How Small Marketing Teams Make a Splash

Three Ways to Move Your Marketing Efforts Forward with a Small Team or Budget

I worked in larger organizations just long enough to learn it wasn’t for me - spending months doing a lot of talking and a lot of (digital) paper pushing while actual projects and progress moved like molasses. Much of my career, including most recently with Bright Venture Marketing, has been spent working with small businesses and entrepreneurs. And I’ve learned that is for me. Smaller teams are nimble and can move faster. It’s easier to get things done and move forward, even with limited resources (including a lack of time, people, and money).

Over the years I’ve seen small marketing teams make the most of their efforts by staying focused, measuring what's important, and getting creative.

Staying Focused

Since time and money go hand-in-hand when it comes to valuable business resources, staying focused on top marketing priorities is key - especially when you have a limited budget. Take the time to evaluate the most important and potentially effective marketing activities for your organization or initiative. Answer questions like:

• What activities are most aligned with my business or department goals?
• What marketing channels have the potential to deliver the most return??
• What are the top 3-5 things I’d like to achieve this year when it comes to marketing?

Keep whatever list you come up with top of mind as you move through the year. Priorities might change, or they might not, but being able to stay focused and not get distracted by other marketing tactics and channels that don't match your objectives is one way to reserve both time and money.

Measuring What Matters

Something important successful teams keep in mind is being able to measure the effectiveness of marketing efforts. Being able to track and analyze marketing’s impact on leads, sales pipeline, and revenue is the most obvious way to prove the value of marketing and build a case for a bigger marketing budget in the future. But there are other metrics that are valuable to track and can also help make the case. Some questions to ask when deciding what marketing metrics matter the most to your organization are:

• What do key stakeholders care about? Do they want to see more traffic on the website? Do they want to see more of a specific type of content, or marketing activity? Do they want to have higher attendance at events?
• What are the values of our organization? What marketing metrics align with those? For example of collaboration is something highly valued, how can you measure and report on key partnerships, or internal projects, or other collaborative efforts.

Getting Creative

Some ideas I've seen work well for small teams that make the most of their resources and work within a smaller budget include:

Leveraging channels other than paid advertising, things like:

• Organic search engine marketing
• Attending low or no-cost networking events to generate referrals or word-of-mouth marketing
• Social media

Collaborating with partners, which can help:

• Increase reach and return on any investment by working with a strategic partner in your industry
• Place your company, product, or service in front of new audiences

Leaning on freelancers and outside consultants:

• Using an agency or freelancer (like Bright Venture Marketing ??) can be an easier way to get more done and expand your marketing efforts without having to hire part-time or full-time employees
• Many freelancers today work on flexible terms, by the project or by the hour - for short-term or long-term?projects

Thank you for reading Marketing Mechanics! Whatever you are planning this year, however big or small, I wish you much success and happiness in the year ahead.