Ann Handley From MarketingProfs Challenged Industry Leaders at #IHRSA2016
Thanks to Meredith Poppler, I got to sneak into the IHRSA Industry Leaders Council special presentation by Ann Handley from MarketingProfs. And I am SO grateful as this was a hi-light of #IHRSA2016 for me.
Here are just some of the pearls of wisdom that Ann shared on marketing in the new world that we live in . . .
Lets start where Ann finished:
Ann kicked off her presentation by saying that many industries (especially the fitness industry) was too safe in it’s marketing. She believes this is a missed opportunity.
Interestingly, she re-iterated Jay Baer’s comments from the morning (click here to see my blog on Jay’s presentation) that we cannot keep yelling at our customer and calling that marketing. We must be useful to our audience.
She said we must provide engaging content. I would suggest music to the ears of many business owners was “It is more about the best brains than the biggest budget” now in marketing. You just need content that will create engagement.
77% of business to consumer organisations plan to produce more content in 2016 and 50% plan to spend more on content in this year.
Use your big story to convert people to your tribe (or as Ann said: Squad). Your story is what makes you unique. This uniqueness will help create content that is deep and broad for your audience.
When you give deep value to your customers, you make them smarter. This means the new marketing is “training.”
In marketing, answer these 4 questions:
- WHO do you want to reach?
- WHAT value are you going to give them?
- WHY is that important to them?
- WHAT do you want them to do next?
Smart companies don’t follow shifts in culture, they lead them.
A great example of someone being bold in marketing is Bill from Slack. It is an example of a new way to explain reality.
The voice you use in your marketing reflects your culture, amplifies your story and communicated with empathy to the people you want to reach. So (but remember the laws of multiplication – if one of the factors is 0 then the answer will be zero!)
A tough voice in marketing is your gutsiest and bravest asset.
Are you refining and evolving your content based on customer and internal feedback.
Your customer must be the hero on your story. So tell stories of relatable influencers. And most importantly your story must be different to your competitors with a specific point of view.
Challenge: can you say who you are in 3 words? Then describe yourself? Then how you achieve that?
New acronym for your marketing:
How to evaluate your marketing, is ask this simple question:
To get Ann’s book click here:
The IHRSA Industry Leadership Council
The Industry Leadership Council is a group of club operators and industry professionals — competitors and friends, independent clubs and large chains, franchisors and franchisees, individuals and suppliers— who work together, contributing time, expertise and funds, so that IHRSA and the industry have the resources needed to achieve common goals. For more information click here
Justin is the Managing Director of Active Management, which he began January 2004. He offers coaching to businesses worldwide in everything from start up and design to marketing and sales systems. Justin also facilitates four Australian and New Zealand ‘fitness industry roundtables’ events, which allows him to see a huge cross section of business models.