5 Steps to Building a Marketing Team Without Increasing Your HeadCount

Are you a marketing team of one?

It can be overwhelming to be on your own, and reaching your marketing goals may feel like an impossible task. However, building a supportive marketing team doesn't have to be expensive or time-consuming — if you follow the proper steps.?

In this post, we'll walk through five steps that I have personally used as a one-person marketing department to build a successful marketing team without increasing headcount.

Let's get started!

Step 1) Start with Strategy

Begin with your annual marketing strategy. What big hairy audacious goals (BHAGs) have you set for the year? Start there.

First, choose one of those goals. Second, identify two strategies you can use to try and tackle this goal. Third, choose three tactics to address each strategy. Fourth, write a list of the support you need to manage these tactics (people, technology, leadership buy-in).

Let's look at going through this scenario IRL.

Goal: My goal is to increase leads among landlords.

Strategies:?

1. Strategy A - Ramp up lead generation.
2. Strategy B - Build an online community for landlords.

Tactics:?

Strategy A

1. Create a Webinar Series
2. Add a Sales Email Campaign
3. Paid Media

Strategy B

1. Choose a platform for the online community.
2. Create a community management guideline.
3. Promote the community through guest podcast spots.

Support:?

• Webinar management: webinar tool
• Landing pages: designer and copywriter
• Speaker outreach: outreach manager, subject matter expert (SME)
• Email marketing: designer, copywriter, email marketing platform
• Social media: designer, copywriter, community manager
• Online community: social media manager, community manager

Looking at this support list, you can see there is some overlap. For example, you need a designer, a copywriter, an SME, and a communications person to handle community management, outreach, and social media.

“To start leading others, you have to lead yourself first. Be as organized as possible and get clear about the future vision for your department, your role, and your team members’ roles. When it comes to delegation and outsourcing, it's important to work with your natural strengths and create a strategy that works for you. There is no blueprint/playbook/ ’right way’ for efficient outsourcing; the process looks different for everyone. The more you can create an effective strategy that's aligned with your management style and marketing goals, the more successful you'll be at scaling your business and freeing up time,” Hanneke Antonelli, CTACC .

Step 2) Build Your Processes

Next, you want to build the processes that will keep your tasks on track, including the technology to streamline those processes.

Using the example above, you will need a project management tool like Trello, Asana, or ClickUp to manage a diverse internal and external team. In addition, you will need a communication tool that makes communicating with all parties involved in your projects seamless. Finally, you will want to build a workflow that clarifies which people and tools are involved in each step to facilitate streamlined hand-offs between each step.

Step 3) Expand to Include Outsourced Teams

Take a look at your needs. Do you need to hire external people to own parts of the workflow?

When deciding if you should outsource to a contractor or hire internally, ask yourself these questions:

1. Is my need for this job inconsistent or varying?
2. Do I need an expert who would be too expensive to hire internally?
3. Is my budget too small to hire internally?
4. Is there less red tape to hire a contractor?
5. Do I need someone who can be the expert?

If you answered yes to these questions, hire a contractor.

For this example, look at the support you need: copywriter, designer, SME, and communications manager. Now, ask yourself the questions above.

Would you hire internally or externally?

CONTINUE READING