Running a small business can be quite challenging. At this stage, you’re essentially starting from scratch so you might not have a lot of resources readily available. So at this time, while you might consider business coaching for small business, you can save your funds and try to learn the ropes yourself through articles like this one.
In this article, we’re going to talk about how to build a marketing team. Despite what it may look like, you don’t need to have a large team or hire a big agency to get effective marketing done. Keep reading to see how you can build a small yet strong marketing team.
Know what positions you need in the marketing team
You may have limited resources, so you won’ be able to hire a dozen people to fill out your marketing team. After all, your business has other functions that will also need personnel. A solid marketing team can consist of just 3-4 people, but you have to make sure they’re occupying the right roles.
Each company’s marketing team can look different and will ultimately depend on how the company works and its needs and objectives. The general roles in a small marketing team are as follows.
The Architect/Leader
Every team needs a leader, and for marketing that means someone who can take on marketing operations. You’ll need someone who can oversee the whole marketing process of the company including its overall strategy. This can be a dedicated person, or it can be you if you’re willing to put on multiple hats.
The Creative
All marketing will need some form of creatives. This means someone who can write, create art, shoot videos, or take photos. While it’s not impossible to find someone who could do all of this, chances are that person would work less efficiently if they had to take on all these roles. As you grow, you should consider getting multiple people for creatives, which can also help you create even better materials with more minds at work.
The Promotor
Your creatives are useless if no one ever sees it. There has to be a person in charge of distribution of your marketing materials so that your content is seen. This could be through paid efforts like ads or organic efforts like SEO.
The Data Expert
Marketing today relies heavily on data. Have a person who can focus on monitoring the statistics of your marketing efforts and draw insight from these analytics. This data reporting will help you find out how you can better optimize your marketing projects.
Tips on making a marketing team strong
Once you have all the roles filled, it’s time to get to work. These are just a few tips on how you can make the most out of all your marketing efforts.
Understand your audience well
Great marketing starts with understanding the people you want to reach. Take the time to learn more about your audience through research like interviews, surveys, and FGDs. Find out what their priorities are, what challenges they face, and understand how they think and make decisions. This information makes it easier to craft your message and offer a solution – your product.
Focus on what brings in the most value
Check where most of your marketing leads come from and which marketing leads convert to customers. If you can pinpoint which efforts or channels perform the best, focus on that to get the highest ROI. Essentially you want to follow the Pareto principle by focusing on the 20% of your efforts that bring in 80% of the impact.
List and audit all your marketing projects and routinely question how you do things
Always keep track of the different things the team is working on and leverage project management tools to do so. If you can keep an eye on all the moving pieces, it becomes easier to evaluate what works and what doesn’t. From there, don’t be afraid to question what you’re doing while constantly thinking “how can we make this work better?” Simplify where you can in order to make things more efficient
Never stop improving and learn from the best
Your marketing team may start small but as you succeed, you’ll see the need to grow the team. With success comes the need to manage growth and when that happens, it’s the best time to go through coaching for small business. Contact a veteran marketing consultant like Shawn Tiberio to learn how you can take your business to the top of the industry.
