Roger Edwards on Body Combat, writing a marketing book, and achieving a balanced life – MAF200

To celebrate the milestone 200th edition, I’ve invited a special guest onto the show to interview me.

It’s a warts and all look behind the scenes, and we chat about Body Combat, fighting complexity, writing a marketing book, and finding the right balance in life.

Welcome to episode 200 of the Marketing and Finance Podcast.

Roger Edwards on Body Combat, writing a marketing book, and achieving a balanced life - MAF200

For 200 episodes I’ve been asking my guests what makes them tick. Now my special guest, Chris Marr, asks the same question of me.

What you’ll hear about in this episode

  • How Roger became a Body Combat instructor alongside his day job as marketing director in big corporate
  • The development of a career-long obsession with keeping things simple
  • Why marketing sometimes fails to engage with customers and what to do about it
  • The genesis of Roger’s soon to be published book and a world exclusive preview reading
  • Why family is so important in a business world driven by “hustle”

Who is special guest interviewer, Chris Marr?

Chris runs the Content Marketing Academy (CMA Community) and first appeared on the Marketing and Finance Podcast back in episode 80. Since then we’ve become good business buddies and close friends.In 2017, I appeared on stage at Chris’s CMA Live event in Edinburgh and we’ve both been working to develop our speaking careers.

The World-Class Communication initiative Chris runs alongside US speaker, Marcus Sheridan, has helped my craft my speaking style and get myself on stages across Europe.

Summary of our chat

Chris was keen to interview Roger with a view to getting behind the scenes. To find out more about his motivations and philosophies. Even though they are close friends, much of that friendship revolves around business. This was an opportunity for Chris to dig a little deeper. To find out more about the man behind the marketing persona.

Roger was working long hours in his corporate role.  Travelling extensively and eating and drinking far too much. His wife dragged him (literally) along to a fitness class called Body Combat. After enjoying the class Roger went onto take a fitness diploma and became a Body Combat instructor. He soon started teaching classes all over Edinburgh and followed by training in Body Balance.  And then a diploma in teaching Yoga. Teaching up to 9 sessions a week created a unique balance in Roger’s work life.

When he was still a young marketing assistant, Roger attended a corporate strategy away week. He discovered the joys of people overly complicating strategy and littering it with management speak and gobbledegook. This was the beginning of a career-long obsession with keeping marketing simple. Roger became known as a customer champion in the companies he worked for. He tried to fight back against the complexity and to make the companies see the benefits of a true customer focus.

Chris was keen to explore why marketing often fails the customers. And why it can become too complicated. Roger feels that marketing doesn’t work in some companies because they do not focus enough on the customer. Profit might be the key driver and the customer takes second place. The reality is that a true customer focus and an obsessive understanding of the customer can mean happier customers and more profit in the long term. But some people don’t seem to get this. 

Also, some marketers focus entirely on the communications aspects. They again miss out on the benefit of customer understanding and the other parts of the marketing mix. 

Roger’s book is going to weave stories collected over 25 years into his simple method for putting together a marketing strategy. He’s almost completed the narrative and now intends to add real-life case studies to complete the book. Then the editing process will begin with publishing following after that. Soon after becoming a fitness instructor, Roger and his wife, Trisha, adopted a little boy. This was another turning point in his life and another moment that contributed to leaving corporate life to set up in business as an independent consultant. He explains how he achieved a balanced life as a result and how important family is. 

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