How can you build relationships with your company's marketing department?

When the marketing function serves as a service center you will get order takers and mediocre products--and no one will be satisfied. If you position your marketing group as experts and consultants, give them the power to drive marketing strategy and execution your inter-department relationships will be much healthier. The head of the marketing group should not be a subordinate to any other executive other than the CEO in the organization so that they can support their people when disagreements occur--and they will.

Begin by gaining a thorough understanding of the marketing department's role, objectives, and challenges. This insight helps in appreciating their contributions and understanding how your roles intersect and support each other.

Marketing is generally considered the architect of brand elevation. My view is to integrate holistically and be involved fully. The relationship journey begins with understanding, empathy, and a vision. Some practical things to do: 1. Reverse Mentorship: Flip the script – let marketing colleagues share their insights with you. 2. Challenge Norms: Respectfully challenge marketing norms for breakthrough ideas. Show involvement 3. Metrics Exchange: Share KPIs across departments for shared accountability. 4. Cross-Functional Brainstorming: Break silos with cross-functional brainstorming sessions. 5. Storytelling Sessions: Humanize experiences with informal storytelling sessions.

Everyone contributes to marketing. While the marketing department might be responsible for meeting the marketing goals and objectives, every department can contribute to improving the marketing efforts.

Start by understanding what your marketing colleagues do. Marketing has various functions like research, planning, content creation, distribution, analytics, and optimization. Each function has its own goals and challenges. Learn more about their roles to appreciate their expertise, understand their challenges, and find opportunities for collaboration.

Communicate your department's vision and goals clearly with the marketing team. Sharing this information helps them see the bigger picture and understand how their work contributes to the company's overall objectives.

Include marketing when defining a brand strategy. They will likely be able to contribute to the process. A marketing team who has a deep understanding of a brand is much more effective.

It seems easy but a lot off companies don’t have a clear vision, they have lot of good intentions, big values, lots and lots of dreams, but to make it work in marketing there should be one strong message. So to build a good relationship with your marketing team one big step is to really think about the stratégie you want to put forward so there is one big idea to showcase.

Share your vision effectively by creating a compelling narrative around your brand strategy. Craft a concise and engaging story that communicates the essence of your brand. Use visuals, presentations, or documents to illustrate key points. Schedule dedicated sessions or workshops to discuss the strategy in detail, encouraging questions and feedback. Emphasize the long-term goals and how the marketing team's efforts contribute to achieving them. Foster a sense of shared purpose and alignment with the brand strategy, making it clear how their work plays a vital role in the overall success of the organization.

Pull up a chair for your marketing team! If you want your brand to have the best chance of making an impact that is aligned with the overall goals of the company - your marketing team needs to be involved. I see marketing teams being left out all too often - and this only hurts the company in the end. Pull up a chair and invite them into your process. You won't regret it!

Actively involve the marketing department in relevant processes and decision-making. Their input can be invaluable, and collaboration fosters a sense of teamwork and shared purpose.

1.Empathize: Conduct sessions where your team and the marketing department share their perspectives, experiences, and challenges. Encourage open dialogue to understand each other's goals and constraints. 2.Define: Clearly articulate the objectives and goals of your brand strategy. Collaboratively define key challenges and opportunities with input from both teams. 3.Ideate: Organize brainstorming sessions that involve members from both departments. Generate a wide range of creative ideas for implementing and enhancing the brand strategy. 4.Prototype: Develop prototypes or mock-ups of key elements in the brand strategy, such as messaging, visuals, or campaigns. Seek feedback from the marketing team to refine & improve these prototypes.

I've seen too many times that marketing is siloed because other teams don't understand them. The best way to realize success through marketing tactics, is to include the team in goal setting and strategies at a business level. Marketers must zoom out to understand the big picture, and then switch focus to the details that will create success that is aligned to business objectives. Each team in a company plays a role in meeting overall business objectives, and marketing helps each team with their part of the whole when they are included in the process.

It’s essentiel that the whole team can give insight, we all think we are multi specialist but nothing is further from the truth. It’s important to know your limitations and to consult on matters that are not your speciality. Strategy may be your star quality but maby marketing isn’t, so keep your mind open for feedback and comments. Co construction allows a feeling of ownership, and ownership will give incentive to be better so it’s all beneficial. Valorise every team in your company so the relationship will grow as will trust.

Acknowledge and respect the marketing team's expertise. Valuing their skills and insights not only strengthens the relationship but can also lead to more effective and innovative solutions.

Cuántas veces tenemos que sufrir en los departamentos de Marketing a los intrusos que se creen que nuestro trabajo es fácil y que cualquier podría hacerlo? Respetar empieza por entender que el trabajo de cada uno es fruto de la experiencia y el conocimiento (y el talento) y no opinar no comentar el trabajo de los demás.

Sometimes what you ask for from your marketing team might not be the thing you actually need to solve your business problem. So, have an open mind when your marketing team suggests an alternative approach.

Seeking to understand will help you come to respect marketing's expertise. It's a chicken or egg situation. You will respect their expertise when they contribute to success. But you have to trust them and include them so they CAN help you create success. The latter seems like the starting point. Your teams are there for their expertise, so get out of the way and let team members contribute, and share their expertise.

Respect your marketing team through active listening, feedback channels, and recognizing achievements. Involve them in decisions, support professional growth, and foster a culture of mutual respect. Strengthen collaboration by acknowledging their expertise.

1.Clear Communication: Articulate brand strategy, goals, & timelines clearly. Define roles & responsibilities for all stakeholders. 2.Collaborative Goal-Setting: Engage marketing in setting realistic & measurable goals. Foster ownership through collaborative goal-setting. 3.Regular Updates: Schedule check-ins for progress, challenges, and adjustments. Keep communication open for evolving needs or obstacles. 4.Transparent Timelines & Budgets: Set clear timelines and allocate realistic budgets. Transparent resource allocation manages expectations effectively. 5.Feedback Loops: 6.Adaptability: Acknowledge the evolving marketing landscape. Be open to adjusting expectations based on changing conditions.

Ensure that there's a mutual understanding of expectations. Aligning on objectives, timelines, and desired outcomes helps in working cohesively and avoiding misunderstandings or conflicts.

Make expectations very clear, and work with them as often as possible – but make sure you don't get perceived as part of the marketing team. You're an ally and an enabler, but brand is a function that belongs to leadership. Make sure it stays that way, otherwise you'll be commoditized.

This comes down to communication. Based on the strategy you can set goals and expectations. Once the teams are collaborating and sharing insights and performance, expectations can be adjusted as needed with the whole team of stakeholders so everyone is on the same page.

Acknowledge and celebrate joint successes. Recognizing achievements and contributions strengthens team morale and reinforces the value of collaboration.

All employees in all departments must know, Marketing is everyone's responsibility, and all employees carry the company's name on their work cards. This is a fully-fledged marketing process, and the success of the marketing department is in the interest of all departments. If everyone feels responsible for marketing, the communication process becomes easier.

Communication is key. Maintain open, honest, and regular communication channels. Be receptive to feedback and willing to adapt your approach. Building a strong relationship with the marketing department also involves creating an environment of mutual trust and respect, where each department values and supports the other's efforts.

I believe all the above statements are important but most off all I think the job of the creatives is to listen, to hear what is not said and to understand the true problematic that can solve the problem that blocs the growth of the companies. By taking this time to really listen and by showing empathie, using your expérience but also the insight of your coworkers, not behaving as a god but more as an team player allows you to get the best out of everyone. This approach allows you to make your coworkers feel valued and most of all it allows you to better know who you have in front of you. Actions speak more than words. Giving them the substance for them to be able to achieve excellence in their job and consult them.

Don't involve the marketing team when the product is ready to launch. Involve them while building the product. This helps in better ideation since marketing folks have consumer insight. Those insights are most valuable while building the product and devising the GTM.