Yesterday Ian and I spent the day in Wrexham for Simon Leadbetter’s “30 Years of Marketing in One Day.”
What a venue!
Not to take away from a brilliant event but before I get into it, I need to mention the venue.
The event took place at Moneypenny’s office in Wrexham and what an office it was.
We knew it wasn’t going to be a bog standard office building when we saw the huge Gorilla standing guard at the entrance and it did not disappoint.
We walked into a huge, light filled central atrium with a number of sheep (one of which wore a Wrexham FC hat and scarf) stood on amphitheatre-style seating which sheltered the on-site pub, The Dog and Bone and was overlooked by the gym and a treehouse meeting room atop a tree which unfortunately fell during the office build.
It was impressive. And it reflected a business that understands what culture means to the people that work there. Similar to how we feel about the culture and ethos of Agent MXM.
But, back to the event itself! A full day of Simon distilling decades of marketing experience into practical thinking that you can actually apply.
Istar
Simon took us through 5 chapters; Insight, Strategy, Talent, Action and Results and for me, one of the most useful parts of the day was simply clarifying what marketing actually is.
And as I’m sure other people probably have, I realised that I had confused the umbrella term of “Marketing” with other aspects of it. Campaigns, promotions, content, etc all sit within Marketing but are aspects of their own.
Without that clarity, it’s very easy to be busy doing a lot of “Marketing” without it making any difference to the growth of your business.
Yesterday I learnt that good marketing starts long before you post anything.
You need to understand your audience properly and know what matters to them, where they are and how to position yourself infront of them. It sounds obvious, but I think it’s easily forgotten, especially if you’ve done it once and believe that this never changes.
Instead, i’ve been guilty of jumping straight into posting on social media, running ads and trying different tactics without stepping back and checking whether any of it is aligned.
Another aspect of the day that stood out was how much useful data we already have access to and how little we use it. Real insights into who our target audience is, what they like doing and where they hang out. Understanding this and tailoring our message to where and how our audience wants it will hopefully, and as Simon promises, definitely grow our business. Marketing our business with a strategy, to the right people, at the right time using the channels we know they’re using.
The 18 month view
One of the more challenging ideas was the recommendation to think in 18-month content cycles.
Not reactive posting, not trialling campaigns for 4 weeks and writing it off and most importantly, not getting to Christmas and thinking “yes, we’ve done it, now we can relax”. Instead we need to focus on creating consistent themes and structured messaging which conveys our values and vision for Agent MXM. Building our brand awareness and securing our place in the industry for audiences to understand who we are and how we’re different. Being proactive rather than reactive and having a plan that can be measured, reviewed and amended if we’re not seeing results.
Final thought
There’s no shortage of marketing advice but what stood out about this day was the focus on The fundamentals. The things that don’t change, even as platforms, software and AI evolve.
When you take the time getting the strategy right, the plan on how to get there becomes easier.
And, as Simon reported, if you’re one of the 53% of people attending the course and not putting anything you’ve learnt into place, then no amount of posting will support the growth of your business.
