Full Circle
The final NRHA Pro Trainer magazine was published in spring 2024. Now it’s a robust, digital hub that can be accessed anytime, anywhere, by anyone.
In the spring of 2016, while working for the Equine Network, the National Reining Horse Association asked us to pitch a big idea to support their professionals, allowing them to become better business owners on top of being the most elite trainers in the world. Our thought process said, “When an owner/non pro rider comes into the reining world, the experience they have with that first professional shapes their entire future in the sport. So by having excellent businessmen and -women, we elevate the experience and retain more owners/non pros.”
So began the first-of-its-kind NRHA Pro Trainer. No other association offered that level of support and education to its professionals, and it became a standard that other groups borrowed and built from.
That mission held true for almost 10 years. What started as a print publication delivered three times a year to NRHA professionals became a quarterly publication. Then came the augmentation of a three-part marketing kit that helped professionals navigate social media and promotion to build their businesses and a digital publication with a library of past issues so they could reference the material anytime, anywhere.
Last year the NRHA Pro Trainer hit another phase of its life cycle, going completely digital. The hub, an offshoot of the association’s website, would house eight years of content, from short, quick reads to longer-form features that were broken into parts to accommodate shorter attention spans. You can find the final product here.
I’m nostalgic for the project I created with a great team, the support of the forward-thinking former NRHA Commissioner Gary Carpenter, and professional horse trainers who saw the true value in what we created. And I can’t miss thanking my partner in crime, art director Sandy Cochran. I’m forever grateful for the opportunities this project gave me, listed here.
Project management. Once the framework was developed, I was given the reins to run the pattern as I saw fit. I had a lot of freedom in determining the content mix, but I was always careful to keep it on-brand in terms of subject matter, imagery, and authenticity.
B2B experience. To that point, much of my career had been more focused on B2C or our brand’s audience. The B2B opportunities set me up for success later in my career when I took on B2B clients in my own business.
Change management. As you read earlier, this project went through quite a few iterations. But we never lost sight of the goal, the voice always remained reliable and authentic, and we took feedback to make it better.
Thinking outside the box. This is a muscle I love to flex most. My diverse background leads me to yearn for information, ideas, and education from sources outside my own industry, and I was able to bring that mindset to the audience.
Thought leadership. Like I said above, the NRHA Pro Trainer was a pioneer. Associations had dipped their toes in the idea of supporting their professionals, but not on this level. It allowed me to think big and even find ways we could share what we were doing with other groups. After all, rising tides raise all ships, right?
I’m excited to see what opportunities arise as I have more bandwidth that can be occupied by other innovative, creative brands and where I can help them go. Give me a call or an email to discuss how your brand can create something brand new that makes a major impact on the industry.