Activate Your Audience!
Welcome to Activate Your Audience podcast! Here, you'll find a range of episodes discussing all aspects of brand activation and audience engagement, from the latest industry trends to expert insights and best practices.We will delve into topics such as events and experiential marketing, business tips and tricks, and creating experiences, all with the goal of helping you achieve your goals and drive customer engagement.Tune in to learn from the experts and get inspiration for your own brand activation strategies. Subscribe to stay up-to-date on new episodes and join the conversation on @BeImperial on Instagram. Let's activate you, your brand, and your audience together! Learn more about how IBA can support your even'ts team at your brand activations https://iba.imperialbrandingagency.com/i3ba
Activate Your Audience!
Anne Laffin - On Perfecting the Dance of Agile Marketing
Unlock the secrets to startup marketing success with Anne Laffin, the strategic mind behind Finn Marketing. With over two decades of experience, Anne shares invaluable insights on creating a lasting impact in a competitive market. This episode is a must-listen for anyone aiming to balance innovative planning with flawless execution. Anne discusses her journey from market research to empowering startups with the human touch often missing in today's digital landscape.
In this episode, Anne delves into the agility needed in startup marketing, highlighting the benefits of quarterly planning for thriving in a fast-paced environment. She also shares her own leap of faith in starting Finn Marketing and offers insights into the rise of fractional assistance and the role of AI tools like ChatGPT in enhancing creativity. Whether you're a budding entrepreneur or a seasoned marketer, join us for a conversation that challenges conventional strategies and underscores the importance of adaptability and a test-and-learn approach in digital marketing.
Tune in to transform your startup marketing strategy and gain practical tips for achieving long-term success!
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All right. So today we have the pleasure of speaking with Anne Laffin. Anne is not only a seasoned problem solver and strategist and content creator. She's also a passionate advocate for helping startups grow. Anne's journey from a 20-year marketing career to founding Finn Marketing, a consultancy specializing in helping startups amplify their presence, is a testament to her passion for empowering entrepreneurs empowering entrepreneurs with a knack for problem solving and deep understanding of the startup landscape, and brings a wealth of expertise on how businesses can create impactful marketing strategies to activate their audience and foster sustainable growth. Welcome to the Activate your Audience podcast, anne.
Speaker 2:Thank you, so happy to be here.
Speaker 1:Excited to have you. So let's kick things right off. Would you summarize, maybe at a high level sort of your career journey and the inception to FIN and kind of what got you where you are now?
Speaker 2:Absolutely so. I have been in marketing for 20 years, which went really fast. I actually started in market research, which was a really nice way to kind of get into some brand psychology and learn how people like to buy and interact. But from there I went into financial services marketing, which was a huge switch, and I ended up doing this kind of flip-flop between financial services marketing and market research marketing for the next several years. And my last gig before starting FIN was at a financial services startup and that was the first startup I had ever really officially worked with and I just loved it. I was the first marketing hire got to build from the ground up super fast pace. I just I got bitten by the bug and I decided this is what I wanted to do and when I was ready to take the leap into my own company, that's what I wanted to focus on, and so that's what I do now. Finn works with early stage startups and I've been doing this for three and a half years now.
Speaker 1:I love that and sort of as a side note, was working within FinTech was the company direct to consumer. What was their sort of vertical?
Speaker 2:It was B2B. We worked with financial advisors and with some larger financial services companies.
Speaker 1:Did any of from a marketing, I guess brain perspective did any of like that, I guess macro approach to finance, whether it was investing like, did that inform sort of a good case study, I guess, of just how people think, how companies think, that that maybe would have been a little bit more, I guess left field that maybe would have been a little bit more, I guess, left field, oh, good question.
Speaker 2:I mean, I think maybe not left field, but I think I got a great sense for how valuable and important the relationship between the financial advisor and financial services is to the happiness and outcome to mom and pop investor, right? So that was. It was really. I think sometimes financial services is seen as cold and I actually had a completely different perspective on how important and warm financial services can be after working in that sector.
Speaker 1:So yeah, yeah, if you look at, I think, especially recently there's been, I think, a big trend of you know, your wealth building financial books, tony Robbins. I think, especially recently there's been, I think, a big trend of your wealth building financial books. Tony Robbins, I think just came out with one Every sort of podcaster that has a major platform. I feel like he's talking about money a bit more and it's such an emotional thing right From a personal perspective. But, as you mentioned, at a sort of macro picture there are just transactions and numbers and data and patterns and so, yeah, that's interesting. So let's kind of kick it off into you know the next step in your journey now as an entrepreneur, as well as your you know experience as a marketing professional where or what are some of the patterns, maybe that you've noticed across the early stage companies you've worked with in regards to their marketing, and maybe the challenges and opportunities that you've seen across the board.
Speaker 2:I think the biggest challenge that I see is just lack of consistency and, I think, a true understanding for how to fix that, or maybe just see even the resourcing to fix that lack of consistency. And so you know, part of my job when I come in is to help create that, whether it's through a plan or just through the strategy that we pull together. Providing that cohesion and consistency so that they can truly get the word out effectively is my role.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean that makes a lot of sense, especially, you know, in the startup world is there are a multiple moving targets and there's a lot of uncertainty in any business, right, but more so, you know, in startup, hence a lot of opportunity as well. It's one of those things that definitely does seem to fall off like in any aspect of what are priorities. If you are managing all these other areas, it's tough to properly allocate. So do you, I guess, focus more on the strategic side or execution side? Do you offer any sort of deep dives into either, or Is it a done by you offer as well as maybe a, you know, sort of here's how you do it.
Speaker 2:It's a great question. And so, being perfectly transparent, not having been a consultant before becoming a consultant, I was very used to wearing all the hats and doing all the things, and especially again, at early stage companies, that's pretty much the requirement. When there's not a big team, you have to be the strategist and the tactician, and so I play nicely in both spaces. But what I am finding as a consultant is that it's I think it's almost more important to pick one or the other. So, to answer your question, I still come in and provide both and do this quite regularly for my clients.
Speaker 2:Now, where I'm almost just like plug and play in as a fractional head of marketing and that gig is definitely I come in and devise a marketing plan and strategy and then I execute, bringing in people and vendors to help in areas where either I don't have time, don't feel like I have as much expertise or I mean there could be a multitude of reasons, but I have also created offerings where I just do a marketing plan or I just. It could be a multitude of reasons, but I have also created offerings where I just do a marketing plan or I just do content, depending on what the client needs, and that way I can be more dialed in in one particular area. So I guess the answer is I do both, but sometimes I feel like it might be better to just focus on one thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, that makes sense. Again, if you're allocating attention, capital, you do sort of have to have, I think, a focus. And so, yeah, it's an early stage startup, or even as a solopreneur, or even in the consultancy world, you know, we find ourselves in not only having to allocate within sort of the business services but in terms of support and that's sometimes a chicken or egg thing, right, like, do I need the strategy first? And you're like, yes, you need the map to execute. But oftentimes, as you may have found, at least for us, it's been like we also need to test things.
Speaker 1:And in the world where things are digital and there's some sort of sometimes you know, pretty metrics to look at, that test is still not as clear as sometimes just like, jump on the podcast, do the interviews, you know, post a consistent social media copy, show up to the right events consistently, and it's, it's this, you know, art and science of sorts, right, yes, for sure. And with that like, have you, since we're, you know, on a podcast, right, and we're understanding the power of podcasting now, have you had any case studies or just experiences in how, whether it's a early stage startup, any company, even yourself, have used mediums from content creating, to podcasting. That has helped sort of bridge that gap between strategy tactic and obviously activate audiences and motivate, you know, the end consumer or whatever the goal is for that content.
Speaker 2:A hundred percent. I'll give you two examples. One will be for my own business and one is for a current client. So for my current client, I decided to add podcast guesting into her strategy after seeing how well it worked for my own. And what we have seen is we add in all of her podcast guesting links into her newsletter. Right, we had now created a media page on the website for all of her podcasts and we also promote on social and I would say hands down the most popular links in these newsletters are all of her podcasts.
Speaker 2:Everybody wants to hear the content that she has. She's the founder, she's CEO, she's amazing. People want to hear what she has to say. We've gotten great engagement on social and, of course, we're seeing this increase in traffic to the website. So all of these things to me that's a beautiful indicator of we're heading in the right direction with the right content and that's also the experience I've had myself where, you know, originally, I think, I started podcast guesting with the hopes that it would potentially it would help me, you know, figure out my message, would grow awareness and potentially bring in business, and it has done that. But it's also helped me just develop these amazing relationships with the hosts and with other people that have been just immensely beneficial. So I mean I'm not ready to go start my own podcast tomorrow, but the benefits for people thinking about being a guest, I just I say go for it. I think it's a wonderful opportunity.
Speaker 1:That's a great point and there's a two sides, obviously, to that coin in terms of the guesting and hosting. But one of the things we've discovered that I think has been valuable and I'm still sort of a fully baking it is, you know, if you look at, say, the business again, startup, consultancy, whatever it may be there's your top line revenue and then there's your, uh, your, your, your brand revenue, right, your sort of um, enterprise value, right, and so what podcasting and even, you know, content creation has done for us, is like we work with vendors in terms of, you know, helping, write, copy, helping, but again, as a small business or even any size business needing to allocate capital strategically, you can't do it all, and so one of the sort of um I don't want to say umbrella approaches, but it has been very important and it takes a different shift in mindset of both top line and enterprise value is like if we start to build our own podcast studio, a media company of sorts, maybe a you know, say, if you're doing speaking days, you're doing consultancy 10 years down the road, 15 years, whatever it may be, somebody may not necessarily be able to or be wanting to monetize your speaker service, right, but they can monetize and leverage a media company, and so that's sometimes a long-term play that I've seen, you know, from some of like the greats I follow whether they did it intentionally, but there's that underlying, I think, approach of as a creator. Again, both on the hosting and on the guesting side. If you are obviously getting those reps and having those sort of short-term top line revenue wins of new clients, you know, new, uh, warm leads, whatever it may be, you're also, if thought about it properly and with the right, I think, strategy, building enterprise value in creating an asset. So that's been helpful for us in a way that, again, I wouldn't have known that if I hadn't started the podcast journey.
Speaker 1:So, back to like, was it a chicken or egg thing? Once? I'm like, oh, you know what, we're spending all this money on creators and, yes, that was when bandwidth was limited. But I think we're at the point now where let's invest and it's a long-term play. Right, it's sometimes expensive, it's still risky, but it's. Let's enter, let's invest in the enterprise value for this sort of long-term investment. Right, I love it, yeah. So with that, um, let's go into maybe some lessons. What are some lessons that you've uh gathered, or any experiences in working with various size companies, even startups. Obviously that had influenced how you approach.
Speaker 2:You know the startup work that you do now as well as just marketing strategy, marketing tactics in general. So I think, coming out of potentially more mid-sized companies or working with potentially larger clients, I had a planning. My planning strategy was always to build, for a minimum of six months to a year, out with this full scale marketing plan that encompassed all the channels and all the things, with thinking about having a full budget. And what I have realized recently is that just flat out doesn't work for early stage startups. It's overwhelming and it's unrealistic because things change so fast and the resources likely aren't there. Whether it's from a human capital standpoint or just a capital capital standpoint, it's impossible.
Speaker 2:And so I have started to develop what I'm calling micro plans, which are, they're, tiny marketing plans. I mean, that's what they, but so they I only build out for a quarter at a time. Everything is done monthly and we align towards the North Star. So what is the one goal that the company is shooting for that year? Okay, then I pick a retention tactic and a lead gen tactic, and those are the things that we focus on for that month.
Speaker 2:I'm not saying there aren't other things, like keeping the lights on activities that have to happen as well. Those things will always have to happen, but these are kind of like two main initiatives that we pick for the month. They're easily measurable, we know like it's usually a very targeted audience and I'm finding that this is my clients love it and it's working really really well because it's easy to know whether or not it's working. And it's working really really well because it's easy to know whether or not it's working and it's easy to change direction if it is or it isn't. And I don't have this lengthy marketing plan behind it that I have to then be like, oh my God, I've got to change. You know six months worth of stuff now. So I think what I have found is that the flexibility and nimbleness just it's key. When you work with a startup. You eat like building too far ahead is just it's a waste of time for everyone and I actually think it almost adds more stress.
Speaker 1:So yeah, that's beautiful. I mean I like that too, because from what that I really I think really entails is you're looking at again, if you're the busy head of marketing or even the CEO, you are probably not having the time. But if you are looking at just the macro again picture of how do we retain more customers, how do we make those customers worth more right, Keeping the lights on activity, but also how do we eliminate risk is worth more right, the keeping the lights on activity, but also how do we eliminate risk. I feel like that approach, as well as being sort of flexible, also really ties to the essential aspects of that from a marketing perspective, which, again, if you're managing all these other things, that framework, can make that just a lot more digestible.
Speaker 1:And, as you said, things change so fast. Why not doing in sort of that quarterly bite-sized frame? Yeah, Love that. Now, what motivated you personally to take the leap into starting your own firm and how do you tailor now those services? Having experience, you know both sides of working for a startup and now serving startups in the offer that you provide.
Speaker 2:So my dad ran a small business when I was a kid. He is now retired, but I think you know we had numerous conversations around what that was like for him, why he ran a business. I used to go visit him at work, you know. So there was some, I think, natural inclination that someday I might want to do this. And as I got older and more settled into my career, that bug, that bug to to take that later that, that that itch to take that leap, was still there. And so in the, during the pandemic, everyone was home, I was home. It just it kind of. Most businesses had gone digital because they were forced to and it was a natural time for me to kind of take that leap.
Speaker 2:I think I don't know, I didn't have a super dialed-in framework for what I wanted to do.
Speaker 2:I just knew that I wanted to work with startups at that point and I knew what I was good at. And so, starting there, I think I kind of alluded to this right, I was bringing my early-stage marketing head person into my consultancies and I think there's certainly value there. But again, as the business has changed and evolved, I realize there's value other places too, with things like being a good advisor, doing more things like workshops and bringing in some plug and play resources can also be really valuable to these companies that maybe can't quite afford a full head of marketing yet or just don't need that much yet marketing yet, or just don't need that much yet. So key for me, and I think key for startups, is being flat right, going back to that flexible, nimble, nimble piece. Same thing for me. I have to be the same. I think the markets changed a lot in the last three and a half years, with more fractional help coming in to the, into the market. So so yeah, that's what I've learned.
Speaker 1:It's ever evolving, as chat GPT might say. I love that. Yeah, that's what I've learned. It's ever evolving, as chat GPT might say, like the metacognitive exercise of like let me get my thoughts on paper and they may be a bunch of jumble, but I did it and sometimes that's what the business journey is back to, like the uncertainty, the chicken or egg thing. You start and you do want a plan, but the plan can't be too rigid and you still want some structure but you need the chaos sort of balance. I love it. And because you brought chat GPT up, do you have a sort of like a lay of the land right now with marketing again, from the strategic macro level to like the tactical level of what you've seen? Certain you know AI functionalities in in in the realm of marketing, even marketing strategy right, like now you can build these sort of what would you call them Like frameworks, right, or even workflows, anything in that lane that you've seen that's been interesting.
Speaker 2:I will use it to bounce ideas off of and I will help it. Like, if I'm stuck with something, I'll go to chat GPT and kind of like. Like almost use it as an ideator, but I don't like using it as a full content creator. It's just the voice to me still is it's not, it's not me and it will never be me Right, and I know you can chain it, know you can train the AI to kind streamlining workflows and things like that. I myself am not quite doing that yet, but it's coming.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, that's super helpful. It's definitely I like that. You know it's a leveraged tool and it's funny we're already like personalizing it like he or she is helping me, but it is this sort of like feedback and it's kind of cool too, especially if you're doing a lot of deep work or even like solo strategic work to have the human-ish right. It's a robot, but this sort of like element of ideation feedback that to me it's almost like a whiteboard with the sonic element as well as the visual from like somebody else's, that I think has been key for us.
Speaker 1:Yep, love it. So last question, and then we will wrap as a communication professional, how do you leverage your experience to adapt to this again ever changing landscape? You mentioned, obviously, short term plans, but if we're talking the digital world and how quick that changes whether it's new technologies, new advances, like you know, ai how do you maybe double clicking in sort of like these quarter by quarter plans? Is there any sort of way that you approach the fast changing landscape of, say, digital marketing in general? Just the pace of things.
Speaker 2:Question. I mean, I think marketing to me some days feels overwhelming because there is so much change, there's so many tools, there's so much new titles, new category, like it's just it just feels like a big ball of change all the time. And I think, as a consultant or just a head of marketing or just someone that's working as a marketer, part of your job is to stay on top of what's happening with trends, and so I think, to answer your question, you know part of my job, I'll make this plan, but I feel like I've always got one eyeball kind of like all right, what have I seen in my LinkedIn feed today? Or doing research, what's kind of come up as something that's new and interesting that I could maybe add into this plan. Again, going back to like creating a short plan, it allows me then to add in and be flexible.
Speaker 2:You know I actually work right now with a lot of animal health clients and that space is, I would say, traditionally a little resistant to change, so we might be a little slower at adopting some of these more digital tactics, but I mean it doesn't mean that we can't experiment and maybe get out a little ahead of the curve, but I mean, for me, things like again, podcasting, adding in some AI into strategy I mean, adding an AI into some of our social media planning, things like that is really helpful. Yeah, I'm not sure I'm answering this question very well, but I think for me it's more just keeping an eye on what I'm seeing and hearing as a trend and making sure that I'm aware so that if an opportunity presents itself where I can add that into a plan, I'm ready and I know how it needs to be used.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and, as you mentioned, even as the person say tasks or you know who owns that, whether it's a CMO or somebody on a team, it can still be overwhelming. So you have to have, yes, a finger to the polls but at the same time, like back to execution versus strategy. The change is so fast that you're not ever going to be able to drink out of the water hose and do anything with it. So it's like keep an eye, as you mentioned, as you do the work and then test as best as possible. Has, I think, been, you know, effective from from a lot of what I've seen in terms of strategy within this world. When you add anything to that, or would you, would you say there's any other, I guess, best practices to how to balance those two?
Speaker 2:No, I love the approach of kind of test, test, see and iterate, especially with early stage companies or just small businesses in general. There's not usually a ton of history, there's not usually a lot of data points, so the only way to know if it's going to work is to try it and be okay with the fact that it may totally flop or it might be awesome Either way. Now you know.
Speaker 1:I love that, awesome. So I'm going to run it back sort of what stood out for me, and then you go ahead and fill in anything that I might've missed Got it. So the first one is the differentiation between strategy and execution Knowing that sometimes it takes one person or one team to focus on such, but if you are having to do both, just understanding that there are different skill sets, micro skill sets, there's nuance, and so I think having that, that top of mind of differentiating strategy and execution, I think is a great call out. The second point was the micro plans to scale.
Speaker 1:I really liked the sustainability of that and, as well as sort of touching on a couple other trends of what we talked about, there is a um, not just the adaptability, but there's a fluidity, fluidity in that. Fluidity in that that um allows you to, not only in the startup world but in any sort of business venture, just in the current landscape, be more empowered with, you know, the current changes. So micro plans, I think, are huge, and even just the way that you tactically tied those to what really matters right Keeping more customers, making them worth more and mitigating risk. And then, last is you know the adapting to change again by keeping your eye on what's going on. But test, see and iterate from your own words. Is there anything you'd want to add to that?
Speaker 2:I nope, I love that. I think those are some great points.
Speaker 1:Love it Well. Thank you so much, anne. This has been wonderful. Where can people learn more about you and sort of follow your journey or anything else that you have going on right now?
Speaker 2:Certainly find me on LinkedIn, Anne Laffin, or at finnmarketingmcom.
Speaker 1:Love that Well. Thank you so much, Anne. I appreciate it. Anne's dedication to helping businesses thrive is truly inspiring. She continues to empower entrepreneurs and startups with her expertise and unwavering commitment to excellence, and resides in North Haven, Connecticut, with her husband, twin girls and their beloved Black Lab Smoke. So we're grateful to have you on. Thank you for this valuable insight and we look forward to our next chat.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much.