Bridging Generations in Sales and Outreach

E2 with Jeff Watts - Digital Visibility: How Jeff Built Credibility Without Chasing Influence

• Butch Nicholson • Season 1 • Episode 2

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How do you evolve your reputation when your industry still sees you as the “old version” of yourself?

In this episode of Bridging Generations in Sales and Outreach, host Butch Nicholson sits down with Jeff Watts, a veteran media executive whose career spans Fortune Magazine, ABC, Disney, and ESPN. Once known exclusively as a "linear TV guy," Jeff realized post-COVID that if he didn’t proactively reshape how the market perceived him, he’d be boxed in and left behind.

Rather than chase viral status or become an online influencer, Jeff built a simple, sustainable digital presence rooted in credibility. His one-minute LinkedIn videos tackled real questions about digital advertising —from DSPs and SSPs to second-screen attribution— and positioned him as a relevant, modern expert in a space undergoing rapid change.

Whether you’re a CEO, founder, or seasoned sales leader, Jeff’s story is a masterclass in practical reinvention. It’s not about throwing away what made you successful, it’s about reintroducing yourself to today’s business world.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

🔹 Why perception is the real brand you need to manage
Jeff explains how being great at your job isn’t enough, if people still see you through an outdated lens, you won’t be top of mind when opportunities come up. He shares how one strategic decision helped reshape his personal brand without abandoning his legacy experience.

🔹 The power of short-form, value-first content
You don’t need a studio or a production team to make an impact. Jeff breaks down how one-minute videos focused on explaining key digital concepts helped him gain visibility, build credibility, and attract inbound interest from both clients and employers.

🔹 Why LinkedIn is your modern Rolodex
Instead of chasing new leads, Jeff saw LinkedIn as a curated list of everyone who’d ever bought from him. By staying top-of-mind with that specific audience, he positioned himself as a trusted voice in their feed, no cold outreach required.

🔹 How to retool your skills without breaking the bank
Jeff used free online certifications (from Google, Trade Desk, and others) to deepen his digital knowledge. No degrees, no $5K courses just time, discipline, and curiosity.

🔹 Overcoming the “I don’t have time” objection
The real hurdle isn’t time it’s discomfort. Jeff and Butch unpack the fear many senior professionals feel about putting themselves on video, and how to move past it by focusing on value instead of perfection.

The Bottom Line: You don’t have to be an influencer, a tech wizard, or a 20-something content creator to build credibility online. Jeff’s story proves that by offering real value, targeting the right audience, and being consistent —even in small ways— you can stay relevant, respected, and in demand.

🎧 Tune in to hear how seasoned professionals can take the lead in digital prospecting without losing the relationship-driven mindset that built their careers.

👉 Listen now and start reshaping how your market sees you before someone else defines it for you.

Bridging Generations in Sales and Outreach is hosted by Robert (BUTCH) NICHOLSON and produced by Fist Bump

Helping Gen X and Baby Boomer leaders turn their reputation into revenue—without losing the human touch.

📅 Join us LIVE every Friday at 10 AM ET on LinkedIn

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Hey, uh, welcome to this week's episode of Bridging Generations in Sales and Outreach. Uh, I'm very excited today to have a, uh, good friend of mine who. When I decided to do this show, I knew I wanted to have Jeff as the first person on the show because of what he's done and what we're gonna talk about today. Butch:

So what we're gonna talk about today is how Jeff built a digital presence without chasing being an influencer. And, uh, Jeff, welcome you to the show. Jeff Watts: Thank, thank you. Thank you, Butch. Butch: Uh. Jeff, what I, the way I'd like to start the show if we could today is, um, well, let me tell a little story and then you hop in. Jeff Watts: Okay. Butch: So I've known Jay for about four years, j Jeff for about four years. So

we have a little joke if I call him Jay or he calls me Bruce. We have known each other for four years, so, um. Uh, I've known Jeff for about four years and really all I knew was he did advertising for, for TV somehow. And then I guess maybe a year ago, Jeff, I started seeing these really cool, uh, short videos pop up, uh, from Jeff in my LinkedIn stream. Butch:

And I know nothing about, about advertising in television, but he was sharing really cool concepts. In a real entertaining manner. They were very short and I just got to where I look forward to the next one coming out. So Jeff, why don't you give us a little of your background and just, uh, how you wound up with, uh, these great videos on LinkedIn. Jeff Watts: Uh, well, thank you. Thank you, Butch. So, I've been in advertising for, uh,

quite a few years. I mean, the, the first company I worked for was Fortune Magazine and I sold their, uh, national ad space. And, um, that was, uh, a few years ago. And then I went to a, B, C, Disney, ESPN, and was with them for, gosh, almost two decades. Jeff Watts:

And, um, really what happened, Butch, is, you know, everything changes. I mean, every, every industry, every business, everything changes. So I had sold linear television across, uh, you know, all of these different platforms with, you know, very, very. Known. You know, Disney is the world's most admired corporation ranked every single year. Jeff Watts: Um, and I was a linear sales guy that was starting to sell quite a bit of digital, but um, people still saw me as the linear TV guy. If you don't define how people perceive you. They're, they're gonna put you in a box that, and that's just how it works. So what, what

I did is after, um, uh, like many, uh, COVID related, uh, a layoff, um, I, uh, had a little breathing room. Jeff Watts:

Uh, uh, Disney was just so wonderful, uh, with my, uh, package and leaving and they were, uh, terrifically generous. So I had some breathing room, so I kind of went out and decided I wanted to go more into the digital ad space and see the problem with. Uh, you know, it's always good. It's always bad. The problem we're working with a, B, C, Disney is if I'm selling digital products, I'm the frontline guy that's talking about 'em. Jeff Watts: But, um, when it comes to the true technical and all of the things that go along with it. There were teams and scores of people that were doing all that for me. So I, I, um, I knew it con, you know, moderately conceptually, or, you know, let's say. So I, um, I decided that I was gonna go under the hood with the time that I had, and I got on with a, uh, a digital programmatic, uh, firm, uh, that sells

all digital advertising across all the digital, uh, you know, platforms that you can buy it from. Jeff Watts: But when I would go out. To the marketplace to talk about these new products. You know, as I said, people, people put you in a box. They just do. And they just wanted to talk about linear t Linear tv. They wanted to talk about what shows were on A, B, C, when is this coming up? Who's gonna win the Bachelor? I mean, like I, I, I don't work there anymore. Jeff Watts:

I don't know who's gonna win The Bachelor. Um, I wanted to talk about digital concepts and things, and so I knew I had to change the perception of how people saw me in the industry. I. So I created a social media initiative, and I think that the very good distinction that you said in the intro, I am not a social media influencer. Jeff Watts: I have no interest in that. I do not want to post every single day of what I'm eating for dinner and have I, I no interest. So what I did was created an initiative that

would put out one hour, one minute videos about topics and things that people, I. Might not understand or not know, and I would just attack one thing, like second screen attribution or what's the difference between probabilistic and deterministic data and you know, what is A DSP, what is an SSP, and what is an exchange? Jeff Watts:

And just made 'em very, very clear and very quickly the industry started. Responding to me as a, as, as a a TV guy that they knew me from. But I was not just the TV guy. I was now like the TV guy that has this digital knowledge that can bring in an all encompassing digital television platform. And so that was really my motivation of why I did it. Butch: Hey Jeff, let, um, let me ask you a question, uh, because you and I have never talked about this. You said something. Uh, you said something that was brilliant and I'm not even sure you knew it was brilliant when you said it. Uh, I love it.

Jeff Watts: Love it. Keep going. Butch: You said you can define yourself, so how did you, how did you come across or decide or have this inspiration that you could define your new self? Jeff Watts:

Well, it, it, okay. It's so funny and, and we'll talk about this in a moment. Um, you know, in advertising my entire career was going out and talking to advertisers and big large clients that were advertising on a national scale. And I would say, Hey, I. You have to have reach and frequency. You have to have a plan of whatever message you're trying to deliver. Jeff Watts: You gotta have the right audience and, and target. You know, years back, advertising was reach and frequency. That was it. And now it's reach and frequency. And as you know, from being a cell phone owner and, and getting ads that come directly to you, it's become reach. Frequency and targeting. So I knew I had to draw that, that next phase

so that people would then go, okay, this guy knows television and now he knows all of the digital components and, and what I had to do was really go under the hood because when you work for a mega corporation, like I said. Jeff Watts:

I would bring the concept in, and they wanna do this programmatically. They want to do this on, on ESPN, they wanna do this on a, b, c television. They want, uh, um, a live remote from the country Music Awards. But I had to change how they saw me. So that's, that's how I did it, is I, I utilized, uh, LinkedIn and TikTok specifically. Jeff Watts: Those were the two that I wanted. Uh, to, to get the message across. And then, uh, you know, I'll answer back. So all this time that I've been going out and talking to brands and advertisers about, you have to find your audience and then you have to speak to them and that is what will persuade them or give them the opportunity to consider buying your product. Jeff Watts: And I just looked at it and I'm like, LinkedIn. Is

every single person that's ever bought media from me, you know, my, my contacts are every single person that's ever bought media from me. So I'm like, the audience is there. This is the products that I have to sell. I just need to educate them. My responsibility, not theirs. Jeff Watts:

I. That I am a, the digital guy as well. So that's really how that came across. And you look at, uh, all of the time and all of the money and all of the effort that corporations put into finding their target, you know, BMW we want to find auto intenders that are of this certain household and this and this, and we wanna do all of this, spend all of this money to find our buyer. Jeff Watts: And I just kind of was like, I don't have to do anything like that. My LinkedIn accounts are my buyers. There's no, there's no targeting to it. And so I just decided, um, it's free. You know, you don't have to pay for it. Um, uh, you know, if you were gonna run an ad campaign in your company,

you have to, I. Spend all the money on figuring out the creative, what you're gonna do, paid the creative agency. Jeff Watts: Then you have to, uh, have a media budget of where it's gonna run and a strategy and all that. You gotta have all your frequency and all these things. It's all these things that go into it. And I was like, I, it's right there. And that, that's why I, I get confused sometimes at companies that don't utilize it. Jeff Watts:

You know yours, I don't care what product it is you're trying to sell, office supplies. The people you know in your LinkedIn, uh, profile are people you've met in the industry that buy office products on a large scale. So I. Why wouldn't you tell your message? Why wouldn't you get in front of them and, and let them know what you're doing or why your products are better or new changes or whatever. Jeff Watts: It's free. You don't pay for the ad space and it's effective. Butch: So let's back up just a little bit and I want to

talk more about what you just said. Okay. Um, I assume when you started this, you weren't a, uh. You weren't a master of making videos for TikTok and LinkedIn. Yeah. Uh, so if you were, you can just tell us, but if you weren't, tell us about your journey to, to where your, your videos were great. Butch: I. Jeff Watts:

Uh, well, thank you, dude. I, I very much appreciate it. Well, first of all, you know that that's, that's the part that baffles me, that people wouldn't do it. You know, you're trying to sell a product. You've got your audience there. They're already targeted for you. You don't have to put that investment in and. Jeff Watts: It doesn't cost anything. I mean, I, well, I mean, maybe I got a little bit better camera or maybe I got a little bit better microphone. I don't know. You know, go down to Target or you know, Walmart or Microcenter and get your, you know, and other than that, that's your cost. That's it. So I just looked at it and said, Hey, that, uh. Jeff Watts:

I need to change the perception of how people see me. And, um, and it worked. And the beautiful thing about it is, um, the way LinkedIn works, you know, you just go through and we all know no one, no one is going to stop on every single person that is in their LinkedIn feed. They're not. So what I did was I would have, uh, video and I, I worked with a service called BombBomb. Jeff Watts:

It was $19 a month. And it just, it would take the frame and it would create the motion. That's a big thing when you're going, when you're scrolling down, if it's just a static picture, there's a certain amount of response to it. But if it's like that loop where I'm just doing like this, and then I would just put the topic at the bottom, I didn't care how many likes I got. Jeff Watts: I didn't want to be a social media influencer, but every time that someone scrolled down, they saw me and they saw my topic. And, and I didn't even care if they've clicked in the video. I mean, you did. Thank you. And I appreciate it. And there, there were quite a few people that did, but if

nothing else, I was endlessly putting the next time. Jeff Watts:

Just the, that was the most important thing is that thing. Uh, deterministic versus probabilistic, uh, uh, D-S-P-S-S-P and exchanges. How do they work together? So as they're going through, if they, let's assume they didn't watch 10 videos in a. But 10 different messages went to my specific audience for no charge, that they were like, holy, where, how did this guy learn about, uh, you know, all of these different digital platforms and how they all work? Jeff Watts: So that's, that's how that came about. And, and I'd also like to say that the beautiful thing about. Uh, the world today is if, if you have an initiative like I had at a specific initiative, what I wanted to do was change the perception of how people saw me. Everything and every bit of research that I got was free. Jeff Watts: I just went on the internet. I got certifications in Google and certifications in, uh,

uh, with the trade desk. I got certifications with the DSPs. It is free. You just have to take time to go through, watch the videos, take the test, you get a certification. So I learned. Everything that I needed and wanted the depth and the, uh, the kind of the meat of the, the message for free. Jeff Watts:

So, to answer your question, you, you get a camera and you talk about a particular topic and you make you make an impression. It, it wasn't like I had to go spend $8,000 to get educated, I just went to the internet. Butch: So it costs you some time, but not really any money. Jeff Watts: Yeah, that was it. And, and taping them does not take long. Jeff Watts: You know, you just, you just go through and tape it. And one point that I, uh, I wanna make is you and I were kind of just talking about, um, you know, when people do this or when they decide to do it, or if they want to do it, uh, there there is a bit of resistance to talking on a camera. Uh, I get that. I, I, you know that. Jeff Watts: I understand that. But the thing I kept thinking is, after Covid. Every single workday that you go in to your office or work from your home, you're on video, you're on, you're on a Zoom call, you're on a teams call, you're on a WebEx call, you're, you're talking on video every day. So the, the resistance factor to me was like, this is what everybody, I don't care if you're an accountant, not just a, a business development guy like me. Jeff Watts: You're talking on camera. Every day. So this shouldn't be too far of a leap, uh, in, in building it. And so that was just kind of the mindset that I came up with. Butch: So, uh, that brings something to mind, I think is important. And, and I'd like you to address this. Um, when I talk to people about using LinkedIn, using other, uh, digital processes, especially older people like me, ba you know, older baby boomers

who. Butch: I probably figured they weren't gonna need to be working, um, at the age that we are now. But the, the, uh, crash of 2000, 2000, 2007, 2008, yeah, kind of took care of that for some of us. Um, and the number one objection that I always get right off the bat is I don't have time. And I believe that that's somewhat, somewhat valid, but I really believe. Butch:

The objection is, I'm, I don't know how to do that. And I'm scared I'm gonna look bad, Jeff Watts: man. You're, you're all over it. And what your company does and how I've known you and, and what I respect that your, you, your group does is I can imagine that that is, uh, an objection because, and, and, and actually what you said first of, uh, you know, I, I don't know if I've had time. Jeff Watts: I would say, uh. You don't, uh, you're in business to connect people with your product and your service,

and now you can be in front of every single person that can potentially buy from you. But you don't have time for that? Come on that. No, I don't go for that. Now, I will give, uh, um, you know, uh, I'll acknowledge that people, uh, feel uncomfortable with it. Jeff Watts:

I, there's no question about that. But if you do it, if you do it in a way that gives value to the person, see? All we've ever heard in business, we know this. You go in, anybody that comes into your office, anybody that presents you, and they put a PowerPoint up. Oh, for God's sake, we're number one. We're number one at this. Jeff Watts: We're number one at this. We're number one at this. I mean, everyone, is there a company out there that's number two? Yeah. Everyone is number one. So it's so much jargon that they don't see it. So what my idea was, let me offer something to them. You know, to where I'm not going, Hey, my company's the number one company. Jeff Watts: Or, Hey, this, it was

like, you know, one of the, IIII, one of the videos I did that got a lot of um, um, mileage was when I was just talking about carriage deals. 'cause people don't understand that, you know, they'll get something on tv, let's say they were DirecTV or let's say they're this or that, and they're like, we're not, you're no longer going to get this particular content. Jeff Watts:

On your platform anymore, uh, be prepared because we've not been able to get a carriage deal. Well, what all that means is the, um, the platform that's delivering that content to you through whatever device or, you know, however you want to get your television, they have to pay. ESPN, they have to pay HGTV, they have to pay A, B, C, local, A, B, C, national, they have to pay for that, to get that content to then send it to the pipes, uh, out, whether it's streaming or cable or whatever to the audience. Jeff Watts: So there's, there's big, uh, fights over that, over revenue. And uh, I remember, uh,

baseball was a big thing and people were like, what? Are you talking about that I'm not gonna get baseball and I, you know, I paid for my cable subscription or my streaming package, or what do you mean? So, I, I just did one where, you know, that was valuable information 'cause people didn't understand it. Jeff Watts:

So I would just go, look, this is a carriage deal. ESPN CON and HGTV, the content providers want a certain amount of money for their signal to go through the, uh, the platform that delivers it to the consumer. So once I kind of explained that people were like. Oh yeah, that, that affects me. 'cause they were saying baseball wasn't gonna be coming on my channel or what, you know, I was gonna be blocked out or whatever. Jeff Watts: So I just tried to think of things that would benefit the user, not I. We're number one, we're the best. No one can touch us. Uh, no one that, that's just overstated. So if you, if you have an initiative, you have to have something that makes sense for them to open it up and read it,

or at least find value in it. Jeff Watts: You have to give value in any, uh, social media posts that you do. I think. Butch: Yeah, Jeff, I agree a a hundred percent. One of the, uh. Some of the studies from the, uh, big consulting firms show that in this day and time, uh, buyers have done 75% of the research that they want to do before they want to engage with a salesperson. Butch:

And if you're, if you're not providing value, uh, they might watch a video or two because it's entertaining, but, but it'll end there. Jeff Watts: Yeah. Uh, and, and you know, another thing is if you're, if you're providing value to the person that is watching the video or taking time to, uh, to open it or whatever, um, you don't have to look perfect. Jeff Watts: You don't have to have the perfect lighting. You don't have to go out and spend $10,000 and get all of this video equipment so that you look like you're in a

studio. You know, I would talk about, uh, uh. You know, video concepts like walking in a parking lot out to my car and just go, Hey, this is, there's value. Jeff Watts: It's not about how professional and how your appearance comes across. I mean, you wanna be reasonably professional and, you know, speak well, but you, you just have to give the value. That's what they want. They're not interested in exactly how everything looks and how professional, and it looks like you just went into a studio. Jeff Watts:

They just, what? You know what, what's in it for me? You know, what's in it for me? So if you create an initiative, you have to have something that that helps 'em, that they can go, you know, I never understood that I'm gonna watch this video and understand it. So that, that was my concept behind that as well. Butch: Yeah, I, I believe Brian, uh, Brandon Lee, who's the founder of, of Fist Bump, uh, made a great analogy for LinkedIn. Uh, for those of us who are a little older like me, um, he said it's just

like a networking meeting in the two thousands, except it's 24, 4 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. It, it's always open. Butch: Plus you can better target who you're, uh. Directing your, uh, LinkedIn, uh, profiles too. Jeff Watts:

Yeah, yeah. Uh, you and I talked, we've talked about this before. We were going to do the podcast, and thank you for invi inviting me to talk about it. But, um. There are certain things that you have to do in business. It's just part of the deal. Jeff Watts: And one of the things I, you know, this is a far out analogy, but it, it, you know, I've said this before, if your, if your kid, let's say your kid is, uh, trying out for the high school baseball team and they're the best kid. I mean, they have the most talent, they have the most potential, perhaps of anyone at that high school. Jeff Watts: If you sent them out to tryouts in a pair of Nike sneakers.

Instead of cleats, people are gonna be like, what? Yeah, what are you doing? You're immediately, there are certain things, if you wanna be a baseball player, you wanna do, you gotta wear cleats. You have to, it's just, it immediately would discredit you. Jeff Watts:

So, you know, when you think about, um, uh, how it all plays together. This is really kind of what you need to do. You, you may not have liked it, you may not have done it, but kind of the cleat scenario, everyone, if you were a parent, you were sending your kid out in those cleats because you knew that is what it took. Jeff Watts: And now I look at it and think, okay, you're trying to sell a product, you're trying to convey a message and you're trying to do it by, like, you know, Hey, I'm coming to Miami. I'd like to come in and talk to you, and whatever. That's, that's past tense. You have to look at what the tools are today. And, and that's how I saw it. Jeff Watts: I was like, I, I cannot continue to sell and just call people up and

go, Hey, I'm gonna be in Charlotte. Hey, I'm gonna be in New York. I'd like to come in and do a presentation. They're kinda like, uh, yeah, nobody's in the office anymore. It's all on video. Uh, we've got people, you know, every, we, we hired remotely. Jeff Watts:

So we have people in Houston, we have people in Dallas, whatever. So. If you don't go to what's the proper platform to reach them, you, you're eliminating your credibility immediately because you don't feel comfortable. It's like you gotta feel comfortable. You have to push it there. Butch: So, Jeff, let me ask you this. Butch: I, I found for me anyway, things always work better if I have a logical, repeatable process for doing them right. Uh, when you started doing these v these videos, did you have a logical, repeatable process for doing it? Jeff Watts: Um, yeah. I didn't, I didn't want to oversaturate. Um, for me personally, I felt, uh, for this initiative that I was trying to do, um. Jeff Watts: I, I, I released one video a

week. That was the process that I went through with LinkedIn. Now, TikTok, as, as you know, TikTok is not your friends. It's not your, you know, you know, like Facebook and Instagram, which I'm, I'm not a big fan of those platforms, but nothing against them. But you go in and it's your friends. Jeff Watts:

It's people, you know, it's the person you know, in high school, the person you knew in college, the person you worked with. That's how Facebook is a connection process. Um, TikTok was fantastic because it was subject based. So I put my hashtags at the bottom, digital media advertising, media buyer, media planner, media director, and then those hashtags would pull it up. Jeff Watts: And so I gained, um, an enormous amount of traction by targeting people that have no idea who I am. And then LinkedIn where everyone knew in my industry that I had sold to who I was. And the, the, it was, it was an amazing, um, discovery because I, TikTok I would get emails

from people literally all over the world asking me questions and go, Hey, I, I don't get this. Jeff Watts: How does this work? I watch this, this is very interesting. How do you do, you know? And then so you, you kind of build a network there. I had a company in Portugal that called me and said, look. Would you give us 30 minutes of your time to I, you know, just, just to listen to this product that we're considering bringing into the states because you just seem to understand advertising and what have you. Jeff Watts:

So, um, you know, it worked. So that's why I chose TikTok and LinkedIn. It was my audience and then it was my subject. And there is a big difference and people don't know now. Unfortunately, we don't know what is gonna happen with TikTok. Uh, with the new things you may have to try, try a new platform. I'm not sure, I'm not sure of the longevity of TikTok no one is, but, um, it worked for me when I was doing it. Jeff Watts: Yeah. Butch: Uh, I believe that, uh, so when the internet started getting, getting big, if you, if you were a company and you didn't have a website, people thought, well, is this

really a company? I, and I think, I think in social media, LinkedIn works that way. If you're not on LinkedIn, people are gonna wonder if you're really in business. Butch: And so I believe you need to be there. And then I, I believe to your point, from there, you look at YouTube, you look at Facebook, you look at TikTok and see what works for you, uh, to back that up. Jeff Watts: Yeah. Butch: Yeah, absolutely. So Jeff, if you got a call from, uh, did you say China? Jeff Watts:

It was, it was Port Portugal. I got, I got a Portugal. Jeff Watts: Yeah. It, Butch: well, it sounds like even though you weren't trying to be an influencer, you had, you had built some influence. I, I guess I did. Jeff Watts: Well, when I say I didn't want to be an influencer, I had no interest in like, posting stuff that I was eating for dinner. You know, here I am, I, I'm getting in the shower now and this is the shampoo I use. Jeff Watts: I'm like. Uh, what, and people love that. And that's fun for people that want to find the, that

topic and whatever. Okay. Uh, I did not wanna be a social media influencer. Sure. I just wanted to talk about the product that I knew and, and the advertising ecosystem and how I could, uh. Relay that. So that, that's what I mean. Jeff Watts: But yeah, I guess, I guess I could have been put in the social media, social media influencer category. I guess maybe I, uh, Butch:

well, and I'll say this, uh, in all seriousness, it, it, you, you obviously had, had gained credibility through social media and every sales person's dream is to have a customer that they don't know call them and say, Hey, can you help us? Jeff Watts: Oh, of course, of course. And that happened a lot. I I, what happens is when you, when you go out on, you know, and everyone has an expertise in business, you know, whatever it, like the office supply company, the, the group that does supply chain, the group that does this, you know, and, and their, their LinkedIn network is built around that topic, you know,

uh, because those are the most of the people that they know and then they've connected with. Jeff Watts: So when you're just going out, talking about. What, you know, and, and you can put it into a, a, a digestible, um. System that makes sense. That doesn't go on for, you know, two hours or, you know, just one minute. Uh, a lot of times I did 'em 30 seconds because I just wanted to get a point across. But the, the thing that happened that was, uh, it was wonderful is I knew it was working. Jeff Watts:

I went to work for a, uh, programmatic digital firm, and I started selling a lot of digital, you know, like I said, I wanted to go. Under the hood. I went with a small company where I can understand every single thing that's happening in the programmatic and digital space. 'cause it's kind of, it's an exchange. Jeff Watts: You know, the, the old days, uh, you know, we think people that watch HGTV, that's who we wanna reach. You know, and then, and then it became very targeted to where you, you reach that particular person with all of the digital extensions that were applied.

So I just wanted to talk about what I knew and how, um, and I'm sorry I keep getting like, um, um, uh, popups on my screen. Jeff Watts:

I hope you're not getting that in audio, but yeah. Who, who cares? That's all good. Um, and, and that really worked because it, it. It's, it's specific to your world. So, uh, it could be anything if you're a car salesman, if you're in real estate, if you're in anything, if you just go on LinkedIn and talk or, or in social media and talk about what you know it, and instant credibility starts happening. Jeff Watts: And so I would run into my, uh, former linear tv, uh, coworkers or whatever, and they were like, what? Jeff, where, where did you get all of this? What, where did this come from? And I was like, it, it was free. I went on the internet and I just did the certifications and learned it, knew what I knew about all

media business and then just applied it so. Jeff Watts: It gives you credibility, uh, which is a good thing. I mean, you want that in your industry. And then I do get calls from people that go, Hey, I saw a video you said about something. What have you? I, I'd love, I don't know what a footprint study is. You know, how does that work? You know, and I'm like, well, you, you run an ad campaign and you pixel and you put different things. Jeff Watts:

And then when a person goes into that particular store, it's gonna show you, it's gonna give you the attribution that you're looking for, the return on investment in advertising, which has become so, so big. Butch: So let's, let's go to the, the negative. Let's turn a negative into a positive here. What's the biggest mistake you see people making? Jeff Watts: Um, this is my, this is my personal, uh, uh, opinion. And I'm not saying anybody's doing anything wrong, but if, if you feel like y because a lot of times if you, if you. Uh, listen to a social media

influencer on TikTok or on YouTube. They're like, you gotta put out content. You gotta put out content. You gotta be putting out content every single day. Jeff Watts:

Every single, you know it. And I'm like, I, I don't agree with that. I'm not saying that didn't work for them or whatever, but for my initiative, I couldn't flood the market. It had to be some, everything that I post on, uh, LinkedIn, uh, which is the real force behind what I do. It, it's continuing to tell a story without oversaturated. Jeff Watts: I real quick. Um, a a big issue in television advertising is, of course you end know the reach and the frequency we talked about, but if you see an ad too many times, and this happens a lot because people buy on, there's, you can buy through Hulu, you can buy on DSPs, you can buy in different ways, and all of those groups are sending out the ad on all of these platforms. Jeff Watts: If you saturate and you have so much duplication of your ad to that user, they're

like, look, I can't watch this particular re max commercial one more time. It creates a negative effect. You know what I mean? So I just manage my so that people would look at it and go. This guy is just talking to talk. I'm getting nothing out of it. Jeff Watts:

He's not telling me anything. 'cause he is telling me every single thing he does every single day. And there's just not, there's not a, a give back to the, uh, to the viewer. Un unless you can manage your frequency. Yeah, Butch: I, I agree with that. Uh. To the, to this point, I believe, uh, depending on what industry you're in, what, what your, uh, target is with what you're doing on LinkedIn, uh, you have to figure out for you and who you're targeting, what the, what the improper amount of content is. Jeff Watts: That's an important, that's an important point. 'cause different products need. Yeah. That, that is, that's a great, uh,

distinction. Yeah. There are some that you wanna be there all the time, but for mine. I decided that was not for me, but that's a, a very good distinction. There are some industries, the more you're in front of people every single day, they keep seeing your face. Jeff Watts:

They keep seeing. And like I said, it, it doesn't matter you, you're not trying to be a LinkedIn or a social media influencer where all you care about is the likes or your repost. That's not what you're trying to do. You're just getting your face and your thoughts in front of the people that are buying you over and over and over again, and you immediately become this person that they go, oh, I know a guy that, oh yeah, you know, I know this guy. Jeff Watts: I see him on LinkedIn. Oh yeah, yeah, that, that seems you should call, you know, or whatever. And then people say, and they refer you so. Butch: As long as people are receiving value, they'll look at it. As soon as they're not, as soon as they don't

believe they're receiving value, they'll stop. Jeff Watts: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Jeff Watts: And, and you can, um, I'll share this one screen. So I, I, a lot of times I do, uh, speaking at universities about, um, about marketing. I've done it at University of Georgia about two, three times. I've done it at Georgia State University about, uh, I think this is gonna be my fourth time, so I'll share the screen. Jeff Watts:

So. Um, I, you know, this is something that is pertinent that, that just sort of builds the image. It takes one second to read it, but immediately, uh, the viewer has a different perception. So if I go to this and I put up this guy, okay, and let me know if this comes in. Do this, go onto the screen there, Butch. Jeff Watts: There we go. There we go. Okay. Um, and so I'm gonna lecture at, at Georgia State University next week, uh, on the power of social media marketing. Okay. That's not really giving, this

is more of an image thing. I'm not giving information about the, you know, the, what I'm trying to do in my company, and we're number one, this is more of just an image thing. Jeff Watts:

So I do put these out occasionally, so it, it, it builds the image of like. Wow. Uh, you know, this is, this guy's not just trying to sell products. He's, he has other areas and different things and different interests that kind of pulls the whole picture together. And I want to go back really quick. This, this is a true story and it's gonna sound ridiculous, but, um, you talked about time and how much time it takes. Jeff Watts: Okay. I'm a big believer in chat, GPT, open, AI's Chat, GPT, that particular version. I think it's so great. I, I am not exaggerating this. I, uh, was in my car at a red light in Buckhead, waiting to take a left turn. So you know, that's gonna be what, three to seven minutes? I don't know, whatever. And I hit, um, uh, chat, g pt, the

microphone, and I just said, oh, um, I'm gonna be a guest lecturer at Georgia State University next week. Jeff Watts: Uh, the topic is gonna be power of social Media Marketing. Create me a graphic. It created a, I did, I did nothing. It's, it was literally built for me in, in, in a second before the red light changed. That was built for me. One, uh, thing that I would mention though, I did not load my photo into chat, GPT, it created the shell and then I then took it. Jeff Watts:

When it gave me the shell, I downloaded it and then I put my image in. So that my image wasn't in chat, EPT, 'cause the people have a lot of issues with potential security issues and things like that. So that, that's one thing I do is try to just show the different things I'm doing and that builds credibility as well. Jeff Watts: But to answer your question, I am not exaggerating. I was at a red light. I hit microphone, it pulled up the Georgia State University logo. It pulled

up the colors, it pulled up everything, it formatted. I said, leave me a space at the top so I can drop my picture in. Done. I mean, how long did that take? And so next week when I'll speak, I will put this on LinkedIn and then I will connect all the students that are in the class and then they can make comments and what have you beneath it. Jeff Watts: So. Butch: Okay. Thanks for sharing that, Jeff. Jeff Watts:

Yeah, yeah. It, it doesn't take that long is my point. Butch: So, so Jeff, before we wrap up, I'd like you to address one more thing. We talked about this yesterday. Uh, we talked about signs, uh, sight, sound, and motion for free for, oh God, Jeff Watts: it's, it is the absolute truth. I mean, listen in. Jeff Watts: In working for A, B, C and Disney in such a big monster brand, I, I would go into an agency and agencies know and always knew sight, sound, and motion is the absolute undisputed, most effective way

to get your, your message across. And in years past. You had to have a TV spot. You had to have creative, you had to have legal look over it. Jeff Watts:

You had to, uh, buy your media time. You had to put it all together, and then you could have your sight, sound, emotion, listen, road signs, they're perfect. There's a place for those. Print magazine. There's a place for a print image, but nothing is more effective than sight, sound, emotion. And so with LinkedIn or TikTok, you just tape your message for free. Jeff Watts: I. And then you put it on and you have the most effective advertising medium that has ever been known. Sight, sound, emotion, boom. You get to tell your message, you get to convey what you wanna say. And you know, if you tape it and you don't like it, you delete it and just redo it. How, how hard is that? It, it's just not a, not, not a big deal. Jeff Watts: So, Butch: so Jeff, if you had, uh. You're not, I, because I know you well, you're

not near as old as I am, but our show is really targeted to, uh, gen Xers and baby boomers who, who are still out there in, in the CEO space, the founder space, the sales space. Yeah. Uh, what, what is one thing that you'd like to leave with them today? Butch: Uh, Jeff Watts:

that's a good question, and I think about it all the time. I, I have a hard time understanding why they, you know, people don't like change. A lot of times. I, I could care less. I love change. I think it re, you know, reinvents and keeps going and gives me energy, but they don't like change. But let's think about it, Butch, if I was in right here on this screen in a, in a tie with a suit, which I absolutely had to wear when that was the requirement. Jeff Watts: You know what I mean? And, and, and so some of the older folks, they, they want to stay with what worked for them and how it worked for them.

And you know, like I said, going and visit, visiting your clients half the time, they're not there. No, we hired. Uh, Susie Johnson from, uh, Seattle, Washington. 'cause she was the best person for this job, but she's not in our Atlanta office. Jeff Watts:

So if you're coming by to do a presentation, she's not even gonna be here. So, um, you, you have to change and, and it, it, it's, it's, it's a bit intimidating. I'll give it that. But if you don't change, if you don't evolve to what is out there, your customers are there. They, you know, you've had relationships with them and you get to reinforce your message and your image and your presence over and over and over again. Jeff Watts: So I, I can't imagine why the fear of video or something like that would stop them. But I, I, that's, that's what I would think is in your business and in helping people do social media and bring things forward. I can understand that that would be there.

Objection. But if you're trying to sell products and you're trying to create solutions for people, and you have a way to have sight, sound, emotion on platforms directly to the people that are, that have budgets and are ready to buy, uh, you, you just, you would have to get over that. Jeff Watts:

You would just have to get, this is the way business is done now, so you just gotta move away from your. Uh, you know, expensive lunches and, uh, you know, all the things that people used to do, they just don't do it. Now. We work differently. We dress differently. Every, every approach is different. So you have to kind of, uh, evolve with it. Butch: So, Jeff, when I'm talking to what our, what our ideal customer profile is, uh, older Gen Xers. Baby boomers mm-hmm. That are still in business. What I say is, there's one, I've been in business, I've been in sales for over 45 years. All right. One thing that was true from day one that's true today,

is people want to buy from someone they know, they like and they trust. Jeff Watts: Yes. Butch: And we in, in, in that, in that, uh, profile. We have to understand that that still works, but the way we get people to know, like, and trust us has changed and we have to adapt to the new digital tools that are available. And you've certainly done a great job at that. Jeff Watts:

Uh, well, thank you. I mean, it would be like, it would be like somebody saying, okay, we're going to Florida, let's get out the paper map. Jeff Watts: And map out exactly how long it's, once you're accustomed or once you accept the new technology or the new things you, you can't even imagine going back. You know, and so I, I a hundred percent understand what you're saying in your business and what you're trying to build, and people would go, no, that's just not me. Jeff Watts: That's not what I do. But I would say, your customers are on the other end of a video and, and all

you have to do is put it together for free, and you will create that. You, you, you'll reinforce the trust. They may already know you, but you reinforce the trust and you kind of bridge that gap. So I, I think what you guys are doing is great and helping people get comfortable with it and help grow their businesses because the, the, the key is exactly what you said, and these tools are what help you get there. Jeff Watts:

So I can't imagine that they could be ignored, but some people do. But it's right there waiting. Butch: Well, thanks Jeff, that, that's certainly a great story that you have and, um, going from, from where you were when you started that journey to where you are now, uh. I know it's been very rewarding. Jeff Watts: Oh, thank you. Jeff Watts: Well, it right, because I, I found a company and I'm so lucky to be here. I love it. I just, I'm thrilled. It, it, it is the largest multi-screen television operation in the United States combining. Television and data, and I'm like, it,

I wouldn't have been a candidate for this particular role if I had not built the data portion. Jeff Watts: And we know how important data is in advertising. So it's worked for me and I've, I've met so many great people and wonderful things have happened, and now I've, uh, landed with a job that I just, uh, I, I just adore because it's me being able to go talk about things that I really believe in, I have a passion for. Jeff Watts: So. Butch:

Well, I'm glad you said that 'cause I didn't want to say it for you, but I, I re you told me I found the perfect job, the job I wanted. Jeff Watts: I know it did. I did, and, and I I love it. It's, it's just been an absolute pleasure to, uh, to worry. I've, I've been here a short period of time, but, uh, it, it, it, it was exactly, I mean, exactly what I was looking for. Jeff Watts: A combination of television and data and how you take that and how you create a, an efficient campaign based on these two. Components. 'cause we know