CMA Live 2018 Review — What Did You Miss?

Richard Eaton
6 min readJun 12, 2018

So I’ve just spent the last 2 days at CMA Live 2018. Nope, not the Country Music Association as “friends” on social media have asked. Here’s what the CMA (Content Marketing Academy btw) Live event is in their own words…

“THE UK’S LEADING CONTENT MARKETING, SOCIAL MEDIA AND BUSINESS GROWTH CONFERENCE“

A pretty bold statement but as this is now my third year I’ve been to it, it’s one that I’d agree with. I don’t really do conferences but this is a conference like no other. To give you an idea of the vibe, the conference ended with a “Beernote” (like a keynote, but crazy and with free beer!) and one of the delegates back flipping off the stage!

So here’s my review of this years event. If you really can’t be bothered to read about all the speakers and everything I learnt below, here are my 4 main takeaways in about 30 seconds worth of reading.

  1. Quality Over Quanitity.
    There’s already too much noise out there so don’t add to it. Create amazing content consistently in a couple of places rather than just spewing out stacks of average content everywhere.
  2. Give People What THEY Want.
    Stop being selfish. What does your prospective customer want? Put yourself in their shoes, answer their questions, and genuinely help them.
  3. Be Yourself. Be Personal.
    If you’re a jeans and t-shirt guy/girl. Be a jeans and t-shirt guy/girl. Don’t put on a suit (literally and figuratively!) if that’s not who you are. No matter what industry you’re in, you’ll find people who are looking for someone just like you. When they do find you, then connect with them personally. Don’t just treat them as just another number in your “sales funnel”.
  4. Get Started, Now!
    I’ve always loved the quote “the best time to get started was a year ago, the second best time to get started is now”. Even if you don’t even publish your content initially, still create it. The more you practice, the better you’ll get.

Now you can go back to being busy/scrolling endlessly through Facebook or Instagram…

For those of you still with me, here’s a bit more detail… And I really do mean “a bit more detail”. For each speaker, I’ve summed up their message in a paragraph. If you want to know more, they’re all putting out content (as you’d hope!), so do check them out online by clicking on their names.

Brian Fanzo (iSocialFanz)
Sell experiences not products. Embrace change. Build communities and collaborate. Be relatable and trustworthy. Forget perfection and give people access to people, places, and experiences they can’t get elsewhere. Stop talking about what you do. Just push the button!

Karen Reyburn (The Profitable Firm)
Find your niche and stick to it. Become an expert. Know your audience and only specialise in them. You can’t be both a specialist AND a cater to everyone and anyone. Say no to the people outside of your niche.

Allan Corfield (AC Architects)
Sell how you help people, not what you do. Show people what it’s like to work with you. Tell them how much it costs. Answer the questions that everyone is asking.

Mark Asquith (Excellence Expected)
Support your customers outcomes, not your own. Evoke strong emotions; What do people love/hate? Do things that do not scale. Be yourself. Being professional is doing the job, not looking or acting as people expect.

Salma Jafri (Be The Media)
Creating video is just the start. Distribution is key. Use the 4 C’s of video strategy; Constraint (specialise in a niche), Consistency, plan your Content, build Community. Answer the questions people are asking. Video isn’t just about YouTube, use native video on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Ann Handley (MarketingProfs)
Write for your audience and take yourself out of the story. Be a writer first, marketer second. Do less and obsess. Write every day, if only for yourself. Follow the 3 C’s principal; Communicate your ideas with clarity. Have Confidence to express your ideas in public. Connect with and lead a squad.

Amy Harrison (HarrisonAmy Copywriting)
Copywriting is the language of persuasion. People need a compelling reason to take action, so give it to them. Don’t write from a template, be personal. Don’t be a writing robot, be you. Why would someone not buy from you? Answer those objections. Don’t think about customer personas, think about actual customers. Identify what customers actually want (not features!), and write about that.

Gavin Bell
Create incredible content. Though we all have to start somewhere, so just start. Embrace the messy. Combine video with Facebook Ads. Only boost well performing content. Retarget people who have watched videos with a tailored offer.

Jen Munro (ISSOS International)
Determine what your company values are. Don’t just write them down, live them. Values are action led, not just lip service or a statement on your website. Everything, everyone does should be true to these values.

Jon Burkhart (TBC Global)
Ask firecracker questions. What do people think? Help people. What are their best options? Use online tools (e.g. Buzz sumo, Answerthepublic, Google trends) to find out what people are asking. Use provocation, originality, play, and surprise. Ask questions, then use imagination and empathy in your answers, and keep testing the response. Make fun a daily thing.

Mike Morrison (The Membership Guys)
One to many instead of time for money. Have a following. Prove a buying market. Commit long term. There needs to be a recurring need. Recruit, retain, repeat. Use trial periods and free Facebook groups for leverage.

Chris Brogan (Owner Media Group)
Use edge marketing. Create feelings, intentions, goals, preferences. Communicate every single step. 5 tips: Brevity, Simplicity, Connectivity, Tiny media, Our true self. Not more content, the right content. Create with the goal of connecting and serving. Equip their story. You exist to make your buyer successful. Be where they are, and go where they’re going.

So that’s my quick review of a fab couple of days learning. Obviously you get stacks more out of it (and a lot more context) by actually being there. And of course there are loads of great people attending as delegates you can learn with and socialise (*social media may expose just how much some people “socialise” on the nights out!) with.

I’ll certainly be going again next year, and I highly recommend you do too. Take a look at the website here http://cmalive.co.uk and if you’ve got any questions, just ask:)

Thanks

Richard

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Richard Eaton
Richard Eaton

Written by Richard Eaton

Marketeer. Technologist. Petrol Head. Left the UK for a year long round the world family trip and forgot to go back. Currently living in Vietnam 🇻🇳

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