Market briefing for Spearhead Marketing Group

CEO · Managing Director · Chief Marketing Officer · VP Marketing

Wants

a result they can point at in a board meeting. The event is a means to something they have already promised upwards.

Afraid of

spending a large number and having nothing defensible to show for it. Not failure exactly, ambiguity.

Actually asks

“If I am asked in six months whether this was worth it, what do I say?”

Settled by

a supplier who talks about outcomes and measurement before they talk about production values.

Head of Events · Events Director · Events Manager · Event Marketing Manager

Wants

a delivery that does not consume them. They have done this before and they know exactly which parts go wrong.

Afraid of

a supplier who is impressive in the pitch and unreachable in week six. They have been burned and they remember it.

Actually asks

“When something goes wrong at 6pm the night before, who actually answers the phone?”

Settled by

specifics about process, escalation and named people, rather than a showreel.

Head of Brand · Brand Director · Head of Communications · Creative Director

Wants

something that feels like them and lands with their audience, not a generic event with their logo on it.

Afraid of

cheapness. A stand, a stage or a room that undercuts everything else they have spent the year building.

Actually asks

“Will this look like us, or like an event company's idea of us?”

Settled by

evidence the supplier understands their market and their audience, not just their sector.

Finance Director · CFO · Head of Procurement · Commercial Director

Wants

predictability. A number that does not move and a process that survives an audit.

Afraid of

scope creep, and being the person who approved the thing that overran.

Actually asks

“What is the number, what changes it, and what happens if we cut it by twenty per cent?”

Settled by

commercial clarity offered early and unprompted, rather than extracted during negotiation.

Head of Sales · Sales Director · Head of Product · Head of People

Wants

the event doing the job they need it to do: pipeline, a launch that lands, a team that comes back motivated.

Afraid of

an event that is beautiful and useless. Lots of photographs, no conversations that went anywhere.

Actually asks

“What do I get out of this on the Monday after?”

Settled by

a supplier who asks what happens after the event before they ask about the venue.

Turning work you have already delivered into evidence a buyer can read before they ever speak to you.

Why 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.

What changes

Buyers who are shortlisting quietly get something to shortlist you on. It also gives every other module something credible to point at.

First 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.

You will know because

Enquiries start arriving that reference a specific piece of work rather than asking what you do.

A small set of pages that answer the questions your buyers put into a search bar before they have a shortlist.

Why 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.

What changes

You become discoverable to people who are not yet in a buying process, which is when a shortlist is actually formed.

First move

List the ten questions you get asked most in a first call. Each one is a page.

You will know because

Search starts to appear as a source on new enquiries.

A path for the visitor who is interested but not ready to send an enquiry, so their interest is not lost.

Why 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.

What changes

The majority of your traffic that is researching quietly becomes a known contact instead of an anonymous visit.

First move

One thing worth an email address, built from the proof you already hold, behind a form that asks for very little.

You will know because

A list that grows every month without paid support.

Deliberate presence in the places your buyers gather, rather than waiting to be found.

Why 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.

What changes

Feeds the top of the funnel so the layer underneath has something to work on.

First move

Pick the two places your buyers actually spend time and show up there weekly for a quarter.

You will know because

Enquiries from people you have never met, naming where they saw you.

Scoring and qualification on the way in, so a serious conference brief does not sit in the same queue as a student questionnaire.

Why 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.

What 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.

First move

Three questions on the enquiry form that separate a real brief from a browse.

You will know because

The best enquiry of the week is the one you saw first.

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.

Why 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.

What 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.

First move

Write down what actually has to happen between an enquiry arriving and a proposal going out. That list is the workflow.

You will know because

Nothing stalls because one person was on site all week.

Every live opportunity in one place, with stages everyone reads the same way.

Why it is here

On the board for Spearhead Marketing Group because there is no single place that answers what is actually coming.

What changes

You can see what is actually coming, which is the difference between forecasting and guessing.

First move

Agree five stage names, then move every open opportunity into them.

You will know because

The pipeline answers questions instead of raising them.

Recording what a buyer had already seen before they made contact, not just the click that carried them in.

Why 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.

What 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.

First move

One question on the enquiry form: where had you come across us before today?

You will know because

The channels you were about to cut turn out to be the ones being mentioned.