This is the age of startups, with hundreds of innovative new products and services being launched daily. But quite a few of these start-ups fail to take off despite the years of research, blood, sweat and tears that go into refining the product/service. Industry experts claim that this failure can often be attributed to a lack of customer knowledge or excitement about the product/service during its launch. However, this problem can easily be combated with the help of a good marketing team.
An effective marketing team will ensure buzz around your product/service even before its launch. The marketing team will also ensure that all marketing efforts are directly targeted toward the ideal customer profile who will most likely make purchases from the start-up. A good marketing team will also be able to blend traditional marketing with digital marketing for the best results.
So, if you are a startup business owner in the process of recruiting a marketing team and want your team to check all these boxes, then let’s look at seven simple strategies you can adopt.
A marketing team will perform myriad functions throughout the existence of a business. But for a startup with a limited budget and a limited number of employees, the team has to be recruited depending on the present needs of the business. If your business has not been launched yet and you are looking for some early leads, then you should try hiring marketers skilled at customer acquisition strategies.
But if your business has already launched, but failed to make much impact, then it’s better to choose marketers more specialised in rebranding as that can give your start-up a new lease of life. If the company's marketing needs change later, for example, if the company decides to expand its online presence or wants to increase the conversion rate from leads, then the team composition can be changed accordingly. Instead of changing the team, the members can also be given the opportunity to take some training to live up to the company's new requirements.
A common mistake that startups often make is trying to hire marketers with hyper-specialised skills. While a big brand may be able to afford a team dedicated solely to SEO or social media campaigns, a start-up does not have the privilege to do so. A start-up should try to hire a small but effective team of versatile professionals who can diversify and work in different marketing fields like digital marketing, email campaigns and much more all at once. As a startup company, you can choose to find the right candidates for your company yourself, or you can let hiring professionals at RemotePad.com seek and hire skilled candidates that would fit well with the rest of the team members.
Some people can still have specific tasks within the team focused on different marketing fields, but they should all be able to pitch in with other team members at times of crisis or during a heavy work pressure period.
Employing a marketing team means that there will be different personalities who will have to work together. So, a good way to strike a balance between these personalities is to find some people who are better at tactical long-term brand building and to hire some other people who are better at understanding current trends.
The tactical marketers will keep the brand safe from controversies and help it build a reputation for itself among its loyal customers. At the same time the trend-setters will be able to capitalise on current consumer tastes to come up with campaigns that can help your business gain overnight popularity.
While a degree and experience in a particular field are significant for professional success, it is important to remember that just theoretical skills on paper are not enough in marketing. Marketing requires creative skills that cannot always be judged by grades or age. To test the actual creative skills of a marketer, the business owner should also try to ask some creative questions in the interview instead of simple generic tests. This will make the employee more passionate about the company and help the business owner make better choices.
A startup usually has a core team of employees who understand the actual essence of the product/service being developed. Business owners need to consult with this team before making final decisions about recruiting the marketing team.
A marketing team can take a brand in a different direction than it had envisioned in searching for quick unsustainable success. So, it is very important to ensure that the marketing team employed will be able to align itself with the culture and values your business is trying to project. Senior core team members are usually the best judge in this scenario.
When employees join a startup, they understand that their pay and financial benefits may not be at par with those working in larger MNCs. People join startups because they are passionate about the project and feel that in a newly growing company, they will have more opportunities to develop their skills and grow with the company.
So, if you also want to build and retain a great marketing team for your business then it is imperative to provide them with growth opportunities. This can be in the form of commensurate financial benefits as the company grows. Another way to retain employees is to provide them opportunities to hone their skills. This can be done by sending them to employee training seminars and workshops. This will also help the company because the employees will use their newly acquired skills to make their marketing strategies more effective.
This is the last but perhaps the most important tip for building any team. When several professionals have to work together, it is essential to have clearly defined roles for each employee. This helps keep track of accountability and avoids unnecessary conflicts that can bring down productivity.
So, when building your marketing team, first look for a multi-faceted marketing team leader with team-leading experience who will be able to strike a balance between long-term branding and short-term customer acquisition. The next task is to find members who will work well under this leader. These team members should have clear tasks and job roles from the start of their recruitment so that no dissatisfaction or resentment can creep into the organisational culture.
A marketing team is paramount to any organisation's success. Without proper marketing, the customer will never be able to find the product/service that you have spent so much time and money building. Hiring this marketing team requires some careful planning and execution as has already been discussed above. But there is no need to fret.
There are some products and services now available in the market that make hiring so much simpler. Business owners can take the help of certain companies that help to build online application forms for interested candidates to fill out. The data from all these forms will be available in an organised and comprehensive format to the business owner and will be extremely helpful to them in short-listing candidates.
After short-listing, if the company wants to have a multi-step selection process, they can begin with online pre-employment assessment tests. Third-party providers can offer this service too. After the assessment or even directly after short-listing, the business owner can move on to the interview process. It will be easier for the interviewer during the interview because all the basic data about the interviewee will be available at once via their online application form.
Online application form builders are quite versatile and allow form building for various industries and job roles.
So, if you are ready with a good product/service for your startup, it’s high time to hire your marketing team. A company with a good buzz around it will find it easier to get funding as well, for research and development. A marketing team will also ensure that your business will turn profitable quickly. Once your marketing team has acquired some initial customers, your product/service will do the rest, and word-of-mouth advertising will start to work in your favor.
So look for good marketing talent and make sure to pay as well as possible within your budget to retain this talent. Building a good work culture in the organisation, good amenities in the workplace, and opportunities like work from home can also make a company more lucrative for talented marketing professionals.
So get busy and get hunting! Competition is fierce, and you must catch the best talent before your rivals can sweep them away.
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