Using Media Everywhere: An Example

Media impacts absolutely every single area of your business, not just sales and marketing.  You just may not fully appreciate that fact yet. But fear not I’m going to keep tapping away about the subject until more and more of you sort it out and get brave enough to try on some new ideas. With that in mind I want to share this brief video with you from a data driven marketing agency here in the Philadelphia region Seer.

This is the founder of Seer, Wil Reynolds, in front of his phone camera laying out the details of what, presumably, is a critical hire for them.  Now Seer isn’t a gigantic agency but they are not small either. With offices on both coasts, business across the globe and well over 100 employees.  Last year they hired a focused business development executive and this year they are adding a marketing lead. Their job posting for the position is appearing on the usual sites (e.g. Glassdoor, and oh by the way they have a 4 star rating with a nearly 80% approval of the company and leadership on Glassdoor).  But Seer is actively searching for the right talent fit, demonstrated here by Reynolds’s video message.  A video that can be found in many places, including as part of Wil’s email signature.

This is a fantastic example of  leveraging media in every area of your business. You know how many of these sorts of videos I have seen, a leader sourcing talent in this manner? ZERO.  That is right absolutely ZERO.  This is what it means to be out ahead of your competition in all aspects by embracing every piece of media available to you to better every area of your business not just sales and marketing.

I had Wil Reynolds on Leading Matters last year and we talked quite a bit about talent. What I learned from that conversation is talent acquisition is very important to Seer, as is protecting their company culture and nurturing genuine diversity that is significantly more than just a PC diversity. This commitment to talent and culture is evident in how they write their job descriptions, and it makes sense that Seer would turn to leverage every bit of media to develop talent that is critical to the growth of their business.

Equally as important is how Wil handles the video.  He doesn’t just talk about Seer and what Seer needs, in fact Seer’s needs are not even central to the video.  What he does talk about are the common frustration that professional marketers face in their day to day. He covers each issue and explains how Seer addresses each, and he is transparent where Seer is not yet poised to completely address some elements of these challenges. The message is clear;  this position is important to us, we are serious about hiring the right person, and we are prepared to support the hire to achieve great things.

Another element to pay attention to here is that this entire thing is shot on Wil’s phone, in fact twice text messages interrupt his presentation.  The lighting is better than average and Wil uses that fact to illustrate the speed at which Seer makes decisions and moves. Seer didn’t research three point lighting, didn’t script out some sterile list of requirements or offer any disclaimers.  They simply hit record and started talking directly to the type of professionals that they are looking to connect with.  the video appeared on LinkedIn, Youtube, and as i mentioned as a link in Wil’s email.

This is what it looks liek to use media to improve every aspect of your business.