11 Inspiring TED Talks on Marketing

Successful marketing is crucial for any business. We know that the fitness industry is exceptionally competitive, so getting creative is a must if you want to stand out from the crowd. From guerilla campaigns to standing out on social, there are plenty of strategies and platforms to funnel your marketing efforts in to. 

And when it comes to inspiration, the internet hosts a variety of easy-to-digest content that’s sure to get your creativity flowing. 

We’ve previously curated the best motivational TED Talks for sales, as well as 9 TED Talks every fitness entrepreneur needs to watch. This time, we’ve covered 11 inspiring TED talks on marketing. 

Nadja Yousif: Why You Should Treat the Tech You Use at Work Like a Colleague

 “Let’s all share a bit of humanity towards the technologies and the softwares and the algorithms and the robots who we work with, because we will all be the better for it.” 

This talk is. a great place to start when it comes to improving the efficiency of your marketing. From your gym management software to your digital marketing strategy, running a fitness business means working collaboratively with technology, so this video is a must-see for improving efficiency. 

Nadjia Yousif’s work for The Boston Consulting Group focuses on tech-enabled strategy, organization, and change management.

During this talk, Nadja highlights that businesses all over the world are missing out because tech isn’t living up to their expectations. They’re canceling certain technology, or disappointed by results – but this is often because they haven’t approached it in the right way, or seen its full potential.

In this fun and practical video, she highlights how to make your workplace tech work for you; by treating it like a member of your team.

Rachel David: How Influencers Have Transformed Modern Marketing

There’s an influencer for every product and category you can think of, and there are hundreds when it comes to fitness. Choosing the right influencer for your fitness business relies on finding the ones who are already aligned with your brand voice and who already have followers that match your ideal demographic. 

If influencer marketing is a totally new concept to you, this talk is perfect for breaking down what an influencer does, how they could help your fitness business, and their overall importance in today’s marketing landscape. 

Kirsti Rogers: Where Are Our Digital Ads Really Going

There’s a difference between having a presence on social media or using it to build a community – and using social platforms for advertising. While 90% of brands use social media to increase awareness, 70% of consumers don’t like seeing ads on their mobile phones, but digital marketing relies heavily on this format. 

In this talk, advertising researcher Kristi Rogers discusses how planning digital ads with mathematics can transform the way audiences react to them. Essentially, the core focus of your marketing strategy should be on ensuring that your efforts are being shown to the right audience. This means targeting your ideal demographic – at the right time when they’re most likely to buy. A must watch for ad targeting insights. 

Clay Shirky: How Social Media Can Make History

In this talk, social media theorist Clay Shirky explores the media over the years. He explains how it has evolved with technology and adapted to overcome deficiencies, with examples of how social media impacts lives. 

Citing social media as “increasingly more of a site of coordination” this talk will inspire the way you think about your social media strategy, with an emphasis on collaboration.  

Rory Sutherland: Life Lessons From an Ad Man

In this talk, advertising guru Rory Sutherland asserts that the key to successful advertising lies in how we add value to a product or service by changing the viewer’s perception. With examples including Cocoa-Cola, he outlines how marketing affects the way that people view products and services.

Sutherland argues that value is relative, and when it comes to advertising, persuasion is better than compulsion. If we apply this to the process of appealing to a prospective new member, someone who’s genuinely persuaded that your studio is going to help them someone vs. who signs up on a whim is more likely to be loyal and increase your retention in the long-run. 

Patrick Renvoise: Is There a Buy Button Inside the Brain

How do you make sure that pricing isn’t a significant factor in a prospect’s purchasing decision? 

You get inside their head.

In this talk, Patrick Renvoise, co-author of Neuromarketing: Understanding the Buy Button Inside Your Customer’s Brain, and President and Chief Neuromarketing Officer of SalesBrian explains how to do just that.

During the talk, Renvoise explains the three parts of the brain: the reptilian brain represents your instincts, the new brain represents your rational side, and the middle brain represents your emotional side.

Neuroscientists have found that the instinctual side of our brains has a much more significant impact on decision-making compared to the rational and emotional parts. Renvoise goes on to explain that if you can learn to use neuromarketing to your advantage, you’ll understand how to activate that buy button in a potential customer’s head. 

Kevin Allocca: Why Videos Go Viral

75 Million people in the U.S. watch online videos every day, and 95% of video marketers plan to increase or maintain video spend in 2020. Plus – 84% of people say they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service from watching a brand’s video.

When you’re mindlessly scrolling through Facebook, waiting for something to engage you – what is it that catches your eye and makes you stop? It’s likely a video. 

It’s obvious that you should be using video content to promote your gym. But this talk is about more than just using video. It’s about creating content that people want to see and, most importantly – share. 

Kevin Allocca is the Head of Culture and Trends at video-sharing giant Youtube and has spent years monitoring and understanding video trends at the company. In his TED talk, he explains what makes a video go viral with three key elements: tastemakers, communities of participation, and unexpectedness. 

Dan Cobley: What Physics Taught Me About Marketing

In this talk, former Google Marketing Director Dan Cobley highlights the similarities between physics and marketing. 

Using some well-known examples, Cobley explains why it’s hard for big-brands to reposition themselves, how BP, Tiger Woods and Toyota tainted their reputation, and why focusing on what consumers do, over what they say, is imperative. 

Daniel Schnitzer: Inventing Is the Easy Part. Marketing Takes Work 

Inspire the way you look at marketing in just over 5 minutes with this speedy video. Daniel Schnitzer is the founder of EarthSpark International, a company dedicated to helping create clean energy supply chains in Haiti.

In his talk, Schnitzer uses his experience to highlight how smart health and energy products for the developing world are useless – unless the market works as well. 

Scott Galloway: How Amazon, Apple Facebook and Google Manipulate Our Emotions

“The combined market capitalization of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google is now equivalent to the GDP of India.”

How did these four big brands become such a presence in today’s society? In this talk, Scott Galloway draws attention to some staggering stats on each of their motivations, dominance, and what happens when a society places such strong importance on shareholder value. 

Manoush Zomorodi: How Boredom Can Lead to Your Most Brilliant Ideas

A lack of creativity can sink you – especially when it comes to marketing. And the more creative your idea, the better the chance of success. Thinking outside of the box creatively, means coming up with ideas that your competitors aren’t doing.

The thing is – it’s not that easy to come up with truly original ideas. When do you have time? In our ‘always-on’ society, most are multitasking around the clock, and Manoush Zomorodi argues that this leaves little time for thinking.

With research from cognitive psychologists and neuroscientists, Zomorodi suggests that boredom is the key to great ideas. 

Every marketer needs a little inspiration from time to time. Hopefully, these talks give you a fresh perspective and have you ready to tackle your next campaign from a new angle.