What Counts as Marketing If You Are Not Running Ads?
Jul 17, 2025Every touch point that keeps you present. A birthday message, a check-in call, a thank-you card, a thirty-second tip filmed at your desk. Advertising is one tactic inside marketing, not the whole of it, and treating the two as the same thing is how experienced professionals end up with no pipeline.
Why does experience not produce leads on its own?
The episode opens on a business broker with over thirty years in hospitality, who had run multiple venues and knew his industry cold. Business was quiet and leads were not converting. Chris asked the obvious question.
"So I asked, how much time are you spending on marketing? His answer, nothing at the moment." - Chris Schwager
Not laziness. A definition problem. He believed marketing meant advertising: a one-off boost, a single social post, a printed card. So with no ad running, there was nothing to do.
"Real marketing. It's a system. It's how you stay top of mind." - Chris Schwager
That distinction is the one most professionals never make, and it is the difference between a campaign and a presence. The strategy pillar is where the rest of that system is set out.
What does a real marketing touch point look like?
Smaller than people expect. Chris walked him through what he was already capable of doing that afternoon: a birthday message, a check-in call, a thirty-second tip filmed at his desk, a thank-you card in the mail.
"Each one a touch point, each one a micro reminder of your presence." - Chris Schwager
None of those is an advertisement and none needs a budget. What they have in common is that they arrive before somebody needs you, which is the only time being remembered is worth anything. Deciding which ones to run and in what order is what a video marketing plan actually is, and it is not a content calendar.
How do you film without it becoming a production?
He assumed video meant filming on location, under pressure, in public. Chris calls that the harder way and the friction filled way, and split it in two instead.
Shoot the location footage on a phone, where nobody cares and nothing is riding on it. Then record the part where you actually speak at your desk, with a teleprompter, in a controlled setup. Edit the two together.
The point is not the equipment. It is that the difficult half of the job stops being at the mercy of a passing plane, a bird or a stranger asking what you are doing. That is also why a teleprompter stops sounding robotic once the setup around it is right, and it makes the whole thing repeatable rather than an event.
Is the blocker really the gear?
No, and Chris names it plainly.
"His issue wasn't gear. It was mindset. Waiting until everything's perfect before starting, but marketing is never perfect. It's a habit." - Chris Schwager
Which leads to the line the episode turns on, and it is worth sitting with if you have been meaning to start for a year:
"If your visibility is zero, how can people possibly choose you?" - Chris Schwager
Thirty years of expertise does not compete with someone who is simply visible. Once showing up is a habit rather than a decision, building a schedule you can actually sustain is the next problem, and a much better one to have.
Frequently asked questions
Is posting on social media the same as marketing?
It is one touch point, not the system. The problem is not the channel, it is treating any single act as the whole job. Marketing is what keeps you present between the moments someone is ready to buy, which means a run of small consistent signals rather than one push and then silence.
How often do you have to show up?
Often enough that you are still in mind when the need arrives, which is a rhythm rather than a number. Chris frames it as a habit rather than a campaign: repetition, showing up even when you do not feel ready. The frequency you can sustain beats the frequency that looks impressive.
Do you have to film on location to look credible?
No, and Chris argues the opposite. Filming to camera in public adds pressure, noise and unpredictability for no gain. Capture the location footage on a phone where it is genuinely low pressure, and record the part where you speak in a controlled setup where nothing can interrupt you.
What if you are not ready to start yet?
That is the actual blocker in this episode, and it is not a gear problem. Waiting for everything to be perfect is the reason a broker with thirty years of experience had no visibility at all. Marketing is never perfect. The first version being unpolished costs far less than not existing.
Transcript
Read the full transcript
[00:00:00] Chris Schwager: He thought marketing meant running an ad, one ad once. No wonder the listings weren't moving. No systems, no visibility, no clue. And it's more common than you think because if you believe marketing is just about a billboard or a Facebook post, you're already bleeding leads. Real marketing is. Hi, I'm Chris Schwager, video coach and founder of the Complete Video Success System, and I've spent decades helping professionals create high impact videos that build trust, generate leads, and drive business success.
[00:00:28] Chris Schwager: And if you've ever felt under. Sure or under prepared or just playing awkward with video. This is for you. I'll give you the mindset and strategies to take control, build video confidence so that you show up like a pro. It's time to make your videos work for you. So have you ever met someone who's brilliant at what they do, but can't seem to get the traction they deserve?
[00:00:49] Chris Schwager: I recently spoke with a business owner over 30 years, experience in hospitality, ran multiple venues now working as a business broker. Plenty of contacts. Knows his industry and yet business was quiet, unpredictable leads weren't converting. So I asked, how much time are you spending on marketing? His answer, nothing at the moment.
[00:01:11] Chris Schwager: Nothing at the moment. And this is exactly what we're unpacking in this episode, because this wasn't about laziness. This wasn't about misunderstanding. Like many business professionals, he thought marketing was just advertising. A one-off boost, a single social media post, a printed card, but real marketing.
[00:01:30] Chris Schwager: It's a system. It's how you stay top of mind. In this episode, we wanna explore what it really means to market yourself as a professional, not with gimmicks or hype, but with consistency, simplicity, and intention. I walked him through the everyday actions that are actually marketing a birthday message. A check in call a 32nd tip filmed at your desk.
[00:01:57] Chris Schwager: A thank you card in the mail. Each [00:02:00] one a touch point each one, a micro reminder of your presence. And that's what moves people closer to saying, yes. We all talk all the time about what we are, are not getting. And we also talked about how he, like many had it backwards. He thought it had to be filmed on location under pressure in public, but that's the harder way, the friction filled way and.
[00:02:27] Chris Schwager: It was clear to me that he was not gonna start until everything was perfect. Well, guess what? He needed leads. You think the leads give a shit whether you are perfect? No. You gotta start doing shit, brother. You gotta start doing stuff. You're gonna start taking action instead. I suggested a de-risked approach.
[00:02:51] Chris Schwager: Capture some B-roll of venues when needed. Different things, wonderful things. That's low pressure, right? Nobody's gonna hassle you for pulling out your smartphone. Just shooting a couple of videos. And that way you don't have to put all that pressure on yourself to also deliver your two camera piece out on location as well.
[00:03:09] Chris Schwager: Right? That's, that's more intense. You gotta know your stuff, right? Capturing B roll of the venues when needed. Sure. But do the message at your desk with a teleprompter where you can just read the lines in a studio style setup, saves time, lowers anxiety, and creates consistency because you have a mix.
[00:03:29] Chris Schwager: Mechanism for doing it. You're not worried about the plane going over or the bird tweeting or people walking by someone tell you, what are you doing, mate? You just get on and do it. Don't you Shoot your B roll on location, come back into the edit suite, shoot you to camera piece in the studio in a controlled environment, and then piece it all together.
[00:03:49] Chris Schwager: Ta-da. You've got your video, and that is a process you can repeat, which is super, super cool. We broke it down further. His issue wasn't gear. It was mindset, [00:04:00] waiting until everything's perfect before starting, but marketing is never perfect. It's a habit. Repetition, showing up even when you don't feel ready.
[00:04:11] Chris Schwager: And here is what I discovered. You don't need permission to market. You don't need a big budget to start. You just need to act. Take action, say what you are going to do and then do it. So if you are sitting on great ideas but not showing up, ask yourself what's stopping you. What do you want? Not what you don't want.
[00:04:36] Chris Schwager: What do you want? And if your visibility is zero, how can people possibly choose you? You are gonna start using these secrets. Use them to your advantage. Use them every single day, just like many of you have already done before that. We've helped my friend had decades of experience, but just zero visibility, and the key is education.
[00:05:00] Chris Schwager: You gotta fill your little head of yours with knowledge cha, gp PT. He's not gonna always do it. Get into the sticky nitty gritty, okay? Get to connect with somebody that's gonna shortcut success for you. Alright? And that is education. You pay for education so you don't have to figure this out for yourself, right?
[00:05:22] Chris Schwager: So I'm gonna include a link into the video conference collective into the show notes included in there. Is access to our video course. If you are serious about joining, jot Me DM In LinkedIn or on Yeah, in LinkedIn. And let me know and I'll send you a little intro, a little freebie. A. To get you started.
[00:05:48] Chris Schwager: See if it's your cup of tea, test the waters, and if it is, great pay. If not, no harm, no foul. I'll see you on the next episode. Thanks for listening to the Video Confidence Collective Podcast. If you enjoyed this [00:06:00] episode, leave a five star review on Apple Podcast and Spotify and subscribe to us on YouTube so you never miss an episode.
[00:06:05] Chris Schwager: For more resources, check out the show notes and follow me at Chris Schwager or Ridge Films and see you on the next episode.
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