learn all we can about how to measure the
effectiveness of our marketing activities,"
she proclaimed.
Over the 16 hours of meetings and side-
sessions that followed her opening session
the simple, clear and consistent focus
was repeated by everyone from designers
to product marketers and became the
benchmark for valuable and productive
conversations.
Here's what's interesting: instead of
only planning activities that the team
ALREADY knew how to measure, the
team started focusing on activities, tasks
and plans that would close their R.O.I.
knowledge-gap. The team focused on
professional growth opportunities instead
of tactical execution.
The transformation had begun.
Ask yourself, what is the one thing you want
your team to focus on for the entire year?
Make it big. Make it unattainable. But,
make it clear.
THEME YOUR YEAR
In 2014, I arrived in Iowa to kick off an
annual marketing meeting for a company
that sells million-dollar printing presses
to printers around the world. As I stepped
into the cavernous print shop where the
event would take place, I marveled at the
machines around us.
I also wondered why a printer
manufacturer decided to host his annual
marketing meeting at a client's shop
1,000 miles away from their corporate
headquarters?
As the Vice President of Marketing stood
up to address his team he proclaimed 2015
to be "The Year of the Customer." "First-
hand client and customer insight will drive
every single one of our marketing and sales
activities this year," he stated. "Every single
one."
Over the next year, his team would get
closer to their clients and customers than
ever before. That team planned a "listening
tour" where the marketing staff traveled
around the world to glean product insight
that resulted in their most successful year
in the company's 80-year history.
What's your theme for 2019?
USE SOME OUTSIDE
INSPIRATION
One often overlooked item that transforms
annual meetings from the tactical to
the transcendent is the use of outside
inspiration. At a little company planning
event in Rhode Island, I watched as every
single one of the 23 employees arrived at
the meeting with a copy of Content, INC
by Joe Pulizzi.
As the team sat down to hear the CEO
kick off the two-day event, I realized that
these books weren't new. Some attendees
had plastered sticky notes throughout the
book; others had dog-eared page after
page. Still, others had highlighted passage
after passage. "Is this an annual meeting,
or a book club?" I thought to myself. Even
the CEO's copy looked tired and beat-up.
I came to learn that the entire company,
every single employee, had read Content,
INC and they'd been instructed to come to
the annual planning event ready to apply
what they'd learned in the book to their
business selling medical supplies.
Two amazing things happened that
day. First, the whole company had a
common vernacular and set of examples,
stories and case studies to discuss and
apply to their business. And second, an
incredible energy and infectious sense of
optimism drove the team to consider and
present incredibly creative ideas for their
next year.
Outside inspiration can be precious.
Whether you bring in an outside thought-
leader, a facilitator, watch a movie or even
read the same book, bring some inspiration
to the team.
Ask yourself, what can you use to inspire your
team to grow in new ways?
LET YOUR TEAM PLOT THEIR
COURSE
If you've set a clear vision, themed your
year and provided some outside inspiration
you've done your job as a marketing
leader. Now, it's time to let your team
chart the course. Remember, the most
successful marketing leaders use their
annual planning event to focus their team's
professional development. You've set them
up for success; now it's time for you to step
back and ask them to plan HOW they're
going to improve by learning.
If this is the year, you want your team
to fill their "R.O.I. blind spot" you want
them to put a plan in place to do just that.
If you've themed the year as "The Year
of the Customer" how, exactly, are they
going to get closer and closer to the center
of your clients' everyday experience and
what impact do you expect that to have?
If you've inspired them with some outside
thinking to ignite their creativity, how
exactly are they going to explore the ideas
you've sparked?
Your job isn't to make the plan for them;
it's to guide and shape the activities, goals
and objectives they plan.
THIS YEAR
So, this year, instead of asking your
team to set their goals and objectives in
a vacuum - instead of ask them to come
prepared to share their key learnings from
2018. Instead of creating an extended
version of your weekly team marketing
meeting, set yourself, your business and
your team up for unparalleled success.
"Ask yourself, where do I (and my team) need to grow if we're
going to be more successful tomorrow than we are today?"
MEET
ANDREW
DAVIS
Andrew Davis is a best-selling author and internationally acclaimed keynote speaker. Before building
and selling a thriving digital marketing agency, Andrew produced for NBC’s Today Show, worked for The
Muppets in New York and wrote for Charles Kuralt. He's appeared in The New York Times , Forbes, The Wall
Street Journal , and on NBC and the BBC. Davis has crafted documentary films and award-winning content
for tiny start-ups and Fortune 500 brands.
Recognized as one of the industry's "Jaw-Dropping Marketing Speakers," Andrew is a mainstay on global
marketing influencer lists. Wherever he goes, Andrew Davis puts his infectious enthusiasm and magnetic
speaking style to good use teaching business leaders how to grow their businesses, transform their cities
and leave their legacy.
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