Kenny Harris, founder of Headsurfing, gives three top tips on how marketers can be better presenters.
OK, OK, I don’t include you.You are engaging, entertaining, funny, challenging and inspiring. You open well, tell a great story, involve the audience and finish on a rousing note which makes the audience think, feel or act differently. When you confidently press “play” your ad actually starts running. When you handle the Q&A you do so confidently and informatively, addressing the whole group and not just the questioner. You don’t speak in clichés or jargon. And you never, ever say “I’m sorry, it’s the technology” – as that funny South African beer commercial you downloaded from YouTube fails to run.
But what about the rest?
I can’t tell you the number of presentations I’ve sat through at marketing and advertising events that have sent me to sleep, battered me into submission, or infuriated me to the point of explosion.
We are supposed to be masters of communication and language – and yet I’ve seen time and time again presenters reading the script verbatim, using slides that had no relevance or interest to the audience, and losing control of technology – from complete melt-down to a simple inability to advance slides one at a time.
In the Marketing Society’s quarterly journal, Market Leader, Hugh Davidson advises marketers to spend less time on communication and more of their time on the levers of growth.
The first question a head hunter should have for any aspiring marketing director is: ‘What have you done to generate profitable growth for the organisations you have worked for?’ If the answer is not wholly convincing, end of interview.
Growth is on the government’s agenda as never before. But growth has always been top of most companies’ agendas and we need to think about the role that marketing could (and should) be playing in building profitable growth.
First of all, it’s worth looking generally at the main levers for generating profitable growth, and which department has the most skills to drive them. The table below lists 12 levers and the skills required for them, with no attempt to prioritise; they are all important in one way or another.
Steve Radcliffe, partner, Steve Radcliffe Associates
Finally, Steve Radcliffe, a leadership coach and Marketing Society advocate, summed up the day by describing his simple model of leadership, which was illustrated in one way or another by all of the day’s presentations.
• Future: always be driven by and be able to articulate a vision of the future
• Engage: bring everyone who works for you along with and work hard at this
• Deliver: Execute with precision but avoid the temptation to do it yourself. Delegation is an essential leadership skill.
Judie Lannon, editor of The Marketing Society’s quarterly journal, Market Leader, was reporting on our Annual Conference for Warc.
Leadership coach, Steve Radcliffe, helped delegates at our Annual Conference turn the inspirational speakers into practical leadership tips through his expert guidance during the day.
Here’s what he had to say about the questions you need to ask yourself.
See the previous steps of the Leadership Journeyon our website to catch up.
I’m really looking forward to speaking at the Marketing Society Annual Conference on 18 November. My role will be to help attendees take the nuggets out of what the other speakers say and convert it into next steps.
I don’t know all the other speakers but here’s a few things I’m pretty sure of:
- there will be few features common to all. One common feature will be the one we always find – they will be ‘up to something’, that is, they will be energised by an aspiration, dream or goal in the future
- and this aspiration will be connected to what they care about. All of them will have suffered setbacks but because what they were ‘up to’ mattered to them, they bounced back and got on with it.
In these regards, we are just like them. We are just as great when we are ‘up to something’.
How energised are you by what you’re up to? If you’re not, sit down and get this clear.
PS if you’re at the conference or dinner, please come over and say ‘hi’.
I’ve just come off the phone from a capable marketeer who is struggling. A moment of insight was reached when I asked him, ‘so who at work wants you to succeed?’ He went quiet for a while and then said 2 names followed by ‘maybe’!
What’s your answer to this question?
The question is one of a number we ask to help people see the context – or situation – in which they’re working. You can be technically great as a marketeer but it’s the context that will have those skills make an impact or not.
Now step forward as a leader! Because one of our lines is:
Managers manage Content.
Leaders manage Context.
That is, be aware of your context and don’t let it be done to you. One crucial aspect of context is your relationships. So build those relationships so that colleagues want you and marketing to succeed.
Who’s not on your list of people wanting you to succeed? And what can you do this week to get them on there?
Steve Radcliffe will be speaking at our Annual Conference, book your ticket at bookings@marketing-society.org.uk.Steve will also soon be running two open Future – Engage – Deliver programmes on November 8 and 26 in London. For more info go to www.futureengagedeliver.com/opendays/
If you haven’t managed to read his previous steps, follow the Leadership Journey on our websie to catch up.
We’ve just started a company-wide leadership programme in a major organisation. It came about because a junior manager, Sam, stepped into the leader space and as the chief executive passed his desk, he gave him a copy of Leadership Plain and Simple, and said ‘read that, we need more of it round here!’ The chief executive came back a couple of weeks later and said ‘I agree, please arrange a meeting with someone in Steve’s team.’
So this is to formally declare that this week is:
‘Pass a Copy of the Book to the Chief Exec’ Week!!
The serious point is that here’s another example of how you like Sam can make a difference way bigger than you might first think. If you allowed yourself for a while to think about the difference you would like to make to your organisation and beyond, what is the Future you would imagine? And what would a bold step in that direction look like? This week, why not take it?
Steve will also soon be running two open Future – Engage – Deliver programmes on November 8 and 26 in London. For more info go to www.futureengagedeliver.com/opendays/
If you haven’t managed to read the previous steps, follow the Leadership Journey to catch up.
I told Sharron that our son, Alex, hadn’t replied to my text yet. She said, ‘well, did you ask a question? Because if you didn’t, he’d assume you were simply sending information and there was no reply needed.’ I hadn’t asked a question so I’d got no reply.
It’s very similar when you’re leading. The equivalent point for the leader is ‘did you make the request?’ in line with our idea from Future – Engage – Deliver that ‘Leaders make Big Requests’.
So notice this week, do you build the connection with others? Do you present your case well? Do you engage them? But crucially then do you leave them hanging or do you make your request? We come across few leaders who naturally and consistently make the big requests they want to? This is an essential Leadership Muscle to build.
What requests of whom are you not making? Why not make them this week?
Steve Radcliffe, author of Leadership Plain and Simple, Amazon UK”s number one leadership book.
If you haven’t managed to read the previous steps, follow the Leadership Journey to catch up.
I love it when someone grasps an idea, lives it and makes a difference. We love the model of The Four Energies. Jo, a senior marketer, has succeeded to date by bringing his Intellectual Energy with an uplifting dash of Spirit Energy with Physical Energy applied to get things done. I’d encouraged him to bring more of his Emotional Energy but he’d struggled.
Today he told me, with a sparkle in his eye, how he and his team had had a great meeting talking about how they felt about the current challenges. It was rated a great meeting by all, brought people closer together and built even bigger relationships – this is the power of Emotional Energy!
Do you share with others how you are feeling? Do you give chance to others to do the same?
I’ve had phone calls from two marketeers this week and it’s complete madness!
If I were building a team, I’d hire both of them. They both have vision; they are naturally engaging; and they have delivered time and time again.
However, both phoned to talk about leaving their organisations because they don’t feel valued and don’t believe they have a future there. Now I can promise you that as soon as they let their organisations know how they’re feeling, they will be offered this and that and encouraged to stay.
But why does it have to get this far?
It’s really not very complicated.
As a leader, you deliver through other people. Other people will feel a lot better and deliver more if they feel valued by you.
So this week, look at both sides of the coin. First, do you feel valued, as you’d like to? If not, what’s the conversation you can have with whom that would shift this?
Second, how well do people feel valued by you? (By the way, you can’t answer this question!)
If you haven’t managed to read the previous steps, please click here to catch up.
Steve Radcliffe will be speaking at our Annual Conference. For more information click here or book your ticket here.
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#WLTM: Marketing Society Business Leader Paul Wilson, CMO, Sunguard http://t.co/xZYSkyovFebruary 3, 2012 2:39
@BrainJuicer: How Can Brands Show Us They Care? http://t.co/SoDI8XQnFebruary 3, 2012 12:13
@RobinHoughton Thanks for braving the cold last night and joining us @SohoHouse. We will send you another book to review for #bookclub soon.February 3, 2012 12:03
Kenny Harris, founder of Headsurfing, gives three top tips on how marketers can be better presenters.
