What's the Startup?!

Why a Video-First Marketing Strategy Wins Every Time with Kevin Klepeis of Kentucky Fried Creative

• Sprocket Innovation • Season 3

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In this episode of What’s the Startup?!, Kevin Klepeis shares how small businesses can use a video-first marketing strategy to make a big impact without big-agency budgets.

After years in corporate marketing, Kevin founded Kentucky Fried Creative in Paducah, KY, to help local small and mid-sized businesses create smart, affordable marketing that works. He explains what a true video-first approach looks like, how to get the most out of one day of filming, and why listening to your customers should drive your creative decisions.

You’ll learn:

  • How to structure a video-first marketing strategy for long-term results
  • Simple ways to repurpose video content across multiple platforms
  • How AI tools can help you brainstorm and plan video ideas faster
  • Why local creative talent can rival big agencies—and deliver with more heart

Whether you’re ready to shoot your first video or looking to refine your overall marketing strategy, this conversation offers practical, actionable advice to help you connect with your audience and grow your business.

Connect with Kevin Klepeis:

Website: kycreative.com

Email: kevin@kycreative.com


Listen to more episodes of What’s the Startup?!:

https://sprocketwky.com/podcasts

Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Sprocket Podcast! If you’re ready to dive into the world of startups and innovation, visit us online at Sprocket WKY to learn more about our mission and how we support entrepreneurs like you.

Ready to check out the space? Book a tour with Tiffany, our Community Coordinator!

Got a business idea? Apply for a mentorship session with one of our experienced mentors!

Stay connected and join our growing community on Instagram for the latest updates, inspiration, and behind-the-scenes looks at what’s happening at Sprocket.

Let’s turn your ideas into reality—together!

Sprocket is proud to be supported by Team Kentucky, the Commonwealth's Cabinet for Economic Development. Learn more about their initiatives and resources at ced.ky.gov.

Kaylan:

Welcome, Kevin, to What's the Startup. Uh, introduce us to yourself and your business and what you do.

Kevin:

Yep. Thanks for having me. Uh, my name is Kevin Klepis. I am the owner operator of Kentucky Fried Creative here in Paducah, Kentucky. Uh, just started this in January after a very long career in corporate marketing. A lot of my focus is now small businesses and medium sized businesses, and now it's, I just want to give back. And give real solutions to people who feel like they can't afford those kind of solutions. So, uh, that is now my new mission in life and why I started Kentucky Fried Creative is to give back to my community and, um, provide value to real businesses here and the businesses that actually make our community, uh, function.

Kaylan:

So how would you describe your approach to marketing for small businesses, especially small businesses here in Kentucky?

Kevin:

Um, you know, coming from the corporate world and being just exposed to all that, uh, learning from what the high dollar agencies do and how much they charge and what they actually kind of work they do and deliver. A lot of these people would try and come in and just take over your whole business. You don't need to do that as a business. You still need to kind of retain. You know, control of your marketing. You just need help with it. So ultimately, my approach is I'm here to help. I'm not here to take over. As a business owner, you know your brand better than anybody else, and if you don't, I could help you with that too. Um, or anybody in this community can. There's a lot of great brand marketers here in this community as well, but the main thing is, is that you just need help moving the needle. You don't need somebody to come in and completely take over because that's where those high dollar tickets come in and those high dollar invoices come in. Um, that's where a lot of the overhead comes. You could do a lot. Of your own grassroots marketing, I've learned and not have to, you know, break your bank account for it.

Kaylan:

So when you get started with a small business, um, what are some of the first strategies you implement?

Kevin:

Well, it just really, uh, it's the famous answer in marketing. It depends, right? Yeah. We all say that. Uh, but it really does depend. What do you need? Do you need videos or do you have a video marketing, uh, first strategy. Or do you have a website that needs an overhaul? Like what is your most immediate, immediate needs? Uh, that's kind of the baseline strategy for everybody I work with. It's like, what's the fire that you have to put out today? What do you need first? And then if you need a partner, somebody to work with, then it's just like, what does the next kind of six months look like for our relationship? Let's figure out what you need. And then develop a plan after that. So, Kentucky Fried Creative focuses on the marketing strategy of the, uh, concepts. Uh, we focus on the marketing content and then the digital aspect of everything. So we could help you in all three areas. It's just, you kind of gotta know what you need first.

Kaylan:

So you use the term video first marketing strategy. Tell us more about what that means, what that looks like.

Kevin:

So video first marketing strategy. Um. To me, it means it's one part of your overall marketing strategy. Uh, it's not, for some people it can be the one thing that's the only thing they do. But for, for me as a marketer, and from what I've learned, it's one, uh, part of the cog of the whole wheel that makes the system work, right. So, uh, it's getting content organized and developed for. Uh, your goals as a business. Uh, basically not just making one video, putting it out there and hoping it goes viral, right? If you have a video first strategy, you are having a lead up to this video. Uh, you're having a release of this video and then you're having a post marketing follow up to that video to really, and it could be, uh, from one day of recording too. That's the one thing people, you know, kind of fail to realize is that you could shoot a whole campaign of videos in one day. You just basically figure out how are you gonna splice up that video and use it in a variety of different ways. So you could use it on your YouTube, you could use it on your video or your website, use it on your social media. You could use it at in-person events. Uh, what, however you need to, you know, make these cuts work for yourself. But that's basically it for me.

Kaylan:

Why is video so important now? I think a lot of people know that if you're on social media or if you're wanting to make a splash with your brand, you've gotta have a great video. But why is that?

Kevin:

Mm-hmm. Uh, it video has always been king. Like they've always said, content is king. Uh, video is the most compelling, it's the most watchable, it's the most consumable piece of content, and it's the most, I think. Uh, transformable piece of content too.

Kaylan:

Mm-hmm. There's also a lot of grace there too, so maybe before you might spend a lot of money with an agency that comes in, does this really great video, and if it doesn't make a splash mm-hmm. Then you kind of wasted a lot of money. Today, content is so short-lived, which sounds horrible, but it's actually great because you get more chances to reuse your videos in a lot of different ways. And it's less pressure on any one video to go viral. Right. Um, so getting started with creating your own video first marketing strategy. Obviously coming up with ideas is one of the most difficult first steps. How would you advise people to get started creating their video ideas?

Kevin:

Um, obviously knowing your brand first. So if you are speaking about it. You are knowledgeable, you sound knowledgeable about it, and it doesn't look like you're reading from a script. Uh, but the main thing is, I, I try and, uh, advise clients to when I'm not around to help'em produce videos, is using existing technology to streamline and speed up certain processes. So, for instance, if you're doing your own in-house videos, you could use things like AI chat GPT to help you develop questions about your business. Uh, for testimonial video or your own video, uh, for that matter, that will help you stay on point and stay concise, and so you're not rambling on about different aspects of your business that you really don't need to be highlighting. Mm-hmm. Um, I think things like that, you know, AI today is, I think just one of the greatest innovations, but, you know, it, it has its caveats, but it's just one of those things where if you use it to your advantage. You could move processes along so much easier than it was in the past. As long as it knows about you and your brand, like you should, you know about your business and your brand. Um, it's your right hand man and just getting things done and moving it.

Kaylan:

How do you get it to know about your brand?

Kevin:

Teach it. Do a word or a word vomit, dump into a Google Doc about everything there is to know about your business, your brand, uh, your tone. And teach it, you know, feed it into the chat, chat, GPT, or I use Claude and I feed it into a project knowledge. And then when I'm starting to referencing it, I could tell it to reference that document and then it could help you just move things along. Uh, those kind of things can help you stay on track because it's, it knows about your, your project and the knowledge it needs to retain about it.

Kaylan:

What are your, some of your favorite prompts? Uh, especially when it comes to marketing.

Kevin:

Uh, for me it's SEO prompts 100%. Uh, and that has made life so much easier in the sense that I could develop a whole metadata guide for a client within a day that's really dialed in for them when it used to take me about a week. Mm-hmm. But it's one of those things like, after you have, you know, AI do it for you, you've gotta review it, you've gotta refine it yourself. You've gotta go in there and fine tune it, because if you are just relying on that first raw draft, there's gonna be errors and chances are it's not gonna be right. It's just like anything in marketing, you've gotta keep on refining it and optimizing it. Google's always changing their algorithm, so you've got to make sure that you're following algorithm standards too.

Kaylan:

Um, when it comes to marketing and what you do, what is one of the most important things that you want? Everyone in Western Kentucky know

Kevin:

there are so many resources in Western Kentucky, um, and they're very affordable. There are world class photographers, there's world class videographers, strategists, writers, everybody. Um, you don't have to go after the big agencies to get the job done. You could hire the freelancer here in Western Kentucky, and I guarantee you they're gonna deliver. Stuff that'll blow your mind. You're gonna find most of these people probably came from the corporate world that you're looking, you know, that corporate tone that you're looking for, they probably come from that world too, like a lot of us have. Um, so, you know, believing in that small town, uh, entrepreneur, just like you're wanting people to believe in your business, there's just as many qualified and talented people around you that will help you boost your business.

Kaylan:

And you want those people because they saw what worked and didn't work in the corporate world and brought what is working and what they're passionate about here. Mm-hmm. To Western Kentucky. And you want creatives who are passionate. Yep. Not burnout.

Kevin:

Yep. And those are the creatives too, that are passionate about results too.

music:

Yeah.

Kevin:

You know, the big thing that I've noticed over time, and I think small businesses is like. Get outta that big, you know, corporate mindset or that big business mindset. Be who you are, be uniquely you. That's why I started Kentucky Fried Creative, because I want to listen and I want you to be heard as a business. And I think that happens to a lot of, you know, businesses today, they're talking, they're not being heard, and that's why things aren't being delivered. That's why they're unhappy with certain things. So it's like you really gotta listen as a marketer to today. Um, I think that speaks a lot to our just society in general. We gotta stop and listen and really figure it out. And then that's when you could really develop creative things because you listened and you remembered, you know, the small minute details that the company was talking about and you could really push results and, you know, good deliverables from there.

Kaylan:

So how can people learn more about you and get in touch with you?

Kevin:

Uh, to learn more about me and what we do at Kentucky Fried Creative, uh, there's ky creative.com. Go there, see our portfolio, see the kind of work we've done past clients, uh, what we're looking for. Forward to the future. Send in a message. You know, everything is free consultation initially. I'm here to listen and I'm here to help, even if I'm giving free advice away. So. Shoot us an email, a message on the website. Uh, you could contact me at kevin@kycreative.com. Um, and I'm also here at Sprocket during the week too. I'm, uh, on the mentor deck. Mm-hmm. So really looking forward to that and just helping people. Help themselves.