Marketing Operations Advisor

I asked, you answered. Before going to a conference, I would have my team members schedule an all-company meeting (was optional to attend but managers encouraged it) after the conference they attended. The meeting was up to 30 minutes and was a brief of what was learned as well as what we were going to implement from their takeaways. It forces a person to attend a conference differently. You are going in with a purpose. The company gets value. The team member gets growth. It is a win-win situation.

Hot opinion alert! If your marketing goals could be the BD goals, then they are the same department. In the AEC industry, most of the time this is true. But then that means your company isn't actively marketing your business. And the firms that know marketing and BD are sibling departments with their own unique goals will grow their brand and their reputation faster than yours.

Should marketing report to Business Development, Sales, HR, Accounting, or the C-suite? The simple and hard answer is "it depends". It depends on what the longterm strategy and vision is for the company. However, if you have the marketing function of your business reporting up through and being managed by another department then they are essentially that department. Don't @ me. Here's what happens when the marketing function reports through and is managed by another department: - Over-emphasis on short-term goals of the other department. - Reduced investment in strategic marketing/communication initiatives that don't show immediate impact to the other department. - Less objective market research and customer insight gathering. - Difficulty maintaining consistent messaging across all touchpoints of the company. - Challenges in proper attribution and measurement of marketing's full impact. In the AEC industry, most "Marketing Coordinators" need a title change to "Proposal Coordinators" because they are project pursuit specialists and should be in the Business Development department. If you want to market your AEC firm, lead the industry (as well as your customers) in thought leadership, and focus on sustainable growth, then you may need to reconsider where your marketing team is reporting.

I asked, you answered. Education, education everywhere, not a drop to think. Or whatever that old saying is. Online/on-demand courses are in hot demand. Perhaps they fit well in our fast-paced lives and we can tailor the education to what we need at the moment. One of my favorite places to learn online is LinkedIn Learning (I get access through my local library system ... for FREE). My second favorite place = YouTube. I'm a visual learner and have learned a ton about marketing tech from how-to videos. Do you have a preferred online education route? If so, share in the comments.

That moment when a 'quick request' becomes its own department.

Do you have a formal, standardized system for receiving marketing requests? I've been at the mercy of "Hey, can you ... ?" in passing at the office. And 9 times out of 10, I forgot to ask for a key piece of info. Namely, I forgot to ask about the deadline because I was too busy focused on what the deliverable needed to be. There is a better intake and workflow process for marketing requests. I explain it in the video and I share how it can improve status update communication, too.

I asked, you answered. List segmentation will do wonders for your email marketing! And I'm not just talking about list A, list B, and list C for content specific to them. I'm talking about:? ?? resending emails to the people who didn't open it the first time ?? following up with people who registered, downloaded, clicked on that button, etc. ?? tailoring emails to people who clicked but didn't do the action requested (i.e. sign up for webinar) List segmentation is powerful! Use it!!! Want to get deeply educated (and highly entertained) about email marketing? Give SubjectLine.com and Jay Schwedelson a follow.

The 60-second assessment video was posted yesterday. Do it! No one is judging your results. However, you might get a wake up call to fix some things you have let slide in your marketing operations.

One minute to gauge where your marketing operations is today. This self-assessment will show how mature your marketing ops is and where you can find immediate improvements. If you aren't in marketing, share this post with someone who is. Also, take the assessment yourself because you might be surprised by the results.

Tech, leadership, and big moves. That's on my agenda over the next few weeks and I hope it intersects with your schedule. Join me at the following events (links to registration pages are in the comments). ? Vantagepoint Virtual Support Group Meeting (organized by my data geek friend Stacey Ho, MBA, CPSM, FSMPS) ? SMPS NTX AI Exchange from Practice to Implementation. I'm sharing steps to develop a strategic AI approach for your business and fawning over fellow smarties Julie Shaffer, FSMPS, CPSM, Courtney Kearney, CPSM, Laura Hernandez, and Sarah Kinard. ? SMPS Chapter Leadership Symposium. Exclusive training for SMPS chapter leaders to get them prepped for successfully leading their home chapters. ? Making Big Moves marketing workshop day in Louisiana that is going to cover market research, planning, client and BD activities, proposals, promotional activity, and management.