The RTO Show "Let's talk Rent to Own"

Innovative Video Marketing Strategies w/ Justin Burns at RTO World 2024

• Pete Shau • Season 4 • Episode 21

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Curious about how a TV producer makes waves in the rent-to-own industry? Join us as we chat with Justin Burns, Director of Marketing for Full O Pep Appliances, dba American Rental Home Furnishings, live from APRO's RTO World 2024 convention. Justin brings his unique perspective from a 15-year TV production career and shares the intricate process of crafting marketing strategies tailored to diverse markets. Learn about the effectiveness of CTV and OTT, and discover Justin's innovative thoughts on leveraging YouTube for targeted marketing. Our conversation is rich with insights on the importance of continuous learning and adaptation in this dynamic field.

Ever wondered how authenticity can transform your business? This episode dives deep into the power of video marketing and personal branding. Justin offers practical tips for creating engaging content, balancing high-quality evergreen pieces with frequent updates, and using simple tools like iPhones for effective video production. We also explore the significance of genuine relationships in the rent-to-own industry, revealing how authenticity builds trust and drives success. From the challenges faced by store managers to the importance of real connections, this episode is a treasure trove of actionable insights for anyone in the marketing or RTO sector.

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Pete Shau:

Hello and welcome to the RTO Show. I'm your host, b Chow. Today we're covering podcast guest Justin Burns, director of Marketing for Fuller Pep Appliances, dba American Rental Home Furnishings, who stopped by the Gerard Norman Marketing Booth during APRO's RTO World 2024 convention in Orlando, florida. This is where we had the RTO Show podcast set up for multiple guests to just stop by and randomly talk to us about rent-to-own, right there in a convention hall. Now, during several of the next few podcasts we released, these are the interviews that came from those impromptu discussions. This was a great convention where lots of amazing RTO industry leaders and operators came to learn about new ideas and tactics, discuss current rental-owned events and buy some new product. You can't forget about that. Just as a side note, this interview literally happened in the convention hall right in front of the vendor hall where the product vendors were located, so it was a little bit loud and alive during the interview. We did do our best to take out the secondary sounds and voices, but we do think that we captured the conversation overall. So listen, if you can, past all the rest of it and enjoy the interview.

Pete Shau:

Also, I want to let you know season four is coming to an end with the release of RTO World 2024 Flash Interviews. That's because it's time for season five of the RTO Show podcast, and the entirety of season five will be done in audio and video format podcast. And the entirety of season five will be done in audio and video format. So make sure you find my YouTube channel, the RTO show podcast, and make sure you subscribe to us on there as well, so you don't miss anything new. Now you can also follow me on Facebook, instagram and LinkedIn, as well as find us on Spotify or Apple podcasts.

Pete Shau:

And remember, this podcast wouldn't be here without your support. So if you'd like to become a sponsor for the show, please head on over to the website at the RTOshowpodcastcom, click on the sponsors page and if you're on your phone, click on the three lines on the top of the homepage and then go to the sponsors page and show your support through the links. Your help is always appreciated. Thank you so much and, with that being said, here's the Flash Podcast with Justin Burns just outside RTO World 2024 Main Vendor Hall. Hey guys, we're back at the RTO Show booth right now. Rto World 24 with Justin and Gerard. How you doing First off real quick. Why don't you say your name? Introduce?

Pete Shau:

yourself. Who are you? Where are you from?

Justin Burns:

Absolutely, my name is Justin Burns, director of Marketing for Full of Pep Appliances. Dba American Rental Home F furnishings, david, david, david, david's the man, the myth, the legend. But yeah, we're based out of Bloomington. We got about 54 stores spread out over five states, so we're in Indiana, kentucky, tennessee, virginia, north Carolina.

Jeraud Norman:

We're in.

Justin Burns:

Virginia Happy to be here. Pennington Gap, beautiful, beautiful country.

Pete Shau:

Listen, when we went to Indiana to do the show, to do the RTO World beautiful and I love what I saw. I just wish I was in there more. You know what I mean, but I love the area, absolutely beautiful. But you're in marketing, right I am. Now what is the difference between what you did and what you do now? Because we talked about this a lot. You were like in the TV background yes, right, and so you have so much to offer. Yet we do things a little bit differently here. We're not as mainstream as we should be. How do you tailor what you did to what you do now?

Justin Burns:

It took me 15 years working in the TV industry to really you know, hard work, starting from the bottom and learning everything I could, to then obviously fall into being a producer and learning that industry. So I'm kind of taking the same approach here. I'm coming in like I'm in elementary school, right? I'm in first grade in the RTO school and I know nothing, right? I ask a lot of questions, I'm curious and that's one of the reasons why I'm honored to be here today, because everyone is so forthcoming in their experiences here but I haven't truly figured that out yet.

Justin Burns:

To be honest, as far as what we need to do Now, we all know that CTV and OTT is effective. Where I struggle with is what's the scope right? We're spread out. We're in so many diverse markets. Is it one size fits all, is it not? So that's what I mean by. I'm still in this learning phase, where then I can be like okay, here's what we're going to do, and this is why I believe it's going to work. And here's, you know, I need to do my homework more, and that's all I'm doing right now.

Pete Shau:

Well, I'm glad you're here at the show, because the truth is, this is the place to find people who can really help answer that question.

Pete Shau:

For instance, Jeraud does this on a regular basis and you're coming into this to tailor it to a specific company for a specific way, in multiple markets, to get it done.

Pete Shau:

I actually don't know anybody who does it better than he does, and that's why he's a sponsor of the show, because I'm going to be honest with you, that's why I care about that.

Pete Shau:

But when you're talking about those approaches because I know we talked about it the other day have you ever thought let me do a YouTube, right, so you're going to keep the cost down, you know how to get production done, you know how to write it out, you know how to script it, you know how to produce it and then, as you do it, tailor your YouTube approach to certain markets, like, let's say, a certain way, and you might be able to do a commercial two or three different ways the same day as you're doing it. Maybe a couple of different approaches, maybe one, maybe a couple different approaches. Maybe one person is more a latino american, one person is more a female mom, or whatever the case, whatever, whatever you're trying to approach and then send it out so that at one state is maybe doing something different, but not necessarily so different that the production cost was like crazy, is that something that works?

Justin Burns:

I mean, I, I, yeah, I think you're on the right track there. And something that we've talked off, you know, off camera about was, um, the idea of having, you know, you shoot three commercials. Right, you got an evergreen commercial, absolutely right. You have one that is more um, conceptualized, scripted, and then you have one that's promo. It's, it's really you're just going to be, it's just going to be that the promotion that you're really pumping out right now, regardless of what it is your big black friday or you know, we at american rental we have a a few different events that are big for us. We have our race into savings, which typically happens right around the indy 500, and also our kentucky market, the derby, so so we kind of have those big promotions, so things like that. But I think you're right. I mean, again, I have the resources. What I'm trying to do is figure out the budget on it Because, coming from my previous background, the budgets would kind of blow your mind what we're paying yes.

Justin Burns:

You know what you pay a professional and, I'm sure, Cleek. I talked to John Cleek and his wife Gracious. They were offering up a lot and they do amazing stuff. But they're right, it makes a difference. The quality person that you're hiring makes a huge difference. And of course, you know there's, there's cameras, I think it is. I struggle with what will be enough to get it across.

Pete Shau:

Let me ask you a question, because this is something I want to refer to you, because we are certain things. You've seen what I've done. I've got some scripts out there. We've kind of laid it out. We have a plan. We're starting with this Next scene. Is this Next scene? Is this? How effective is that, though? Have you seen an RTO versus? Let me grab a camera and just put you through the paces. This is my delivery driver. This is what he does every day. Say hello to this guy. This is my birthday. It's not scripted, it's off the cuff. It's more TikTok-ish in the sense where it's real life happening at real time. How does that relate versus, you think, a more scripted approach and, of course, we're always talking about, from a monetary standpoint, right, can you get more for less, or do you really need to go that scripted, or is it half and half? Is it one of those things where you need to go both, because you need to be realistic, but you also need to have a good commercial with all the content?

Jeraud Norman:

Honestly, I feel like, for a starting point to using the phone, the scripts are good, but the whole benefit of being in a local market is to have that no like and trust, right. So when you do the scripted thing, it's a different level of entertainment. So one of my mentors always used to say entertain, educate, execute. Right, so you don't have to necessarily go scripted to enter, to entertain people, but that entertainment factor keeps you. It's like a jingle keeps you, keeps things more memorable. Right, but I feel like to an extent when it's social media, um, obviously, like I, I think I did one high end production and I liked it and like what my mentor said, because he does them all the time. He said usually that helps with the brand recognition. But where I get the sales, or more sales, is when I use my phone or when we have you know he has cameras and stuff. But when it's not a high end production, right, because then at that point it's like it works, but you just have way more access to this. It's way more affordable. The scripts they're easy to create and at the same time, if they can get a feel for who you guys are, like you said off the cuff, I think that's what brings them in right, because, like, I don't know you Well, I know you now, right, but I didn't know you. Well, I know you now, right, but I didn't know you at first, right, yeah, so us having a conversation and meeting the same thing how I met Pete, it was all organic and, granted, it didn't happen on video, but it's a version of video what networking in real life is, so you can capture that moment. I think that speaks louder, right? I think, if anything, you do a higher, if you can get the high end production first, you do it because then again, that brings brand recognition, it'll pay more attention and at the same time, if you can't just go straight into what makes you guys people, what separates you guys, what's different, and let them see your team, right, because that's where they're coming to meet at the store.

Jeraud Norman:

Like last real quick story, I did a vlog when I first started doing my marketing company. It was called 12 weeks to a 10K agency, because when you're doing marketing, getting to that $10,000 a month mark is like the standard you got to get there before you take off. So I started recording myself every day, right, I didn't think anybody was watching my videos. I went to San Diego for the first conference where all these people were and even though they never commented or anything like that, everybody there knew who I was and I didn't know anyone and that just showed me the power of video.

Jeraud Norman:

It's a lesson I can never unlearn, because they watched me. They knew about the times I went to the doctors, the time I went to Jiu-Jitsu with my son, the injuries I went through, the time I was walking through shopping centers, getting rejected and still keeping a smile on my face and just going to the next one. So they knew who they were dealing with. I just didn't know them. So it put me in a place of being humble because now I got to learn someone. But then it erased that whole first step of having to close the gap. I like it. Oh, I like it.

Justin Burns:

He's spot on. I mean, at least so far, my experience is, I think it's two different things. So it's frequency, what's the medium? So let's just say website right, I think you can do. You want to save the high end material, right, and you spend the budget for something that's going to live longer, right. So it would be, let's say, we want to put it on our webpage and that's just going to live there, and it's kind of who we are. This is who we are, this is our values, and this is why we've been around for 43 years. What have you right? America or no, why we've been around for 43 years? What have you right? American? No. But then I agree with your frequency. I think you do need to find whatever that is For radio.

Justin Burns:

We have certain stores where some of our managers, they're the voice, they are the voice and face of that store in that area and they know them. So every time her voice is, she's like hey, I'm blah, blah, blah from your local American Round Store. Here it's me again. You know that creates what you're talking about. People see her at the grocery store, they understand and she's able to say come on in. So if you have those available to you then yes, I think you're right.

Justin Burns:

It's easy as really quick, flipping around doing a selfie and saying a few lines or a few things. And even from a marketing standpoint, we have done with some of our advertisers, we've done favors for discounts and stuff like that. We've done quick testimonials. Right, we have some we haven't read. Yeah, we're really quick, and that is as you said, on your iPhone, put it in the cinematic mode and just find a cool background. Typically, what has worked for us is our showroom in Bloomington and I would shoot it just like that, get a couple different takes and then I'd grab some B-roll and then I'd just cut it together really quickly and throw some quick little jingling. This guy's a producer, you tell.

Pete Shau:

I can see it in the way you say it. I mean, he's cutting it down, he's processing it.

Justin Burns:

I'm taking takes, I'm doing but it's a if it's, it's a different, the. The biggest difference from what I, what I used to do until now, is that now it's like oh, I'm, I'm holding the camera, I'm manning the audio, I and I haven't had to do that for years. I was typically producing so and and running it. So I would tell the cameras what you know, I'd tell the professional camera operator or a director of photography. Here's what we're looking for. It's a collaboration. But now it's more like I don't have a video department, I don't have an audio department. It's me, and I think my biggest struggle and this is probably a lot of people out there is finding the time. We have so much to do, so you just have to find the time to do it and don't overthink it, and then just do it and put it out there and see what happens. I don't think you're going to get it right the first time.

Jeraud Norman:

You just got to get out there, but that's something we've talked about and this is something that I've learned through my time. It's document, don't create. Technically, documentation is a form of creation, but when you're documenting, then you're not having to create. It just makes it so much easier, and that's the power of Facebook Live. Now, everybody doesn't want to go live, but when you go on live, you don't have to edit, it just is what it is and it's done. But if they're documenting what they're doing throughout the day like you said, catch a picture of a delivery driver or get a little interaction with him or her it's documenting what's happening versus staging, because when I think the time component comes in is when you have to script and people feel like they have to do a certain thing.

Pete Shau:

Oh God, I hate it when you put a script in front of somebody and they're trying to read it and they turn into somebody else and you're just like but I am, you know, I am killing me.

Pete Shau:

You're killing me, but I always thought it was a, it was a dual, a dual sided approach, right? I always thought the way I'd like to do it is like six a year, right, we have. We always have an evergreen. You're going to have four seasons, no matter what you want to do. You want to do tax time, you want to do summertime, you guys want to do, whether it's your mission statement, whether it's something that you're going to run constantly, but for whatever reason, this is your story, right? So it could be a type of evergreen. It could be too evergreen, right? But I think you need to have dual content. Yes, no-transcript one to you. So be careful when billy's at your house again.

Justin Burns:

Oh yeah, he's, he's you. I think you got a career here. No, but you're. I mean, you're right. It again, it is it's. It just depends on the audience, audience and your medium, if it's going to be youtube or if it's going to be on facetime or if it's going to live on your site. Whatever the long term is, yeah, I like to live on the site.

Jeraud Norman:

I think that and again, resources, not everyone.

Justin Burns:

And then you probably know this, dealing with a lot of your store managers. They aren't comfortable, they are not comfortable in front of the camera, they are scared, and then they overthink, and then they're like I can't do it, and then they don't post anything. So it's, how do you connect with them on a human level to be like chill, don't worry.

Pete Shau:

Rule number one breathe, well, breathe Correct. What I will say is and I've done this several times and I'm going to end up doing a little bit more because, now that I'm more settled into the market, it's video time. I'm going to say this and I don't want anybody to feel like I'm going to single them out of my guys if they're all listening, but I will turn on the camera in the middle of absolute pandemonium. I have no idea what's going on. I have no idea what's going on. I have no idea. It's just, oh, you know what. That's the best way to do it. It's video time. What? No Boop, we're on.

Pete Shau:

Hey, this is, he's worried about being on the camera. You see that, guys, this guy's worried about being on the camera. I don't even know why, because he's already sold the sofa. Not careful, he's gonna sell this one too. So why don't you guys get this one to have this in the leather version? You know, come get it today and then I will make sure that he calms down by the time he gets to your house. Maybe I even have him.

Pete Shau:

Bring you a smoothie. Call me at.

Jeraud Norman:

Oh my gosh, you're a machine.

Pete Shau:

Well, dude, because it's because I I like getting them in, because I feel like sometimes you don't point the camera at them, they get to go no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Pete Shau:

And you gotta be like no, you're there, somebody's going to see you say no, no, no, but of course you got to want to make sure they're not going to kill you after it's all done,

Jeraud Norman:

true, true

Pete Shau:

, but at the same time I feel like sometimes you got to jumpstart it. You just got to breathe, you got to break the ice. It's got to be okay, because the truth is, I can't be here making these videos every day. Right, and the consistency too, because when you break into that social media platform, you have to have a consistency, because people start expecting it, the algorithm starts expecting it, and then what happens? You get into that thing. Document don't create. You can't do the same thing all the time because, listen, I ran this special last week and the week before and the week before. Everybody knows 9 cents gets the sofa. I don't need to hear that again. So it's got to be something different. This guy's delivering today. Tomorrow it's employee recognition, whatever.

Justin Burns:

You're absolutely right. I mean and something we would always do in production sometimes we are interviewing people that have never been interviewed before and you do such a great job of it on a weekly basis. But the cameras are rolling and most of the time those little moments between the talent if it's just a husband-wife combo or what have you on doing a dual interview the magic is those little moments when they don't realize we're rolling and we use those. So with that you're right, it's breaking the ice a little bit with them. And sometimes you're right, just shock and just get them, because then that's when the real human element comes out in people and they're not pretending and they're not thinking about a script, and they comes out in people and they're not pretending and they're not thinking about a script and not in their head.

Pete Shau:

And now, when they enjoy your brand, because it's not fake, it's not scripted, it is who it is. Even though you have to have that every once in a while, these are who they really are.

Justin Burns:

You go to the store, you're going to see sam for who sam is exactly and and and I can't do literally I can't do what our store managers do on a day-to-day basis. It's incredible and the customer relationships that they have is phenomenal. And when I first started I would just say as a freelancer with the company was I was brought in in between projects Mr David would hire me to take. Have you ever heard of a Matterport camera? Most people know it in commercial real estate or real estate, home house real estate. You do a 360 tour, right, you're on realtor. Oh yeah, oh yeah, those 360 tours, that's what this camera does. It's incredible what it can do, the capability so that was something we discussed. And he's like, well, I bought one of those cameras I get out of here. He's like do you think you can learn? And I was like, yeah, just 54 stores and we have, you can take a tour, a 3d tour, of all of our stores. Now, now we always, obviously, product change is over, so we are in the process of updating it regularly, every eight. We'll do like six, eight months.

Justin Burns:

But when I was there that is when I was it that was my first real glimpse into what store managers deal with on a day-to-day. But the relationships and it's all natural, they are just very genuine salt of the earth and they're and it's all natural. They are just very genuine salt of the earth and they're connecting and it's like you hear it out of your pockets. It's a constant transaction in this RTO world. That's something I'm learning right and I have to explain it, and so that's huge. It comes down to being real and being authentic, because our customers can see through the. You know they'll see through the BS. So that's, that's just my two cents, if you will.

Pete Shau:

The thoughts of the hour. Rto World 2024. Justin, we appreciate you coming over here. American Rentals. Jeraud Norman. He's a sponsor and he does marketing like nobody's business. If you guys have any questions, please reach out to him. Thank you so much. We'll catch you later,

Justin Burns:

thank you guys Appreciate it.

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