Getting the best out of your clients starts with asking them the right questions. I’ve started to do this with my clients and it’s been super successful.

What do you want this event to be? What do you want this campaign to do? What do you want? What is the end goal of the campaign? What does success look like

Getting clients on your side

This is where the rubber meets the road. When your client knows what they want, things start to fall into place. When you put the words out into the air, you begin to build an event, a creative. This begins to shape a focus that your client did not have before. Couple that with intention, and then you’re onto something. Intention gives purpose and reason to what the client wants. When clients know what they want, the campaign becomes clear.

You may not recognize it, but the creative campaigns that really resonate with clients, I have to imagine, start from a place of clear objectives and a place of intention. You walk through the event, or watch that video, and you don’t think about the things that went in to get it to that place. But your emotions respond to this experience because this experience started from people coming together, being clear about what the focus was, and putting it into action. It’s the same thing when you go to the theater and see an actor absolutely take over the stage. She is doing this because every choice she is making has a purpose and reason behind it. That’s what your campaign has to be.

Now, many of you may be saying, but my event doesn’t need it; t’s just a small networking event, or it’s just a legislative brunch with a few county politicians. You may be saying, “I can’t spend the money on a high-end video.” While I recognize all this comes into play, the truth is, when you speak like that, you end up minimizing what you do and your clients see it in the overall output.

Powerful campaign marketing

Every campaign, no matter how expensive or how inexpensive, has to make choices that come from a place of want and intention. From the signs you make, to the videos you post, to the email newsletters you send out; it all has to make sense for the customer and have a definable purpose and meaning behind it. This is why everything is content. Everything is a chance to get your message out there. 

Feature films have been made for nothing and go onto critical acclaim. Small little brunch gatherings still have the power to move people. Political campaigns that started in a warehouse with twenty some-odd people end up gaining nationwide focus.

It’s very easy to think that you don’t have the means to make something special. And it’s even easier to look at what you have and think small-time. But when you do this, you lose out on the greatness that can come from your campaign.

The huge ad agency, the large nonprofit, the tiny little nonprofit theater that could, the environmental grassroots organization that has nothing but a few dollars and a dream: these companies are not as different as they think they are. They all, if planned right, have the capacity to craft content marketing that changes people’s lives. And the real of it is, the giant ad agency is just as likely to put out content without intention as the small nonprofit is.

That’s where the small nonprofit has a leg up. They know their mission, they know what they have for the budget, and they can be strategic with what they are putting out into the world. They have the flexibility to make content on a dime and still have it reach people in an effective manner. If they do it right.

Learning what clients want

But it starts with you. It starts with you being honest about who you are and what you want to create. When you can do that, you can begin to build something very special in your campaigns. You must believe in your cause. You must come at every campaign with a clear want and a clear intention. That’s where the beauty starts, and it’s where the drama begins. This is where customers begin to see who you really are.

What do you want it to look like? What do you want the feeling to be? What do you want the  audience to know about you? What kind of memory do you want to create? What kind of experience are you going for? What do you want the videos to do? What do you want audiences to see the minute they step into that arena?

Marketing as theater

I come from the theater world. I come from a world where you walk into those doors and it’s a scared space. I’ve taken that belief and I try to bring it into the creative campaigns I put on. When that tent goes up for the event, it is a sacred space. Whether a ballroom, hotel lobby, or VFW hall, it does not matter. You must look at your event space as a sacred space. People are coming in for information, they’re coming in to be wowed. Just look at what sports teams do. Their stadiums and ballparks are hallowed halls for a reason. When people walk in, they are expecting to be entertained.

Too many companies look at their campaigns as just another piece of content. But when you do this, you lose sight of the power of your company and you lose sight of why you’re creating the thing in the first place.

Every time out, we should be expecting that our campaigns do something special for people. We should want people to be wowed, to be changed, and to be entertained.

Ready to learn more? Contact us today to get started on your marketing.