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As marketing teams are pushed to become even more fluent with digital marketing tactics, that means marketing leaders must also be hands-on practitioners, or at least deeply knowledgeable about what their team is doing and how they do it. The world of digital is moving faster than ever and today’s marketing leaders must strive to stay ahead of the game.
Here are 5 tips that nearly every marketing leader can adopt to stay on top of their game.
Lead By Example
Nobody likes a leader that just dictates. If your employees don’t understand your directives, the next step is to roll up your sleeves and show them how to do it. You may be a seasoned veteran but your knowledge of in-the-trench practices in this case can become very important for the success of your team.
Talent Assessment:
Every marketing department needs to be assessed to see if they are producing the work as efficiently as possible. Teams tend to slowly slide back to their comfort zones while not challenging their inner self to push forward using highly efficient tools and processes that could be available. An example of this could be if your graphic design team is using old software applications and manual design procedures for creating infographics, especially when there are online graphic templates for designing these quickly. Does this mean your design team continues to create infographics that take days, or should they use online design templates that take just hours? I guarantee that if you were paying by the hour to produce these, you wouldn’t let the project inefficiencies continue.
“Most talent assessment programs are clumsily executed bolt-ons that seem more like afterthoughts than true strategic initiatives.” — Rocket Hire Talent
Strategy and Tactics Continually Change
It seems like the world of digital changes just about every month. APIs need to be reprogrammed, new automation software is redeveloped, new social media features are released… the list goes on. If marketing leaders don’t stay on top of the tactical nuances of marketing they really can’t lead teams strategically as well as they should. When it’s time to adjust their strategy, if they don’t know the tactical and operational aspects of the channels their team is using, their strategy can become less effective because certain channels may not be used correctly or may not be used to accomplish the goals you want them to.
“50% of companies are using digital marketing, but they don’t have a plan!“ – Smart Insights and TFM&A
Understanding How To Reach The Consumer
Consumer behavior tends to change along with the technology they use day in and day out. For instance, the use of Facebook advertising among individuals and brands, which was once thought as not an option, is now considered normal marketing practice. As technology changes occur, and the consumer reactions to that technology also changes, so should the marketing strategy that is designed to connect to the consumer. Marketing leaders need to continually adapt to their constantly changing environment while trying to stay ahead of their team. If marketing leaders understand how these technology changes are impacting not only consumers but also their corporate marketing plan, they will reach their consumers more effectively and with increasing ROI.
Measuring Efficacy
We all know that every marketing leader measures their activities like crazy… And if they don’t, they soon will because their job depends on it. There are many tools to use to measure marketing initiatives, I happen to love the simple, easy to use data dashboards that track digital channels using APIs for web traffic, email, social media and social advertising, retargeting, display and pretty much anything that’s in the online world.
“Marketing metrics are numeric data that allow marketers to evaluate their performance against organizational goals.” – Boundless: Marketing Performance Metrics
When marketing leaders know what tools to use, their job becomes easier. Assessment of what to do and when to do it and figuring out the changes that need to be implemented become clearer when data tells the story through online tools. In some cases, measurement now is easier than ever and marketing leaders need to know how to adopt KPI and conversion point metrics into their marketing strategies.
YourBrandExposed is designed to look at digital using a creative, analytical, innovative marketing perspective. We’re a team of digital gurus working with companies who want to leverage the power of digital, web, social, mobile and content marketing strategies. Contact us if you’re feeling the digital squeeze on how to best market and expose your company.
Scott MacFarland – Chief Content Marketer | Digital Strategist
HuffingtonPost | Relevance | Natcom Global
LinkedIn | Twitter: @scmacfarland
Email: yourbrandexposed@yahoo.com
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https://www.pexels.com/photo/laptop-technology-ipad-tablet-35550/
Sources:
Rocket Hire Talent- https://www.slideshare.net/mobile/rockethire/rockethire-talent-assessment-market-overview-20142015
Smart Insights and TFM&A- http://www.smartinsights.com/internet-marketing-statistics/2015-digital-marketing-stats-the-good-the-bad-and-the-intriguing/
Boundless- https://www.boundless.com/marketing/textbooks/boundless-marketing-textbook/introduction-to-marketing-1/evaluating-marketing-performance-23/marketing-performance-metrics-134-7590/