Your new marketing team is a dumpster fire

The Great Resignation. It’s here. It’s real. And wow, has it created some unexpected problems.

People are jumping ship on their old, rusty rowboat jobs and climbing aboard shiny, new companies every day. The grass is greener…or the yacht is shinier, I suppose.

Or at least that’s what they think they’re doing.?

The reality is that a few days in, they see the inner workings of that fancy cruise liner and are disappointed to find out the team isn’t at all what it seemed. Turns out that the cool-looking team is really a bunch of junior hires who don’t have the skills or experience yet to tackle complex problems. Or sales and marketing are next-level Batman vs. Joker nemeses and never communicate. Or that fabulous-sounding tech stack is an unintegrated shit show with disjointed reporting that doesn’t show you the whole sales funnel picture. And sorry, we’ve already invested a fortune in these tools, so you’ll have to make it work a la Tim Gunn.

It’s a real-life horror movie where those freshly-pressed cruise uniforms are hiding gremlins—and someone fed them after midnight.?

If this is you…if you’ve inherited a dumpster fire that you didn’t see coming, you’re not alone. We’re hearing about this a lot.??

So, what can you do? Where do you start stomping out this smoldering trash?

First, assess what you’ve got to work with. Are people working on the right projects? Are their talents actually being used—or have they been shuffled into work they hate? (This happens more than we’d like to think.)?

To get the team working at their strongest (whatever level that may be), start by figuring out what each team member loves (hint: it’s nearly always also what they’re good at) and what they hate. Now: can you adjust their responsibilities so that they can focus more on what they’re best at and less on things they loathe??

Next, a gentle reminder: there’s no such thing as a unicorn. There wasn’t in Medieval Europe back when explorers were selling Narwhal horns to the highest bidder, claiming they could detect poison, and there still isn’t today. That goes for horned horses, and it goes for the elusive marketing unicorn who is a master of all trades, from email marketing data analysis to tech copywriting.

This means fixing a team is partly about having people specialize. Focusing on building expertise instead of acquiring a thousand shallow skill sets.

And once you’ve got your team assigned to the right things and developing deeper expertise? This is the time to assess the gaps. What skill sets are you missing? What expertise would put out those last lingering fires? Where are your real skills shortages?

When you figure it out, we suggest outsourcing what you can at first so you can test your hypothesis and see where your greatest needs truly are. (An agency can roll with the punches of shifting priorities better than a couple of new hires with very specific expertise.)

What do we mean by that? Well, you may find in six months that you are hitting it out of the park with email marketing and don’t need as much web copy as you thought, in which case you can put out that copywriter job description with a focus on email marketing skills. Or you may start out prioritizing video and find that the returns aren’t as good as your new podcast, so it’s a podcaster you need instead of a video editor on staff.?

Not to mention that an agency can bring you fresh perspectives (and no history of enmity with your sales team or customers), solutions to complex problems learned while helping other clients solve similarly difficult challenges, and a vast set of skills that you might not be able to afford if you have to hire every expertise as a full-time employee. They’re also nimble (so when that product exec strolls in to inform you, oh yeah, we’re launching a new product in 30 days and will need a campaign by then, byeee, you don’t need to panic).

Once you’ve got your people problems on the right track, it’s onto the tech stack. These nightmares can be conquered. But don’t assume you have the skills to solve this problem. This is a job for a tech expert who can assess, integrate, and augment—or tell you to rip it up and replace it. (And if your leadership freaks out, may we suggest you discuss the sunk cost fallacy with them?)

Finally, it is time to be bold and try new things. The new golden child of marketing is media. It’s working everywhere like we’ve never seen before. It’s no longer the B2C marketer silver bullet; now it’s your B2B secret weapon too. The pinpoint targeting is so powerful (if a little scary, let’s be honest).?

As always, if you need help, that is what we’re here for. Let’s talk through your challenges today.?