In this episode of the Content Amplification Podcast, Shaun Whynacht shares a detailed case study of helping a late‑60s coaching client transition from a word‑of‑mouth, in‑person business model to a digital video‑first strategy forced by the 2020 pandemic. Shaun outlines a step‑by‑step process: starting with low‑stakes Zoom recordings to build comfort, refining video structure with attention‑grabbing openings and concise closings, upgrading production tools (moving to Loom, adding a USB microphone, improving background and framing), and scaling the effort through a planned 3‑part series to generate momentum. Throughout, he emphasizes mindset—embracing failure, persisting despite low early engagement, and treating content creation as a habit rather than a sales funnel. The episode blends practical tactics, tool recommendations, and motivational advice, illustrating that age or prior experience does not preclude mastering new digital content techniques.
Well, you know that saying, you can't teach an old dog new tricks? Well, I'm not a dog trainer, but I'm here to tell you that if it comes to older clients, you can teach them new skills. And that's what I want to talk about in today's episode of the Content Amplification Podcast.
Welcome to the Content Amplification Podcast, where you will gain insight into real-life tactical and strategic elements to to help you scale and grow your business. Now, let's get started with today's episode.
All right, how's it going? Welcome to this episode of the Content Amplification Podcast. Like I said in the opening about you can't teach an old dog new tricks, well, I wanna tell you a story in this episode. I have a client that I have been working with for several months now. She's an older client, probably, in her late 60s, and she has a coaching business. Now, obviously, when she started her business, a lot of the digital techniques and tactics and platforms that we are familiar with in these days were not around. So she was used to networking and just meeting clients through word of mouth and stuff like that. Now, obviously, fast forward to today, 2020, the pandemic hits, you can't meet, you can't do those networking things. And needing to use new technology and needing to get your brand, your voice, your message out there in an alternate way. When she was introduced to me, it was under the context of, hey, you need to talk to Shaun because he can help you get your message out there in a digital format. So in my initial consult with her, and I understood more about what it was that she was doing in her business and the audience that she was going after, it was clear that being on video was something that would be the most engaging way to get a message across. So my question to her before was, have you ever done video? And the answer was no. So that's where we set out to go. And when you're taking on something new, especially if you're either not familiar with it or you're uncomfortable in that platform or that medium, Don't go full in. Don't go up to your neck going 100% right out of the gate because you're gonna set yourself up for failure. You're gonna be extremely critical of what you create and you're not gonna have that good feeling inside. So we took that approach. The first thing we wanted to do was get her used to talking to a computer. So the first challenge that I gave her, the first set of homework after we did a couple sessions about understanding what software you need and things like that, was to come up with 3 short videos, a single focus, a single message in each of them, and record them. Now, we used Zoom. We were using Zoom for meetings, so that is what I was going to get her to do initially was use Zoom, start up a Zoom call, hit record, just do it with yourself, and record those and send them over to me. So we did that. There was never an intention to ever put those 3 out to the public, and I made that clear in the beginning. The only purpose behind this was to get in a rhythm, get in a pattern of doing that, get comfortable with how to hit record, take a deep breath, and start your message. Get comfortable with messing up. Because the first time that she did it, because she was using Zoom, she was stopping it between each one and then hitting record again. It would make another recording file. There would be 10 to 15 different recording files in each one of those videos. So I knew that she was stumbling through those. I didn't watch through all of them. I watched the last one, which was in her eyes the best of them. So from there, we obviously, we revamped and we looked at that and we said, okay, here's some adjustments to make in this, okay? Let's start thinking about an opening. How are you going to start that video? If you only have 5 to 7 seconds to catch somebody's attention when they hit play to make them determine if they're gonna continue to watch that video, you need to have something enticing. Do not start a video with introducing yourself every single time. It doesn't make sense. You need to ask a question. You need to pose a question that would be in the brain of your ideal audience and something that they would be thinking. Because when they say, "Yes, I'm thinking that," they are more likely to continue on listening and/or watching that video. So that was a change we made. The second thing that we made was how are you going to close this video? Because in years of doing video working not only with myself but also with other clients, I have found that that is the biggest stumbling point. The best representation of this I can give to most people is Do you remember a time where you were about to trip? Something tripped you physically, like you were walking and you started to fall and you said, I'm gonna catch myself. So you try to walk faster so that you don't fall. In the end, the fall just takes longer, but you essentially do tumble down the road. That is what happens when people aren't prepared in a way to close out their videos. They go and they keep adding stuff in and they're really just stumbling until they finally get to a point where they just end that video. And it's very awkward and very, um, confusing for people to watch. So come up with a concise closing to your video, and that is your go-to. You know that when you get your message across to the point of maximum delivery, boom, you can go to that closing and close out your video. So that was the second challenge we did in the next round. Now those were quite, quite a big improvement over the first round. So we were able to put those out. Now we put those out on her social media channel, that already had several hundred followers and she was getting engagement. People were commenting on it and there was a good boost of positivity for herself. She liked that this was actually working for her. So then we started to improve on smaller things. Things like, okay, let's look at the background. What's behind you? Let's adjust that in the next one. And then let's look at framing a little bit better. Make sure you've got the proper amount of headroom and that's the space between the top of your head and the top of the video in the camera, adjusting that. The quality of Zoom wasn't that great. It was reducing it. So let's try a different program. So I got her into using Loom, which is a free online program. You can get the paid version if you want, but it allows you just to record from your browser with your camera and/or do screenshots and share your screen for presentations and things like that. And that worked a lot better for quality. Now my last change as of a couple weeks ago was, okay, let's improve your audio quality. Let's get a USB microphone. Now my client and I have never personally met aside from doing Zoom calls because she lives across the country from where I'm at. So as this stuff has been happening, I could see a transformational happening, I guess. I don't even know what word I want to use, but there was a transformation in what she was like in the first video, not only just on camera, but her attitude towards it, to where it is now. Now, one other challenge I threw in there was let's think about a 3-part series. So do a video and then say, okay, in tomorrow's video or next week's, whatever parameters you wanna put in there, I'm gonna talk about this, right? And then you come back, you say, you know, thanks for watching part 1 or whatever the case is, right? You're gonna transition between the 3. Really love that idea. And I can see the energy, I can see the excitement. And the more that it's put out there into the universe, the more that it's put out there into your social media channels, you're going to get more and more momentum. If you can clear that blockage in your mind that if you do one video and it doesn't get huge amount of response, huge amount of calls and new clients, that it is not a failure, you're gonna do well. It's going to take a lot to put it out there. I mean, look at this podcast alone. I mean, I started this over a year ago. I haven't been as consistent in putting it out, but I'm in over 20 episodes and I still have not gained a client, a paid client from this podcast. But I know that if I keep putting this content out there, that there are people like you that are listening to this and may at some point either contact me because you want some help with some work, or maybe you're gonna refer me and say, hey, you should check out this guy at, you know, bluecowmarketing.ca. See that little product placement in there? But the idea is I am not doing this for sales. I am doing this show because it keeps my brain active in creating content, in staying up to date on content, and being able to share knowledge with you. If I can change one thing for the better for one person who listens to this episode or any one of the previous and/or future episodes, then I am satisfied. So back to the original thought about you can't teach an old dog new tricks. This was a prime example that it does not matter where you come from, it does not matter what your age is, it does not matter what your industry is or what you have done in the past. If you want to make that change and you want to do something new and something different and you give it 100% of your focus, You can take that on. Now I can guarantee you, and I know this because she's told me this, that there were days where she just wasn't feeling it. Tried to do a video, it just was not coming out. But what she did was she stopped that day, regrouped the rest of the day, and tried it again the next day. And that's what you need to do. You're not going to be on top of your game 100% of the time. You're not going to feel good. You're not going to have that brain clarity that you want to be able to get that content out. But what you need to do is stay at it. And that's the biggest thing that I can tell you. Have that vision, have that passion, and be okay with failing, but don't be okay with quitting.
Thanks for listening to the Content Amplification Podcast. If you have questions about how you can amplify your content strategy, go to AmplifyMyContent.com.
