Chris Marr is an award-winning entrepreneur and the founder of CMA (Content Marketing Academy), the United Kingdom’s largest membership organization of its kind. He’s the driving force behind CMA’s live events and online resources that have helped hundreds of businesses master content marketing. His events, including CMA Live, are among the most popular marketing conferences in Europe.
I invited Chris to Marketing Smarts to discuss the power of live events and to share his expert advice on hosting a memorable, effective conference as well as on using live events to support other areas of a business.
Here are just a few highlights from our conversation:
Events and experiences are the future of brand marketing (04:55): “We’re in 2018 now and…the digital world’s become really noisy…and everything’s free or no cost. What’s the one thing that people are going to pay for in the future? Experiences, because it’s the one thing you can’t replace. It’s one thing that you can’t duplicate. You can’t make it into a digital thing. You have to go there and you have to experience it in person…. If you miss out on it, you can’t just turn up next year and expect it to be the same.
“Live experiences and live events in the marketing space are really special. They hold something valuable for people. It’s not just about the speakers, and the value, and the education, and the teaching, and the people you meet in the room. All of that combined creates this unique experience. That’s what we want to create when we run a live event.”
If your brand’s not currently hosting some type of live event, you should be (06:30): “You’re really missing a trick if you don’t do something where you have people coming together for something, for some reason, for some purpose, with your brand, with your customers. Even from a customer-experience perspective, a lot of companies don’t see their customers all that much. Having them come someplace once a year where they can meet other customers is a great way to connect your favorite people with each other. That’s the way I look at it anyway.
“I have…
