5 Ways to Get Stakeholders to Trust the Marketing Team
Stacey Ackerman
A dynamic marketing leader focusing on building high-performing teams that drive real results.
If you’re having trouble getting stakeholders to trust your marketing team, it may be really difficult to become a consultative partner rather than an order taker. To change that narrative, here are 5 practical tips we’ve tried with clients:
#1) Predictable Delivery
When you can be predictable with your delivery times, you build stakeholder trust. One way to do that is by focusing on what work you can get done, not just started. By working in short cycles (1 or 2 weeks) that focus on delivering predictably, you can get away from the old habits of saying yes to everything and then scrambling to complete a deadline, or being late.
If you’re already working in agile marketing, you’re planning your work each cycle. During Cycle Planning , it’s important for the team to give a realistic commitment to each other on what work they believe they can complete. The team needs to be rid of pressures of unrealistic timelines and to communicate with their stakeholders early and honestly.
The cycle plan needs to account for any unknowns or work interruptions. If the team is finding they are over-planning, they need to look at lowering the commitment next cycle, but being open with their stakeholders about why.
If the team says yes to everything, a ball is going to drop somewhere. And let’s be real—it may feel good for stakeholders to hear that their work is going to get done, but if it’s not realistic, most would rather know that ahead of time rather than being told something isn’t ready.
If leaders can reward teams for predictable delivery rather than over-committing, trust begins to?form.
#2) Prove out an idea
If you’re stuck in a company that’s built on legacy marketing, but you have a fresh, new idea, it may be hard to get buy-in. However, if you can get proof that your idea really works, you may open up the door for new ideas in the future.
Let’s say that your company has exhibited at the same trade show for the last 10 years and they just have to be there! However, you have no data to back up that they are getting any kind of return on their investment.
Your idea is to hold a webinar instead, inviting key attendees that you normally see at the show. While they may not be up for dropping the trade show right away, ask if you can conduct a test by doing both. Compare the cost of the trade show and the number of sales qualified leads with that of the webinar. When you have the data, maybe you were wrong and you can drop the topic. But you may be right, and that opens up many more possibilities.
#3) Get risky on something less risky
When you’re looking to test the waters with an innovative new idea, don’t take your most visible marketing to your best customers to the test. Instead, look for something less risky to be risky with.?
One idea is to experiment with something small in a more contained way. If it’s a new tagline you want to try, perhaps testing it within one social platform can be a safe way to experiment before you rebrand everything.
Or let’s say that you have a fresh new idea for an ad campaign. You can run it on a private YouTube channel to a controlled audience to see if it resonates before you get it fully out in the wild.
#4) Be transparent
To get stakeholders to trust your team, you must be transparent with how you work. We’ve found that by regularly sharing your Blueprint of work that you plan to deliver, you build an open dialogue. When priorities change, and they do and should, use that as your guide to have a transparent conversation on the impact of change.
With deadlines, if the team is not going to meet one, it’s critical that the conversation takes place sooner rather than later. There could be some negotiation around the scope and both parties may be able to launch something more minimally viable.
Being transparent around work is key, and making sure dark work isn’t happening is critical. If work requests are happening that break the prioritization process, your stakeholders may find themselves disappointed that their priorities are not getting done, yet no one really knows why.
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Always be transparent to the entire team and the stakeholders around what work the team is doing, when it’s expected to be done, and anything that may cause delays. This will build stakeholder trust with your team.
#5) Ask for desired outcomes upfront
Marketers often find that stakeholders are telling them exactly what to do, rather than why they need something done. If this is happening to you, try to turn the conversation around into one about outcomes rather than output.
Ask questions like, “What does success look like?” “How will you know if your goal is being met?” “What action do you want prospects to take?”?
These questions reframe the deliverables from specifics and reduce the order-taker syndrome many marketers are feeling.
By taking these 5 actionable steps, you can build stakeholder trust at your company.
Hi! I'm Stacey Ackerman. I'm an agile marketing coach & trainer and a partner at?NavigateAgile .
Years ago I was a corporate marketer that was frustrated with old-school?processes and endless blue tape!
When I was introduced to the idea of?#agile , my entire outlook changed.
I loved what I saw when people were empowered to?#collaborate ?and work as a?#team . I saw better innovation, team happiness and real work getting out the door so much faster!
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If you're interested in learning how?#agilemarketing ?can help your marketing teams, here are 3 ways I can help:
1) Download your copy of the?Agile Marketing Navigator , a practical approach to implementing agile marketing written by marketers, for marketers.
2) Learn more about agile marketing on our?Learning Tools ?page, where you'll find podcasts, eBooks, webinars and more!
3) Get started with our?Agile Marketing Accelerator Program , a proven system for successfully implementing agile marketing.
I'm always open to chatting with you about your agile marketing needs. Feel free to schedule a Zoom call with me:?calendly.com/navigateagile