ALIGNING YOUR MARKETING AND HUMAN RESOURCES TEAM

All the experts say that one of your best strategies to improve business performance is the alignment of your sales and marketing team. Get those two divisions working together and for sure your business will grow.

Well not so fast. In today’s marketplace, the biggest obstacle to growth for most companies is not sales, it is supply chain and labor shortages. Talk to any CEO, and they will tell you that the two areas keeping them up at night are – will they have enough product to sell, and will they have the people to sell it?

Now, supply chain is a tough one. There is not much any of you can do about getting ships into port, finding truckers, or dealing with all the other supply chain obstacles that surface on a regular basis. But when it comes to labor believe it or not you do have some control and some leverage.

Your best shot of turning the great resignation into your greatest opportunity is to align your human resources and marketing teams. You need to start thinking of human resources as a sales engine, working constantly to find, attract, retain, develop, and hire the right people.

Now finding the right people is where marketing comes in. See the best talent, they are just like your best prospects, they are not actively looking for a new opportunity. To get them to come and join your team is going to take market positioning, branding, the right messaging, and consistent proactive focus. Everything that your marketing team can help and should help you do.

So how do you align your human resources and marketing team.

5 Must Have Strategies to Turn the Great Resignation into The Great Opportunity

1. Set the Meeting?– first step is to set the meeting. Get your human resources and marketing teams talking and layout the objective. Help them see the why behind the strategy of how the marketplace has changed, and how talent acquisition needs to change with it. Share the strengths each division brings to the table and begin to brainstorm ideas on how they can work together. Leave this meeting with a clear understanding of the common goal, and the individual role each department will play.
2. Clarify the Avatar?– just like you define the perfect customer, you need to define the perfect employee. Right now, you have team members working for you who love your company, are completely committed, and do an exceptional job. You need to clearly define who they are – their qualities, characteristics, and skills. From that description you build your avatar. The employee you are going to be marketing to. Just like you define the ideal customer for your sales team, do the same for your recruiting team.
3. Define the Strategy?– with the avatar defined you can begin to design the strategy of how you are going to find them, attract them, and continuously market to them. Where are they? What social media platforms do they use? What networking or community groups are they a part of? What is the right messaging? Remember, this is a lengthy process, and one you want to approach with a well-defined strategy.
4. Take Action?– execution, implementation, and timelines. Taking action on the strategy and focusing more on progress than perfection. Consistency is key. Put the strategy into place, set timelines, and track and measure.
5. Adjust and Improve?– then every few months review the process. What is working, what is not, and what do you need to adjust? Keeping your human resources and marketing teams talking, strategizing, and coming up with new and innovative ideas to find the best and brightest for your team.

Remember, your best opportunity for growth is to win the war on talent. The business is out there, the supply chain will get better, and you will want to be well positioned with a strong talent pull to take advantage of the growing opportunities.

Stop sitting back and waiting for talent to come to you, get proactive and align your marketing and human resources team. With this effective strategy you are sure to turn all of this uncertainty into your greatest competitive advantage.