Flywheel Promises to Address Marketing Pain Points for Custom Integrators

To know Henry Clifford is to know a serial entrepreneur who’s done an amazing job identifying custom integrators’ biggest needs and then addressing them. A trained journalist—a degree he puts to great use as a regular ResTech contributor—Henry started his Richmond, VA-based integration firm, Livewire, in 2002 after identifying a need for simple home technology support in his market. He’s parlayed that success into one of the region’s largest residential and commercial integration firms, multiple business ventures, and a renowned reputation.

That’s what makes this latest step in his career one to keep an eye on.

Much of what’s allowed his CI-related businesses to be successful is that he’s able to use his own business as a sort of incubator, fine tune the product or service, and then scale it. That theme holds true with Flywheel, a marketing agency built specifically for the CI channel, which recently launched its first product, a done-for-you monthly marketing service that leverages custom video newsletters to help integrators remain top-of-mind in their markets and with their clients and prospects.

“The idea around Flywheel and really the core concept was not to replace marketing agencies at all, but to solve for little pain points that businesses in our space are experiencing,” Clifford told Residential Tech Today in a phone interview. “We’re not looking to boil the ocean. It’s just taking these little painkillers that we’ve built for ourselves and scaling them to the rest of the channel. Because I know that if it’s something I’m struggling with in my business, other integrators out there are likely feeling the same way. So let’s lift each other up with a solution like Flywheel.”

Using recorded conversations with industry experts and CI professionals, the Flywheel team creates quick-hitting videos that flow along a seasonal content calendar for users. The service, which is available now for $499 per month, gives integrators a dedicated account manager who can help them navigate the entire process, from development through deployment.

And the results are already paying dividends for the integrators that have tapped into the platform. Clifford shared that open rates have reached around 40 percent (marketing industry standards show anywhere from 15 to 30 percent, depending on industry, is a solid open rate) and around 25 percent conversion rates.

“Our video newsletters are proving to be 10x more effective than legacy marketing efforts,” Graham Copeland, Co-Founder of Flywheel, said in a statement announcing the new product. “We’re focused on building products that remove friction and deliver measurable results for integrators.”

Clifford told us that the video newsletter tool is just the first step for Flywheel. The company, with Livewire’s help, is testing a whole host of AI-driven tools that could eventually make their way to the platform and the broader CI market. Among them, a tool that integrates with QuickBooks to send proactive service and upgrade reminders, a newsreader tool that can connect integrators with local prospects based on real-time news stories (like a new gym opening that could be a prospect for some audio equipment), and a construction permit data miner tool that will help identify new luxury homeowners and launch automated outreach.

Those tools are expected to roll out in the coming months.To learn more about Flywheel and its offerings, visit their website.