Codarity · copy review
Spearhead Marketing Group
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Cover
The first two sentences. If these do not land, nothing else is read.
coverTitle
Market briefing for Spearhead Marketing Group
coverStanding
Prepared for Erika Cunha. This is research about your market and where your firm sits in it, ending in a path. It is not a proposal.
Your answers
Reflects their four answers back before anything is asserted. Absent when they have not answered.
answersIntro
You answered four questions. They are here first because everything after this reads differently depending on them.
How your buyers decide
The 221-day claim, before it is applied to them.
buyingBehaviourIntro
Before anything specific to your firm, one thing about how your buyers behave, because it explains most of what follows.
buyingBehaviourClose
5 in every 100 of your buyers are actively looking right now. 12 are forming a view without talking to anyone. 83 are not looking at all and will be at some point. Almost all marketing in this market is built for the first group. The work that compounds is built for the second.
Who is actually in the room
Five seats. The section the ideas all point back at.
committee.emphasisNote
The event is the product, not a marketing activity, so the owner seat carries the most weight and the finance seat is a board.
committee.leadSeatweighted for this market
The one who has to run it
committee.sponsor.optimisingForThe one whose neck is out
a result they can point at in a board meeting. The event is a means to something they have already promised upwards.
committee.sponsor.afraidOfThe one whose neck is out
spending a large number and having nothing defensible to show for it. Not failure exactly, ambiguity.
committee.sponsor.questionThe one whose neck is out
If I am asked in six months whether this was worth it, what do I say?
committee.sponsor.reassuredByThe one whose neck is out
a supplier who talks about outcomes and measurement before they talk about production values.
committee.owner.optimisingForThe one who has to run it
a delivery that does not consume them. They have done this before and they know exactly which parts go wrong.
committee.owner.afraidOfThe one who has to run it
a supplier who is impressive in the pitch and unreachable in week six. They have been burned and they remember it.
committee.owner.questionThe one who has to run it
When something goes wrong at 6pm the night before, who actually answers the phone?
committee.owner.reassuredByThe one who has to run it
specifics about process, escalation and named people, rather than a showreel.
committee.brand.optimisingForThe one guarding how it looks
something that feels like them and lands with their audience, not a generic event with their logo on it.
committee.brand.afraidOfThe one guarding how it looks
cheapness. A stand, a stage or a room that undercuts everything else they have spent the year building.
committee.brand.questionThe one guarding how it looks
Will this look like us, or like an event company's idea of us?
committee.brand.reassuredByThe one guarding how it looks
evidence the supplier understands their market and their audience, not just their sector.
committee.finance.optimisingForThe one who signs it
predictability. A number that does not move and a process that survives an audit.
committee.finance.afraidOfThe one who signs it
scope creep, and being the person who approved the thing that overran.
committee.finance.questionThe one who signs it
What is the number, what changes it, and what happens if we cut it by twenty per cent?
committee.finance.reassuredByThe one who signs it
commercial clarity offered early and unprompted, rather than extracted during negotiation.
committee.internal_user.optimisingForThe one who has to live with it
the event doing the job they need it to do: pipeline, a launch that lands, a team that comes back motivated.
committee.internal_user.afraidOfThe one who has to live with it
an event that is beautiful and useless. Lots of photographs, no conversations that went anywhere.
committee.internal_user.questionThe one who has to live with it
What do I get out of this on the Monday after?
committee.internal_user.reassuredByThe one who has to live with it
a supplier who asks what happens after the event before they ask about the venue.
The 221 days before they call you
The centrepiece. Commend, then finding, then what it costs them.
presence.frame
Everything after this hangs off one number. In B2B event services the gap between a buyer starting to look and a buyer making contact averages 221 days. Nearly eight months of deciding, almost all of it in private, and almost all of it before anybody picks up a phone.
presence.commendmust run before the finding
Start with what is already begun, because it is further than it feels. Spearhead Marketing Group has made a start on appearing somewhere that is not your own website. None of that is nothing. It is the difference between building on something and starting from scratch, and it is why the rest of this is a sequencing question rather than a standing start.
presence.finding
Now the part that is harder to see from inside. A buyer in this market spends 221 days researching before they make contact. Across the 10 places we can actually check, Spearhead Marketing Group is present at 0 of them and absent from 90 per cent. Every gap sits early: being findable when a buyer asks an AI assistant, being found on the questions they search months earlier, publishing a point of view where they already read and reaching the right accounts before they are looking.
presence.consequence
That is the whole of it. Not a pitching problem, not a pricing problem. For roughly 221 days a buyer is forming a shortlist you are not on, and by the time they enquire they have already chosen. The work you lose this way never appears as a loss, because you were never invited to bid for it. It looks like a quiet quarter.
presence.notVisibleNoteidentical on every report, deliberately
Two things on that list we have deliberately not scored, and they are the same two on every briefing we produce. Whether you are approaching named accounts directly, and whether you can see which of these actually produces work. Nothing outside your business reveals either, so guessing would be worse than useless. They are the first two questions worth asking on a call, and between them they usually explain more than the rest of the list.
presence.bridge
What closes that gap is not doing more of what you already do well. It is being demonstrably the firm that understands corporate event contracts better than anyone else, in the places your buyers are already looking, for the whole of those 221 days. That is what the rest of this is.
presence.row.ai_searchnot yet · asks an AI assistant who the credible suppliers are
no substantive content surface, so there is nothing for an assistant to cite
presence.row.organic_searchnot yet · searches the problem, months before searching for a supplier
no content surface at all, so no way to be found on a question
presence.row.thought_leadershipnot yet · reads their feed and forms a view of who understands this work
no publishing activity found
presence.row.earned_coveragepartly · sees the name somewhere that is not the supplier's own website
one third-party mention found: Morgan Stanley Times Square 'Creating Space' immersive activation project page added to site. One is a start, not a presence
presence.row.paid_socialnot yet · is not looking yet, and needs to have heard of you before they are
no LinkedIn advertising
presence.row.paid_searchnot yet · types a buying-intent search once the brief is real
no paid search
presence.row.retargetingnot yet · disappears for four months mid-cycle, then comes back
no retargeting, so a buyer who leaves mid-cycle is gone
presence.row.lead_magnetnot yet · wants the thinking without having to talk to a salesperson yet
nothing to exchange for an email address, so interest arrives anonymous or not at all
presence.row.nurturenot yet · is 221 days from enquiring and will forget you in 30
no route to stay in contact between briefs
presence.row.outboundcannot tell from outside · never comes looking, because they already have someone
nothing outside your business can show this. It is the first thing worth asking about
presence.row.published_proofnot yet · checks you can actually do the work, once you are on the list
the delivery record is not readable by anyone who has not worked with you
presence.row.measurementcannot tell from outside · (not a buyer touchpoint: whether you can see any of the above)
nothing outside your business can show this. Over 221 days it is the difference between knowing and guessing
What is moving now
Job-change triggers. Suppressed when the count is under the floor.
triggerFlowIntro
Every one of these is a person who has just taken a new role on the buying side of your market in the last six months, out of 504 who sit in one. That is a rate, not a list. A new appointment is the point at which existing supplier relationships are open to review, and the seats keep turning over whether or not anyone is in front of them.
Your buyer market
Their market, sized. Suppressed for unmapped markets.
buyerMarketIntro
This is the size of the reachable buying side of your market at the seniority that signs off event work. It is not a list of prospects. It is the ceiling on how large the always-on layer can usefully get before targeting has to narrow.
What that means for you
The hinge. Where the whole argument turns.
hingeOpening
The research reads a firm whose reputation lives in the rooms it has worked in rather than anywhere a buyer can reach on their own. Two things in the research point the same way: no active acquisition surface yet and delivery evidence not published.
hingeTensioncarries their Q2 answer when they have given one
That works while the network holds. It stops working the moment you want more than the network can carry, because there is nothing a buyer who has never met you can act on.
hingeResolution
The fastest change available to Spearhead Marketing Group is not a bigger effort across everything. It is published proof, because it is the one thing every other move depends on and the one thing currently absent. Buyers who are shortlisting quietly get something to shortlist you on. It also gives every other module something credible to point at. Being findable when buyers search follows it directly, and the rest of the board is ordered behind those two.
The full board
The path, before it is broken into pillars.
boardIntro
This is the whole system, not a proposal. Four pillars, and within each one the two modules that would do the most for Spearhead Marketing Group given what the research found. Two are lit for the first quarter. One is marked as deliberately not yet. Everything grey is real work that is simply not the next work.
notYetIntronot yet: Paid search
One move in Attraction is held back on purpose. Paid search is the obvious lever and the wrong first one. It buys clicks into a site with nothing to convert them, so the spend leaves no residue. Worth revisiting once there is proof and a capture path.
matrix.not_yet_reasonfrom the matrix, rendered as-is
Paid search is the obvious lever and the wrong first one. It buys clicks into a site with nothing to convert them, so the spend leaves no residue. Worth revisiting once there is proof and a capture path.
matrix.evidence[0]from the matrix
no active acquisition surface yet
matrix.evidence[1]from the matrix
delivery evidence not published
Authority
Whether a buyer can satisfy themselves you are credible without speaking to you.
pillarIntro.Authority
Authority is whether a buyer can satisfy themselves that you are credible without speaking to you. It is the pillar everything else borrows from.
PLAY_PROOF_ASSETS.labelfirst quarter
Published proof
PLAY_PROOF_ASSETS.summary
Turning work you have already delivered into evidence a buyer can read before they ever speak to you.
moduleNarration.PLAY_PROOF_ASSETSwhy it is here
This is the first move, because the delivery record is strong and almost none of it is readable by someone who has not worked with you. The research is unambiguous on it: delivery evidence not published. Everything in the quarters after this one assumes it is in place.
PLAY_PROOF_ASSETS.effectwhat changes
Buyers who are shortlisting quietly get something to shortlist you on. It also gives every other module something credible to point at.
PLAY_PROOF_ASSETS.firstMovefirst move
Pick three delivered events, one per buyer type, and write each up as a short account of the brief, the constraint and the outcome.
PLAY_PROOF_ASSETS.signalyou will know because
Enquiries start arriving that reference a specific piece of work rather than asking what you do.
ideas.PLAY_PROOF_ASSETS.positionspositions you asmodel
the firm whose Times Square and conference record can be checked by a stranger before any call
ideas.PLAY_PROOF_ASSETS.0Article on your site · for the one who has to run itmodel
Who is actually on site at load-in, who answers the phone at two in the morning, and how a small production team staffs a Fortune 500 activation
ideas.PLAY_PROOF_ASSETS.1Article on your site · for the one who has to live with itmodel
What a brand activation has to do besides photograph well, and the conversations we design an association exhibit to start
ideas.PLAY_PROOF_ASSETS.2PR angle · for the one guarding how it looksmodel
An angle for association and meetings trade press on what separates a general session stage that reads premium from one that reads cheap, judged on materials, sightlines and lighting
PLAY_SEARCH_AUTHORITY.labelfirst quarter
Being findable when buyers search
PLAY_SEARCH_AUTHORITY.summary
A small set of pages that answer the questions your buyers put into a search bar before they have a shortlist.
moduleNarration.PLAY_SEARCH_AUTHORITYwhy it is here
This runs directly behind the first move, because there is no content surface for a buyer to find you on before they have a shortlist. On a buying cycle measured in quarters, the two together are worth more than either alone.
PLAY_SEARCH_AUTHORITY.effectwhat changes
You become discoverable to people who are not yet in a buying process, which is when a shortlist is actually formed.
PLAY_SEARCH_AUTHORITY.firstMovefirst move
List the ten questions you get asked most in a first call. Each one is a page.
PLAY_SEARCH_AUTHORITY.signalyou will know because
Search starts to appear as a source on new enquiries.
ideas.PLAY_SEARCH_AUTHORITY.positionspositions you asmodel
the people association teams read on production risk long before they name a supplier
ideas.PLAY_SEARCH_AUTHORITY.0Article on your site · for the one who has to run itmodel
What actually happens at six in the evening the night before an annual meeting, and who on the production team has the authority to fix it
ideas.PLAY_SEARCH_AUTHORITY.1Article on your site · for the one whose neck is outmodel
The parts of a corporate event contract that decide whether you have anything defensible to show the board afterwards
ideas.PLAY_SEARCH_AUTHORITY.2Article on your site · for the one guarding how it looksmodel
How to brief staging, fabrication and lighting so the room matches a year of brand work, and the questions your brand lead should ask us first
Attraction
Getting in front of people who are not yet looking.
pillarIntro.Attraction
Attraction is how interest reaches you and what happens to the interest that is not ready to become an enquiry.
PLAY_LEAD_CAPTURE.labelquarter 2
Somewhere for interest to land
PLAY_LEAD_CAPTURE.summary
A path for the visitor who is interested but not ready to send an enquiry, so their interest is not lost.
moduleNarration.PLAY_LEAD_CAPTUREwhy it is here
On the board for Spearhead Marketing Group because interest that is not ready to become an enquiry currently has nowhere to go.
PLAY_LEAD_CAPTURE.effectwhat changes
The majority of your traffic that is researching quietly becomes a known contact instead of an anonymous visit.
PLAY_LEAD_CAPTURE.firstMovefirst move
One thing worth an email address, built from the proof you already hold, behind a form that asks for very little.
PLAY_LEAD_CAPTURE.signalyou will know because
A list that grows every month without paid support.
ideas.PLAY_LEAD_CAPTURE.positionspositions you asmodel
worth an email address to an association planner months before you are worth a meeting
ideas.PLAY_LEAD_CAPTURE.0Lead magnet · for the one whose neck is outmodel
A one page brief template for an annual meeting or VIP conference, with the lines that get left out and cost money later
ideas.PLAY_LEAD_CAPTURE.1Lead magnet · for the one who signs itmodel
The scope and change sheet: what triggers a cost change on a fabrication and staging build, and when the signer hears about it
ideas.PLAY_LEAD_CAPTURE.2Lead magnet · for the one who has to live with itmodel
An internal case pack for a brand activation, written so a membership director can defend the spend to a board that was not in the room
PLAY_DEMAND_VISIBILITY.labelquarter 3
Turning up where buyers already are
PLAY_DEMAND_VISIBILITY.summary
Deliberate presence in the places your buyers gather, rather than waiting to be found.
moduleNarration.PLAY_DEMAND_VISIBILITYwhy it is here
On the board for Spearhead Marketing Group because you are findable by anyone already looking and invisible to everyone who is not.
PLAY_DEMAND_VISIBILITY.effectwhat changes
Feeds the top of the funnel so the layer underneath has something to work on.
PLAY_DEMAND_VISIBILITY.firstMovefirst move
Pick the two places your buyers actually spend time and show up there weekly for a quarter.
PLAY_DEMAND_VISIBILITY.signalyou will know because
Enquiries from people you have never met, naming where they saw you.
ideas.PLAY_DEMAND_VISIBILITY.positionspositions you asmodel
present in association planning conversations months before a brief exists
ideas.PLAY_DEMAND_VISIBILITY.0Brand campaign · for the one guarding how it looksmodel
A campaign built on one line, the room is the brand, showing the material, finish and lighting decisions that keep a general session from reading cheap
ideas.PLAY_DEMAND_VISIBILITY.1Brand campaign · for the one who has to live with itmodel
A campaign around the question that comes after the photographs, what did people in that room say to each other, and what happened next
ideas.PLAY_DEMAND_VISIBILITY.2LinkedIn post · for the one who has to run itmodel
Erika on a decision made mid-build on a live activation, what we changed, what we refused to change, and how that call was made on site
Automation
Giving the hours back. Never removing the people.
pillarIntro.Automation
Automation here means giving you the hours back, not taking the people out. The conversations stay yours. What goes is the repetitive work stacked around them.
PLAY_ENQUIRY_ROUTING.labelquarter 2
The good ones surfacing first
PLAY_ENQUIRY_ROUTING.summary
Scoring and qualification on the way in, so a serious conference brief does not sit in the same queue as a student questionnaire.
moduleNarration.PLAY_ENQUIRY_ROUTINGwhy it is here
On the board for Spearhead Marketing Group because every enquiry currently arrives with the same weight, so the good ones wait behind the noise.
PLAY_ENQUIRY_ROUTING.effectwhat changes
Senior attention goes to the opportunities that deserve it. Nothing is deleted and nothing is answered by a robot; the order just stops being random.
PLAY_ENQUIRY_ROUTING.firstMovefirst move
Three questions on the enquiry form that separate a real brief from a browse.
PLAY_ENQUIRY_ROUTING.signalyou will know because
The best enquiry of the week is the one you saw first.
ideas.PLAY_ENQUIRY_ROUTING.positionspositions you asmodel
quick and serious with the briefs that deserve it, because the order of the inbox is decided in advance
ideas.PLAY_ENQUIRY_ROUTING.0Workflow · for the one who has to run itmodel
A named person replies to every brief inside an agreed window and says who will be on the first call, so nobody is left wondering whether we saw it
ideas.PLAY_ENQUIRY_ROUTING.1Workflow · for the one whose neck is outmodel
Brief in to proposal out as a written checklist, so the same questions get asked whether it lands during a build week or a quiet one
PLAY_PIPELINE_WORKFLOW.labelquarter 4
The same first steps, every time
PLAY_PIPELINE_WORKFLOW.summary
The tedious sequence every new opportunity goes through, held as tasks and checklists rather than in somebody's head: the questionnaire, the RFP review, the internal sign-offs.
moduleNarration.PLAY_PIPELINE_WORKFLOWwhy it is here
On the board for Spearhead Marketing Group because the same set of steps runs on every new opportunity and none of it is written down.
PLAY_PIPELINE_WORKFLOW.effectwhat changes
The boring work stops depending on who picked it up and how busy they were. You get the hours back and the process stops varying.
PLAY_PIPELINE_WORKFLOW.firstMovefirst move
Write down what actually has to happen between an enquiry arriving and a proposal going out. That list is the workflow.
PLAY_PIPELINE_WORKFLOW.signalyou will know because
Nothing stalls because one person was on site all week.
ideas.PLAY_PIPELINE_WORKFLOW.positionspositions you asmodel
held to the same standard in the busiest week of the year as in the quietest
ideas.PLAY_PIPELINE_WORKFLOW.0Workflow · for the one who has to run itmodel
One written definition of a live opportunity, so a held date and a signed contract never sit in the same column
ideas.PLAY_PIPELINE_WORKFLOW.1Workflow · for the one whose neck is outmodel
The handover from won to build on a single page, so a client never has to explain their own event twice
ideas.PLAY_PIPELINE_WORKFLOW.2Workflow · for the one guarding how it looksmodel
The first hour after a Friday afternoon brief, decided in advance, including who reads it and what gets acknowledged before Monday
Architecture
The structure underneath, so none of the above leaks.
pillarIntro.Architecture
Architecture is the plumbing. Unglamorous, and the reason the other three either compound or leak.
PLAY_PIPELINE_STRUCTURE.labelquarter 3
One pipeline, agreed stages
PLAY_PIPELINE_STRUCTURE.summary
Every live opportunity in one place, with stages everyone reads the same way.
moduleNarration.PLAY_PIPELINE_STRUCTUREwhy it is here
On the board for Spearhead Marketing Group because there is no single place that answers what is actually coming.
PLAY_PIPELINE_STRUCTURE.effectwhat changes
You can see what is actually coming, which is the difference between forecasting and guessing.
PLAY_PIPELINE_STRUCTURE.firstMovefirst move
Agree five stage names, then move every open opportunity into them.
PLAY_PIPELINE_STRUCTURE.signalyou will know because
The pipeline answers questions instead of raising them.
ideas.PLAY_PIPELINE_STRUCTURE.positionspositions you asmodel
able to see which conference briefs are real, six months out
ideas.PLAY_PIPELINE_STRUCTURE.0Workflow · for the one who has to run itmodel
A reusable answer bank for association RFPs and vendor questionnaires, so the hour spent retyping insurance, staffing and safety detail stops happening every time
ideas.PLAY_PIPELINE_STRUCTURE.1What to measure · for the one whose neck is outmodel
Record on every opportunity the date the buyer first saw us and the date they made contact, starting now, because that gap cannot be reconstructed later
PLAY_FIRST_TOUCH_ATTRIBUTION.labelquarter 4
Crediting the first touch, not the last
PLAY_FIRST_TOUCH_ATTRIBUTION.summary
Recording what a buyer had already seen before they made contact, not just the click that carried them in.
moduleNarration.PLAY_FIRST_TOUCH_ATTRIBUTIONwhy it is here
On the board for Spearhead Marketing Group because the long half of the buying cycle is invisible in what gets recorded, so the work that starts decisions cannot be defended at budget time.
PLAY_FIRST_TOUCH_ATTRIBUTION.effectwhat changes
On a decision that takes 221 days the last touch is the doorway, not the reason. Crediting only the doorway defunds everything that did the work.
PLAY_FIRST_TOUCH_ATTRIBUTION.firstMovefirst move
One question on the enquiry form: where had you come across us before today?
PLAY_FIRST_TOUCH_ATTRIBUTION.signalyou will know because
The channels you were about to cut turn out to be the ones being mentioned.
ideas.PLAY_FIRST_TOUCH_ATTRIBUTION.positionspositions you asmodel
able to show which work started the conversation, not only which click ended it
ideas.PLAY_FIRST_TOUCH_ATTRIBUTION.0What to measure · for the one who has to run itmodel
Log every touch on an opportunity with a date and a named person, so a 221 day cycle reads as a record instead of a memory
ideas.PLAY_FIRST_TOUCH_ATTRIBUTION.1What to measure · for the one whose neck is outmodel
Note which of the five seats each touch reached, because a brief arrives once most of them have quietly agreed
Sequence roadmap
The order, and why it is that order.
roadmapIntro
Four quarters, in dependency order. This is not a proposal for four quarters of work. It is the order the modules have to happen in if they are going to hold, so that if you only ever do the first quarter it still stands on its own. Arrows mark where one module needs another in place first.
What sits underneath
The system behind the path.
labyrinthIntro
Under each of those four pillars sits roughly a hundred smaller moves. Nobody needs all of them, and nobody should try. It is here so the eight modules on your board read as a choice made from the whole picture rather than the whole picture itself.
What it becomes
The Eclipse proof point.
eclipseIntro
Compounding is the part that is hard to picture from the first quarter, because the first quarter mostly looks like effort. Eclipse Global has been running this system for eight years. Their published account is at codarity.com/results/eclipse-global.
Next step
The single ask. Nothing else in this section.
nextStepIntro
The obvious next step is a conversation about the first quarter, not the board and not the roadmap. If the next twelve months are meant to come from corporate event contracts, the first quarter is where that starts, and it is small enough to be worth talking about properly.