Tag: team

The concept of "leadership" extends beyond common perceptions, revealing a breadth and value that is often underestimated. Leading a team isn't just about managing tasks; it's about inspiring individuals to excel collectively. As a marketing leader, your role extends beyond strategy — it's about cultivating a culture of continuous learning, adaptability, and growth. Let's discover the art of inspiring teams with practical, no-nonsense leadership lessons that empower your marketers to embrace change, stay updated, and explore their full potential.

One of the biggest complaints that marketers have is that they don’t have enough time to do everything on their ‘to do list’. With a constant stream of demands from managers and sales team, the list is long and often unmanageable. In 2023, making your marketing team more productive is a priority of many marketing managers and business leaders.

A marketing teams productivity requires individuals and teams within a business to work efficiently and effectively to optimize output. When marketing teams are productive, they are highly motivated, full of energy, invest in training and development and in general manage their time and environment in a way that produces the best results.

Are you building a marketing team? To create a capable B2B marketing team that can deliver what your company needs, you need to know the precise characteristics you should look for. Every sports team has a specific person in a particular position. Otherwise, your team loses the game. Marketing works just like this! But it’s not as easy to know what you’re looking for when you’re in a B2B marketing environment. Below, we have some outlines of specific people you should look for to build your brand.

My flight was delayed from Atlanta to Los Angeles and it didn't matter. I was in high spirits, drinking sparkling mineral water in the Amercian Airlines Lounge and writing down my ideas of how I would now change the company's business plan in highsight of the first quarter of this year.

I am inspired beyond belief and like many entrepreneurs, having the motivation to kick goals, climb any mountain and put on a brave face even though you may be scared shitless - is something that comes very naturally to me.

By all means be competitive, but never be the person who leaves someone else behind just to win. 

After listening to the most fascinating man I have ever had the privilege of listening to on team work yesterday, I am completely empowered to bring my team to one level, together and with the same philosophies of a Navy Seal Team.

In fact, I bought some copies of two books today; No Easy Day and No Hero, from a former Navy Seal, hoping to inspire change.

The other day Marketing Eye as a team decided to take the Myers Briggs personality test. What an eye opening experience this was for all of us. We came across the conclusion is that our team is very diverse. Before taking the test some personality traits were obvious, but others were hidden talents that had not been discovered until completion of this test. Not only was the test great for gaining more insight into our co-workers personalities but it was valuable for personal reflection.

When a business starts a new calendar year with have a business strategy in place, supported by a sales and marketing plan - CEO's expect results.

But what if the results are not forthcoming? What if key people have read the strategy yet are not "making it happen"? As we near the end of January, many companies are realizing that targets are not being met, and while some may scratch their heads, the real leaders are taking action.

It's that time of year where companies are back hiring new recruits.

As someone who is always too busy, I have left the on-boarding to our previous CEO and Area Managers, with my role being minimal other than an introduction.

However, like most entrepreneurs, January is a time to re-think your business in every way; finance, recruitment, human resources, marketing, sales, products/services etc.

This has given me an opportunity to see just what is going on and I have to say, we have some gaps. As a marketing and communications based company, Marketing Eye plays a pivotal role in communicating a company's brand and culture to employees of our clients. We develop and design on-boarding manuals, podcasts, corporate videos and interactive presentations on the company, people and history.

What I have realized is that we are not dissimilar to a mechanic who never finds time to fix their own car. 

With that, off came the gloves and I rolled up my sleeves to have a better insight into our on-boarding processes. 

Here are some clever best practices that we teach our clients and implement on their behalf:

THE INTERVIEW

• When writing an advertisement for a position, include a link to your website which talks about the company culture and the type of person that will fit in. This is great for the applicant and even better for your company as it sends people to your website and drives traffic and engagement.

• Ask applicants to like your company on social media. If they don't want to do this, then they are definitely NOT interested in your brand, culture or the future promotion of your company - so strike them immediately off the list.

• When an applicant comes for an interview, ensure that someone from your team rings them the day before, introduces themselves and talks to them about a normal day in the office. It's a great way to give the applicant an idea what it is like to work for your company and also shares with them an insight into the culture and type of people that they need to fit in with.

• Do something clever to get the applicant to remember your company like sending them an inspirational email with a famous quote. Ensure that it is written on a picture to give your brand  a "lift"

• On arrival at the interview, give them an iPad with a presentation and video of what it is like to work for your company and what type of people perform best. 

• In the interview, present your company like you would present the company to a client. Then ask for the applicant to talk about themselves; share insights that do not come across clearly in their CV's and ask them to explain why they think that they would be a good fit.

• When they leave, give them a company brochure and any literature related to your company that may be of benefit to them.

Humbled by an employee discussion in our Atlanta office, I was pleasantly surprised that given the hypothetical situation of winning the lotto, all employees said that after a brief holiday, they would want to come back to work at Marketing Eye.

The engagement level on a day-to-day basis in our Atlanta office is very high – not to say, other offices are not the same. Company culture is everything and there are many reasons why it has a direct impact on bottom line.

There are a number of lessons learned from having a start-up in Atlanta that is inherently different from other offices we have.

The first being that all employees have chosen each other

Usually, a senior manager or myself makes the ultimate choice on who is going to join the team and in what capacity. Instead, in Atlanta, I have been over-ruled twice, and both times, I had to put my hand up and say that my choice would have been wrong for the team.