Takeaways From Powerful 2025 NSSF Marketing & Leadership Summit

Last week, scores of marketing professionals from around the firearms industry — representing manufacturers, wholesalers, importers, agencies, organizations, brick-and-mortar retail stores, ranges and more — convened in Clearwater, Fla., for the 2025 NSSF Marketing & Leadership Summit. Summit attendees participated in two days of engaging education, networking and ideation at the picturesque Opal Sol Resort.

There were 14 general sessions and six marketing roundtable sessions (held simultaneously), spread across both days. Topics ranged from addressing cultivating trust among consumers and welcoming new shooters to navigating the current social media landscape and becoming “ridiculously easy” to do business with. Additionally, this year’s Summit focused on the topic of suicide and how industry brands can normalize broaching this delicate subject.

NSSF President and CEO Joe Bartozzi set the tone for the event during his remarks to open the Summit, sharing a purposeful phrase coined and exemplified by Shooting Industry Publisher Emeritus Russ Thurman: “If you can’t communicate, you can’t lead.” Bartozzi challenged those in attendance to use their influence as marketers to elevate the industry’s reach by welcoming and connecting with current and prospective consumers.

Day 1: Trust, Authenticity Matter

“Trust” was a recurrent theme throughout Day 1 of the NSSF Marketing & Leadership Summit.

The first of the morning sessions featured one of the foremost experts on the topic of trust, David Horsager, who asked attendees at the outset: “The question everyone is asking is: Can I trust you?” In today’s environment of deep fakes and fake news, trust has become personal again.

From a retail perspective, Horsager reinforced a point that will be familiar to SI readers: those business owners who “sit on the tailgate” and get to know a customer at the point of sale will be more successful in the long term.

“Don’t try to sell a gun for a moment,” he said. “Build a relationship for life.”

In the second session, Rob Southwick of Southwick Associates presented how the industry’s marketing messages can be more effective in reaching new groups. Southwick shared eye-opening research, which unveiled more than 70 million people not in our traditional market want to try the shooting sports, but don’t know how to get started.

“This is not a DEI project, it’s a growing-the-business project. People want to join our ranks. They’re interested in spending money with us,” Southwick told attendees.

“Trust” was mentioned several times in Southwick’s presentation, with the onus on our industry to build trust with these prospective customers to get them out on the range and into retail stores. One of the ways to build trust is to take the fear out of the unknown — safety needs to be emphasized and reinforced before and during visits to the range.

In the study that revealed the sizable group of those interested in the shooting sports, participants shared their preferred marketing imagery focused on safety and a welcoming atmosphere. Images depicting a clear student-instructor/expert relationship or an organized setting scored better than those aiming a firearm into the void.

The third session focused on R3 communications for Black gun owners. It was hosted by NSSF Director of Research Salam Fatohi and Breland Hillman, director of account management at JMI, with whom NSSF partnered to produce the R3 Communications Toolkit for Black Gun Owners through a Multi-State Conservation Grant.

During the Q&A segment at the end of the presentation, one of the attendees asked Hillman, as a new participant in the firearms space, if any imagery he’s seen wasn’t appealing to him. His answer was eye-opening and reinforced the findings from the earlier session.

“It’s less of what I see — it’s what I don’t see. I want to feel safe. Even if the image has someone who doesn’t look like me, it’s someone who is welcoming. It shows me this is a safe space to play in, teaching fundamentals for someone on the outside,” he stated.

Closing the morning session, Bryan Burhans shared tips for working with state fish and wildlife agencies to grow profits, citing some successful programs in his home state of Pennsylvania. He encouraged attendees to make a bigger deal about the success of Pittman-Robertson funding, describing it as the “bedrock of conservation” — which would also appeal to those individuals not engaging in the firearms or hunting space.

New Rules & Being “Ridiculously Easy” To Do Business With

Dan Kahn, CEO of Kahn Media and TREAD Agency, demystified the “new rules of the road” in the marketing game, and how marketers can better cut through the noise through authentic storytelling.

“Trust” was emphasized once again during Kahn’s presentation. According to Kahn, a strong brand builds trust and loyalty — which makes customers more likely to “opt in” and engage with the brand.

In one example of compelling storytelling, Kahn highlighted the dynamic impact Stanley had last year when one of its customers documented the aftermath of her car unexpectedly catching on fire on social media. Her Stanley mug made it through relatively unscathed with ice still inside, creating a viral moment the company capitalized on through generosity and authenticity. Stanley’s CEO posted a video announcing the company would buy her a new car. It wasn’t a polished video, but it resonated with consumers and created a memorable (positive) brand impression.

The keynote speaker in the afternoon was acclaimed customer service expert David Avrin, who shared that brands “ridiculously easy to do business with” will thrive where others don’t.

Avrin contended it’s about quality at the “beginning of the day” — which gets your brand or product into the market — but your competitive advantage is what’s going to matter at the “end of the day,” securing the sale.

As we all know, customers are impatient these days. Avrin said the most important things to customers today are speed of delivery, quick process to achieve the desired outcome and convenience. With price and quality being similar, it’s going to be on the margins where brands win.

Avrin stated the value of a “product-centric” approach (“How much stuff can we sell them?”) pales in comparison to a “customer-centric” mindset (“How many ways can we enhance their lives?”).

Day 2: Reaching New Audiences; A Solemn Endeavor

On Day 2 of the Summit, the focus in the morning was on reaching new audiences and navigating social media, while the afternoon was devoted to a solemn topic that likely impacts every person in the industry in some way.

In the first session of the day, Mike Robinson of Colt’s Mfg. shared how his company has redefined marketing success through its successful Safety Impact Award campaign that paired four former NFL players with four charities impacting the shooting, hunting and conservation space. The campaign led to inroads with new consumer groups — and it’s poised to grow even more when it returns for a second year.

Frequent guest speaker at NSSF events, Chuck Rossi of Meta (yes, Meta), updated attendees on how changes at the social media giant — such as its “more open free speech policy — are going to impact businesses in our industry. In short, improvements are happening, slowly, at Facebook.

To increase visibility, Rossi encouraged businesses to “make themselves as legitimate as possible” by adding more info, such as their storefront’s address. ( More information will help Facebook view your store or brand as more valid.) And, yes, brick-and-mortar and online retailers can sell guns on the platform.

Rossi emphasized attendees should be familiar with Facebook policies and to cut and paste the policy on challenging blocked posts or accounts. And while it’s frustrating when content is blocked and often feels pervasive among businesses in our space, Rossi showed a graph that illustrated posts involving firearms are a drop in the bucket compared to all the content that’s flagged quarterly on the site.

Finally, Rossi advised account holders should turn on two-factor authentication to protect their accounts.

The third session of the morning featured anthropologist and former professional skydiver Sam Rad. Titled, “Radical Next: The Operating System For The Future,” Rad’s discussion highlighted just how rapidly technology is changing our existence — and predicted how it will evolve in the near future. She contended analog connection is more important now than ever.

Normalizing The Topic Of Suicide

The final four sessions of the 2025 NSSF Marketing & Leadership Summit showcased leadership in action. The topic of suicide has, at times, been an uncomfortable one for the firearms industry to talk about. But the conversation is being spearheaded by like-minded individuals and organizations, and this Summit represented a continuation of that effort.

In 2017, NSSF partnered with the American Foundation For Suicide Prevention (AFSP) to develop an education program and toolkit for firearm retailers and shooting ranges. Later, NSSF partnered with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and AFSP on a Secure Firearm Storage Toolkit designed to help prevent suicide among U.S. veterans.

During the afternoon session of Day 2 at the Summit, Bartozzi opened the conversation by having a sit-down with Dr. Matt Miller, executive director of VA Suicide Prevention.

Dr. Miller shared more than 6,000 veterans die by suicide each year — averaging more than 17 per day. In the majority of cases, close to 75%, a firearm is used. But Dr. Miller was quick to point out the difference between “why” and “how” when talking about firearms.

“Firearms are not a cause; they can weaponize dark thoughts and feelings at a particular time with a high degree of lethality,” he said. “They’re not a ‘why’ when talking about suicide and suicide prevention. They’re a ‘how.’”

While veterans statistically are at a greater risk of suicide by firearm, its impact is wide reaching among civilians, as well. Dr. Miller shared secure storage is a key aspect of suicide prevention — creating time and space between an individual in a dark moment and a firearm/ammunition can be life-saving. Additionally, Dr. Miller called attention to the need of teaching both veterans and civilians how to perform a “risk calculus” and act when the threat is high.

During this discussion, Dr. Miller identified four areas where businesses can help from a messaging perspective:

1. Normalizing awareness of dark periods — saying “that will never happen to me” is an important myth to work around.

2. Teach people to expand the risk calculus. It’s not about an external threat; risk calculation involves an internal threat. Need to respond when it’s high.

3. Employ more secure storage strategies.

4. Need a better messenger — someone viewed as attractive, trustworthy and an expert — to speak the message.

This is where brands can build on their connections with customers and lead the way in this solemn endeavor.

Community, Collaboration & Culture Change

Dr. Emmy Betz, Jacquelyn Clark (co-owner of Bristlecone Shooting, Training & Retain Center in Lakewood, Colo.) and Caleb Morse (owner of The Rustic Renegade in Lafayette, La.), chaired a panel discussion on programs they’re involved in and how other dealers can be a part of this effort.

Dr. Betz, who is an ER physician and researcher for the Univ. of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, reiterated Dr. Miller’s assertion above: we need to normalize the message, emphasize hope and store firearms securely to prevent unauthorized access.

Clark recounted her store’s nearly 10-year journey on how Bristlecone Shooting got involved with the Pause to Protect program and successfully launched VetStore at Bristlecone in collaboration with the University of Colorado and the VA. Since then, Bristlecone has worked with other FFLs to create SOPs, training and a blueprint for them to follow with their teams. Through funding allocated to this program, lockers are available for dealers to use and provide temporary on-site storage of firearms at their facilities.

Clark relayed her store’s leadership in this cause has created a stronger bond between her and her husband (Bristlecone co-owner) with their staff. Associates and instructors have shared how much it means to them to work for a company that prioritizes this.

Morse launched The Armory Project in 2021, with three retailers interested in providing temporary storage to those who needed it. A stumbling block for some retailers was the concern of liability — what if a customer hurts himself after taking his guns back? Morse and a coalition supporting The Armory Project worked together with state legislators, who passed legislation absolving FFL dealers from liability. As a result of this success, groups in other states are trying to pass similar laws. Currently, The Armory Project has a presence in Louisiana, Arkansas and Kansas.

In the next panel discussion, NSSF Senior Director, Communications Bill Brassard and Waco Hoover, founder of IMPCT Group and chair of the American Legion’s “Be The One” suicide prevention program, discussed the topic of suicide prevention and brand value.

Hoover emphasized having a cause-related program, such as suicide prevention, will not only have an impact on the groups it supports, but it will also create customer loyalty and engagement, as customers want to be aligned with brands passionate about causes.

Brassard recounted NSSF’s work with AFSP and the VA, as well as highlighting the return of Gun Storage Check Week (held the first week of June and September) this year. In a new initiative, a lock hangtag with “988” (the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline) is now being added to cable locks distributed by Project ChildSafe. Brassard suggested it would be beneficial for brands to educate their employees and explain why this conversation is part of a store’s/brand’s/business’s core values.

“No One Can Do Everything, But Everyone Can Do Something.”

In the final session of the 2025 NSSF Marketing & Leadership Summit, Bartozzi and Dr. Miller returned to the stage to close out the discussion of suicide and engage in a Q&A segment with attendees.

In his concluding remarks, Bartozzi shared a phrase that fuels his passion for this topic: “No one can do everything, but everyone can do something.”

Each of our businesses has a leadership role to play — and there’s no better time than the present to take up the mantle.