Building Your Marketing A-Team

On this episode of 1000 Ways to Market Your Business, Samantha Scott, APR, is joined by Hannah Ramsey, Client Relations Specialist at PTE. The two discuss how you can build a high-performing marketing team to help grow your business.

The episode dives into deciding what marketing model works best for your business, determining what you’re looking for out of marketing, questions you should ask yourself or a marketing partner you’re considering, and more.

Have a question or feedback to share? Visit www.getpushing.com or one of our many social media channels. We look forward to hearing from you.

#marketing #business #communication #strategy

Transcript

Samantha: 0:05

Welcome to season two, episode two of A Thousand Ways to Market Your Business. I'm Samantha Scott, APR, I'm excited to be here with you, and today we're talking about how to build high-performing marketing team, and who better to join me than Hannah Ramsey?

Hannah: 0:18

Hi, everybody! I'm Hannah Ramsey, I'm Client Relations Specialist for Pushing the Envelope, and so I know a little thing or two about making sure that our marketing team is compatible with a partner team and vice versa. Absolutely. Excited to be here and to talk about this topic.

Samantha: 0:33

Yeah, thanks, Hannah. So, first, let's start by discussing kind of, I think, the 800 pound gorilla of this topic. Is it best to have an in house team, an outsourced team, or some kind of hybrid, and how do you really determine that?

Hannah: 0:46

Right. And the answer, which people may or may not want to hear, is it depends, honestly. But I like to say when you consider whether or not you need somebody in house or a team, consider the skills and bandwidth of having one person versus having a team of people. Also consider, you know, what you might pay one person versus a team, because oftentimes it could be more cost effective to work with an outside partner than it would be to bring on somebody who's salary. And again, if you bring on one person, that one person only has so much time, only has so much of a skillset versus a team will have multiple people with multiple layers of skills and abilities. And it doesn't always have to be one or the other. Right. A hybrid. Right.

Samantha: 1:30

Is also a really great model, and we've had a lot of success with that, where we work with an in house team who has really set skills. They know what's happening, they're the boots on the ground, and maybe they're really experts in the traditional side of marketing and advertising, but they need help with public relations, or maybe they need help just with digital. There's a way to leverage the skills of that in house team. And an outside partner for a beautiful hybrid model if a one or the other doesn't necessarily work.

Hannah: 1:55

Right. And you bring up a good point, too, of considering what it is that you need before you go searching. So, first and foremost, consider what are your business goals? What are you hoping to achieve with marketing and what is it specifically about marketing that you need assistance with? Do you need somebody to come in and set an overarching strategy? You need that no matter what, whether you do it, whether an outside partner does it, you need a strategy. But do you need somebody to come in and do that and then execute all of the things? You just need somebody to come in and say, I got it. You don't need to worry about it. Or do you have strategy in place, need some refinements to it and then one person does the more digital aspects of it, while somebody in house does your traditional or your PR just referring back to the hybrid model, or again, just working with a partner to do everything. But knowing that up front before you go into your search is going to help you narrow down your options. It's also going to help the partner that you're looking for better answer your questions when you come to them as well.

Samantha: 2:52

Yeah. And I would even add to that, that there's no ego in this, right? So be real in your self reflection. What are you good at? What do you need some help with? Nobody's perfect. You know, the old saying of you can be a jack of all trades and you're probably a master of none. So find those voids in your marketing team. Where do you need some help or outside expertise and leverage a partner in that way?

Hannah: 3:12

Right, exactly. And it is tough to both work on your business and in your business. So if you are a one man, one woman band, who's trying to do it all and has discovered that that's not feasible, we, we hear you and, um, we understand and looking for a marketing partner can help alleviate some of that.

Samantha: 3:31

Yeah and I wanna jump back to the budget because you think about small businesses, even medium, large businesses, we've worked with a variety of them. Budget is always a factor. I do think that's super important to keep in mind is how much would you pay a senior C-suite level individual to run your marketing and then implement it versus if you're working with a partner. And oftentimes we find that the cost of a partner is less than that one individual and you're getting multiple people with multiple skills and expertise for that fee. So, definitely would encourage you to consider that, which is a really great segue into the next topic, which is research.

Hannah: 4:05

I think the first place that people tend to go is online and that's a good place to start because it's really helpful to see how a marketing firm presents themselves online. You know, what are, what's the language that they're using? What's the culture that they present? Read some reviews, you know, they might list on their website who, what clientele they work with. They might have some testimonials on there, and then they might have a portfolio as well that you can take a look at to see the work that they've done in the past. If it's important to you that somebody works in a similar industry or has experience in an industry that you're a part of, go ahead and take a look at that or just ask, you know, and many times marketing firms will, will answer any questions that you might have.

Samantha: 4:45

Yeah, and I would add to that, just be mindful, if you're looking for somebody that's worked in your industry before, that it's not a copy and paste scenario. Unfortunately, we've seen that a lot. I think there is value to having, or to rather work with someone who has experience in a specific industry or category or even geographical location, if that's super important to your business. But at the same time, be really careful that they're not just applying the same exact concept that they did for, you know, every other client they've ever worked for to you. That's a detriment to your brand, to your business, but also could be a detriment to you in online search if they're using the same content on your website or on social media, et cetera. So just be careful with that. Yeah, and absolutely do some homework on what's the best fit. There are tons of individuals on Fiverr, on Upwork that you could work with, but remember that's one individual and how are they presenting themselves versus a firm. Maybe you only need one person because it's a graphic design need you have, or videography, or web development, fill in the blank. But maybe you need more of a cohesive approach where you need somebody that's a strategic thinker, that's an expert in this particular area, and some other folks to help with the execution of that. There's many, many models. We are not you know, saying that you have to go with an agency or a firm. It's really what's the right fit for you, and also remember that you should be able to walk before you run. So if you are just kind of trialing this out and you want to see how it goes, maybe trial just working with that firm or a partner on one thing, one area of business, and then add on as you feel comfortable and they get to know you.

Hannah: 6:10

Right, and jumping back to the industry point too I think it is a detriment if they're copy paste but you could also have a benefit of working with somebody who maybe has like a little experience in the industry but not entirely because things that they've applied to maybe a different industry could work creatively in another way for yours that maybe somebody who's so used to being in your industry, would have never thought of because they don't have that outside knowledge or outside experience.

Samantha: 6:34

That's a great point. We've experienced that firsthand where, oh, we're working with this restaurant and then we're working with a professional service firm and we would never think that what worked here would work there, does, so definitely the creative approach. Another, this is super, super important to us, of course, at PTE, culture is everything. It's not about us. It's not, I won't dive down that rabbit hole. But, Hannah, why don't you talk about that? How that factors in when you're trying to build this really high performing marketing team?

Hannah: 7:00

Yeah, I think it starts with understanding that it's more than a team and it's more than just a list of services that somebody's providing to you. You're really entering into a partnership and you're essentially bringing on a new member of your team. That, at least that's the way that we like to think of it as PTE, is, you know, we're coming in as members of your team, as people that you can call on and that you can count on, and we go into it looking at, as it is a long term partnership. This isn't just a contract, you're not just numbers, these are people that you're dealing with on both sides and so it's important that you're compatible. I mean, if you want to think of it like you're on a dating site and you want to speed date a bunch of agencies to see who you fit with, um, but yeah, it culture and, you know, PTE, we like to say it's like ethics over everything. So when we are going into looking into a new business prospect, these are things that we look for. That are important to us, of how do they operate, are they going to operate the same way that we do, do they have the same values that we do, and so when you're looking for a firm, those are things that you should be considering as well.

Samantha: 8:02

Yeah, what's their approach to communication? You know, will they only text, will they do in person meetings, email, what's their response time, how do they measure the work that they're doing for you? And again, that's something that I'm super passionate about. But testing and measuring, they should be able to prove their ROI to you. If they say that they can't, I would encourage you to look elsewhere but all those things are really important. And it really should be a two way interview. I would say that's something else, is we ask a lot of questions when we're starting to work with a new partner. And if you're meeting with a firm and they don't ask you any questions, that would be kind of a red flag for me. They should be trying to get you to know you and understand you and your brand and ultimately your goals and that really ties back to what you're saying Hannah is be really clear about where, where are you trying to go? What are you trying to accomplish with this endeavor? Are you trying to grow sales? Are you trying to increase brand awareness? What are the metrics that are going to mean success for you at the end of the day? That end of the day could be six months from now, a year from now, a month from now, but be super clear on that and that's going to direct, who you're looking for and understand that there are lots of agencies who can do everything, but they probably have one area that they're really excellent at. So I would encourage you if you're clear on what you're trying to accomplish, look for those folks that have expertise in that specific area.

Hannah: 9:14

And when you're going through this process too, I would encourage you to think of it as an investment versus just a cost. You don't want to go with the cheapest option. The cheapest option is not always the best.

Samantha: 9:24

Good, fast, and cheap. Pick two.

Hannah: 9:26

Yeah, exactly. Think about it like this is a tool in your toolkit for your business's growth and you want the best tool possible. You're not just going to go to Home Depot and pick up the first saw that you find. I hope not yeah. You want the power saw. Um, so you're going to do your research and you're going to do the two way interview process. You're going to figure out if this is the best fit for you culturally, and that's going to lead you to the best investment possible for your business and your business growth.

Samantha: 9:56

Yeah. And in that interview process too find out who's your point of contact, who are you going to be dealing with? Are you talking with the head person now, but eventually you're going to get, you know, pawned off on a junior associate, those are really important things to understand. Who are you working with, and then how are they going to measure that investment? Because you're absolutely right. It is an investment. That is, at least that's what it should be. Yes. It can be a cost if you get no tracking performance, etc. But really, it should be an investment that is giving you a return. And it's very important that at the beginning, both parties, whether you're hiring somebody to do a job in house, whether you're working with an individual partner, if you're working with a firm, that everybody is clear on what does success look like, and what are we measuring to determine did we generate the kind of return on that investment that we were looking for.

Hannah: 10:38

Yes. Yeah, and that should be proven throughout the process. It's not just a one time thing, you know, at PTE, we like to start off with setting the strategy, doing an assessment, figuring out where we're starting from, and then measuring along the way to see what's working and what's not. But if we don't know where we're starting from and we don't know what our end goal is, it becomes really tough in the middle there.

Samantha: 10:57

Yeah, and I would also say, you know, be open to communication and share feedback because any good partner, whether they're an outside partner or an employee, would want that feedback, even if it's difficult. What's working from your perspective and what isn't? And if you've had past experiences and that's why you're listening to this because you weren't able to build a highly effective marketing team, you know, bring that to the table as well. But don't hold it against those new people either. You know, oftentimes you come in situations where somebody's had a bad experience and they're a little bit jaded. Totally understand that. Communicate that hesitancy and then let whoever it is that you're hiring who hopefully can do the job, do the job for you well and kind of change that perspective. But yeah, absolutely. Communicate throughout is very, very important and set reasonable expectations, and I think kind of just summarizing all of this is it really starts with a strategy, knowing very clearly what are your goals, what are you trying to accomplish, where are you trying to go, what are your needs, and leaving your ego at the door to self evaluate really clearly. And then doing your homework, asking lots of questions, answering a lot of questions, and then using your kind of gut sense to say, does this culture, communication style, workflow, team dynamic work for us? And don't forget that you can always walk before you run. Stick a toe in, see how it goes, trial something out. And if you've got more questions about this, please feel free to comment. We would be more than happy to talk through it and give you some feedback from our experiences. You know, we've worked as the team doing one thing. I've worked, you know, for different companies doing different things on my own, we've also worked in kind of a hybrid model, even with companies that were our client and they had somebody else doing another part, another company, so lots of ways you can slice this to make it work for you and grow your business. Yes, exactly. So stay tuned for episode three coming out soon of A Thousand Ways to Market Your Business.