Today on the More Cheese Less Whiskers podcast, we're talking with Kenny MacCarthy, all the way from the North Shore & Cape Ann area of Boston, Massachusetts.
I've known Kenny for many years, he's a great friend, and we had a really good conversation about essentially becoming a media company.
Kenny's a very successful, long-time realtor. He got a great business that's working well. He has an established team. They've been doing Getting Listings programs for oceanfront listings right on Cape Ann, so he has everything working there, but he's looking for more. He always wants to grow.
One of the things Kenny loves to do is make videos. He loves shooting video, playing with the technology, and trying all kinds of video ideas, so we had a great conversation about the possibilities to scratch that itch, and really create some bigger opportunities that he could be excited about working on.
This is a great way to engage people no matter what type of business you're in, so there are lots of ideas in this show.
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Transcript - More Cheese Less Whiskers 196
Dean: Kenny.
Kenny: Dean. How the heck are you?
Dean: I'm good. It's pouring rain here right now so hopefully that won't interfere with us. How are things on the North Shore of Boston?
Kenny: They're great. Thank you.
Dean: Calling in from Cape Ann.
Kenny: From Marblehead actually not quite Cape Ann. Marblehead, a little south of Cape Ann. It's nice. I'm watching the sun go down from my windows at the office in my house. Everybody's healthy. Work is good.
Dean: Well, that's good.
Kenny: I'm looking forward to this chat.
Dean: Yeah, this is a very rare thing that you are a return guest on the Listing Agent Lifestyle podcast. And of course, because the things we talk about are interesting this will be simulcast out to the More Cheese Less Whiskers environment too.
Kenny: Great.
Dean: I'm excited for that. What have you got going on that we want to talk about today. Because I know you've always got exciting stuff.
Kenny: Well, lately it's been researching, thinking about looking at my content. How we are putting ourselves out there as agents, as Sotheby's agents. You know this, others may not. I work on a team and it allows us to each work to our strengths. My two partners, husband and wife, Bob and Sue McDermott, are pretty one the ones that are on the ground with the people, with the sellers. 75% of our business is with owners, sellers, and I'm doing the marketing.
I'm always looking for ways to tell stories, Dean, and I kind of stumbled on an article plugged to Medium about BMW and the stories that they started telling in 2000 and 2001 that driver Cleve Owen played the driver in four or five amazing BMW eight to 10-minute long videos/commercials/whatever you want to call it. But he was driving these monster machines and they were getting shot up and they had major directors. John Woo did one of them. They had major players in them with them. Don Cheadle.
This content raised BMW's US market share 17 or 18% the following year. This was before YouTube. They were telling the story about the car and to a targeted demographic and they hit a home run with it. It was fabulous. So, I'm always thinking of ways ... I tell a lot of stories. I've got 500 plus videos on YouTube. And some of them tell house stories. Some of them tell real estate stories. Some of them tell where to walk your dog stories. I'm always looking for new a new way to tell a story, Dean.
Dean: It's pretty interesting because what you've kind of stumbled on here is something that is as old as time, as they say. And is really getting a resurgence now. Content marketing is really what the bucket term for it would be, but it goes all the way back. You may remember even... you would go back to Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom.
Kenny: Wild Kingdom. Yeah.
Dean: There's a perfect. Do you remember-
Kenny: Marlin Perkins.
Dean: ... Yeah. Shell's Wonderful World of Golf and Walt Disney's the Wonderful World of Disney.
Kenny: It was all about Disneyland.
Dean: Well of course. But it was all about wonderful stuff. Those are things that-
Kenny: Wonderful stuff is right.
Dean: Those are things that are branded content.
Kenny: Yeah.
Dean: But then it goes all the way back to Proctor & Gamble actually invented the soap opera. They would run these stories to gather the audience because... but it wasn't about creating like how to be a better housewife shows or how to do the laundry better.
Kenny: No.
Dean: It was about getting them... When you think about what a masterful move it was to think, "What do they really want?" What they want is-
Kenny: And who are they?
Dean: ... escape. Yeah, they're housewives. That's who they were blatantly trying to attract. So, they created these stories As the World Turns and the Guiding Light, two of the longest running shoes period on television. But never... A lot of people didn't even realize that it was Proctor & Gamble but you think about the things that happened. They offered them escape which is what they really wanted. They positioned it at the time in the day which was truly their only real time, right? Think about the life of a housewife in 1950.
Kenny: This is my first life back as a man, you know. I was a housewife in a previous life.
Dean: Okay. When you got up you were getting the kids ready, getting the lunches ready, getting everything done. Then you would make the beds and do the laundry and do the vacuuming and do all of that staff, the grocery shopping.
Kenny: The laundry.
Dean: And then after lunch you had a little bit of time between your done all your stuff. You're going to have your lunch and the kids are going to be coming back home after school. That's your time.
Kenny: That's when you get a break.
Dean: So they positioned these stories right there and they were all very, very dramatic and all getting people enraptured in these things. Of course they invented the cliffhanger which was meant to get you in an elevated state leaning forward looking at the TV with dilated pupils right at the moment that the commercials are going to start.
Kenny: Right, right. Out over your skis.
Dean: Yes. You had their full attention. That was a brilliant kind of thing. They've got the kind of advertising around the content. And now there's so many cool things. John Deere tractors have one of the longest running magazines ever it's called The Furrow.
Kenny: I looked it up, yep.
Dean: You did?
Kenny: I did.
Dean: And it was a magazine that was 100% about how do we make the lives of farmers better. How do we make them better farmers? And it's not about, "Hey, look at our new John Deere Model 17 here.
Kenny: Right.
Dean: It was really about what's going to be of benefit to them?
Kenny: On the cover this month of The Furrow is At the Heart of Hemp. Meet the people reviving a one-time field standard.
Dean: There you go. So, when you think about this kind of content, I know that you love the idea of creating videos and creating that kind of content. What are you thinking?
Kenny: I need some help. I look at my YouTube presence and I'm like a yard sale. I'm all over the place.
Dean: Right.
Kenny: With no organization. I've been shooting video myself as well as hiring professionals to shoot the properties that we market for 12 or 13 years. A long time. I've got tens of thousands of views but nothing is... I don't know how to organize it. I kind of need a plan what to lay out there. That was kind of what I wanted to kick around with you is brainstorm that a little bit.
Dean: Yeah.
Kenny: How do we lay it out? I've had lots of false starts.
Dean: Let's just think about what we do know. We know that you want it to be North Shore related.
Kenny: Right.
Dean: That's who we're trying to attract. Begin with the end in mind. What would be the real outcome that we're looking for? We want people who are going to sell their house between Cape Ann and Beverly. Is there-
Kenny: Yeah. There's five or six communities that I want to reach the people that are going to want to sell their homes in the next whatever.
Dean: And then through your... Well, and through your team or whatever else so you probably want to find the buyers because that's going to help get the listings too. Active people who are going to buy or sell homes in that... along that stretch of the coast from... What would be the southerly start of it?
Kenny: Yep. What would be the southerly start?
Dean: Yeah, what's the most southern-
Kenny: Beverly. Beverly.
Dean: Okay, so, Beverly's the south of it. Okay.
Kenny: Beverly, Manchester, Gloucester and Rockport is the way it runs.
Dean: So there we go. So north along the shore from Beverly up. Okay. And so now you start to think about that area there. What would it be that would be... what's interesting about that? I saw a video that Hilton & Highland Real Estate in Beverly Hills had put out a video about the history of Beverly Hills. And it was a really interesting story how it all started and the people who... it was built around the Beverly Hills Hotel.
Originally the guys who bought the land hoped to strike oil and that's why they bought the land thinking that it was going to be oil rich and it wasn't and they decided, "Well, let's make lemonade and we'll build houses out here." Because it was a beautiful property right between Los Angeles and the ocean. And so they laid it all out and started... they knew that if they got the, if they could get people to build estates out there, that that would sell the rest of it. It started with the luxury ones and built the hotel out there.
But it was neat to see this little documentary type of thing. And so you think about it would be interesting to have.. to document some stuff like that about the history of the North Shore. I think you probably-
Kenny: It could and it would. Yes.
Dean: There's a lot of go all the way back.
Kenny: A lot we could do with that.
Dean: ... goes all the way back.
Kenny: There's a lot we could do with that. So much of-
Dean: What's in - house?
Kenny: Yeah, yeah. And so much of our area it's called the North Shore. We're on the water so it's very picturesque. It really lends itself to video with blue skies and blue water and boats in the background. Yeah, okay. That's a good idea.
Dean: And you might even think about... I know there's a magazine called Northshore Magazine that you introduced me to up there.
Kenny: Yeah.
Dean: We had a good run for a minute.
Kenny: We did for a minute. Before we were Sothebized.
Dean: Yes, exactly. And so the thing about the opportunity may be to do some content partnership with Northshore Magazine to create a video department of North Shore.
Kenny: What do you mean by that?
Dean: Well, they do feature articles and feature things like if you take your cues from what they cover in North Shore and offer expanded coverage. As an advertiser, if you were to look at their editorial calendar which every magazine publisher has an editorial calendar that they're working for to allow the sales people to find the right advertisers to say, hey, we're doing... this issue is all about this and that gets the appropriate kind of business. We're doing our spring garden edition of the magazine so that gets the opportunity for the sales people to go to the nurseries and the gardeners and the landscaper companies and say, "Hey, we're doing our spring-
Kenny: This is coming up and...
Dean: Yes.
Kenny: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, right now I'm looking at their website while we're yakking about this. They're talking about this best of the North Shore that they have boating and all that.
Dean: And you've got to realize that the purpose of any content ever created is to sell advertising or to make money. It's the whole... When you understand that right away that the only reason the magazine produces content in the first place is because they have to get, they have to have 60% content to be a publication.
Kenny: Can I make a quick comment on that?
Dean: Yeah..
Kenny: Because that's amazing that you brought that up. I do very, very little print, almost none. And we had some extra credit money at the account that we have with our office. And there was a spot open in Boston Magazine of $500 for postage stamp size. And I said go ahead sure. As long as I can have the top right-hand corner, go ahead.
So, the magazine, and it was in the Best of Boston issue too. The magazine just came out and I got a boxful of them to pass around. And I haven't counted the number of pages in the magazine. I'm going to look at it right now. It's 168 pages.
Dean: That's a serious magazine.
Kenny: Yeah. It's three eighths of an inch thick. Dean, half of it is real estate ads. I haven't counted, but it's like they're real estate ads. The inside the front cover and the very first page, real estate, real estate.
Dean: Yeah.
Kenny: The following the fourth page, real estate. All the back, real estate, real estate, real estate, real estate, real estate, real estate.
Dean: Right.
Kenny: Unbelievable. The content is besides that... they're selling real estate ads in Boston Magazine. That's what they sell.
Dean: That's what the whole point of it is. And when they sell an ad it creates a problem for them because now they have to get content. They have to buy it costs them money to create the content. But here's the thing. One thing that they cleverly did. Some of these magazines very cleverly solved their problem by making it an opportunity for you and they say, "If you buy so many ads, we'll give you a page of content, an article in the magazine. We'll let you write an article if you buy-
Kenny: Like an editorial.
Dean: Yes. If you commit to buying six ads here, we'll give you a one-page article in the magazine to write a column or an article type of thing. Which sounds like an opportunity for you, but it becomes... it solves their problem of now not having to pay-
Kenny: Of coming up with content.
Dean: ... they have to pay a writer to do the content that you're going to create. But, hey, knowing that is a really interesting thing for you. But there's a couple-
Kenny: So there's three sides here. Sorry. We're talking about the content from the magazine's point of view. The content from the consumer's point of view, it's got to be all about them.
Dean: That's exactly right.
Kenny: Right? It's got to be all about them.
Dean: Yes.
Kenny: I have to create a world for them. Demonstrate a need to them.
Dean: Yes.
Kenny: This magazine doesn't really doesn't do it.
Dean: Right, which magazine is that? That's not the Northshore.
Kenny: And I think that might be Boston Magazine. That's the Boston. 193 Reasons to Love our City is the title and it's all real estate crap. So, I don't want to do that. I don't know if my audience... for beginning with the end in mind I know what my demographic is. I know the average age, marital status, financial status, automobile status. I know all these things about this person because we've done that work. We have a target. And I'm just wondering if I should take it a step further and instead of just saying history, should I do like BMW did and really target it to, okay, so, these people, the people I want to reach are the ones that can afford the waterfront.
Dean: Yeah, absolutely.
Kenny: They want to learn about fill in the blank.
Dean: Yes.
Kenny: They want to learn about what Kenny?
Dean: Well, there's an interesting thing for... you could a lot of times sponsor a contest or watch on YouTube. There's a show format that I really like called Scotland's Home of the Year. I remember seeing the show when I was in Scotland watching... playing golf. But essentially what they do is people submit their home and if they're proud of it they put a lot of effort into the design and remodel. And they have an architect and a designer and influencer go through the home as a team and they look and they film their reaction to the home and their commentary, their narrative as they're going through it.
And then each of them give a score out of 10 on the show. And they hold back one of the scores while they're doing it. You'll hear, "I'm the architect and I give this a nine. I'm the designer and I'll give this a seven." And then blogger or the influencer will talk about, "Well, I really like this and this and this," but then won't tell you what her score is. So they go and look at the three homes and then at the end they reveal the score that the other person gave it and they add them all up and find the winning home. And that home from that region then moves on to the next round. Right?
And so, that's an interesting thing if you thought about the five cities, the top three homes in Beverly and then the next town, the next town, the next town. So you have the four or five towns or whatever. The top one moves into the next round.
Kenny: Okay. It could work. Yeah. While you were talking about that it brought up another idea. We will often bring in and we're doing it right now on two different homes that we have for sale. Before they go on the market, we will bring in a contractor and/or an architect and have some renderings done for what could be done with this home. And we offer it with the home along with the architect/builder's business card. The architects and the builders love doing it because it's a little bit of extra exposure for them. So we might be able to work something like that.
Dean: But you sort of think about, you need to get this... There's no gatekeepers anymore. You don't have to sell the show to anybody.
Kenny: That's right.
Dean: You can package and distribute the show on Amazon. You could show up in Amazon Prime and you don't have to be on YouTube which sounds like do it yourself. You can see it on Amazon. Watch it on Amazon Prime and you've got a real show. Or on Facebook Watch. It's really a... the vehicles for these things are out there. And if it's really well done, there's a great opportunity for it. Now, real estate's got so many different formats. There's a show that you may have seen called Love It or List It.
Kenny: I have.
Dean: I don't know whether that was just in Canada or whether it's here too. But Love It or List It. One of the most brilliant sort of branded content or subtly branded content things is Cash Pad. The show, I don't know what channel it's on, but Cash Pad is a show about this couple who are, I think they were on The Bachelor or on some show like that. And they're a couple now and they go around and they find people who have an unfinished space or underused space on their property like maybe they've got an outbuilding that's not been used. Or they've got a garage or something that could be turned into or a cabin, a pool house or something like that that they can turn into a Airbnb rental space.
The deal is that they will partner with you and they'll put in the money. Let's say you've got an outbuilding and you want to convert it to an Airbnb getaway. They'll put up the 40 or $50,000 to do the renovations and convert the space. They'll do all the decorating and furnishing and everything like that. And they'll rent it. They'll guarantee you $700 a month for four years. And then after the fours you get the property and all of the money from the things. They get to run it and manage it as an Airbnb for four years and get all the money above the $700.
Kenny: Above the 700. That's their breakpoint the 700.
Dean: Yeah.
Kenny: Interesting.
Dean: They're probably getting crushed right now because of all the things going on. But it's a model but what does it do is it gets people who are watching inspired about creating their own Airbnb space.
Kenny: It sure does. It sure does.
Dean: We could do that, right? It's like totally branded content that's in there but it's creating that. And you look at House Hunters International or Beach Hunters or Home by the Sea or all these things where you could almost just film what you normally do. Imagine, take people who are looking for oceanfront homes on the North Shore and go through that process. That could be something.
Kenny: I'm trying to think of a way because I'm lazy.
Dean: I know.
Kenny: Can I say that out loud?
Dean: It's fine if you do.
Kenny: I'm trying to think -
Dean: Do you want to know the secret of being lazy?
Kenny: I meant to use the word leverage. I meant to use the word leverage.
Dean: The secret to being lazy is to think like a mogul. You're thinking that you need to be in the show.
Kenny: That's right I'm thinking like a mogul. I don't need to be in the show.
Dean: This is the thing. This is the thing, Kenny.
Kenny: Yeah, I get it, I get it. You know I won't understand this.
Dean: You to want to be either behind the camera doing the editing. It's entertainment.
Kenny: What I really want to do is just be entertained.
Dean: Yes. And I don't know whether that's... I know there's an element of that for you for sure.
Kenny: Yeah. I have all this video, Dean, already. And I'm saying to myself as we're talking I might have to look... I don't know if it's worth thinking about it in the terms of using and leveraging being lazy to use the video that I have to try and repurpose that into something. I don't know. That might be... because I've been shooting video for such a long time and I have a tremendous amount of great... It's not all B roll. A lot of it's A roll. So, I don't know. I might be able to do something with that as well.
Dean: Yeah. The whole thing... what's the end result that you want for this to create for you is the money for you is going to come-
Kenny: I want to make more money in less time.
Dean: Exactly. I think that's really the truth. Now we're getting somewhere. Now we're getting somewhere.
Kenny: And to do that-
Dean: Part of the thing, Kenny, is that you may have a great distribution network there where... Are you still sending postcards to the oceanfront -
Kenny: We are.
Dean: ... or have you... Okay.
Kenny: Yeah, we are. Yes. Absolutely. In fact we've just recently started because of the virus bump, we're calling it, we were doing just the so-called oceanfront. We're also doing the, we'll just call them two blocks in from the ocean as well.
Dean: Yeah. Ocean adjacent.
Kenny: Yeah, ocean adjacent we'll call them. That's a great turn of phrase. We've just started doing them. We're just about to do the second mailing actually.
Dean: That's great.
Kenny: The first mailing we had, I don't know, 2000 cards went out and we had, I don't know, 30, 40 signups.
Dean: Yeah, that's awesome.
Kenny: Yeah, yeah.
Dean: That's good. Part of the interesting thing is that you might now think about because that's your real audience. Right? Is those 2000 people, that's who you want to be famous to.
Kenny: Right.
Dean: Now, the good news is that you've got hand-held distribution in that you can do video content. You can do QR codes now that are digital variable.
Kenny: Yeah.
Dean: Where you can link this QR code to that person. So, if we're mailing 2000 postcards and one's going to John Jones and one's going to Addison Sims, then you can tell when John Jones activates the QR code, you know that it was him.
Kenny: Sure. Okay. Okay.
Dean: Yeah. But here's the thing is that you could... that's part of where you could create your branded content kind of thing. To activate your, you can distribute your video content to those guys to the people, those 2000.
Kenny: So, to the people that are already indicating that are already... it's kind of a soft hand raising. They didn't go to the squeeze page, the landing page.
Dean: Right. That's exactly right.
Kenny: But they went... what would you call it? Is it a soft... I don't know.
Dean: Yeah, certainly, it's leaning in. They lean in.
Kenny: They're leaning in is right. Right. Right. Right. They're leaning in. No, I had no... I see the QR codes and I was an early adopter of QR codes.
Dean: Me too. I had-
Kenny: When they came out 10 years ago whatever. I'm sorry?
Dean: I had high hopes but they were such a hassle.
Kenny: And it flopped. It totally flopped. Now when I see them-
Dean: Well, the reason that they flopped was that you had to have an app to read them. You had to have a reader. Now-
Kenny: And you don't now?
Dean: ... the smart phones... No. Have you got a QR code in your sight there? Probably in that magazine there might be one.
Kenny: Yeah, there's got to be one here. So if I just put my camera up to it, it'll pick it up?
Dean: Yeah. That's exactly.
Kenny: Okay. I hadn't noticed that and I hadn't tried it.
Dean: Right. And that's what is going to bring it back.
Kenny: That's a education opportunity. That's an education opportunity too to have. I'm amazed that I haven't seen a QR code in here yet and I've flipped through a bunch of pages. So there's an opportunity as well.
Dean: Yes.
Kenny: Okay. Okay.
Dean: But you start to think about that kind of thing it's like I get what you're hoping to just kind of do extra stuff. Like do more different types of content. And that could be certainly one way of integrating those kind of things for people. But on a broader scale, the thing that might be worth considering is... When I first did the websites, when I first started creating money making websites, part of the thing that we did was my intention was when I came up with the words livinginwinterhaven.com, that I envisioned a website that was about living in Winter Haven and real estate was a portion of that. Now, if you imagine that you could have that same kind of content but do like a video show on living in Winter Haven, that would be a lifestyle show about the North Shore.
Kenny: Yeah.
Dean: And you could highlight different businesses, different things. When you look at adding value all the things, if your audience is homeowners of the North Shore there, that you start to think what would be... what would they want to... what would make their lives better?
Kenny: Sure.
Dean: How can we really enhance their experience? This was my thinking. How could we enhance the experience of somebody living in Winter Haven? Because they spend so much more time living in Winter Haven than they do selling their house.
Kenny: They sure do.
Dean: They spend years and years and years and we're trying to nurture this relationship with them hoping to be that we're in touch with them when the time comes for them to sell.
Kenny: Ideally I'd like to be living with them for the whole time they're in Winter Haven. Right?
Dean: There you go.
Kenny: So that when it comes time to sell they just say Kenny.
Dean: But there's the thing. If you start to think about that are you the best person in the world to answer the questions and help the homeowners of the North Shore with any of their concerns or problems?
Kenny: I am.
Dean: And that's really the thing. Do you think they'll ever run out of hopes and desires? If you start thinking about making your... The intention is to be the greatest blessing for homeowners in the North Shore. That's going to be-
Kenny: You mean like I want to be their hero?
Dean: Yes. That's exactly right.
Kenny: I want to be somebody's hero.
Dean: Who do you want to be a hero to?
Kenny: Who do you want to be a hero to?
Dean: Yes.
Kenny: It's on my nightstand. I've been reading it.
Dean: There you go.
Kenny: Who do you want to be a hero to?
Dean: Yeah, you start to think about that as the driving force of everything. That's really what it comes down to. You look at that's what drove The Furrow for John Deere.
Kenny: That's right. That's what drove the BMW commercials.
Dean: Yeah.
Kenny: Everybody watching those commercials wants to be the driver.
Dean: Yes.
Kenny: They all want to be Cleve Owens.
Dean: Yeah. You start to think if that becomes the cool thing, you start to really make the North Shore the star because everybody loves to feel proud about where they live kind of thing.
Kenny: Right. Right. And the nice thing about some of the content that we did create is that people might pass it around too. They might say to their friends, "Look at what our agent did." Or look at what this... I might not even be their agent yet.
Dean: Yeah.
Kenny: They might just say, "Look at what this guy does.
Dean: Real Housewives of Beverly. I mean that's something, right? The househusbands of Gloucester. That's kind of fun stuff when you start to think about-
Kenny: It sure is. Yeah.
Dean: ... what you could do. You're like what if you created a thing about-
Kenny: I'm not going to sleep tonight, Dean.
Dean: But what's big in Gloucester?
Kenny: Right now striper fishing.
Dean: Okay.
Kenny: Striper fishing in August, that's huge. They have tournaments and million-dollar boats going out with $15,000 fishing rods to catch stripers and win a $400 prize.
Dean: Yeah. I just think about it now that you look at the formats are all there. There's lots of formats that we could see. And you think about distribution now being so easy that if you think about the... how many mile radius would it be if you were just to...
Kenny: It's not much.
Dean: No.
Kenny: It's not much. It's only like 15 from the top of the circle to the bottom of the circle. The radius is...
Dean: Do you know the-
Kenny: ... 15 miles?
Dean: Do you know the website and the TV show and the whole thing TMZ? You must know about that?
Kenny: I don't.
Dean: The entertainment very popular. It's like what People Magazine kind of was online. It's a gossip-
Kenny: Breaking stories.
Dean: ... and breaking stories.
Kenny: Celebrity news. I see it, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Dean: TMZ stands for what was back in the old days the 30-mile zone which was what the kind of gentleman's agreement that the press had with the celebrities and the stars that they would only cover what happened in the 30-mile zone around Hollywood. If you're in... They're not going to chase you up to Santa Barbara to do things. So all these things if they were doing something they shouldn't be or with somebody they shouldn't be, as long as they keep it up in Santa Barbara or go outside of the 30-mile zone, anything you did in the 30-mile zone is fair game.
Kenny: Wow.
Dean: And so what I came to think about now is that what we really... what the aspiration is is to be 15 mile famous. That's what your focus is. If you can select and as a real estate agent you're only allowed to... you're not allowed to select certain areas within Facebook now. But even if you run within a 15-mile radius of... that encompasses all of the North Shore there, that's really what we're looking for. How many homeowners are there there?
Kenny: I don't know at the top of my head. I'm going to say-
Dean: What's the population of the North Shore?
Kenny: I'm going to say... 50,000 people. 60,000 people.
Dean: Right, so nothing. Easy to manage.
Kenny: Easy. Yep. Yep.
Dean: So, when you look at that, imagine if we had this format of we're going to create something called living in the North Shore. Is that a common word that they would all-
Kenny: Living on the North Shore. Yeah. Living on the North Shore.
Dean: Okay. So, if we think about-
Kenny: So living on Cape Ann. Living on Cape Ann would even be better. But living on the North Shore either or.
Dean: Okay. Living on Cape Ann makes more sense because that could be... the North Shore could be anywhere really. But, say living on Cape Ann as the thing, now what would be all of the possible types of content that you could create that would fit in that category?
Kenny: It's endless. Housing. Entertainment. Restaurants. Schools. History. Voting. Golfing. I'd need to hire somebody full time to keep up with it.
Dean: Well, but here's the thing is that you might... But the point is it's enough of a need that you could... you want to think about it as a separate thing. If you really want to go all in on this, it's like treating it like you're a media company.
Kenny: Right, right. Treat it like I'm a media company. Okay, so what does that mean?
Dean: Like you're Martha Stewart. Martha Stewart Omni Living Media. Think about what that means what she was saying. She essentially was all things living. How big a category is living? But she can have categories of that where she would have shows about decorating and entertaining and cooking and crafts and gardening and all the things that made a life. That made living living well. That was really the thing. Weddings. All of those thing. She had all kinds of categories around that.
But you start to think about that as a really interesting thing. There's a bank in Denmark called Jyske Bank which has... they started a media company and they would do all financial reporting and news coverage and everything. It's not even about that it's to promote the bank it's just that it's owned by Jyske Bank TV and they call themselves the only media company that owns a bank.
Kenny: Wow.
Dean: That's kind of funny right?
Kenny: Wow. Yeah, but it's brilliant.
Dean: Yeah.
Kenny: I'm not going to sleep tonight, Dean.
Dean: I love it but that's the kind of thing that now you start to think about. You can align yourself with other people who have the same kind of desire but in the other categories. I went all the way through this-
Kenny: They could align exactly, yeah. Restaurateurs, boat dealers, architects.
Dean: In 1997 I did this whole thing of there was a book and here's the book that you want to read to to go deep on this right now. There's a book called The One to One Future and it was written in 1995 so it's 25 years old. It was so futuristic at the time. It was very sort of difficult to do but it was basically talking about a time where privacy would be a thing and that we would have an opportunity to market one to one to people based on what their likes are. Somebody's going to know all of these things and he created the role of being an advocate. So, the book was fascinating then but it was difficult to execute. Now, 25 years later-
Kenny: We're there.
Dean: ... the book is now it's actually a playbook. You can do it. That reminds me. I got to call Billie Bishop. I gave him a copy of my copy of The One to One Future when we were talking about his electrical company. But, you start to think now about when I was doing this 1997 when I was thinking about living Winter Haven, I thought about what do people, what are sort of the categories of living in Winter Haven and you start... Number one is your home. Where do people spend money? Where do people spend money is what it is. What are the categories on somebody's budget?
They spend money on their home. They spend money on their cars. They spend money on food. They spend money on kids. They spend money on health. They spend money on their money. And they spend money on themselves. Right? So, every dollar that they spend fits into one of those seven buckets. The seven categories kind of thing.
Kenny: Right.
Dean: And then you start to think. If you're the head of the home category, think about all the things that go into home ownership. All the way from home improvements and gardening and all of that stuff that's along that category. There's an infinite number of opportunities to be a great inspiration for home owners.
Kenny: Sure. Yes. Yes. It doesn't end.
Dean: That's right.
Kenny: Doesn't end.
Dean: So, you think just by category though, that's where living... think about just that category, the home stuff is a really good opportunity.
Kenny: Well, I just bought a couple of new domain names, Dean.
Dean: I like it. You're an action taker.
Kenny: Yeah. I'll be looking up living on Cape Ann very soon. But then I'm saying to myself maybe Cape Ann living is better. I don't think it matters, but that's kind of where my head goes sometimes. What were you going to say?
Dean: I think it's putting the action in it. Putting the thing as a verb that way. Living in-
Kenny: It's a verb. I love the verb. Love the verb.
Dean: Living in Cape Ann. But you start to think now because the ability to create media like this to create things is there. Imagine if you take different formats. Like start to think about ideas. What are some of the most successful shows, the successful things that we all love? What are the models that are proven and durable? And you look at something like you look at 60 Minutes for instance. And so you think what would the producers of 60 Minutes do if they were confined to the 15-mile zone of the North Shore.
You start to think what's the model of what 60 Minutes is it's every Sunday night. And it's the three most interesting stories that are going on in the zeitgeist right now. And so you start to think about what's going on and affecting the people of Cape Ann?
Kenny: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Dean: It's kind of an interesting-
Kenny: It's very interesting. It's very interesting and it's not going to be that hard to get to it. And with the iPhone, with my wireless mic that I just bought, with a couple of very basic tools. Yeah, we're going to have some fun with this. We're going to have-
Dean: But now you start to think about it that you're doing a bigger thing. I don't know whether you've heard me talk about name droppers, but when my friend Neil and I were running a painting company we started another company called Name Droppers and we would send college kids out in the evening and on the weekends to survey people in neighborhoods to see if they were planning on doing any home improvement projects over the summer. And we had the whole sheet where... Because all we were looking for was people who were going to do painting. But if we found that somebody was going to get siding or windows or a roof or driveway or landscaping or a pool or a fence or a deck or a hot tub or any of those things, we had relationships with other businesses to refer those things to sell the leads to. And we turned out... we were able to turn out expense into a profit center. We were making money generating our leads.
And so I think the same thing if you think about what you're doing there. If you could think about it that how could you create a show that's a profitable show that also generates leads for you. It's also an exposure vehicle because you'll have room for advertising front and back and the whole stuff.
Kenny: One of my videographers and I talked about this several years ago. About the value of putting together content like this. This type of video content and engaging other people in the process and then selling space to them because it was all about houses and it was all about Cape Ann and it was this, that and the other thing.
And I was just too busy working in my business instead of being able to step back and do what you and I are doing right now which is work on the business. I'm finally at a point where I can step back and look at it and say, wow, one, it would make us some money to do that. And two, it would be I hate to use the word again, but it would be enormously entertaining to me, Dean.
Dean: Be a media mogul. Finally.
Kenny: I want to be a media mogul. Yeah. I'm getting too old. I'm getting too long in the tooth to be on camera.
Dean: That's it. What are you going to do with all that money anyway? You're hoarding it up there. You might as well invest it in creating something. Imagine if you started, you created a media production company that can do video content like this. And you get some, find some kids that are... college graduate kids that are... want to be in media. It's tough for them right now to... can't go back to college or do stuff. But they're digital native like this.
Kenny: That's right. That's right.
Dean: They know all about editing and creating content and you create this whole thing. I started thinking is overtaking world class production and ideas to that 15-mile zone. What I was starting to say about... and this is different this year than others, but the little league. Imagine if somebody covered the little league like it was Major League Baseball. All the parents, everybody would love to, "Hey, you're on this week-
Kenny: Oh, my god it would be so much fun. Yeah.
Dean: Yes, exactly. But you'd take it seriously. Give it... you're over reacting to what it is and it becomes a thing. And everything to reach the 50,000 people so you've got-
Kenny: Right, right, right.
Dean: It's an interesting because there's no stopping and there's no gatekeepers.
Kenny: Okay, so you said something a few minutes ago about it could be on Amazon.
Dean: Yeah.
Kenny: I haven't even looked. Does Amazon have a place to post on Amazon Prime?
Dean: Yes. Yes.
Kenny: Didn't know that.
Dean: Yeah. You can charge for it or you can have it be available for Amazon Prime subscribers. Yeah. And Facebook has the same thing. Facebook's done a nice job with their Facebook Watch. So you start to now create this show but Amazon Prime sounds like that's the real deal. You can certainly-
Kenny: It's so legitimate.
Dean: ... put it on... Yeah. You put it on YouTube and put it on the same but you can promote it as being on Amazon.
Kenny: On Amazon Prime too so it's credible, so credible.
Dean: Yeah. Yeah.
Kenny: Wow. How would you like... remember Tin Men the movie?
Dean: Yeah.
Kenny: We're canvassing neighborhoods and we're looking for two houses. We want the before house and we don't want the after house?
Dean: Right.
Kenny: We want to photograph your house as a before house.
Dean: Yes.
Kenny: Before what it looks like when we do it siding job. But what about how do I get to be the after house?
Dean: Exactly. And that's the thing you know. You start thinking about featuring maybe somebody's getting a deck done and you do a feature story on the deck but it also happens to highlight the decking company.
Kenny: The decking and the deck installer and the guy that dug the deck footings. There's an awful lot that goes into it.
Dean: That's what I'm talking about.
Kenny: Yeah. Wow. Okay.
Dean: It's so much fun.
Kenny: Yeah. Yeah.
Dean: Do you feel like there's enough to entertain you there?
Kenny: I do. I do. I think I might even make a couple of people happy by doing it.
Dean: Amen.
Kenny: If I make enough people happy, I'll get happy, right? By helping those people get what they want I get what I want.
Dean: Yeah, that's exactly right.
Kenny: That's all we're trying to do, Dean, right?
Dean: I love it. We want to get you 15-mile famous.
Kenny: My own TMZ.
Dean: That's all it takes. That's right. That's it. The FMZ, 15-mile zone. That's you.
Kenny: The 15-mile zone, the FMZ, right.
Dean: That's the minimum you can target on Facebook now as a real estate agent.
Kenny: Is it? 15.
Dean: Yeah, you can't go to any demographic or geographic targeting outside of a 15-mile zone. You want to stake your bubble and then just go to town.
Kenny: The plan man.
Dean: It's pretty exciting.
Kenny: So when do I get to report back?
Dean: Well, let's not talk about it. Let's use the tongue in your shoes no the tongue in your mouth.
Kenny: I think we should check back in by the end of the year.
Dean: Okay. That's what we want. I hope you'll keep me posted anyway.
Kenny: Of course I will.
Dean: Yes.
Kenny: Yes. Yes.
Dean: Well, it's all very exciting. I always love talking to you.
Kenny: And I to you.
Dean: The good news I'd love to see that you've expanded to 2000 homes in the ocean adjacent homes now. That's good.
Kenny: Yes. We're doing adjacent, yes.
Dean: Yes. Ocean adjacent. I like it. All right, Kenny.
Kenny: All right, man.
Dean: I think we've said it all. You've got enough to keep you busy there.
Kenny: That's right I do. I do. Thank you. It's great to be a double guest.
Dean: Exactly. It's leverage. You're on two shows at once.
Kenny: Leverage, right, right.
Dean: And it didn't even hurt.
Kenny: No it didn't. My wife Tara's going to be tossing and turning tonight too because I'm telling you right now, I'm going to be awake with my Moleskine all night taking notes.
Dean: I love it. I can't wait. I can't wait. All right, man. I will talk to you soon.
Kenny: All right, man. See you later.
Dean: Thanks. Bye.
Kenny: Take care. Bye.
Dean: And there we have it, another great episode. Thanks for listening in. If you want to continue the conversation, you want to go deeper in how the Profit Activators can apply to your business, two things you can do. Right now you can go to morecheeselesswhiskers.com and you can download a copy of the More Cheese Less Whiskers book and you can listen to the back episodes, of course, if you're just listening here on iTunes.
Secondly, the thing that we talk about in applying all of the 8-Profit Activators are part of the breakthrough DNA process. You can download a book and a scorecard and watch a video all about the 8-Profit Activators at breakthroughdna.com. And that's a great place to start the journey in applying this scientific approach to growing your business. That's really the way we think about breakthrough DNA as an operating system that you can overlay on your existing business and immediately look for insights there. So, that's it for this week. Have a great week and we will be back next time with another episode of More Cheese Less Whiskers.