Whether you’re leading the marketing efforts for a growing business or managing the marketing department of a large Fortune 500, how you present yourself and organize your team can determine whether or not you will succeed.
Even as companies are starting to embrace marketing, many CEOs and employees are rarely aware of how exactly marketing is able to contribute to the bottom line.
Discover 3 ways you can strengthen the perception of marketing within your organization and improve your leadership abilities.
Show Results
You may know how your efforts drive revenue for the company, but make sure both your marketing team and company are aware of these facts. By sharing these results with your team, it will help team members to see how they’re contributing to overall company goals and that they’re making a difference.
And sharing these results with the entire company will help you gain respect and ultimately get them on your side. For example, when presenting new content for the sales team, describe how certain sales reps use the content to gain more prospects and close deals. Not everyone is going to be impressed by infographics or email open rates, but everyone cares about revenue.
Team Builder
Marketing is becoming more complex every day and as technology continues to evolve, new jobs are being added to marketing departments. Most likely, one of your duties as a marketing leader will be to assemble a strong marketing team. While this may seem like a fairly simple and straightforward task, it can be more complicated than you think. Use this as an opportunity to build a team of top performers and show the C-Suite that your team is an extension of the company brand.
Also, depending on the size of your budget, you may need to hire people in the most affordable and efficient way possible. While you can hire a team of a few people to perform most marketing duties, you can’t be an expert in all areas. SEO, web design, web developers are all specialized roles in a marketing department and may be hired on a contract basis to save money while also getting the talent you need. Hiring a great staff that fits in with company culture and contributes to the bottom line is a great way to show off your leadership skills and the importance of having the right people on staff.
Promote Cross-Departmental Collaboration
A successful marketing team is able to work with other departments to work on projects and collaborate on new ideas. It also helps to unify the company and make sure that everyone is on the same page when it comes to the marketing direction and company branding.
If your marketing team is not currently collaborating with other departments, you may have to take on this initiative yourself. This is a great opportunity to display your leadership skills and get to know leaders in other parts of the company. A great place to start would be in product development or sales. You can schedule meetings to create an action plan and then use online collaboration tools to make sure everything is completed efficiently and on time.
How you lead your team and the decisions you make have a direct impact on how the company views the marketing department. Telling the company about big wins and successes, hiring talented people, and working with other departments are all great ways to strengthen your company’s perception of the marketing department.
