Last updated on October 18th, 2022
Did you know that only 1 in 5 people typically achieves their New Year’s resolutions goals, according to Business Insider? That’s exciting because it tells us that many people achieve significant success in personal change. As a CMO, this insight matters because you are constantly expected to lead change and guide your team in responding to changing buyer behaviors.
Use these four resolution ideas to reinvigorate your marketing team and campaigns. The first opportunity is an external change that every digital marketer needs to manage.
For the past decade, third-party cookies made personalized, highly targeted digital advertising possible. However, those cookies are on the way out due to a few factors.
In 2021, Google announced that Google Chrome would end support for cookies by 2023. That is vitally important because Google Chrome is one of the most popular browsers. Chrome has a browser market share of 48% in the US. The end of cookies means standard methods like retargeting campaigns may not work as effectively in the future.
Apple’s increasing focus on privacy measures is apparent on several fronts. The company introduced app tracking transparency for mobile apps, disrupting some marketing models that relied on apps to gather user data. In addition, Apple’s Safari browser blocks third-party cookies by default.
Given this change, it is vital to assess your organization’s current strategies and metrics. Rather than lament the fall of the third-party cookie, invite your team to look for new opportunities. For example, your team may have wanted to launch a podcast or YouTube channel in the past.
There are several ways to respond to this change: doubling down on audiences, first-party data, and zero-party data. Fundamentally, marketers need to refocus on earning permission to market to their audiences. Discuss this challenge with your marketing team and invite them to propose ideas suitable for your context.
The Great Resignation – millions of people switching jobs and employers pursuing creative ideas to attract talent – matters to marketing departments. As the CMO, you have a significant opportunity to enhance the retention of your marketing team.
As with the previous opportunity, start by assessing the trend. For example, look at how your department’s turnover rate compares to the rest of the company. If you see a troubling trend, it may be time to pay more attention to employee retention strategies.
Start your retention efforts by reviewing your succession plan. Imagine what would happen if the head of the marketing team left the company. It is wise to have at least one person in mind who could take over on short-term notice. In larger marketing teams with ten or more employees, expand the succession planning process to cover the most significant marketing manager and director roles.
During this review, you will probably find skill and experience gaps. Your succession plan may reveal that you have one or more high potential employees worth investing more time and effort to develop. Working with these staff more closely to grow their career at the company can reduce the chance of looking for external job opportunities.
Aside from reviewing and updating your succession plan, increasing employee skill development and training support is well worth the effort. Start by assessing if your training and development budgets are keeping up with the rest of the company. Assuming you have reasonable funding, work with each employee to develop learning plans. To inform those employee discussions, consider the following ideas.
There are free and low-cost marketing certifications offered by Facebook and Google, which are great options for junior employees. Intermediate and technical marketers may find it worthwhile to earn certifications for specific platforms like Salesforce. Helping your marketing team members get ahead by earning certifications can boost their effectiveness and reduce attrition.
Some employees may ask for support to attend a marketing conference like Social Media Marketing World. If funding business travel is difficult, look for local marketing-themed events like an American Marketing Association event. The best part is that an increasing number of conferences include a virtual option which can open up more event options.
As the marketing leader, you can play an essential role in sustaining the organization’s most significant business relationships. Start by assessing existing partner relationships and looking for new ways to collaborate.
Reach out to the agencies, consultants, and freelancers you’ve worked with in the past. Share your current marketing goals and invite them to partner with you. They may have new ideas to share with you!
Has your organization ever run webinars or events with another non-competitive company? For example, a software company might run an event with a consulting firm that provides implementation support. Running an event with a partner is a great way to diversify your lead generation efforts.
When was the last time you had a deep look at your organization’s MarTech (marketing technology)? Sure, you have probably made some incremental purchases here and there. However, it is worth pausing and reassessing if all of your technologies work together effectively. After all, there are more than 8,000 MarTech vendors on the market today, according to ChiefMarTec.
To speed up your refresh, discuss the following questions with your team.
If nobody on your team is using an app, it is a prime candidate to be eliminated. The one exception is new tools that have been around for only a few months. In those cases, the issue might be a lack of training for your team.
Regularly repeating manual steps are a flag that your software situation is not optimized. For example, your team might be spending hours on email marketing design instead of working from templates. Once you receive a few suggestions from your marketing team, identify the most significant pain point and ask someone on your team to investigate ways to improve it with technology.
Inviting your team to submit MarTech ideas is a great way to spark engagement. Learning new tools at work helps your team achieve new heights of productivity and keeps work engaging.
Your marketing team might already have their hands complete with existing responsibilities. In that case, making progress on these resolutions might feel impossible. The solution may bring in new talent to grow your marketing team.
Contact Apex today to discuss how we can help your marketing team grow.
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