As a Marketing Mentor I work with business owners to swoop in and supercharge their marketing employees – up-skilling them, mentoring them, and fast tracking them to a position where they understand how to play the game! So they are empowered to succeed – because nowadays everyone is a marketer!
Whether it’s the receptionist who always has their head in Facebook, or the young graduate who’s a whizz on TikTok, everyone has skills to bring the party — but is it possible for ONE person to know it all?…. And is it likely that a marketing graduate with no business experience will have the commercial knowledge to translate theory into practical action?
No — it takes years of hands-on experience to know all the tricks of the trade to understand how to convert content into clients.
Here are some reasons why your marketing isn’t working, and you’re actually setting your team up for failure:-
1. Your Marketing Executive is inexperienced.
You’ve given the important job of marketing your business to a member of staff who has never put a marketing strategy together in their life, and has no idea where to start.
I get it, it’s tough being a small business and we have to do what we can with the resources and budgets we have. But would you hand the keys of your car over to a learner driver and send them off on their own to have a meeting with your most important client to present a new proposal? Absolutely not!
So why do we set our inexperienced marketing employees up for failure?
I say it all the time — “Marketing isn’t just about posting a few things on social media and hoping for the best”. It’s more strategic than that.
I liken it to building a house and starting with the fancy wallpaper, curtains and interiors first, before you’ve put in place the planning permission, the foundations and the structure.
2. Your marketing isn’t goal focused.
Marketing needs to do a job for your business. Do you have the end result in mind, or is your marketing ad-hoc and reactive, or based around the latest inspired social media post? Think about what your overall goal is.
Before we start any marketing we need to understand where we’re going and what we want to achieve, otherwise how can we know if we’ve been successful or not?
3. They will only know what they know.
So if they’re a whizz on TikTok and creating crazy mad-cap content, this might not be right for your business or the audience you’re wanting to attract. So they need to put themselves in your customer’s shoes and try and imagine where they hang out online and what content resonates with them.
By positioning yourself correctly with the right messaging, your potential customers will not only see your content but they’ll see you as an expert in your industry. This will encourage them to connect with you and once you’ve earned their trust they’ll be more likely to buy from you.
4. They don’t have the right guidance and support.
Reporting directly into the business owner who also has no real marketing experience is setting your employee up to fail. Plus it’s a lonely place to be, working on your own in isolation doesn’t help anyone to thrive and be happy in their job.
With no proper guidance and no-one to learn from or brainstorm with, how can they come up with the next amazing, creative idea on how to market your business?
5. You’re expecting too much!
They haven’t been there, done it, and bought the t-shirt. So how can they make suggestions on how to move your business forward, secure the next big client deal or get their peers and management on board with their ideas when they are just at the start of their marketing journey.
Is any of this sounding familiar? Are you perhaps putting too much pressure on your junior members of staff and leaving them in isolation, rather than setting them up to flourish, be creative in their thinking and to be a key member of the team who can confidently contribute towards making your business the success that you’re dreaming of.
This could be the start of a new way of working…one that reaps rewards for everyone.
I challenge you to ask yourself these difficult questions and maybe ask them these:-
- Do you feel supported?
- Do you need more help?
- What can I do to help you feel more confident in your role?
Why not start by first identifying where the gaps are in your marketing strategy and talking this through with your Marketing Exec to understand:
- Which marketing tactics are right for your business, and
- Where their strengths and weaknesses are.
This will allow you to create a marketing roadmap that’s not only right for your business, but empowers your member of staff knowing that they’re supported.
Why not take my FREE “Prevent Costly Marketing Mistakes” Quiz and received a personalised report within minutes enabling you to take action and plug those gaping gaps straight away!
I love chatting marketing over a cuppa, so why not Book a FREE 30 Minute Discovery Call HERE.
Rachelle x
Founder of The Yorkshire Marketing Company, Marketing Strategist and Accredited Marketing Mentor
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