98: Why Your Marketing Strategy Needs a Rethink in 2026 (Beyond the Funnel) with Becca Pountney
Marketing in 2026 looks nothing like it did even a few years ago. The traditional funnel assumes people move in a straight line from awareness to purchase. That assumption no longer holds.
In this Strut It episode, I sit down with internationally known marketing consultant, speaker, and educator Becca Pountney. Becca works primarily in the wedding industry, but her strategies apply to every business and every niche.
We unpack why attention is harder to earn, why trust is harder to build, and why customers now take multiple paths before buying. Becca introduces her Marketing Theme Park concept and walks through her S.C.R.E.A.M. framework, a practical way to rethink visibility, pricing, experience, and conversion in today’s landscape.
This episode is a full marketing reset for 2026.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
[00:00] Why the traditional marketing funnel is outdated
[01:32] How the marketing theme park reflects modern buying behavior
[02:28] What it actually means to stand out in a crowded market
[04:44] Why transparent pricing builds trust faster
[07:05] How word-of-mouth still cuts through digital noise
[08:59] Why experience now drives conversions
[09:29] How to capture attention in a short attention economy
[21:46] Why customers need multiple ways to buy from you
Key Takeaways:
Visibility alone no longer converts
Differentiation matters more than perfection
Clear pricing builds confidence
Small experience upgrades create big impact
Attention is earned in seconds
Simplicity increases sales
Customers choose their own buying path
Links Mentioned:
Get Tickets for Wedding Pros Live in London or Ireland in March of 2026!
Follow Becca Pountney on Instagram
Becca’s Podcast: Wedding Pros Who Are Ready to Grow
Free Resource: Monetize Your IG Guide
A Truth You Need to Hear:
“We are no longer marketing in straight lines. We are marketing inside a theme park full of noise, choice, and distraction.” — Becca Pountney
Guest Bio
Becca Pountney is an internationally recognized marketing consultant, speaker, and educator. She is the UK’s leading wedding industry marketing expert and the host of the award-winning podcast Wedding Pros Who Are Ready to Grow. Her work helps business owners simplify marketing, increase visibility, and build sustainable growth in a noisy digital world.
S3 Ep98 Transcript: Why Your Marketing Strategy Needs a Rethink in 2026 (Beyond the Funnel) with Becca Pountney
00:00
To kick off our very first episode of 2026, I wanted to start with a big picture marketing tuneup, not just Instagram, but your entire strategy. Today's conversation is with Becca Pountney, an internationally known marketing consultant, speaker, and educator who works with business owners around the world. Becca shares why the traditional funnel only way of looking at marketing is starting to fall flat.
00:27
especially in today's landscape and introduces her fresh approach she calls the marketing theme park, a way to look at your marketing as a full experience, not just a straight line. Well, Becca works closely with the wedding industry. Everything we talk about today applies to any business, any niche, and any stage of growth. So you are in the right place, my friend.
00:53
And a fun personal note, I'll be speaking at Becca's conference called Wedding Pros live in London and Ireland this March of 2026. So if you're tuning in from the UK, I would love to see you there. Be sure to check out the show notes for that link. This episode is truly the perfect way to reset, refocus and rethink how you approach marketing in 2026. I hope you're super pumped. Let's go.
01:23
Welcome to Strut It, a podcast about creating bold visibility on social media with zero apologies. I'm Elizabeth Marberry, your host and Instagram marketing coach. I help small business owners get seen on Instagram and monetize their offers so they can make more money doing their sole lead work. If you're tired of spinning your wheels on Instagram and you're seeking simple, proven Instagram marketing strategies that actually work, you're in the right place.
01:52
Let's dive in.
02:01
Welcome back to the show. I am so pumped that you have joined me today because I am bringing on a beloved friend and colleague. Her name is Becca Pountney and she is the UK's leading wedding industry marketing expert. Now, we want to highlight right here from the get-go, you do not need to be in the wedding industry to get benefit from today's conversation.
02:30
I am so pumped and prepping for the show. Becca and I were talking about how marketing has really shifted in 2026. And we're gonna be sharing some really important strategic keys that you can implement this year to grow your visibility and drive more leads and sales online for your business. We are super, super pumped and I am so excited to welcome her to the show. So Becca.
02:59
I'm gonna roll out the red carpet for you. You're coming in. I know it's late there because you're in the UK, but welcome to the show. I'm so happy you have joined us today. Thank you so much for having me. I'm thrilled to be on your podcast. You're one of my favorite humans on the planet. And I know we're gonna have a lot of fun talking all things marketing and visibility today, because that's the subject we both love to share. Yes, we totally geek out on this. And I want to tell everyone...
03:24
I met Becca because we both were speaking at the wedding MBA in Las Vegas, which is one of the biggest wedding pro conferences. It is the biggest probably, right? Attracting over 7,000 wedding pros from all over the world. And I have to just kind of say this from the get-go, Becca is doing her own event called Wedding Pros Live that is happening in London and Ireland in March of 2026. And guess who gets to come speak?
03:54
Me, I'm so excited. So Becca, I'm just so happy you're here because Becca brings such a beautiful energy and voice. And Becca, you are such a fantastic educator. So I know that beloved listener, you're going to get so much out of our conversation today. So buckle up. I hope you are feeling as pumped as we are. I'm so excited to get started. And if you're listening to this and you have any doubt whether what I'm going to have to say to you is relevant, whether or not you're in the wedding industry,
04:23
Please know it absolutely is this stuff is gonna translate to you, so stay listening. Yeah, all right, let's do it. Okay, back up, for those people who don't yet know you and your fabulousness, tell us about how you became this marketing expert. Okay, so let me start way back when I was at college. I graduated college and my degree was in television and radio marketing. So marketing has been my thing since day one.
04:50
I worked in television and radio, so I worked for big national radio stations. I worked on a little show here in the UK called Deal or No Deal, which I know you also have in the States. I worked on Strictly Come Dancing, which is the equivalent of Dancing with the Stars. So I had this incredible few years working in television and radio and understanding how marketing happens with big budgets and in a big visibility way. And then as happens to a lot of us, I decided I wanted to start a family and television and radio is not a career for you.
05:20
If you wanna have a family, the hours are long, it's wild. As fun as it was, I knew I wanted to do something different. So I took my background in TV and decided to set up a wedding videography business. Hence my step from marketing and the world of TV and radio into weddings. I set up this wedding videography business, but it was very different. It was a film your own, but it was back in the days before iPhones were big. And so I literally used to physically ship people a video camcorder.
05:47
to their homes, they would get their friends and family to film the wedding over the weekend. They would then ship it back in this container to me. I would then edit the videos while my baby was in bed. And so that's how I ended up in the wedding industry. I didn't want to be out at weddings all of the time. Hence why I did a film your own. And that's what I did. But after a couple of years, I had my second child and I realized I wanted to be out my house more. And I was editing so much. I knew that I needed to build community.
06:13
And we moved across the country here in the UK and I decided to start a small networking group with other wedding business professionals in the local area. And so my first meetup, we had 30 professionals turn up and the goal for me was to build my wedding videography business. But what happened very fast because of my knowledge in marketing and the background, people were asking me about their marketing and I started helping them on a small scale with their marketing and their visibility. used to put on little tiny workshops on how to do Facebook.
06:42
Back in the day, this is going back to 2016, 2017. And to cut a long story short, what started with 30 people in a room in Bedfordshire, expanded and expanded and expanded. And now I work with wedding professionals and business owners across the world. And Becca also has a top rated podcast. You recently won a pretty big award. Can you tell us about that? Yeah. So I have a podcast called Wedding Pros Who Are Ready to Grow, which is all about how to
07:10
your wedding business, essentially for wedding professionals. And this year it won a hugely prestigious award here in the UK. So we have a podcast award ceremony called the British Podcast Awards and I was up for the best business category. And I didn't think in a million bazillion years I could ever win it because I saw the other people in my category and they were like the Times newspaper, Bloomberg, The Economist, these huge media corporations. And here's me, Becca Poutney, filming in my office in Bedfordshire every day.
07:39
And we were sat so far back at the awards because the tickets were expensive. And I took my team, we were sat right at the back because we didn't think we'd win. And then guess who was named best business podcaster of the year here in the UK. If you're here on video, I've got the award right here. It's gold. It's heavy and it's shiny. Becca Powney, best business podcast award winner. And we screamed and we had to run down a lot of stairs to go and collect the award. But it was a really big moment for me this year to realize that.
08:07
Just because it's about weddings and business doesn't mean it's not serious business advice. And so for me, for my wedding business podcast to win such a huge award was a massive achievement and one that I'm very proud of. Congratulations. Like you telling that story, I have chills. I love it. And I'm so happy for you. Well-deserved. You've been so consistent and ruthless and showing up and serving your people with such a generous heart. So I'm so happy that you received that award.
08:37
To kick off our conversation today, we were talking about how marketing has changed. And I know you often talk about how the old school funnel is dead. So let's start there. Like what has changed and why do you claim that the funnel is dead? Okay. So I'm going to get on my high horse for a moment, but for as long as time we have been taught in university and schools in business. And I'm sure most of your listeners will have heard this before.
09:06
about this concept of the marketing funnel. And I decided to do a deep dive and see when this concept actually came about. Sources vary as to the dates, but most people believe the marketing funnel was invented by a man called Frank Hutchinson in 1904. That is 1904. And that blew my mind because I thought how much has the world changed in over a hundred years? How on earth are we still learning and teaching a marketing concept?
09:34
from a time where there was barely a car, let alone an iPhone, an iPad, TikTok, Instagram. And so I got thinking about this idea of the marketing funnel that is still taught very much by a lot of people today. I thought, I don't think this is right. Within my research, I found out that Google, obviously the big industry giants had also started to talk about how the marketing funnel was shifting. They called it the messy middle. I decided, no, that's a bit boring.
09:59
I'm going to come up with my own concept about how marketing has changed, which I've coined the marketing theme park. So I'm going to explain to you in as easy a way as possible how I see the difference. So go back to the marketing funnel idea, go back to 1990, you're sitting in your childhood bedroom and you're watching the television and the TV adverts come on. And back at that time in the nineties, that was the main way that we got advertised too. And the marketing message was simple. You were watching your favorite show.
10:30
You're sat there, the advert break came on, you couldn't pause it, you couldn't wind it forward, so you watched it. And the TV advert would tell you that the latest, greatest, coolest thing you should have was the Walkman. With a CD Walkman. And then you, as a consumer, would go to your parent or go to the shop and go, I, mom, I need the Sony Walkman, the lady on the advert looks really cool, I need this. You would then go to the shop, you would buy the Walkman.
10:53
and everyone is happy. And that is the concept of the marketing funnel, right? You find out about the product, you see it, you're visible, you go to the shop, you buy it. But yet in 2026, that is not how it works anymore. There is no longer just this basic advert that we watch on the TV. We are bombarded with advertising and noise and overwhelm all of the time. And it's like walking into a theme park. You walk into a theme park these days and there is lights and there is flashes and there is sound and there is
11:22
people and there is overwhelm and there is noise and there is food and there are choices and the list goes on. And when someone is being marketed to, which we are all of the time, that's what it feels like. It is noisy out there and as a business owner, whatever industry you're in, that's really difficult for you to stand out in. Yes. Oh my goodness. Wow.
11:47
I love how you described that. I know you were at my wedding MBA, but remember how I showed the slide of the yellow pages? And I was like, this is Instagram in the 90s. And I show a slide of the yellow pages and I'm like, so anytime you guys complain about how hard Instagram is, please just remember that you used to have to pay money to be listed in the yellow pages, then wait six months for it to be printed and then hope.
12:13
that someone who needs a wedding florist would come to that page and look at the hundreds of other people on the page and just happen to pick your name and then call you. right, so I love that you're kind of highlighting like the way that people discover their products or services and the way that they buy them and their whole process of doing that has shifted dramatically. So the theme park, I totally feel that. I feel like social media is all of the flashing lights, right? So.
12:43
Okay, we're all on board with you. Now what? What do we do if the funnel is dead? How do we market our business? How do we show up? What's our first step? Okay, so I've come up with a bit of an analogy to help us remember all of the different things we need to think about in this new age of the marketing theme park. And the word we're going to base it around is the word scream, because that's what I do when I'm on a roller coaster at a theme park. So I'm to walk you very briefly through each of the letters of scream. If you don't have a notepad, grab one now because you want to take notes.
13:12
So the S in Scream stands for stand out. So in the age of the marketing theme park, your business has to stand out. When you go to a theme park, you stand on the edge of Disney world, every customer has to decide where they're going to go first. And they will make that decision on a variety of different factors depending on who they are. So some people will go to the fastest ride, the biggest ride, the newest ride, the ride with the shortest queue, the ride that's the furthest away, the ride that's the closest. So they have lots of different reasons for making that decision.
13:42
But one thing is the same is that they have something that makes them stand out. So in the age of the marketing theme park, we have to have something as a business owner to hang our hats on, to shout about, to show people why we're different, to give them a reason to come to us first. That's the first one. Stand out. Anything to say on that? You know me, I'm like over here, I'm like, oh. So I love this concept of stand out. And this is why I'm so obsessed with Instagram.
14:11
as a platform is what better way to bring your brand to life than video, right? It's one thing to have, yes, we need to have a website, 100%, is it important? 100%, but it's one thing to write on your about page. It's another to show in a video or, you know, I was on a call earlier today doing a training for permanent jewelers.
14:35
And they're all permanent jewelers, right? They all do similar things. But when I was talking to them and helping them to audit their Instagram bios and their profiles, what I was really digging for was like, why you? Why should I have you do my permanent jewelry? And of course, when I asked that question, everyone kind of freezes, right? Like, oh my gosh, she's coming for me, you know? But then their responses are so beautiful, right? Like one woman was like,
15:02
Well, I'm really different in the industry. Like it's not the boho cozy vibes for me. I have tattoos. I have blue hair. I have an edgy vibe. have, like, oh my gosh, that energetic needs to come through in your content because the people who are going to want to work with you are going to gravitate toward that. Right. And your differentiators are how you stand out, right? Your it factor. Becca, have you found that in your work where people are like,
15:30
Well, I'm a wedding florist and like there's so many wedding florists. Like how would I even stand out? Like how do you help people to identify like what is their it factor? Yeah, a hundred percent. I see this all the time. And another thing that I talk about is when you're choosing ice cream and if you just, everyone's vanilla, then there's no way to choose which vanilla flavor you're going to get. But when there's choices, then people are going to make choices. So you've got to give people different to vanilla. So if you're looking left and right, your competitors,
15:58
and just doing everything that they're doing, suddenly you're all vanilla. And instead, what I want you to be is like the unicorn sparkle ice cream flavor that's so different to vanilla that no, it's not for everyone, but yes, it's for someone. So you need to find something to stand out. In order to find that, you need to look inward and you need to go into your core values as a person and your core values as a business. Because often we think that everyone thinks and feels like us, but they don't.
16:25
And so actually those can be differentiating factors. And so for you, maybe it's that you're working really hard on sustainability. Maybe that you're working with alternative brides. I've got a photographer that only works with couples who hate having their photos taken. It doesn't need to be this big crazy thing. You just need to spend some time looking into yourself and working out what makes you different rather than looking at what makes you the same. I love that. Okay, let's move on to the next letter.
16:53
Standout is first. Okay. The next letter in Scream is C and this stands for customized transparent pricing. So pricing is a controversial one, but we are going to touch on it because I believe in 2026 price transparency is key. Every single one of us is ordering an Uber on an app. And when we order that Uber, not only do we see the exact price it's going to cost us to get from A to B, it also gives us customizable options. So we can see the exact
17:21
price to get from A to B, but we can pay more to get the car to come sooner. We can pay more for the XL version. And so we need to understand that customers want transparent pricing, but within that, they also like to have options. So again, go back to my theme park. When you go to a theme park these days, you can buy the entrance ticket and you can stand in the queues with everyone else, or you have the option to pay X amount more and you can skip right to the front of the lines.
17:47
And then if you've got a lot more money, you can have the option to go VIP and have someone tour you around that park, like you're the queen of England. Right. And so there are options for everyone, but it's very transparent and everyone can see what they cost. So in 2026 and beyond, you need to be clear on your pricing. You need to make it easy for people to find. You need to be super obvious about it. But within that, you can give people options. You can have higher level packages. As long as you have your base package.
18:16
And we're not going to go below that. Above that, you can build things in, but be clear about it. I feel like trust is low. m So we need to make sure we're not giving anything that people are going to go, oh, she hid that from me. He hid that from me because that's going to turn people off immediately. So the C stands for customized and transparent pricing. I love this. I could not agree more. And to kind of give a different example outside of
18:42
The wedding industry for my online coaching business, I have a high ticket coaching business that I built and I have a group program, I have a private program. And for people who want to work with me privately, I usually will do a complimentary Instagram breakthrough session first, right? Because we want to, I wanna meet them, I wanna learn about their business, understand what they're struggling with, what their goals are, and if I truly am the right person to help them, right?
19:09
But before you get a free call with me, I have you fill out an application. This helps me to prepare and really maximize our time in the call. But part of why I do that is I have a qualifying financial question on there that says my private coaching starts at this per month, right? Because I don't want to waste my time on a call with someone who's like, oh, I have no money to invest, right? Like, I'm not here to give away my time for free. My time is really valuable as
19:38
is their time, right? And so no matter what business model you have, I love the idea of even having just like, it starts from this price. I think that that is so helpful and it's actually being of service to the customer or the client, right? Because you want to value their time. And I totally agree with you about trust. I do agree that trust is at an all time low, which is also, I'm just going to keep
20:07
after steering the bus back to Instagram, because you know, I'm obsessed, but, and I know you are too, with social media is just a powerful way to build that know, like and trust, right? Because it's one thing for me to talk on a podcast or, you know, all the different ways I show up, but when I'm sharing in my stories and I'm bringing you along in the day to day of my life, you start to get to know me and you're like, okay, I like her, I like her vibe, or I like how she teaches and it.
20:35
helps to build that know like interest factor. So I feel like the price transparency piece is another layer of that like know like interest. Do you agree? Yeah, absolutely. And there are different ways, depending on your business model, to show that transparent pricing. So like you said, you can have a from price, you can have a range of prices, you can have package prices, you can have example prices. There's not a one size fits all, but nothing is worse for a customer than not knowing how much something costs.
21:03
And if they don't know, they have to guess. And when they get it wrong, that's really embarrassing for them because they don't want to say that they can't afford it. So we're actually doing them a favor by putting it out there and there is no right or wrong. You can charge what you like for your business, but be clear from the get-go for sure. love that. Okay. What's our next letter? Right. Our next letter is R and R in Scream stands for recommendations.
21:29
So in this crazy marketing theme park world with all of the noise, there is one thing that I think cuts through in marketing above anything else, and that is word of mouth and recommendations. So let's have another example. Let's talk about personal trainers. Okay, so you're looking for a personal trainer. You decide you want to get fit and you can go on all the social media. You can go on website, you can go on AI and you will search all of these names and look at all of these things, look at all the prices and it will be overwhelming. However, if your friend comes up to you in the street,
21:59
and says to you on the school run, I've just used this personal trainer called Paula. She was incredible. I've lost those away. I feel healthier than ever. I've got really good nutrition. Whatever it is she says, you're going to go, great, can I have her number? And so you could have done all of the research online in the world, but for someone to recommend a business by name is going to cut through that noise. And so in this crazy world, yes, we have to do all of the visibility stuff, but we mustn't neglect.
22:28
word of mouth and reputational marketing. And so if you're hiding at home and hiding behind a screen and not getting out there and building relationships with people in your community, people online, then you are missing out on a big piece of the pie and nothing is gonna jumpstart your business forward more than leaning into word of mouth marketing. I love this so much because I always talk about like diversify your marketing strategy, right? Like I would never tell you just do Instagram, right?
22:58
This is so brilliant and I also feel like not only does it tie into yes, building intentional relationships with potential referral partners, depending on your business or like colleagues, right? Or niches that are like complementary of what you do. But this also ties into being obsessed with your customers and ensuring that you are providing your current.
23:26
paying customers or clients the absolute best quality product or service so that they become raving fans and refer your business, right? And to your point, Instagram can be a distraction if you're neglecting all of these other aspects, right? They all work together. And so I love that you are bringing this up because it is so, so important.
23:55
Any other examples of like what that would look like to really take action on this particular step? Okay, so let's look at an example where the whole thing fits together, right? So the good customer service leads to recommendations of visibility. So I checked into a hotel recently and when I checked into my room, I was tired and I threw myself on the bed and then I noticed next to the bed, there was this plate and it just had written on the plate in chocolate, welcome Becker.
24:24
with a chocolate truffle by the side. What? It was a tiny thing. probably took them 30 seconds to make in the kitchen, but oh my goodness, did it make a difference to my day? So number one, I'm feeling good now. I'm feeling special. I'm feeling noticed, but, and this is where it all ties in. What's the first thing I then do? I grab my phone, I take a photo of it and I put it on Instagram and say, look how great I felt when I checked into X Hotel. And so it's thinking outside of the box because all of this stuff ties together.
24:54
And it's something so small, but in the moment made me feel so good and was worth it because now if people ask me about that hotel, I will shout about it from the rooftops. On the other hand, when people go the other way and they're rude to you or it's not good, I will also shout that from the rooftop. So it's really important that we're giving good customer service. We are going above and beyond thinking about those touches and thinking about how it then ties in to the experience, which is actually our next letter.
25:22
Oh, okay. So before you go on to that letter, just remind us of those first three steps so far. Okay. So we're looking at the word Scream. S is standing out. C is customized transparent pricing and R is recommendations. So now it's time for E, which stands for the experience era. So I am coining 2026, the experience era.
25:48
I don't know if you have it in the States, you probably do, but here in London, we are seeing experiences popping up left, and centre. So all of the top TV shows, you can now go and do a Squid Games experience, a Traitors Live experience, the Crystal Maze experience, and they are popular and they are booked out, which tells you that people want to feel something in this digital age. Experience is important to them.
26:13
So that is looking at our business and thinking, okay, what is the experience we give our customer? The moment they speak to us, the moment they come into our store, if we have a physical room, the moment that they sign on with us, the onboarding experience, what are we doing? And how are we appealing to some of their different senses within that? know, so thinking about what do they hear? How do they feel? Is there touchy feely things? Does it smell good? Like all of the senses, how can we make something
26:41
and experience, which is something that again, gonna want to get their phone out and start documenting. The fact that people are desperately booking out these experiences says something to you. So look at what they're doing. Look at what they're doing in their marketing, how they are marketing these experiences and take pieces of that and lean into it in your own business. I love that. I love that. And I'm trying to think of
27:08
some different examples because I'm like, I love these examples of like a squid game experience if you're obsessed with that show, which by the way, that sounds terrifying to me. So no, thank you. I will not be going to the squid game experience. But so one of my clients right now, he owns a kombucha company. They make kombucha or like, I'm just thinking about like product based business owners. Any ideas there?
27:36
Yeah, absolutely. So depending on whether the product is being shipped out to you or whether you're in store, but imagine it's being shipped out to me. Think about what I'm going to experience the moment I open that box. Is it just chucked in the box or is there a whole unboxing experience? Are there going to be layers of paper? Are there going to be a little personalized note on the top? Is there going to be something in there that smells good? So the moment I open it up, it hits me. That's what I mean by an experience. So it's not just like, here's a box, it open. There's my product.
28:06
It's like the whole experience. And you see this with some of the luxury brands. So for example, if you go into Tiffany, you know, the jewelry comes in that little box and it's wrapped with a bow. That's all part of the experience that makes you pay more for it. So what is the experience that customer is going to get from your product? Not just the product, but everything that surrounds it. Now, if you have a physical store or let me give you another example. Imagine you're like a family portrait photographer and you have families coming in for professional photo shoots.
28:35
and they're paying them an amount of money. Like, imagine if you just added a question on that form about, like, what makes your kids dance around the kitchen right now? Right? And you put in the song that your kids love right now in there. And when you walk into that photo shoot, that's what's playing because that is going to make endorphins go and those kids are going to be in a way better mood. You're going to get much better pictures. Suddenly, that's an experience rather than just a transaction. oh my gosh, Becca, you are so brilliant.
29:03
You know what I love about that example too? It doesn't cost you any additional dollars. It's just thinking a little bit more creatively and strategically about how you can go above and beyond for your customers or clients, right? So that they will have the best experience and you'll surprise and delight them like your story of the chocolate on your bedside table. Like it's surprising you, it's delighting you, it's invoking emotion. And then people
29:33
want to come back and they want to do business with people like that who go above and beyond. And there's so many different ways of doing it that don't necessarily cost additional dollars too. So I love that example. Okay, what's our next letter? Okay, our next letter is A, which stands for Attention Economy. So right now we are living in what I'm calling the Attention Economy, because it's really hard to keep people's attention for longer than like three seconds. During this podcast interview, I guarantee your listeners, we're going to call them out right now.
30:02
They've like gone and checked the mail, looked at their phone, checked social media whilst they're listening. Because it's hard for us to hold attention. If we sit down, I sit down on the sofa with my husband to watch a show and like within minutes, I'm also looking at my phone. He's like, what are you doing? So we are living in an attention deficit economy and we can moan about it. We can gripe about it, but it is factual. And so our job as business owners is we just have to get better at grabbing people's attention.
30:29
You talk about this all the time when it comes to social media, that hook, the visual hook, the audio hook, the thing that stops someone scrolling. So we have to be aware in the age of the marketing theme park, we have to grab people's attention. If we have a physical store, for example, like something about that store has to make people want to come into it. If you're showing up with a website, the moment I land on your website, you have like half a second for me to decide if I want to stay. And so everything comes down to that first impression and grabbing people's attention.
30:59
And keeping emails short, that's the other one. So our attention span is so poor now when it comes to reading messages. It's why we like to send one line on a text to each other rather than send big long paragraphs because we don't read it and we don't read it properly. so again, as business owners, when we're communicating with customers, we've got to keep it short. We've got to keep it to the point. Otherwise they will just ignore it.
31:22
Yeah, oh my goodness. I love this one. We spent a lot of time on this podcast talking about how to capture attention. Because I always say, if you can't capture attention within those first two seconds, your content dies a very quick death. And then you're like, oh my gosh, this reel that took me three hours is doing nothing for my business. And what I always like to highlight is you can learn how to capture attention. Like, this is a skill. I think sometimes
31:50
Adults are funny where they're like, I'm not good at that. And I'm like, you need more practice. You need to learn the skillset, right? Like we kind of assume that we should be good at these things. And that's why people like me and Becca exist is to literally help you and shortcut it because we had to learn it ourselves. It's not like we knew how to do all this stuff and capture attention. And it's helpful when you can hire a marketing mentor because we can shortcut that learning curve because we literally study this day in and day out.
32:20
How do you capture attention in today's attention economy? So I love this point. It is so valuable. And I loved your examples because it's not just applicable to Instagram. It's applicable to your subject line of your email, right? Or the pre-roll, like what I record to set up a podcast episode. To me, those are all hooks, right? Your subject line, my pre-roll, the first line of my Facebook post, the first line of your LinkedIn post.
32:50
It all determines, are you going to capture the attention of the person? Are they going to stick around? Are they going to read your post or they're going to listen to your podcast? Are they going to want to read your book? Right? The beginning is so important. So I love that you highlighted that. Yeah. Like I say, it's easy for us to moan and groan about it, but we're actually all as bad as it is each other. Right. None of us can hold attention anymore. And that is a sad state of affairs, but it's a fact of life. And so
33:18
Right now, unless that changes, we've got to go with it and we've got to embrace it. And if you want to learn fast, like this is what I love to do is look at what the big brands are doing. How are they doing this? What are they doing on a billboard? What are they doing with TV advertising? What are they doing with their social media marketing? Because they're the people with the big budgets. We may not have the budget, but we can learn from their lessons and see what is it that makes us stop? What is it that makes us scan something? What is it that makes us
33:46
like Google something we've seen on a billboard. I'm going to tell you an example of attention economy. This morning I was getting ready to do the school run. was scrolling Instagram. This woman was on Instagram, basically down to her underwear, putting on this jumpsuit and showing how it made her look really skinny after she put it on. And it was so easy to buy it. I literally clicked and bought it. It's coming tomorrow. And so that captured my attention. It spoke directly to me. It was quick. It solved my problem and they could ship it the next day.
34:14
And so this stuff works, so lean into what works for you and then use it on other people. I love it. No, totally. I love that note of like, get curious about your own consumer behaviors, right? We talk about this all the time where it's like they're buying products and services directly off of Instagram now, right? Like it's a thing. Yeah, and more and more I'm hearing my friends say, I got this on TikTok shop. I got this on TikTok shop. And that has really come into our vocabulary.
34:42
In the last even three to six months, people outside of business owners like us who we expect to talk about things like that. This is just moms in the playground talking about things they got for Christmas. Oh, I got it on the TikTok shop. Go and check out the TikTok shop. So people are buying in these places. They really are. They really are. And these platforms are getting savvier and savvier as to how to make that as easy and seamless and frictionless as possible. So as to your point, I saw the video, I clicked it, I...
35:10
entered this and now it's being shipped to me tomorrow. Like that is the day and age that we live in. And that's also why I use DM automation for my business is that I can give people exactly the link, the resource, the free resource, the podcast episode, the link to my wait list, the link to purchase a package, whatever it is straight away, right when they want it, I can reduce that friction.
35:34
and it helps me to drive more leads in sales. So that's all part of the attention economy that you're referencing, right? Is that we were all so busy, we're juggling so many different things and you want to capture the consumer when they're in that moment of seeing it and it has to be really clear. Like what is my next step that I can take with your business? After you've created that compelling piece of content, like what is my next step? I feel like that's a piece that a lot of small businesses struggle with, right?
36:03
so focused on creating the best kind of content that they never paused to say, how does this content connect into my marketing and sales? And by the way, I was going to say marketing and sales funnel because I still use that word and don't make fun of me, Becca. Don't make fun of me. Okay. But truly I just think of it as like the customer journey. That's another way of saying it is like you do this and then you go here and then you go here. Right? Yeah. So I'm curious your thoughts on that.
36:29
Yeah, so one of the pieces of work I often do when I work one-to-one with clients is say, get them to break down for me their customer journey. Because I say to them, where can we simplify this? Could my children buy from you? Because my children can go buy from Amazon at eight years old because it's so easy. Again, the outfit I bought this morning, I did not have to enter my address. I did not have to enter card details. It's all on Apple Pay. I literally clicked two buttons and now it's arriving at my house tomorrow. And so when I meet with business owners and they say,
36:56
Oh yeah, my thing's really simple. So if you want to hire me as your personal trainer, all you've got to do is phone this number, try and get hold of me, then fill out this form and then send me this, then do 10 skips and then do some hula hoops and then like, it just gets ridiculous, right? People's booking processes are not as simple as they think they are. So one exercise absolutely everyone listening to this could do right now is grab a piece of paper and write down every step someone has to take before they give you money and see where you can save. Like even now more and more of these systems
37:25
are integrating Apple Pay. Like now, if you join my membership, you should be able to join using Apple Pay because no one wants to go and get their card out their wallet anymore because we're too lazy to do it. And so it's even harder if you're trying to make them do a bank transfer. So it's looking at all those steps in your business and thinking, how can I streamline this and make it so simple for someone to buy in the moment I've got their attention? Because once I've lost their attention, it's gone. I'm never finding that advert for that jumpsuit again unless they retarget it to me.
37:54
Absolutely amazing. All right, so that was A and now the last letter. Okay, so that brings us to the final letter of Scream, which is M. And I think this is the biggest thing that explains the difference from the funnel to the marketing theme park. And that is that right now there are multiple routes to buying something. So again, go back to my original example, we just went to the store and we bought the thing. We saw it on the TV. Now...
38:18
Some people will come to your website, then they'll go check you out on TikTok, then they'll send you a DM on Instagram and by that way. Some people want to text you, some people want to fill something out on your website. Some people want to just turn up. You know, there are so many routes to entry and unfortunately we can't really force everyone to do what we want them to do. They want to do it their way. So for example, if someone DMs you on Instagram, I don't know what you think about this, but one of the worst things I think you can do is just send them an auto response saying, go fill out this form on my website.
38:48
Cause they've contacted you, they're interested in buying from you on Instagram. So talk to them on Instagram. If you don't have some kind of text integration on your contact page, people want to text now. They don't necessarily want to email. So if you use WhatsApp for business, if you have some kind of text service, make it easy. They can click one button and send you a message. But then the important piece is when they take that route, you've got to keep them there because you've got their short attention. If you say, great, I'll send you all the information on email.
39:17
When they're sending you a text, like they're probably not going to go read that information. Now, by all means, don't get me wrong, send them the information on email once they've paid you the money, but let's get to the sale before we try and move them over to email. Oh my gosh. I love this. This is something that is not very intuitive for many. I've had to learn this skill myself.
39:38
I'm laughing because I'm thinking about my dance studio, Wedding Dance Coach. And I recently was training one of my team members on this because our clients will text. You know, we have a studio phone number and on our sales page and everything, we're like, if you have questions or like every process, basically every step of the process, we're like, you can text this number and we'll get back to you. And she was doing that type of thing where they would text a question and she was responding with,
40:08
Oh, okay, like what's your email? I'll send you this information. And I was like, whoa, hold the phone. No, no, no, no, no. Get it all done through text. Like literally you can close the sale via text. You can answer their question, ask if they have follow up questions, ask if you can give them the direct link to purchase it, let them know that you saw the purchase come through. literally, like you want to be in conversation where the customer initiated it.
40:38
Now, with that being said though, Becca, and I'm sure you would say this, I see this with a lot of female entrepreneurs who come to work with me and they have way too many communication channels, okay? So they have a Facebook group, they have their Instagram DMs. Oh, they have this other Instagram account also for this other part of their business. They have their email and it is like all over the map. I am a huge fan of you have to simplify your communication channels so your business
41:07
processes and systems can work effectively for you and you can deliver on the highest caliber of customer service and you want to be clear, right? So if you're unclear on what you prefer, like let's say I prefer texting, I'm going to tell people, text this number. That's going to be my call to action. But in my sales funnel, like I said, you have to fill out an application first and that's a non-negotiable for me. That's just part of my process.
41:35
I feel like it's a balance of giving people options, but also being really clear on not having too many communication channels and like a clear process on the business owner systems and processes side, if that makes sense. Do you understand like the nuance of what I'm saying? Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And I think one of the difficult things about this Boxing Theme Park is it's overwhelming for us as the business owner. And so you're right, it has to fit in balance. I think one of the pitfalls we fall into though, sometimes
42:02
is we think about what's going to work best for us and neglect the clients so much that then they're not interested in us. So we do have to get that balance right. Now, if we are someone, so like you Elizabeth, you know, maybe people like they're going to spend a decent amount of money to work with you. And so for you putting in bit of friction is actually going to work in your favor, right? But for other businesses, you know, for me buying the jumpsuit today, that would not work at all because I'm not filling in any form to buy that.
42:30
So it's all going to depend on your particular business type, but you have to think about what the customer wants as well as what you want. Because if it's just what you want, you will do everything on email and it will go back and forth on email. But you know, the younger generations, they tell me they don't even read their emails anymore. They don't even log onto their email provider. They do everything on Messenger or they do everything on social media DMs. Like it or not, if you're targeting that consumer, that part of the market, and you're finding that
42:58
People are not replying to your emails, your emails are not converting. Maybe it's because that communication channel is not working for them. like with anything in any kind of marketing, if it's not broke, don't try and fix it. But if you're noticing this stuff isn't working or you're getting frustrated when people are texting and then you're sending them to email and then you're losing the sale, that could be one of the reasons why. So how can we fix that? But how can we do it in a boundaried way so that we don't all burn out?
43:25
I love that. Thank you for highlighting the nuance of that. So do a quick recap of Scream. Okay. So to recap then, I believe we're living in the age of the marketing theme park. It's not that fun anymore. Thank you, Frank, but we don't need it anymore. So the marketing theme park Scream S, it means you've got to stand out. C, you need to have customized transparent pricing. R, recommendations are going to cut through the noise. So make sure you're thinking about those.
43:51
E, we're living in an experience era. What is the experience you're giving to your customers? A, we're living in an attention economy. Attention is short. And M, they're coming at you from multiple routes and we need to work out how to navigate that without losing the sale. So epic. Becca, I'm obsessed with you. You're so brilliant and I absolutely love Scream. I'm definitely going to take a pause and look at my own systems and processes and marketing channels because
44:20
There's always room for improvement, right? We can all learn and thank you so much for sharing your wisdom with us. So if people are listening and they're like, okay, I love Becca, I need to follow her on the socials, I wanna hire her, I wanna join her membership, I wanna come to her live event and meet Becca and Elizabeth in person, oh my gosh! Give us all the details of where people can find you.
44:44
Okay, so the place I'm most active of course is Instagram. My DMs are always open. I'd love to just connect with you. Reach out to me. Connect with me on Instagram. If you're interested in the live event, it's wedproselive.com. I will send Elizabeth all of the information and whether you're in the industry of weddings or not, don't let that put you off because I do secretly work with quite a few clients outside the wedding industry, but my niche and what I market hard for is weddings, but that doesn't mean I can't help you. So do reach out. I'd love to answer your questions.
45:13
Anna, check out my award-winning podcast, Wedding Pros, We're Ready to Grow. Elizabeth has been on there as a guest. Anna, it's a fabulous show, so you'll learn lots. Yay. And what is your Instagram handle? We will be sure to link all of the links in the show notes, but can you tell us and spell your Instagram handle? So it's my name, at Becca Poutney, which is spelled the Poutney, P-O-U-N for November, T-N for November, E-Y. Beautiful.
45:43
Becca, thank you for sharing your brilliance with us. I so appreciate your time. Absolutely. Anytime. Thank you for having me. And that's a wrap on my conversation with Becca Poutney. I hope you got so much gold out of our conversation and exploring the marketing theme park that is 2026. Remember, just take one thing from today and go and implement it this week. Success goes to implementers.
46:12
So don't just listen and learn, go and do fail forward, do it imperfect. Becca and I will be cheering you on. And if you love today's episode, if you got so much value out of it, do us a solid, share this interview, this conversation with a business bestie or colleague who is also trying to grow and market their business in 2026 and beyond. And if you haven't already,
46:37
please rate and review the show. Gosh, that helps us so much in the podcast algorithms. It helps us to get in front of more brilliant business owners like yourself. And I cannot thank you enough for taking the time to invest in yourself today. You're amazing and I cannot wait to strut it with you next week. Thank you for listening to strut it. If you're ready to start leveraging Instagram to grow your business, then you're gonna wanna grab my free monetize your IG guides.
47:08
where you'll learn seven simple and proven ways to finally make money on Instagram. You can grab your guide at ElizabethMarbury.com slash freebies. That's ElizabethMarberry.com slash freebies to get my monetize your IG guide.
47:27
If you got some incredible value from today's episode, be sure to leave a review and subscribe on your favorite podcast platforms. And I cannot wait to start it with you again next week.
