blast it. I mean, I loved it. 

0:12:11

(Speaker 25)

I love it was like pulling a slot machine. 

0:12:13

(Matt Williams)

It's like, Okay, let's send it. 

0:12:14

(Speaker 5)

Let's sequence one more. 

0:12:15

(Matt Williams)

Let's see what comes out of this thing. Right. And eventually you just pull that machine so much and just nothing else comes out. So I I am part of the problem. And I think that's really was my wake up call was like, okay, this is not working anymore. There's a much better way. 

0:12:29

(Matt Williams)

There's a much smarter way that's actually scalable. And that's where I kind of went into this whole LinkedIn concept. And like what you're talking about is how do you become relatable? Barbara is you got to support Barbara, right? And you got to support the people you want to work with. And that's not just a phone call and an email. 

0:12:46

(Matt Williams)

That's following them on LinkedIn, that's supporting their social. I mean, you guys both know how hard it is to post content on social, right? You're putting yourself out there. You're going to be judged on a public platform. When you can come in, even with a simple comment that supports the person you're trying to work with, it goes so much further than hitting them up in the DM and asking them for business. They much more appreciate what's going on in the comment section that shows them some support and some love. 

0:13:17

(Matt Williams)

It also gets you into their entire ecosystem for who they're working with. I tell everyone, if you're looking to work with a company, don't focus just on the prospect. You got to focus on who you want to work with and everyone 

0:13:30

(Speaker 24)

around them, because you're building social proof, right? 

0:13:32

(Chris Dunn)

And that social proof allows you to get to that person that allows you to be involved with their solution set versus being a supplier. Yeah, that's great. That's 100%. The game changer, right, is thinking about yourself as, as a partner and a supporter versus, versus a supplier. So that, that kind of takes me to, you know, my, my next, my question or my, my comment, which will lead to a question. So 30 years in the industry started, you know, in the, in the mid nineties, I was a hardware salesman. 

0:14:05

(Chris Dunn)

That's literally what I did in the beginning is I sold portable exhibits and we sold exhibits based on this is super lightweight. It'll pack into a, you know, a FedExable, you know, rolling case, and you can set it up in 20 minutes. And that was the sales pitch on these portable pieces, which at the time was kind of what people needed. was that, which is great. And that, that ultimately transitioned several times, you know, over and over again, but I'll go back instead of 30 years, I'll go back 20 years and say, um, you know, the, the pre -show piece was something that we talked about. Yeah. 

0:14:39

(Chris Dunn)

Then you need to have some pre -show effort, but it was really about the booth. 

0:14:42

(Speaker 23)

It's like, we're going to create a really kick ass, you know, piece of architecture. 

0:14:45

(Chris Dunn)

It's going to have light and color and motion, and we're going to put messaging on there and so forth. Um, and the, and the folks who happen to walk by, we're going to get them to stop. Right? So, but the play really was like, build it and they will come. And you weren't doing a whole lot on the front end. And obviously that's changed fairly dramatically. 

0:15:05

(Chris Dunn)

I think anybody involved in events and trade shows these days understands the importance of having that pre -show outreach. We're spending a ton of money. You're spending a ton of money on putting that booth on the floor, sending all your people in, buying the swag. You're going to buy all the dinners. You're going to do all the things. 

0:15:24

(Speaker 22)

How can you de -risk that situation? 

0:15:27

(Chris Dunn)

How can you increase your odds that your ROI is going to be met? Well, we can do a better job of building relationships upfront and moving the needle on that pre -show piece. Right. 

0:15:41

(Matt Williams)

So, so Matt, I know this is an area kind of, you know, near and dear to you based on kind of the relationship forth. Tell us a little bit about your thoughts on, on that. Do you have kind of like a 90 to 120 day plan kind of thing, or is it a little bit more of a looser framework or what are your thoughts kind of that lead up piece? Yeah. You just struck a nerve. for me, right? 

0:16:03

(Matt Williams)

When you said just happened to come by the booth, right? 

0:16:05

(Speaker 5)

It's like that always just drove me nuts. 

0:16:07

(Matt Williams)

It's like, it's like, it's your Mardi Gras of your of your industry, right? It's like you're spending all this money on creating this wonderful, beautiful exhibit. And then you're just like, please come by. All right. So you're doing some sort of giveaway. So you hopefully like trap someone to come by. 

0:16:23

(Matt Williams)

It's like the amount of effort that should go into the pre show probably should match what you do at show. In order to make it effective, right? I mean, you've got to basically put a lot of horses behind getting people to your booth to really showcase what you're doing there, right? If it's a product launch, or a new initiative, or just trying to get more conversations going like that pre -event strategy really comes into play. And for me, I mean, there definitely is the 90 days leading up to the event, Absolutely. There needs to be some sort of game plan. 

0:16:56

(Matt Williams)

And for me, it's always been using that one Mardi Gras moment or that one Super Bowl moment for your industry as that point of reference, right? Because year long, it's hard to draw a point of reference to your clients and your prospects, because everyone's doing it, right? It's like, hey, it's in the quarter or, you know, happy, you know, holidays. It's like, now you have a specific point in time. which is like, hey, are you going to be going to the Super Show or, you know, natural food? So if you are, hey, what's, I've never been there, what's a good place to go get a burger? 

0:17:30

(Matt Williams)

You know, it's like these little things that connect from a relatability standpoint, and building your connections based on that one point in time, which is the event. That's typically the hardest part within social selling and LinkedIn is to find that relevant connection point that draws point of interest to both of you, kind of like that little triangle. And then also building relatability that's not pitchy, right? It's more of, again, going from supporter versus supplier. And so using that point of reference, I always reference that in any of my connection requests, I send a note and just basically referencing the event I'm going to go to, and then building up content that's going to support My appearance at the event, right? So it's posting content about the industry a lot more frequently going up to the event is talking about the event itself. 

0:18:20

(Matt Williams)

obviously hashtag the event because a lot of people I tell most people when they're looking at posting don't look at hashtags but I would say events and trade shows are still the one area where people are still going to search hashtag whatever event it is right because it's going to pull things up and I think you know when you start looking at the companies that are attending like they're definitely it's a strategy right you're going to know the attendee list you're going to know like who's going to be going from an exhibitor standpoint And from there, I think you really start developing your blueprint for connections, right? And again, I'll go back to your connections aren't always going to be your buyers, right? From a marketing and sales perspective, like I'm trying to build social proof, I'm trying to build trust within the entire organization, which enables me to get to the decision maker faster. Because I'm going to have an intro, I'm going to have someone in facilities or in operations that may be able to provide me contact to the C -suite. And the only reason I'm doing that is because I'm continuously supporting them over the course of that nine weeks to 12 weeks pre -show that gets me into the conversation with Stan. 

0:19:27

(Matt Williams)

And so when I basically go and see them at the show and be like, Hey, Stan, I've been following you for a bit. Love your content. By the way, I've been trying to reach, you know, Derek in finance. 

0:19:37

(Brendon Hamlin)

Is there a way I can talk to them? you got a much better chance of getting in touch with Derek that way versus just cold calling a booth or actually having someone come into your booth you don't know who they are. So my strategy has always been to warm them up through relatability and through content and through commenting. I mean I think building out posts is difficult I think commenting is a lot easier in order to build trust and relatability with those connections that you're going into the event. I think one thing just to put a button on that is also like you, it's not a 90 -day start strategy. 

0:20:14

(Matt Williams)

Like you, it's, it's an, it's an all the time strategy. And then you're going to ramp up as those, as you're getting closer to that event, right? So that, that you, you've already had these, these, these relationships that you're building. Now you're starting to, to pull them, you know, focus them a little bit more into your, into where you might be able to see them one -on -one. Yeah, absolutely. And it just comes down to relatability, right? 

0:20:35

(Matt Williams)

I mean, even if you listen, Chris, you do a good job at Brennan. I mean, we're all basically trying to become more relatable. We don't always post about work, right? And once you always post about work, people go numb. It's just like email automation, like you're eventually going to reach a point where we're like, all right, enough. They want to know A little bit about you actually a lot about you before what you do. 

0:20:56

(Matt Williams)

Right. And so that relate ability piece really plays over nicely to when you get to the event, you become recognizable I know we're going to talk about this a minute but you become more recognizable and become more approachable so it's not that awkward. cold connection. 

0:21:12

(Speaker 10)

It's more warm. 

0:21:13

(Chris Dunn)

And it's more of like, I know a little bit about him because I've seen what he's posting about. And I know a little bit about her because I saw that she posted about this. Now you actually have a conversation starter. That's the biggest, the biggest separator. Yeah. Yeah. 

0:21:26

(Chris Dunn)

I agreed. Um, and, and I, my mind's going in so many different directions. I had, I had so many things that I wanted to add onto that, but anyways, Brendan, um, so Well, let's transition, right? So we talked about those efforts kind of pre -show, during the show, right? So in my old days, it was build in and they will come. That's, again, still not good enough. 

0:21:54

(Chris Dunn)

You've done the work to get people there ahead of time. Now we're on site. 

0:22:00

(Matt Williams)

Brendan, as a content creator, this is kind of where you specialize as well. But Matt, just kind of tee this up. What is, I guess, take us into that next phase, right? You've been interacting with people online, you're building relationships, you've kind of got a shortcut to the no like and trust kind of thing. What does that look like from your standpoint when people are coming in as you're coaching your clients? What are we talking about at this point? 

0:22:29

(Matt Williams)

Yeah, so I always tell them like your events are going to just be a constant content engine for you, right? And so I mean, I even focus on, you know, the relatability part is kind of like your packing. As you're packing for the event, have something funny. If you have foot problems, show your suitcase filled with six pairs of shoes because you're constantly switching your shoes out. Just create something that's a conversation piece. I've even done something where I'm like, return to sender and I'll basically write my wife's phone number here and I'll do a funny post as far as like, I've never been to Vegas or before or something like that. 

0:23:04

(Matt Williams)

It's like having fun. moments of relatability of this laughter. And then once you actually get to the day of the event, pre write something, right? So have something in the cans, you're not like trying to figure out a post on the day of the event, you're trying to figure out, okay, where am I going to go? Or who am I going to talk to? And you run out of time. 

0:23:22

(Matt Williams)

Prescript what you're going to write about, at least give yourself some context, and then take some images, right? Images tell a thousand words whenever you go into an event, and especially like a trade show, like everyone's spending all that money on a beautiful booth. Now it gives you the time to really illustrate that in whether it's photo form or video form. And then you've got some copy already pre -written before you get there on the plane ride there, write it out. And then you've got your, obviously your takeaways from the event. right? 

0:23:48

(Brendon Hamlin)

I tell everyone like make sure like as you're doing your walk or as you're in the trade show booth, what are the three things that are kind of like the theme of the conference? What are the three trends? What are the three problems? What are three things that you can basically illustrate after the event that really is kind of hit home with people that maybe did not go to the event. And so that allows you to have a really good voice of authority. And it kind of gives everyone kind of a secret sauce of what was happening at the event, even if they weren't able to make it. 

0:24:18

(Brendon Hamlin)

I think people also love, um, they love seeing things come to life. So they love behind the scenes. They love seeing the, the, uh, you know, the, the booth, the, the work come together, you know? 

0:24:30

(Matt Williams)

And so if you're in that sector of the, or that part of the, the, the build, you know, you can, you can grab, uh, shots of that. I tell folks, you know, to be like, we're not always the ones that are capturing that stuff, but to be careful about. you know, managing your technology, I've seen some really bad, you know, user generated content, and I'm not sure that that actually helps, you know, and so be, you know, to be careful about like the contents, it's good to do content, but also it's good for it to be authentic and be, you know, to the quality to be good enough. If the audio is really bad, if the lighting is awful, if there's people walking in your frame, like all of that kind of stuff can be a problem. Even if you're doing it on your own, we struggle enough doing it ourselves, you know, as a professional crew, but trying to make sure that you carve out that space and make it, you know, own your technology and master your technology so that it really does come through effectively if you're doing it on your own. 

0:25:34

(Matt Williams)

Yeah, Brendan, it's funny you mentioned that. 

0:25:35

(Brendon Hamlin)

So I'm thinking more of just like individuals, right? Personal brand, like going out there and you're like, and that's a great point you brought up, because you can be flawed, like on the personal page, and me going out and filming some content is more raw. But when you get to the company page, like your employees are typically your front door, right? They're the front door to your corporate page. And when they get to the corporate page, it better be legit, right? You better have something that's a little more polished, you've got a nice video, you've got something that really kind of is edited to a point of satisfaction that makes you look like a really valid, like vetted company, not, all right, I'm relying on Matt's cell phone to really kind of capture the essence of our business. 

0:26:14

(Brendon Hamlin)

Yeah, but I think that there's a there's a strategy to that as well. So it's like, it shouldn't be, you shouldn't be siloed across your team shouldn't be all siloed being like, Oh, we all have we all have to do content, like somebody should really own that and be like, Hey, this is this is the plan. Like, Bob, I want you to do a thing about this feature. I want you to do a demo, I want you to talk to a customer. And you know, and like, just, it can be user generated, but it still should have a strategy because otherwise, then it let it doesn't have a focus. 

0:26:44

(Matt Williams)

And I think that ultimately, if it can have a focus, it can perform better for the for the for the content that's being produced. onsite in the moment. We will come in with our crew and we'll do overnight edits and stuff. like that. That's also a little bit different, like you said, Matt. 

0:26:58

(Chris Dunn)

But when you're doing it yourself with your phone, still having that kind of strategy in mind is really helpful. Yeah. I do enjoy a lot of the time lapse, like you mentioned just a minute ago, the time lapse of the trade show booths being created. Chris, you do an awesome job of that. Even like the Sausage Factory videos you put together, which I I call them that. It's more just like behind the scenes, getting behind the curtains to figure out where all the sausage is made. 

0:27:23

(Matt Williams)

I love seeing that stuff. Yeah. And we've got a question here from Michael. Um wanna if you could pull this up, but i'll i'll read it out. It's it's a little lengthy. So any thoughts on publishing an event calendar? 

0:27:38

(Matt Williams)

Uh, see us at the upcoming show as an example, right? So on company website Um, michael's getting pushback from the execs who think that being too public with their upcoming event calendar will only tip off our competitors Um, I I would guess that it it makes sense on like how much information are you putting into the calendar? But I don't know thoughts on on that from either one of you guys people are lazy And I will say that because I will get out there and I will basically give away all my secrets on how to build on LinkedIn, which aren't secrets, really. It's all just kind of blue collar. 

0:28:14

(Chris Dunn)

You just got to earn it. People won't do it. Right. So even if you basically lay out the blueprint of all the conferences you go to, your competitors probably aren't going to go. Right. But I think there definitely is this like this protective, like clothes vest approach to what companies are doing that You need to talk about it in order for you to grow socially. 

0:28:37

(Chris Dunn)

If you keep it as a secret, people aren't going to know and they're going to be aware of who you are. Because if you can continuously focus on, okay, there's 100 people going to this show, and you're only talking to 100 people, and then you have like 10 ,000 people if you actually talk about it on social like where's like there's a trade -off from being social first. But again Chris like you're talking about you don't want to give away like the secret recipe but you definitely want to be giving people an awareness of what you're doing to activate within your vertical to be the thought leader. And I would I would add I just I kind of re -read it again so the question was was not so much like, what are we doing at the show? It's more about like, see us at these upcoming shows. 

0:29:18

(Chris Dunn)

So Michael, what I would say, and a great question, I appreciate it. We appreciate it. As you know, once you've been to that show once, you're on, you're like on the show website, right? Your, your space is findable. And unless you change up what those shows are on a yearly basis, like your competitors are going to, they're ultimately going to be able to figure out what shows you're going to. I think it's a lot more important, important about how are you approaching it? 

0:29:42

(Chris Dunn)

What's your strategy? What are you doing at the show to move the needle? What type of information are you, are you using to try to get people to come and then how are you showing up and what are you doing on site versus just, we're going to be at this show, right? 

0:29:55

(Brendon Hamlin)

That's, I think your competitors will find that information if they wanted to anyways. So I would agree with Matt. It's like, most people are lazy. 

0:30:02

(Speaker 8)

Are they going to use that information? 

0:30:04

(Chris Dunn)

I think you put it out there and you just like, it shouldn't be a secret that we're going to the show. 

0:30:10

(Speaker 21)

Mr. Competitor, you want to compete with us? 

0:30:12

(Chris Dunn)

Let's go toe to toe. We're going to show up and we're going to bring our A game. And I hope you do too. We'll see where it goes. And if your competitors are looking at your schedule for where they're going to be, they're following you. So, you know, who's who's leading in that scenario? 

0:30:28

(Chris Dunn)

So, yes. Right. Exactly. 

0:30:31

(Speaker 20)

Good input. 

0:30:32

(Chris Dunn)

Good input. So, yeah, if any other folks who are out there, feel free to drop drop some questions. And we were we were kind of still on that, that on or, you know, in booth or during show. timeframe. And as you probably notice for those folks who are watching and listening in is we're walking through the process in chronological order. pre -show, we're here at the show and then we're going to talk post -show too. 

0:30:59

(Chris Dunn)

But I'd like to kind of come back to your specialty, Brendan. So we've got an in -house guy, Tyson, who you've met and we had him on the show and then, you know, Brendan was on the show and we've talked a lot about this, but whether it's bringing in a professional group like Hamlin Creative or having a strategy and having somebody internally own it. Don't miss that opportunity to capture that content. Take a lot of video, make a lot of commenting and so forth, and catch it on your phone in audio. Edit it up. Tyson does an awesome job. 

0:31:38

(Chris Dunn)

I just go. 

0:31:39

(Brendon Hamlin)

I take a bunch of pictures. I take a bunch of videos. I put it in a Dropbox or whatever. And he spits back this really cool video, you know, like he moves, he's got, you know, fast motion and me walking and talking to people and so forth. And he adds a musical layer. The editing, I think is so it's a lot easier than it used to be. 

0:31:58

(Brendon Hamlin)

And again, we're not trying to make it professional. There are professional companies like like Brendan's who will do that. But just don't miss the opportunity because once that event comes and goes, like it's gone and you've spent a whole bunch of money to be there. So why don't you capture it and you can use it during that show to promote for the next day to put the, put a post out, put it on social, send it out, send the video links out. 

0:32:21

(Chris Dunn)

Um, so there's just, you know, a lot of gold to kind of capture there. 

0:32:26

(Speaker 5)

I look at the at the work that you guys do, Chris, as a set building, you know, you're building this environment to come in and it's it's beautiful. 

0:32:35

(Chris Dunn)

It is meant for it's meant to be interacted with, it's meant to be eye -catching. And so it's the perfect place to be, you know, doing a demo or doing a marketing leader talk or have the CEO, you know, share what the future holds. All of these kinds of things can be content that can live on well past that, that moment. I also feel really strongly that the sizzle reel is not dead, but the sizzle reel needs to have a little more substance, you know, a little more stake. And so that, that in there, having soundbites and having people talking about the why of the, of the, of the space is very important. 

0:33:16

(Chris Dunn)

Even a tour, you know, this is why we did have this piece set up for people to come in and interact with, or this is why we are at this show. Like, that's really helpful, because when you, when you get a little bit more substance there, I think you, it just lands harder, it's more engaging, and you really, you remember it more. It's that, it's that ongoing messaging that you want to be carrying on well, well after the event. 

0:33:42

(Speaker 19)

Yeah. 

0:33:43

(Chris Dunn)

Evergreen content creation is, is so important. All right. So we're, we're at the show. And now we're, we're wrapping up. two, three, sometimes a four -day show, right? So a lot of information, a lot of, a lot of conversations and stuff like that. 

0:33:58

(Chris Dunn)

That, that post -show follow through, right? 

0:34:00

(Speaker 16)

This is where the, where the money, you know, beats the road, as it were, or the rubber meets the road. 

0:34:05

(Chris Dunn)

You've invested all this money. If you don't follow up, then you're not getting the ROI that you want. You got to make that follow up. 

0:34:12

(Matt Williams)

meaningful. I like to try to put ourselves in our attendees and our visitors' shoes and say, You know what, if it were me, I probably went to 50 different booths. I had conversations with all these different people. We probably talked about a lot of the same things. If I just call up and say, Hey, it was great to see you at the show. What did you think of our booth? 

0:34:30

(Matt Williams)

You may have remembered it was blue. They're gonna be like, I don't know who the hell you are. I Actually, I might have been really enthusiastic in your booth, but I quickly forget about everything that we talked about. Matt, how do you kind of remain relevant? How do you stay and stay in their mind and rise above the noise and all that stuff? 

0:34:49

(Matt Williams)

Yeah, I wish I had this document. You've probably seen one of my posts. I typically carry around either I write notes in my phone all the time, right? And then I also have a little printed out spreadsheet for every person I go visit, I'll have a little note section. And I write something in that note section about what we talked about. And what we talk about typically isn't business, right? 

0:35:10

(Matt Williams)

It's typically about family, hobbies, what they're into, where they're going next. And I always make sure I jot that down before I talk about anything within with business, because that becomes a relatable part. And typically, I try to create some sort of connection with us at the show, right? So a lot of people talk about San Diego, and then I also talk to them about where they're from, and we just have this instant connection. And that's what I reference in most of my video DMs. And I I mentioned this because that's a really key differentiator with LinkedIn is like if you go into a conference connected with someone and then you leave the conference to come back, it allows you to actually send a video DM that's personal. 

0:35:50

(Speaker 8)

You can reference the conversation you have with someone and then the facial recognition you can have when you send a video DM. 

0:35:56

(Chris Dunn)

It's a lot greater than if you're just sending an email or sending or leaving a phone call because they can't remember the face of the conversation. the face with the conversation and the content hits so much harder and it's a separator because it's hard to do. People don't want to get on video like we do and basically put their face on there. So the people that are able to break through that cringe and start sending those video DMs and referencing something just small and that's not to be like a two -minute video where you're pitching someone. It's a 30 -second video of, hey, you know what? It's really nice to talk to you. 

0:36:30

(Chris Dunn)

at, you know, the hardware show. 

0:36:32

(Matt Williams)

I'm not sure where you guys went after I think you guys are going to, you know, Nashville for spring break, but hope you had a good time. Let's be sure to connect when you're back. 

0:36:41

(Speaker 17)

That hits a lot harder than Hey, I see that you guys recently got your funding or we talked about you know, you need in this business like, hey, let's set up a meeting. 

0:36:48

(Chris Dunn)

It's like those things are going to happen, but they want to know that you care about them first and the business will come after that. Yeah. 

0:36:55

(Matt Williams)

Hey, before we go on to something else, just this, a little networking tip, and a lot of folks don't know about this, but if you're using LinkedIn, you can actually, you know, just pull up your, your site. And if you click in that that search bar, it'll pull up basically your own personal code, right? So it just makes connecting to that person super easy. So they just pull out their phone and instantly, hey, are you on LinkedIn? Great, let's connect. So you're having the conversations, you're making your notes and so forth, but connect as quick as possible. 

0:37:27

(Matt Williams)

And then like you said, now I can do that super easy, super quick video DM because we're first level connections. Yeah, it's a huge cheat code. Pulling out that QR scanner is just perfect whenever you can actually connect with someone on site. Right. To kind of kick it into into your wheelhouse, Brendan, I think also a really successful play that we've done in the past is if we're taking a lot of video and doing a lot of capture in our booth, because we also do shows as well as an exhibitor, which helps us put our, you know, eat our own dog food, as it were, and put our shoes in our in our clients and sorry, our feet, their shoes. That's what I was trying to say. 

0:38:09

(Matt Williams)

But if we get them on video, even if it's not really a, you know, a comment or maybe just, Hey, like, Hey, we've got all of these great funny hats and props and stuff like that. You know, when you reach out to them for that post -show follow through, if I can show you a picture of you enjoying yourself in my booth. like you're going to really, Oh, I remember you, you guys had the, you know, that really cool engagement. You, you were popping the popcorn or, you know, on our end, we're, we're trying to figure out like, how do we engage as many senses as possible? Because that's where the memories are built, right? So, you know, Matt, what you're talking about is a verbal interaction back and forth. 

0:38:46

(Matt Williams)

There's handshaking, maybe there's a hug, but there's, but there's, you know, laughter and so forth. Those are the memorable pieces. You go talk to 50 different people in 50 different booths, what are the things that are going to stick out? Probably, there's probably not a lot of them, right? There's a lot of forgettable, forgettable things that are going to happen. So how do you create that memorable, memorable moment, right? 

0:39:06

(Matt Williams)

So with you, you're talking about, you know, asking good questions, taking good notes and, and leading with that personal piece on the back end. How was the ski trip? You said you were going, you know, you and your daughter were going to go to Tahoe, you know, little things like that, that that cuts through way better than like, hey, you said that, yeah, you guys had your budget was coming up, or your contract was coming up in Q3, and you might be open to a conversation. Yeah, it's, again, it's just it's that mindset shift of supplier to supporter. And I would say that is the biggest hurdle that a lot of companies have to get over is, is the game of patience, right? Because so many people are just transactional focus. 

0:39:50

(Matt Williams)

And I get it, right? We're all under pressure to grow and board meetings and, you know, answering to this number and this revenue growth at the end of the day, like, your clients are on a different timeline than you, right? Once you start forcing the timeline on them, it becomes really negative for your brand, right? And once you become that brand that is begging, asking, pressing, you're the brand that's going to lose, right? Because you're the brand that people are going to want to work with. 

0:40:21

(Matt Williams)

They want to work with a brand that feels like they are heard, they're supportive, they kind of walk the same walk as their clients, and they actually know the problems. And then they shift the mindset of the brand becomes a solution before they even know they need that solution, right? And so you become more proactive versus reactive on the way in which you're approaching someone that happens at all levels, right? Even like with creating content, right? It's like creating content is something like home social. It's, it's gotta be either education, right? 

0:40:54

(Chris Dunn)

Which is basically, you know, creating that voice of authority. It's gotta be inspirational. Like what are people gonna draw inspiration from, from the posts that you create? It's gotta be entertaining, right? Which is either relatable to you, an observation from something else. And your posts are just a conversation starter. 

0:41:11

(Chris Dunn)

And I always tell everyone like this, it's like, and I know we're kind of getting off point here, but it's like, The point of the post is starting the conversation, and then you build the community through comments, and then you build the relationships through DMs, and you try to get people off the platform as soon as possible to do business. That's really the recipe. I tell everyone, it's like 10, 10, 10. I want 10 comments a day, 10 connect requests a day, and if you can send 10 DMs a day, you're going to win. If you just rinse and repeat that over and over again, you're going to continue to see that opportunities present themselves. at events and then post events because you are involved in the entire ecosystem within that vertical. 

0:41:50

(Chris Dunn)

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. That, I mean, it's the longterm, you know, the longterm game play, you know, for sure is, is I think, you know, the data suggests, and it's probably skewed a little bit higher for trade shows because people are going to shows for a reason, but the data would suggest that at any, any given time, maybe 3 % of our total addressable market, right? 

0:42:10

(Speaker 18)

Our TAM is in market for what we have to sell. 

0:42:13

(Speaker 4)

That means 97%. at best, you know, is not in market, right? 

0:42:18

(Matt Williams)

So even at a show, like people coming through, like, Hey, I'm just doing some research. Uh, we, we're going to need a booth next year. We're going to need this service. We're gonna need this product next year. Um, so you got to take that information and make sure that you're not approaching them the same way that you would with a super hot lead. Who's a guy or a gal who comes in and says, I have a need for what you guys are selling this quarter. 

0:42:40

(Matt Williams)

We need to move because I need it. Um, right. So you're going to have way more people who don't need you right away, but so you got to build that relationship. 

0:42:48

(Chris Dunn)

You got to do the work and like you said, support them versus you just nag them to buy stuff that they, it's all timing, right? Yeah. Yeah, exactly. It's all timing. That's all just being supportive. And it's so much easier. 

0:43:00

(Chris Dunn)

I mean, once you can ship that, it's like so much easier to be supportive than to be transactional on this platform. 

0:43:06

(Speaker 5)

That's the only way I've ever seen people be sustainable, right? 

0:43:10

(Chris Dunn)

The people that are strictly transactional just lose because they keep losing, right? The people that are supporters are leading with positivity or leading with giving first and they're actually able to receive because they are the kind of the connector within their industry because they are the ones that are pivoting and tagging people in a post. And it may not be related to them, but it's actually supporting their partner, uh, with content. They may find that that's useful. 

0:43:36

(Matt Williams)

And that's whenever you truly become like in bed with, with the customer. And, and, um, where was I going to go with, with this thought? Um, you know, we're going to start talking a little bit more about, you know, building, building that, that personal brand. But like you said, it's just, it's that it's that long game play. Um, I feel like a really good example of of how things can work and go right is. pointing out that building relationships and conversations with people who aren't necessarily your ideal customer profile is absolutely, totally the way that you want to do this. 

0:44:22

(Matt Williams)

If you only focus on people who can definitely buy from you, you're narrowing that group of folks that you're talking to down so small versus just being open to have interesting conversations and make friends. There's a, there's like an army of people who are on LinkedIn who I will probably never sell anything to, but anytime they see anything related to trade shows, they tag me in because we've had a conversation and it's, and I show up, I not wanting anything from them other than like, let's have a coffee, let's have a conversation and how can I help you? 

0:44:54

(Brendon Hamlin)

Right? 

0:44:55

(Speaker 18)

So when you approach with that, give first, that was it. 

0:44:58

(Chris Dunn)

That was, it was kind of like make those deposits. of giving into that account before you go to withdraw. 

0:45:04

(Brendon Hamlin)

If you haven't put anything in, there's nothing to withdraw. 

0:45:08

(Speaker 10)

And you're social proofing yourself, right? 

0:45:10

(Chris Dunn)

And when you're not just connecting with those that ICP and you're connecting with people that may be the influencers to that ICP, you're just increasing your chances to get the business. 

0:45:20

(Speaker 16)

And it doesn't always have to be that prospect that you're talking about. 

0:45:23

(Speaker 17)

It can be someone like if you're talking to someone in marketing, it can be someone in operations, someone in finance, someone in sales. 

0:45:30

(Brendon Hamlin)

And if you create that conversation and that that support system, whenever you need it, it is going to be there. 

0:45:37

(Speaker 16)

You just need to wait and just find your time to make the introduction. 

0:45:40

(Chris Dunn)

You'll be able to read the smoke signals to say, okay, now the timing's right. Hey, can you guys make an intro to whoever my client is? My prospect is right. 

0:45:50

(Brendon Hamlin)

Yeah, exactly. Hey Brendan, there's a woman here by the name of Sarah Hamlin. I feel like we know her. Uh, yeah, maybe. I don't know. Maybe she's your wife and business partner. 

0:46:04

(Matt Williams)

She is. She is. So she does a great job. She does. And she's a great connector as well. And she's always out there kind of just banging the drum and really kind of shining the light on a lot of different people. 

0:46:19

(Matt Williams)

So appreciate you, Sarah. And she is one of the people, and you can talk about this, Matt, too, about the personal brand versus so I'm a, I'm a, you know, I'm a sole proprietor, a small production company. It's me, my name is on the door. We post as me more than we post as Hamlin creative. Talk a little bit about why, why that's important, because it's worked for us. And I can give you some examples of that. 

0:46:48

(Matt Williams)

But talk a little bit about in your, your practice, how you how you promote that as well. Yeah, I mean, listen, the companies I'm, I'm consulting for, I typically take that bottom -up approach, right? Which is like, how do you, in lack of a better term, weaponize your employees, right? And the weaponization of your employees is by building out their personal brand, because you're going to get far more reach on anything you do on a personal page than you will a company page. It's just how it works, right? I think we're in this quasi voyeuristic society where people want to get behind the scenes and know like the founder led journeys are the struggles of a salesperson are the issues of running a marketing department are the battles of building a trade show. 

0:47:36

(Matt Williams)

People want to know what's going on behind the curtain and really kind of understand that person. This trend has become more like, I want to work with someone I can relate to. 

0:47:50

(Brendon Hamlin)

as much or more than what it is they're actually representing, right? And you'll find like people are starting to build businesses based around their personalities versus the business building the personality. It's like this could put the thing is completely flipped. And so for me, like I always lean on you got to be relatable. Like I can't I sometimes will slip like LSU posts into my feed. 

0:48:18

(Brendon Hamlin)

So In the fall, I am typically trolled by at least five to 10 people a week on either who else she was playing or who else she loses to. It's not in my profile, it's not in my headline, but I talk about it, right? And it's a fun thing to break the ice and get conversations started about, but it becomes a relatable point, right? I mean, I will see, I'm not kidding, I probably see five or six texts, and that's not DMs, that's texts that I basically have connected with people on LinkedIn. and they become friends from Alabama, from Georgia, to Penn State, from Colorado that we're just talking trash and college football. And now all of a sudden, it's like, I know, I can talk to that person if I ever have a need to actually talk about business and get connected with someone. 

0:49:02

(Brendon Hamlin)

And that's where this whole process of personal branding becomes more of like a friendship network that your personal brand is led to. Yeah, no, I totally and I'm glad you said that because I do I feel like, you know, Chris and I have connected over the last year and a half started with craft beer, and now he's coming next week to visit us in real life, you know, and that's a, that's something that, you know, had we not made the connection on LinkedIn, and started the conversation that, you know, obviously, that wouldn't wouldn't be happening. And it wasn't a conversation about, you know, Hey, Chris, how can I do some video work for you? It was about, it was about craft beer. It was about family. It was about Boston and North Carolina and all of these different things that are unrelated to business. 

0:49:50

(Brendon Hamlin)

We did have somebody else on the show a few weeks back, Evan Babin, who is he's amazing. And he's up in Canada. Through that process of getting to know him, When I was in New Orleans, I said, I put a shout out to, hey, where's a great place to eat? And because Evan knew this woman, she chimed in and said, hey, go to Herb St. It's great. 

0:50:18

(Matt Williams)

They have a great butter pie. We went there. It was amazing. And fast forward a couple months, and we're doing work for her now in a few weeks. So like this, it, it, It is an interesting way. It's like the best of what social media intended to be, in my opinion. 

0:50:37

(Matt Williams)

I mean, there's a lot of trolls out there on the other platforms and things that are not so great. But somehow, the people that are focused on business here on LinkedIn seem to be respectful of that. Obviously, people are pitching their services, but there's also people that are really wanting to get to know each other. learn about each other. And then ultimately, if that business opportunity comes up, you know something about the person. It's not like, hey, how can we work together? 

0:51:05

(Matt Williams)

It happens more organically. It is. It's the biggest unlock on this platform. And I was the one that was the transactional guy a couple of years ago. I was just trying to DM you and pitch slap the hell out of you. 

0:51:18

(Chris Dunn)

I want your business. I'm coming in. 

0:51:20

(Brendon Hamlin)

I'm going to get it back. 

0:51:21

(Speaker 11)

When I changed that and I started doing more relatable content, being more supportive and actually just building out a network of friends. 

0:51:31

(Speaker 15)

That's when everything started to shift. 

0:51:33

(Speaker 14)

I think that's where companies in general need to have more patience with this because now we're in this situation where you can't throw 10 ,000 emails through a filter and expect stuff to come out. 

0:51:45

(Matt Williams)

Nothing's coming out anymore. 

0:51:47

(Speaker 5)

The timeline for trust 

0:51:50

(Matt Williams)

is now being extended, we just got to be able to have the patience to let that thing cook. And once you let it cook, and you start letting your people be part of the brand strategy and part of the solution, you start to win. But that takes time, right? It's not a 90 day solution. It's a month long, it's it's a year long solutions that you've got to implement. 

0:52:11

(Chris Dunn)

And it's also that, you know, even if the day you can't start at 90 days, but you need to have had if say you do do a 90 day plan, you need to have had two years ahead of that for somebody to look back at you and be like, like, Oh, this guy interesting content or whatever. It's like, but you're never going to be as young as you are today. So get started. Yeah. Yeah. And there's that. 

0:52:36

(Chris Dunn)

And you're, you're not, you're not always going to know the most in the room. 

0:52:39

(Matt Williams)

Right. And I think that's the biggest hurdle for a lot of people that are really hesitant on posting and commenting. There's like, well, there's probably someone who knows more than me. Yeah. Absolutely. But if they're not talking, they're not being seen and not being heard, like there's a huge void for people that are able to share and be vulnerable on the platform to actually get ahead. 

0:53:01

(Matt Williams)

Yeah. And let those people who know a lot get involved and comment and everybody can learn from that. 

0:53:07

(Chris Dunn)

Right. 

0:53:07

(Chris Dunn)

And you just kind of think about the amazing conversations that happen when you throw out something. And again, I think that maybe if people are nervous about that, like you don't have to you know, put a flag in the ground and say, this is the only frickin way that this thing will work. Yeah, you know, then you get people to fight you, you know, if you do that, but if you say, Hey, I have some thoughts on this, we tried this, it kind of worked kind of didn't like, what are other people doing? Right? And you put it out in that fashion, and you create a healthy conversation. And yeah, hopefully, you do get somebody who rolls in who's an expert and says, I've been doing this for a long time, here's some different things, here's some ideas, and see where that can go. 

0:53:43

(Chris Dunn)

you know, versus getting in a fight with somebody over, you know, I have the best and the only way to do this. Yeah. And Chris, you're right. And Brendan, it goes back to your point. Like, this is a very helpful platform, meaning people just want to help and they want to see you succeed. And they typically will give away free advice. 

0:54:02

(Chris Dunn)

They'll give away connections. They'll do anything to help other people out because they, they understand that the more they give, the more they're going to get. Right. And so there is this like, They're giving, they know they're going to get something back. And so there is this, you know, reciprocal motion machine that happens within the platform that people are starting to respect. Awesome. 

0:54:23

(Chris Dunn)

So Sarah, she said, thanks, Chris. And you're welcome. Matt is a great one to follow. And I would agree. Matt, you mentioned kind of your three pillars. Basically, you're educating, you're informing, and you're entertaining. 

0:54:37

(Chris Dunn)

I think inform was the wrong, inspiring. So you got to have a little blend of all that, right? Because if you're all business all the time, like you said, people just kind of, meh. you know, if all we're doing is, is, is rolling that out. So, you know, mixing in, um, the personal mixing in some funny stuff. 

0:54:54

(Speaker 12)

Uh, Carter, you and I have a common friend, Carter, sorry, Brendan, you and I have a common friend, Carter parish. 

0:55:00

(Matt Williams)

Carter's game is, is dad jokes. And I don't know, one or two a day. And sometimes they're like, you know, the full eye roll, like, Oh, that was awful. And other times they're like really freaking funny. And he puts these little, you know, video, you know, gifts and stuff with them. And he's just, you know, I just, I see his, I see his post and I smile. 

0:55:20

(Matt Williams)

Cause I'm like, Oh, I got an opportunity to laugh. Or my, my wife was having a crappy day a couple of months ago. She's like, somebody tell me a joke. I'm having a shitty day. And I just, I literally went to Carter's page and I looked and I was like, here's four dad jokes. I stole them, but that's okay. 

0:55:36

(Matt Williams)

And I told Carter and he's like, that's what they're there for. So. anyways, it's great. It's a great way to get to know people. And, um, and, and as you were mentioning in the very beginning, it's like this platform allows you to, Whoa, this platform allows you, allows you to go wide and shows allow you to kind of go deep. Yeah. 

0:55:58

(Matt Williams)

Yeah. And you know, to touch on Chris, what you were talking about before, as far as like educate, inspire, entertain, like. Below those content pillars are kind of the executable vehicles, right? And so you take all aspects of LinkedIn from videos to gifts to images to text only to polls. And that allows you to really kind of shock your feet and keep your community engaged with what you're going to post next, right? So you got to think of it was like, like, what's going to come next out of Brendan and Chris is like, now I've got my, my community guessing. 

0:56:30

(Matt Williams)

And then, you know, I'll, I'll leave with this, like polls are probably the most underrated opportunities on the platform to get the lurkers that are possible prospects out, right? Because now you're giving everyone an opportunity and if you create your polls correctly, you can create hand raisers that will basically smoke out your prospects, right? And so now you've got a poll that's got a question and it's like, you know, you got several answers and then you're going to be able to, from a marketing standpoint, pre -qualify the people that are answering. to have your individuals in sales or biz dev reach back out to them and say, hey, I see that you may have an interest or you may have a problem here. Did you know this is what we've done in the past? Right. 

0:57:13

(Chris Dunn)

It's those little things that kind of bring more activity to the platform and allows you to actually kind of weaponize those pulls into revenue opportunities. Fantastic. Well, we I'm I'm the the the timekeeper and we are at fifty seven and a half minutes. And this is this I feel like it was like 20 minutes. Awesome conversation. as I knew it would be Matt. 

0:57:36

(Chris Dunn)

Um, as we start to wrap up, I guess the one thing that I want to kind of just throw over the bow here is, you know, do you have one or two things, uh, maybe we've talked about it already. You want to put a bow on it, but some sort of, uh, uh, an actionable item or a key takeaway as it were, maybe that you want to leave, uh, for our listeners that they can kind of put in their front pocket and, and, uh, utilize. Yeah, you know, I talked to a lot of people that scratched their head on how they're going to continue to build, mostly in sales, but also marketing. And I think, you know, when you can lean into being more relatable on the platform, and I think the relatability point needs to be really pounded home. It's like the more relatable you are, the more vulnerable you are on the platform, the more opportunities are going to present themselves. And I don't mean you got to cry on a camera and basically give a sob story. 

0:58:30

(Chris Dunn)

You just need to be relatable, right? You need to talk about, you know, had a long wait at the airport today, ran into someone who's mean to TSA. Guys, give him a break. Like just create like a moment of conversation in your day. And people are like, okay, now I can actually start a conversation. 

0:58:46

(Matt Williams)

But the relatability part comes from the people. 

0:58:48

(Speaker 5)

It doesn't come from the company. 

0:58:50

(Speaker 6)

Right. 

0:58:50

(Speaker 11)

And so you really got to shift your mind into more of a content creator versus where you are today on the platform, which is just pushing solutions and trying to transact. 

0:59:01

(Chris Dunn)

You got to be a supporter. Awesome. Awesome, guys. We're at one o 'clock, so we're going to put a bow in this guy. Thanks, everybody. We appreciate it. 

0:59:12

(Chris Dunn)

Sarah is in the comments, and Holly, and Michael, and Millie, and Juana. So thanks, everybody, for checking us out. This show is immediately available, recorded here on LinkedIn. It's going to be on YouTube, and it also shows up on all of your favorite podcasting sites. 

0:59:30

(Speaker 10)

It usually hits there by the weekend. 

0:59:32

(Speaker 4)

So thanks, everybody who's listened to this live. 

0:59:36

(Speaker 9)

Thank you to the folks who are going to consume it and listen to it in the future. 

0:59:40

(Speaker 8)

Please share it with your friends. 

0:59:42

(Chris Dunn)

Tell folks about it. 

0:59:43

(Speaker 7)

We're trying to build a community here of like -minded event marketers, of salespeople, of just general marketers. 

0:59:53

(Speaker 6)

And we want to create an open environment for learning questions and building relationships. 

0:59:59

(Speaker 5)

So Matt, where can we find you? Where can folks find you on LinkedIn? 

1:00:03

(Chris Dunn)

LinkedIn only. That's right. There you go. At Matt Williams. It's right there on the screen. Everybody connect with Matt. 

1:00:10

He's a great follow. He's got the surfboard in the back. You can check out the surf scene in San Diego. You can learn about how to spell go tigers. in the Louisiana fashion. And it just, he's a great guy. 

1:00:28

Enjoyed Matt having lunch with you a month ago, month and a half ago or so. And Brennan, can't wait to catch up in real life soon with you as well. Yes. Awesome. Thank you. All right. 

1:00:40

Thanks guys. Thanks everybody for coming and have a great rest of your week. Cheers. All right. Appreciate it guys. Bye -bye.