The Funniest & BEST Marketing Lesson From my Crazy Night in Atlanta (pics included!)
I was in Atlanta for a private mastermind event, and one of the other members in my Elite group happens to be Justin Guarini from the first season of American Idol. Here’s a pic of him if you don’t remember.
So, they take us out for a night on the town and we go to this fun speak easy club for a “Roaring 20’s” Themed Party. It’s a Wednesday so it’s not incredibly packed and we got to enjoy food, bowling, live music, and the dance floor pretty much to ourselves.
After a few drinks, another member of our group taps the Keyboardist on the shoulder and lets him know that there’s an American Idol Alum and Broadway star in the crowd…and asks if he can he sing a song with them.
The keyboardist looks at Justin and says “NAH MAN.” He is young and doesn’t recognize him. He thinks we’re kidding.
But instantly his eyes got as big as saucers as he saw another member of our group and he says, “HEY… ARE YOU ROGER THE PLUMBER?!”
See, Roger, who is also in our crew, grew his plumbing business by millions, by simply recording himself on YouTube doing routine plumbing fixes. He’d share hacks on unclogging your drain more efficiently, how to fix your toilet yourself, etc. etc.
So, when you had a plumbing question and went to google, up popped Rodger’s videos. He had a video for everything and literally MADE HIMSELF A CELEBRITY.
To the point that when a “real celebrity” was standing there, it was actually Roger who was the star and authority in these people’s minds!
Through his marketing, Roger earned the “street cred” to tell the guys, “hey—grab your phones and google my friend Justin here… I promise, he’s the real deal.”
Of course, by that time, an 85-year-old man who was a “regular” had already googled Justin and figured out who he was and told the rest of the bar and the night was history. Justin was re-discovered, taking selfies, and poor Rodger was back to D-list 😉
I think you get the moral of the story though.
You don’t need to wait for your local ABC or NBC news affiliate to show up with news cameras to make you the local celebrity of your town. Use your smartphone and make YOURSELF the authority on legal matters in your community. Platforms like Youtube, Facebook and Tiktok have leveled the playing field.
Are you taking advantage of them? If a plumber can do it, you can too, I promise!