What happened to this Pittsburgh steeler when he said no to every kind of business?

Had you told me two years ago that I was going to co host a podcast and publish a magazine, I would have said you're crazy. But, you know, it has become an opportunity to not only raise awareness of Atlas Marketing, but also give back to the industry that, that I've been working in for so long.

Hello. Welcome to this episode of the Unnoticed Show. Today, I'm delighted to have Chris Martin, who's the president and owner of Atlas Marketing, joining us all the way from the home of the Pittsburgh Steelers in Pennsylvania. Chris. Hi. Welcome.

Hi, Jim. Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here and I really like what you're doing with the Unnoticed podcast.

It's.

It's pretty cool.

Great. Thank you so much. That really means a lot because, you know, as we all try and build products and services as you're doing with your own agency and your own podcast, you do go on a bit of a limb when you create this. Now you've got an agency, and I love it because on the website, on your homepage, it says, we're a marketing agency that tells stories for companies who make things. And then it skips and says for people who create things, people who produce things. So can you just tell us on this episode, really, how you help clients to get noticed and perhaps also how you've been doing that for yourself?

Yeah, I love that. I love that topic and I'll gladly do that. So, as you mentioned our website, you know, we do focus on telling stories for people who build things, make things, manufacture things. And our target clients are in the construction and manufacturing industry industries, I should say. And really what we really focus on is simplifying the message. One of the things in construction, for example, at least here in the United States, every construction contractor, manufacturing company, anyone within the construction industry always says three things, and that is that they're safe, they're on time, and they're on budget. And that very well could be the same thing said in the UK and throughout Europe. But the reality of it is, if there's 20 million contractors all saying that we're safe on time and on budget, how can someone that doesn't understand construction or understand what is the process, how can they make a decision between contractor A and contractor B? And so what we always tell people is we need to find a story, we need to find that unique differentiator, because if not, we're forcing people to look at price. And just in the agency world, just in construction, manufacturing, anything, people make a decision, and ultimately on the cost of things, whether it's the cost of goods, the cost of service and those. So really what we're trying to help our clients understand is that we need to make it so much easier for people to make a decision as to why they should work with you. So we kind of frame that as telling a story.

Yeah. And it's interesting you say that even something as complex as construction ends up becoming something of a commodity. Right. And how do you do that then, Chris? Because if you do have companies that are all aiming at safety, budget and schedule, how are you creating a story that helps them to stand out?

So that's a great question and a great segue. You know, we have a client, for example, who is in based in Mississippi. And one of the things that really stood out for us when we were talking with them is they were working on a school project. They were building a brand new school in central Mississippi, and the school came to them and said, is it possible that you can work in the evenings to build the building so that our students can come to school through the day? And typically, you know, I can only imagine the response would be no. You know, enter any expletive that you want there before the word no. But this company said, well, yeah, we can do that. Let us look at our schedule. Let's look at how we can work around that. And in all my years of working in construction, I've been working in construction for 25 plus years, I've never heard a contractor make that change. So the fact that they are willing to work with their client and adjust their schedules, work around what their client needs are, that is a huge differentiator. And, you know, yes, it very well could have cost a little bit more because of the fact that the scheduling was taking place, but the value that comes from that is by far, you know, it's almost immeasurable in terms of what the impact is on the children and the teachers and the school, the community, everything. So that's when we say we're looking to tell a story. That's something that we really focus on.

And I'm sure that in that case, the contractor was really keen to share that story. Are you then helping the contractors to sort of curate and amplify that story as well? Because presumably once they've done it once, that could become part of their proposition. Although it may be something that they don't want to repeat again?

That is true, but yes, then that's our job then, is to amplify that. And we may not tell the entire story. We may start to segment it out and build that, whether it's through social media, for example, or a video of how this project has progressed, doing this schedule workaround, so that other architects and engineers and other school districts in the region are aware that, hey, these people are going to work with you. And that's ultimately what we want to get across. I can give you another example too, if you'd like, if we have time.

Yes, please do. Yeah, absolutely.

Again, it's all construction related, but we've done a lot of work with the iron workers and they are a labor group that focuses on structural steel erecting and setting structural steel, whether it's in bridges, buildings, the like. Well, as we've been working with them for probably the last 20 years, one of the things that comes out every year, they have what they call their apprenticeship competitions. And it's actually a really cool thing. And this is not just unique to the ironworkers. Other labor groups do it. And I'm sure, you know, in the UK there's tradesmen that get together and have these type of competitions. But what was really cool about it is, at least from our perspective, because it's so unique, was part of the history of the iron workers is that they would actually scale 30, 40 foot steel beams. Like they would literally stand in front of them and all of a sudden just shimmy themselves up the column. And to watch that is pretty amazing. But then to see these grown men that are, some of them are quite large, that can get to the top in like 4 seconds flat, 5 seconds flat, you recognize the athleticism, you recognize the skill that comes into it and the focus just to do their job. So that's what we started to focus on and really build the story around these, you know, almost like superhero athletic men and women that are doing supernatural things. And it helps with that. In that instance, it really helped with the recruitment campaign, started to see bigger interest and go that route. So again, when we say we're looking for stories, we're looking for the things that really stand out and make it a little different.

People go, yeah, and that's fantastic. And those presumably translate to nice photo opportunities for the media or social media content or on the website, for example, of the organization or the client. And Chris, tell us you focused on construction and the people that are making things. Can you tell us how important it is, do you think, to have been in a niche yourself? Because that in itself is a strategy. I was interviewing Anthony Hayes from New York last week and he has an LGBT owned agency. And when we chatted about he said that there are now organizations and tenders which require a diversity sort of quotient and inclusion when it comes to contractors and vendors. And so that was important for him to be designated by lgbt. Certainly you've taken that approach, which is the construction element. Do you want to just tell us a little bit about how that's worked for you? Because there's always a fear with a small business of niche that you might miss out on so much. What was your experience by stating the industry you work in and therefore the ones that you don't?

First off, it was probably one of the best decisions that I've ever made in terms of owning a business. What it did for us was it got us extremely focused and more importantly, it helped our customers and our potential customers recognize that we are someone that they should at least have a conversation with. So right away it really helped to get not only our business focused, but our clients business focused too. The other thing, like you said, I was nervous, I won't lie, because prior to that we really made this shift, I'd say about three or four years ago. And prior to that we were trying to be all things to everybody. And what we were finding was that our process, there's nothing different than any other agency, it's just how we package it has become much more focused. And it really did help with the business development side of things too because now, now it's a much easier process for us to say to ourselves, well, does this meet our core values? Does this meet our business focus? And if it doesn't, okay, great, then we can pass. So that really did help the decision making process from a business development standpoint, much more streamlined. But the thing that I am probably most proud of is that it's actually helped us grow our business, that single focus and that direction has really helped us. Then that also is to say too that I mean, we have other clients that are outside of the construction and manufacturing world. You know, we work with some losing my mind here. We work with a consumer facing moving management company. You know, like environmentally friendly move management company is the best way to explain that. So it's not a matter of looking at things and saying, okay, well we're only going to work in this niche, but it also helps us to define who we are. And I think that's really important.

And has the reaction of your team been positive as well? Because to some degree, when you make that definition of an industry, you can find what I found in Singapore, for example, that by defining east west as a tech agency, Some people said, well, I don't want to work in tech only. I want the diversity for my business to be interesting, for my career to be interesting. Have you had an impact on your team? Did you have some turnover or did everyone embrace it as well?

At first there was like, wait a second, what are we doing here? This doesn't make sense. We had, we did have a little turnover, but it's worked out for the best, to be honest. I think the focus of our business now, I mean, as we were talking before beforehand, you know, 2020, was we had a 20% growth and right now in 2021, we're expecting to be in the 25 to 30% range in terms of projections, where we are now. And I equate a lot of that to two things. One, an increased focus on business development and sales and then more importantly, a clear definition in terms of who we are and what we do. So, yeah, at first it was a little bumpy, you're absolutely correct. But we got through that and, and we're coming out stronger on the other.

Side and by focusing on an industry. And you said you've worked in construction for 25 years, so you obviously know the industry and the players have, have any other sort of opportunities arisen for Atlas Marketing as a function of being kind of tighter in the industry itself. Right? Because if you're not a bit in this industry, a bit in that industry, you become part of the industry, don't you? So Chris, has that played a part in any way for the business?

It has. And in fact, very similar to you, I started a podcast with a colleague of mine who has been in the industry just as long as I have. He is my co host, John o' Brien is his name and he's the executive director for the Keystone Contractors association here in Pennsylvania. And we started a podcast about a year ago and that's helped to not only give creative juice, so to speak to me, but it's also opened some doors and in fact, as a result of that, of the podcast, it's titled Building PA Podcast, we are now in the process of publishing a magazine for John's Association. So it's a digital based magazine and the focus, what's unique about that is we're tying in the podcast and the magazine. So for example, if you're reading an article on, let's say, workforce development, we'll have the, you know, throughout the article there will be places that you can click and listen to related podcast episodes. So we're tying both of those vehicles together and it really has, you know, I mentioned the get the creative juices flowing, but it's also opened up opportunities for Atlas Marketing from a, from an industry leadership perspective, as well as just the opportunity to meet more people within the industry and go that route.

Nice. That's really creating content that maybe is starting to not be there because conventional publishers have, in many industries really sort of died a bit of a death, haven't they? So you're creating content, there's a vacuum there. Which tools are you using, Chris? Can you share, for example, on the publishing side? Are you using issuu.com or can you share like that?

We're using software, it's called PUB HTML and it's very similar to issu. The idea there is that we have the ability to basically insert a PDF, make it as interactive as we can, insert it into the software and then distribute it that way. So that's good. In fact, issues was one of the things that we looked at, one of the options that we had looked at when we were doing it. It's working. Admittedly, we're in the process of producing our first issue which will be coming out here in the next few weeks, as a matter of fact, toward the end of April of 2021. And so it's a, it's been a definitely a learning curve in terms of, you know, managing the production of a magazine, a digital magazine. But again, it's really kind of fired up the creative juices and getting things moving a little bit more.

That's nice because in the old days, something about 25 years ago, we used to produce newsletters for clients and then kind of died a bit of a death. Right. When it went to publishers being online and taking people's content. And now those publishers are not taking the content quite so readily without payment. We're finding there's this vacuum of long form editorial content being available to the various audience groups and platforms that issue. Or was HTML create an opportunity for the agency to create that content in partnership. Right. With either clients or within industry association?

Yes. Yeah. And it's. Had you told me two years ago that I was going to co host a podcast and publish a magazine, I would have said you're crazy. But it has become an opportunity to not only raise awareness of Atlas Marketing, but also give back to the industry that I've been working in for so long. And I think that's one of the things too is the opportunity to provide that value. We talked about earlier about the story and providing value and differentiating the uniqueness of what you can provide. It falls in line with the mission that we kind of gave ourselves a couple years ago, which is to tell stories for people who build things. So it works.

That is really nice. Chris Atlas Marketing how can people find you? Especially if they're in the construction or making things industry in America. How can they find you?

Our website is atlastories.com and you can also find us on LinkedIn and Facebook, Twitter, all the fun places that all the kids hang out at, I guess. But I would encourage atlastories.com Chris Martin.

Joining us from the home of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Thank you so much for joining us today and sharing the way that your agency has been able to niche and by niching find new sources of revenue. And I think also particularly interesting that it's around content generation as well, which is a core part of what what PR firms always have done and building relationships both with clients and the industry through their niche. It's an interesting strategy that's really worked. So thanks for sharing today.

Certainly. Thanks Jim and I really enjoyed today. Thank you very much.

Me too. Thank you so much indeed. So you've been listening to the Unnoticed show with Chris Martin all the way from Pennsylvania. So thank you. And until we meet again, we wish you the best of health, a profitable business and that if you're looking at ways to get noticed, think about creating your own content either as a podcast for audio or as long form as a newsletter or online magazine. Thanks so much for listening to this episode of the Unnoticed Show.