Whether you are a small business looking to put together your own digital marketing team or are an entrepreneur looking to launch a digital marketing startup, there are certain key points to consider when building a digital marketing team.
This type of building isn’t easy, or we’d already be doing all this. We need to demand more of our political leaders, of our CEOs, our entrepreneurs, our investors. We need to demand more of our culture, of our society. And we need to demand more from one another. We’re all necessary, and we can all contribute, to building.
From the people you choose to the way in which you want things done, these are four very important considerations to be aware of.
1. Clearly Define Your Objectives
The first thing you should focus on would be your ultimate objectives. Are you trying to expand your customer base, capture a new market or even start a new company? Before you can even begin to delve into the following considerations, you must be able to clearly define what it is you are trying to accomplish. You need to clearly define your objectives. Once that is done, you can begin working on a roadmap that will get you where you want to go.
2. Establish Preferred Digital Channels
There are so many digital channels available to you that it’s important to carefully choose those you are both comfortable with and which can give you the results you are looking for. Not all digital channels suit all industries equally well, so it pays to be proficient in a few rather than to run rampant on a trial and error basis. It pays to know your audience and then target them with digital channels they are most likely to interact with. For example, social media is a good marketing channel, but not for all industries and for all age groups. From email to Google ads, it helps to categorize digital channels based on markets. It doesn’t mean that you can’t eventually take advantage of all of them, just that you should be able to categorize them by market.
3. Equip Your Team with the Tools They Need
One of the biggest mistakes that many marketing managers or team leaders make is in failing to give a standardized set of tools to everyone on the team. Whether it’s data or training videos, you can keep your team on the same page with preloaded flash drives. These can be mass produced, are small enough to easily fit in a pocket to be called upon as needed. Whether it is statistical data that needs to be referenced or a video presentation to be viewed, these tiny flash drives can hold up to 512 Gb of data. The entire marketing manual can be loaded onto a single thumb drive, which can’t be inadvertently erased! How handy is that?
4. Set Realistic Goals
Obviously, you would also want to set realistic goals for both the long and short term, but in the end, it’s all about keeping the team together with a standardized set of procedures and information which everyone has access to. Regular staff meetings help to keep the team together and on the same page in much the same way as that thumb drive can. You will find that a whiteboard with goals being checked off as they are met helps to keep the digital marketing team enthusiastic and on target. Visuals are always good when setting and meeting goals, so find ways to keep those goals visible in the office.
There is so much involved in digital marketing that you will want to ensure that you have key people who are proficient in everything from analytics to SEO to web design. When building a digital marketing team, it is good to remember that no one can be an expert in every facet of the industry. Employ the top talent and give them the tools they need and you will have built a marketing team that gets results – and results are what keeps you in business.