July 4, 2020

#5Things: Matt Benson

Apple Podcasts podcast player icon
Spotify podcast player icon
YouTube Channel podcast player icon
Google Podcasts podcast player icon
Castro podcast player icon
RSS Feed podcast player icon

In this episode of the 5 Things Series we talk to Matt Benson, Director of Marketing and Business Development at OnePointe Solutions.

Matt shares the 5 Things he can't live without:

1) Apple Music

2) Microsoft Office

3) An Empowered Team

4) LinkedIn

5) Raw Almonds + Water + Coffee


Are you getting every B2B Growth episode in your favorite podcast player?

If not, you can easily subscribe & search past episodes here.

You can also find us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Transcript
WEBVTT 1 00:00:06.240 --> 00:00:09.390 Welcome back to be tob growth. I'm Logan lyles with sweet fish media. 2 00:00:09.429 --> 00:00:13.949 Today is another episode in our five thing series where we're talking to marketing leaders 3 00:00:14.029 --> 00:00:17.910 just like you to learn the five things that they can't live without in work 4 00:00:18.109 --> 00:00:22.899 and in life. It's been great to talk tools, strategies, APPs that 5 00:00:22.940 --> 00:00:27.500 a lot of our marketing leader guests I just can't live without. Today I've 6 00:00:27.500 --> 00:00:31.300 got with me Matt Benson. He's the director of marketing and business development at 7 00:00:31.379 --> 00:00:34.219 one point solutions. Matt, how's it going today? Man, it's going 8 00:00:34.299 --> 00:00:37.250 good, man, just relaxing at home. You know, working from home. 9 00:00:37.289 --> 00:00:41.250 How about you? I? Hey, I've been used to working from 10 00:00:41.289 --> 00:00:45.369 home pre covid and I'm still enjoying it today. The kids are a little 11 00:00:45.369 --> 00:00:47.530 bit stir crazy, but you and I are going to have a good jet. 12 00:00:47.609 --> 00:00:51.439 We've already been having a good jat even before we record. So we're 13 00:00:51.479 --> 00:00:54.679 going to be talking about the five things you can't live without. Number one, 14 00:00:54.799 --> 00:01:00.079 there's there's always been some sort of audio content or music that has made 15 00:01:00.119 --> 00:01:03.960 a lot of folks list. Number one for you is your apple music subscription, 16 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:07.230 right. Yes, yeah, that's big for me. I kind of 17 00:01:07.269 --> 00:01:12.790 I've always been into music and I've always been into audio and like I find 18 00:01:12.829 --> 00:01:17.989 that at work when I really need to concentrate, there's really no better way, 19 00:01:18.030 --> 00:01:22.379 especially in like a busy office, to just like plug in some soundtracks 20 00:01:22.420 --> 00:01:26.459 or something like that. So having a nice subscription, and I mean it 21 00:01:26.540 --> 00:01:29.780 could be spotify to I just using apple music. I don't want to start 22 00:01:29.819 --> 00:01:34.049 a war over that, but yeah, I'm super big into that. I've 23 00:01:34.049 --> 00:01:37.730 been kind of jamming out to the Moana Soundtrack a lot recently. Anything Lynn 24 00:01:37.769 --> 00:01:41.530 Manuel Miranda, you know, that gets me going absolutely. Man. Every 25 00:01:41.609 --> 00:01:46.129 once in a while we just bring back around the Hamilton soundtrack around our house 26 00:01:46.329 --> 00:01:49.319 and just just plow through it. I've just got about got everything memorized, 27 00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:53.519 but you definitely don't want me to hear me saying that. I'm only so 28 00:01:53.680 --> 00:01:57.599 good as a podcast hose. We definitely don't want me singing. So number 29 00:01:57.640 --> 00:02:01.030 two for you, man. I saw this is the first time it's made 30 00:02:01.030 --> 00:02:05.709 the top five list for somebody on the show. It's Microsoft Office, and 31 00:02:06.109 --> 00:02:08.669 for me, I'm such a Google fanboy it it hurts my soul a little 32 00:02:08.710 --> 00:02:13.469 bit. So tell me a little bit about why Microsoft Office. You're such 33 00:02:13.509 --> 00:02:16.259 a die hard there and why it made your your list. Man. Okay, 34 00:02:16.580 --> 00:02:20.300 so look, I get that. I mean like back in two thousand 35 00:02:20.300 --> 00:02:23.900 and seventeen I was all about the g suite. But, you know, 36 00:02:23.979 --> 00:02:28.460 when I started at at one point we use all the Microsoft products and I 37 00:02:28.539 --> 00:02:30.370 kind of started to dig into them a little more because, you know, 38 00:02:30.409 --> 00:02:35.370 I tried using Google docs, which was what I was comfortable with, but 39 00:02:35.530 --> 00:02:38.490 it, you know, it wasn't really lining up with, you know, 40 00:02:38.610 --> 00:02:42.009 the best way to share. Like we had a one drive clouds subscription. 41 00:02:42.650 --> 00:02:46.439 And then once I like started digging in a little bit, I was actually 42 00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:53.360 really impressed with how Microsoft has completely overhauled their cloud apps and taken like, 43 00:02:53.520 --> 00:02:55.400 you know, all the you know, excel all is a huge standby and 44 00:02:55.479 --> 00:03:00.870 business and especially in marketing. The fact that you can now do so many 45 00:03:00.949 --> 00:03:06.270 interesting things with like auto saving and mobile access, I was kind of blown 46 00:03:06.310 --> 00:03:09.110 away. Like in the last year I've just completely gone all in on all 47 00:03:09.110 --> 00:03:13.659 the Microsoft office products and the fact that you can access them on your phone, 48 00:03:13.659 --> 00:03:16.620 anywhere, any computer is pretty awesome. So it's kind of like a 49 00:03:16.699 --> 00:03:20.819 revel the revelation I had. They were kind of lagging behind there for a 50 00:03:20.860 --> 00:03:23.460 while at least. In this space and you know, truth be told, 51 00:03:23.500 --> 00:03:28.889 I haven't really touched touched Microsoft office in in a couple of years now. 52 00:03:29.009 --> 00:03:31.009 But you know our director of audience growth, Dan Sanchez. By the way, 53 00:03:31.009 --> 00:03:34.610 if you're listening to this and not following him on Linkedin, he's been 54 00:03:34.969 --> 00:03:37.650 on fire lately. Go follow him. But he was saying the same thing. 55 00:03:37.729 --> 00:03:40.759 He's like, man, Microsoft is making some moves right now and they're 56 00:03:40.800 --> 00:03:46.120 doing some really things. We see them taking on zoom with Microsoft teams. 57 00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:51.080 I know a lot of folks that have had really good success there. So 58 00:03:51.479 --> 00:03:55.229 it's interesting to hear. Number three for you is an empowered team. So 59 00:03:55.389 --> 00:03:59.430 it's not just your team. I know you want to, you know, 60 00:03:59.830 --> 00:04:02.229 to the Horn of your team, and you rightfully should, but why'd you 61 00:04:02.270 --> 00:04:05.710 phrase it this way? And empowered team is one of the things that you 62 00:04:05.750 --> 00:04:11.460 can't live without. that. Yeah, so I'll kind of take a step 63 00:04:11.500 --> 00:04:14.180 back. I know, like one of your past guest Chris Ronzio, he 64 00:04:14.259 --> 00:04:19.220 mentioned he listens to Craig grow shells leadership podcast. I'm also a big fan 65 00:04:19.300 --> 00:04:23.500 of that. We actually all of the managers out at one point. Every 66 00:04:23.579 --> 00:04:26.730 Monday we were meeting and we start the meeting with like a ten minute group 67 00:04:26.769 --> 00:04:30.250 listening session of a Craigro Shell podcast. So one of the things he says 68 00:04:30.449 --> 00:04:38.680 is that good leaders create functioning teams and great leaders create empowered teams, something, 69 00:04:38.879 --> 00:04:42.240 something along those lines. But I've kind of integrated that into the way 70 00:04:42.279 --> 00:04:46.040 I think. And so at one point we sell, like we have the 71 00:04:46.160 --> 00:04:51.910 market to a life science or commercial or an industrial sector. Like we're not 72 00:04:51.949 --> 00:04:57.829 a traditional software business where manufacturing company and our marketing team isn't really you know, 73 00:04:58.430 --> 00:05:03.029 generally has a lot of science background. So we're all learning as we're 74 00:05:03.029 --> 00:05:05.029 going, you know, and if I had to micromanage, you know, 75 00:05:05.230 --> 00:05:10.259 everyone, it really wouldn't work out. So like having a team that like 76 00:05:10.420 --> 00:05:13.420 feels like they can go out and make decisions and go out and learn things 77 00:05:13.459 --> 00:05:16.620 for themselves and like contributing ways I physically can't. I think it is so 78 00:05:16.699 --> 00:05:19.220 key for me and it's that's kind of why I phrase it the way it 79 00:05:19.259 --> 00:05:23.329 did. It's like if my team is empowered to, you know, make 80 00:05:23.370 --> 00:05:26.209 their own decisions, that's going to be it's gonna be a game changer for 81 00:05:26.329 --> 00:05:29.529 me. I love that. Man, there there was a specific episode of 82 00:05:29.610 --> 00:05:33.209 that podcast of the craigro Shell leadership podcast where he talked about delegation and it 83 00:05:33.290 --> 00:05:36.560 kind of leans into this empowering thing. He was like you need to find 84 00:05:36.639 --> 00:05:40.680 things to let go, you need to find a person to empower and he 85 00:05:40.759 --> 00:05:45.560 kind of pushed like traditional wisdom kind of says if someone can do something ninety 86 00:05:45.639 --> 00:05:48.240 percent as good as you can right now, you should delegate it. He's 87 00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:53.069 like lower that bar if they if they can do it fifty percent as well, 88 00:05:53.470 --> 00:05:57.310 but they have a lot of potential upside to get to that ninety or 89 00:05:57.350 --> 00:06:00.269 even a hundred percent or beyond, then you should delegate it sooner rather than 90 00:06:00.350 --> 00:06:04.139 later because it's going to empower them. You're going to free up more time, 91 00:06:04.259 --> 00:06:08.420 you're going to be able to scale more quickly. Another quote that he 92 00:06:08.500 --> 00:06:12.579 always says is people would rather follow a leader who's always real than one who 93 00:06:12.660 --> 00:06:15.699 is always race. So he's always full of good stuff. That that podcast, 94 00:06:15.740 --> 00:06:19.490 as well as at the table from Patrick Lindsay, only from a leadership 95 00:06:19.490 --> 00:06:25.009 percent interesting, should definitely be anybody's lation. Right. I've only heard him 96 00:06:25.009 --> 00:06:28.250 as a guest with on craigs, but yeah, I should check that out 97 00:06:28.290 --> 00:06:30.810 too. Yeah, it's new to my rotation. James are, founder and 98 00:06:30.850 --> 00:06:34.279 CEO, kind of tied me up to that one because it's regularly in his 99 00:06:34.399 --> 00:06:38.519 rotation. I kept getting episodes from him like hey, you'd go check this 100 00:06:38.680 --> 00:06:42.360 out and as like now maybe I should just subscribe to this one as well. 101 00:06:42.759 --> 00:06:46.189 Number four on your list, Matt, is Linkedin. Now we've been 102 00:06:46.389 --> 00:06:49.350 making a big push on linkedin. We've got, you know, five, 103 00:06:49.870 --> 00:06:55.550 what we call internally evangelist here on sweetfish. We're building out what we call 104 00:06:55.589 --> 00:06:59.870 a thought leadership program and documenting the heck out of it, really trying to 105 00:07:00.110 --> 00:07:01.779 lead the way in what we think a lot of marketing team should be doing, 106 00:07:01.819 --> 00:07:06.060 and that is pushing out more content through personal profiles on your team rather 107 00:07:06.100 --> 00:07:12.019 than the traditional just company pages and sponsored posts and all that sort of stuff. 108 00:07:12.500 --> 00:07:15.410 Where has linkedin fit into your game plan, either learning or from a 109 00:07:15.490 --> 00:07:21.250 content perspect active for your marketing team at so the main driver for Linkedin has 110 00:07:21.290 --> 00:07:26.810 been on the networking side for me, and it's like I've kind of had 111 00:07:26.850 --> 00:07:30.839 this idea that I wanted to start a podcast and obviously you know you guys 112 00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:34.600 were the OG's of that. You've been doing it forever. But I finally 113 00:07:34.639 --> 00:07:40.680 kind of call wind of this and and Linkedin has been my main tool for 114 00:07:40.839 --> 00:07:46.149 almost everything. Like I had a moment in late autumn where Gary Vyner Chuck 115 00:07:47.069 --> 00:07:50.110 posted a video, you know, his like typical kind of like pump up 116 00:07:50.189 --> 00:07:56.990 evangelical, like evangelizing video of podcast and all that, and he specifically used 117 00:07:56.990 --> 00:08:00.379 an example. Someone should start a laboratory podcast. And so I me, 118 00:08:00.500 --> 00:08:03.459 being in the laboratory industry, I'm like, Oh crap, like this is 119 00:08:03.579 --> 00:08:07.579 this, is this, it has been written. They that he's listening to 120 00:08:07.779 --> 00:08:11.420 me. I think I saw that postman and I save that as like because 121 00:08:11.420 --> 00:08:15.449 he's talking about, like I'm a big buyer a very, very niche podcast 122 00:08:15.569 --> 00:08:18.610 right now. That one right. Yeah, and and what's so? It's 123 00:08:18.689 --> 00:08:20.930 not even just that it motivated me, but I see a comment on there 124 00:08:20.970 --> 00:08:26.889 by a guy named Chris Conner and and he's like he's just like commented something 125 00:08:26.680 --> 00:08:30.759 related to like, you know, some kind of a firmatory thing. That 126 00:08:31.079 --> 00:08:35.159 was a good idea. So I messaged him and he's actually the host and 127 00:08:35.240 --> 00:08:39.279 founder of the Life Science Marketing Podcast, which has been going on for almost 128 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:41.870 like a decade, I think, and so we had a call and he 129 00:08:43.149 --> 00:08:46.669 hand up being my first guest and kind of me everything he knew and that 130 00:08:46.870 --> 00:08:50.950 just launched into like me finally getting out push to start my podcast and then, 131 00:08:50.990 --> 00:08:54.029 you know, I use it to source all my guests and even the 132 00:08:54.110 --> 00:08:58.139 guests I've had already. I made some good friends. I've learned a lot 133 00:08:58.179 --> 00:09:01.059 of great stuff, as you know, to help me and my kind of 134 00:09:01.139 --> 00:09:05.700 new journey of being a manager. So in man linkedin has been totally crucial 135 00:09:05.820 --> 00:09:09.779 and like overhauling how I see marketing and how I can execute on daily basis. 136 00:09:09.330 --> 00:09:15.049 And I love that story and I remember seeing that post and had no 137 00:09:15.169 --> 00:09:18.970 idea that, you know, you seeing that same post and like, hold 138 00:09:18.049 --> 00:09:20.850 on, he's not just the kind of encouraging me, but like someone who 139 00:09:20.850 --> 00:09:24.960 commented on that post, like it just it set you down this path which 140 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:28.879 obviously we agree. We with weird's yetting before, like you know, we 141 00:09:28.960 --> 00:09:33.559 see podcasting obviously is a way to generate content. You know, James Talks 142 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:35.919 about it in his book. Content makes networking. It allows you to connect 143 00:09:35.960 --> 00:09:39.070 with people in the target market you're trying to reach. They could refer you 144 00:09:39.190 --> 00:09:45.669 business, they could become customers and all the while you're you're also learning more 145 00:09:46.070 --> 00:09:48.509 about the market that you serve, which helps your messaging, helps your camp 146 00:09:48.590 --> 00:09:50.789 yeah, all that sort of stuff, and and and like, even from 147 00:09:50.830 --> 00:09:54.340 just a very technical perspective, the Linkedin Algorithm in the way it's set up, 148 00:09:54.340 --> 00:09:58.019 they've done a really good job making it like network worthy, where you 149 00:09:58.179 --> 00:10:01.019 see someone's comment in that tent takes in another field and kind of like a 150 00:10:01.100 --> 00:10:05.299 call back to what we just talked about. Guess who owns Linkedin? Microsoft, 151 00:10:05.700 --> 00:10:09.929 you know, like they're doing everything right as a company and it's like 152 00:10:09.009 --> 00:10:13.169 they're doing so much to kind of like push the bus this world. Yeah, 153 00:10:13.169 --> 00:10:16.250 absolutely. I got active on Instagram for a bit and it just it 154 00:10:16.490 --> 00:10:20.129 frustrated me that everything felt like a silo. There's no way for me to 155 00:10:20.840 --> 00:10:24.080 more easily and so unless someone like tag me into something or I just go 156 00:10:24.279 --> 00:10:30.440 searching like linkedin just organically, as you new avenues and and you're able to 157 00:10:30.559 --> 00:10:33.600 find great content creators just just organically. I mean, I'm a I'm a 158 00:10:33.639 --> 00:10:37.029 big Fan. Yeah, I think with Instagram, like it really seems like 159 00:10:37.070 --> 00:10:43.029 that search page is like their primary discovery tool and unless you're like a big 160 00:10:43.190 --> 00:10:48.470 sport or a show or an entertainment brand or a culture brand, you're really 161 00:10:48.509 --> 00:10:52.220 not going to get good traction there. Yeah, absolutely all right. We're 162 00:10:52.220 --> 00:10:54.539 going to round out your list of five things you can't live without mountain. 163 00:10:54.580 --> 00:10:58.419 This is on the health and productivity side. There's a Trifecta of things that 164 00:10:58.500 --> 00:11:03.379 are in just your normal day to day. What's that and why? So, 165 00:11:03.409 --> 00:11:07.889 like I kind of have this this recipe for just keeping my energy up, 166 00:11:07.889 --> 00:11:11.330 and that's raw almonds, water and coffee. So can you can throw 167 00:11:11.330 --> 00:11:15.889 on some hazelnut cream in there if you want, but you know, staying 168 00:11:15.929 --> 00:11:18.759 hydrated, staying energized. And then almonds are just like great. You know, 169 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:22.679 they have a nice balance of like carbs and protein. You can kind 170 00:11:22.679 --> 00:11:26.360 of just like munch on it for your first one or two meals and that 171 00:11:26.519 --> 00:11:28.799 they'll keep you going. And Yeah, I'm just never been a big guy 172 00:11:28.960 --> 00:11:33.429 for like kind of like process products or like all sorts of like fancy protein 173 00:11:33.470 --> 00:11:35.990 bars or shakes or anything like that. Just like keep it simple. Yeah, 174 00:11:37.070 --> 00:11:39.190 keep it simple. That's exactly what I was going to say. Great 175 00:11:39.230 --> 00:11:41.429 Way to UND it out. Keep it simple. Your five things, Matt, 176 00:11:41.509 --> 00:11:48.139 we've Got Apple, music, Microsoft Office and empowered team to great recommendations 177 00:11:48.220 --> 00:11:50.620 on podcast. You should check out from Craig Gro Shell and Patrick Linsey. 178 00:11:50.700 --> 00:11:54.980 Ony linked in in a different way than we talk about it from the content 179 00:11:56.100 --> 00:12:01.220 creation standpoint, but the networking aspect as well, and then your productivity hack 180 00:12:01.340 --> 00:12:05.370 with the Combo of coffee, water raw almonds. I love it. Man, 181 00:12:05.649 --> 00:12:07.570 Matt. If anybody listening to this wants to stay connected with you, 182 00:12:07.649 --> 00:12:11.570 I'm assuming linkedin's probably the best way to reach out. Yeah, Try Matt 183 00:12:11.610 --> 00:12:13.769 Benson. I'm sure there's like a million Matt Benz has in the world, 184 00:12:13.809 --> 00:12:18.519 but if you find the one point solutions one, that's me awesome. Matt. 185 00:12:18.720 --> 00:12:20.799 Thank you so much for joining me on the show, man. I 186 00:12:20.879 --> 00:12:28.000 really appreciate it. This was a fun conversation. Appreciate a man. Gary 187 00:12:28.080 --> 00:12:31.710 B says it all the time and we agree. Every company should think of 188 00:12:31.830 --> 00:12:37.549 themselves as a media company first, then whatever it is they actually do. 189 00:12:37.350 --> 00:12:41.549 If you know this is true, but your team is already maxed out and 190 00:12:41.669 --> 00:12:45.659 you can't produce any more content in house, we can help. We produced 191 00:12:45.700 --> 00:12:48.700 podcasts for some of the most innovatively be brands in the world and we also 192 00:12:48.740 --> 00:12:54.059 help them turn the content from the podcast into blog posts, micro videos and 193 00:12:54.419 --> 00:12:56.379 slide decks. That work really well on linked in. If you want to 194 00:12:56.379 --> 00:13:01.490 learn more, go to sweet fish Mediacom launch or email logan ats from fish 195 00:13:01.570 --> Mediacom