How Strong Marketing Leaders Build Winning Teams

​Marketing heads steer a company's marketing efforts, overseeing the team that shapes public perception and communicates the organization's values, goals, and story. To hit targets like boosting brand recognition and sales, marketing heads create an environment where the team can develop and execute tactics that work. Top marketing leaders employ certain best practices.

Strategic planning builds the base for reaching long-term marketing goals. Leaders should develop a plan that provides clear direction and focus and align the team with set goals and purpose. Building a strong plan requires digging into market trends and genuinely understanding what customers need and want. The plan should help teams employ a data-driven approach when making choices rather than simply reacting; it should also set clear ways to measure success and milestones to enable necessary adjustments.

Seasoned marketing managers build teams based on goals and what the company needs. Recruitment focuses on finding people with the right skills, experience, and cultural fit to support team goals. Some leaders focus on growing talent from within to give people opportunities to grow and save resources. After finding the right people, onboarding helps new hires fit in, understand marketing goals, and become productive quickly. Hiring people of different backgrounds fuels fresh views and understanding of varied market segments.

When a marketing team needs highly specialized skills, perhaps in areas such as conversion rate optimization, smart leaders often bring in outside professionals. Turning to freelancers or agencies makes sense when time is tight, or when the cost and effort of hiring and training full-time staff for a specific, potentially temporary role don't add up.

Seasoned marketing leaders also manage with real intention, understanding that their actions impact their team members’ lives and business outcomes. Focusing solely on hitting targets without considering the human element leads to burnout and erodes morale. Successful leaders recognize this connection, so they build supportive environments that care for all team needs to build inner motivation.

Leading a marketing team also requires boldness. Leaders must stand up for their team's new ideas, even when others in the company doubt them. Boldness isn't about being reckless; it's about conviction, being willing to stretch limits thoughtfully, and questioning old ways. Bold leaders give team members the freedom to own their projects. This freedom helps the team create original and impactful marketing work.

Beyond setting clear, solid processes, marketing leaders need to train teams thoroughly on those steps and the tools they'll use to succeed. Good leaders encourage continuous learning to help team members adapt to changing market and industry trends. They facilitate access to growth and development, whether through internal programs or external courses, and recognize when team members hit learning milestones.

Marketing leaders face unique challenges related to their profession. One main concern is the gap between their strategies and the actual execution. This operational gap results from not regularly revisiting or communicating strategic plans well, causing a disconnect between daily activities and business aims. To bridge this gap, leaders can create concrete operational plans outlining specific roles, timelines, resource needs, communication flows, and how the team can dodge roadblocks or adapt to market changes.

Additionally, top executives watch marketing leaders closely, putting pressure on them to show tangible returns on investment. Meeting these demands requires accountability, which comes from tracking and reporting how well campaigns work. Metrics that show customer acquisition costs, contribution to revenue, or performance benchmarks are crucial. This analysis justifies the budget and pinpoints areas needing attention. It also encourages team members to see how their work adds to campaign success.

Darrell Crall

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