Why messaging beats all in video and events, and other lessons with Morty Silber

We may occasionally sound like a broken record here at One Man Brand when we say again and again that no matter the form, great marketing is all about having the right messaging at the core. Figuring out the branding message, or the copy that will provoke a quick buying decision, is the key first ingredient for a small business looking to build and grow successfully.

That’s certainly one of the things our buddy and Wizard of Ads partner Morty Silber preaches to his clients for the innovative and attention-grabbing video campaigns he produces from his home base in Montreal. When Morty was in Austin in late 2019 for some meetings with other Wizard of Ads partners he joined us to talk about how he helps his small business clients make videos that will stand out and resonate with audiences.

“You can make it all fancy and hire the best choreogrpahers but if you don’t have the message down pat, nothing really works from a selling standpoint. All the fancy stuff aside, depending on how much you want to spend, start with the message and work your way up,” he said. “A bad message in a fancy video doesn’t get you where you want to go.”

Morty is also a big mover when it comes to creating impactful and valuable events for his clients who want to take advantage of the power of experiential marketing.

Event producers need to start with deciding how they can deliver the most value to potential attendees who have been identified as the target market. And rather than relying on discounts to boost attendance with lower-value customers, he said it’s better to bulk up on the programming and keynote guest speakers who will make an event a can’t miss proposition.

“Make it meaningful and find something they can relate to,” he said. “Understand what the target market wants to hear, and say it in an emotional way.”