As the CEO of a growing company, you might look at your marketing team and wonder what they do all day.
If you are used to juggling everything, you might find that you’ve become the ‘go-to’ for everyone, even for departments that aren’t really your area of expertise. Maybe you have direct reports who rely on you daily, but you’re not sure how to give them meaningful guidance.
If you find yourself leading a marketing team as a CEO, here are 5 key gaps to look for. (And to find out how to address each one, check out the full version of this post on LinkedIn!)
1. Marketing goals are non-existent, unclear or set without purpose
Marketing teams need clear goals to work towards. Period.
These goals should plug directly into your business objectives and include specific metrics, targets, and milestones. Sometimes teams have goals, but they fail to communicate them effectively, so they aren’t clear to everyone. Or worse, goals might exist with no concrete plan to achieve them.
2. Lacking a marketing strategy
So many growing companies have marketing resourcing, but no speakable strategy.
The result? The marketing equivalent of throwing spaghetti (or maybe paid ad dollars) at the wall and hoping it sticks.
Your strategy is like your marketing compass: it guides your investment decisions. It’s not just about what you’re doing this week or this month, but what your plan is for the entire year and how it will help the business meet its 3-year, 5-year and even 10-year goals.
3. Execution problems
Scenario #1: Your marketing team is getting things, but you’re not sure if they’re doing the right things.
Scenario #2: Your marketing team has what you think is a great plan, but they’re spinning their wheels and things aren’t getting done.
Not to worry. There’s an easy fix for this: hop over to our LinkedIn article to learn about it.
4. Your team lacks agility or autonomy
Change is a constant in a growing business as well as in the wider marketing world. The question is: can your team adapt when changes come knocking?
Consider whether your team is able to assess and address challenges as a group, or whether they are always looking to you for support. Are they able to take in new information and independently transform it into an action plan, or are you always having to step in and provide instructions? Does your team know when and how to pivot if their approach isn’t working, or do they freeze up when things are in flux?
5. Issues communicating impact
Despite the plethora of data and tools out there, some marketers struggle to present their results in a way that translates into bottom-line business impact. The problem often boils down to over-focusing on vanity metrics or flashy campaigns, rather than the overall return on the marketing investment.
So, maybe you’ve identified with a few of these red flags…
If any of these gaps sound familiar, click here to learn more, or book a free, no-obligation 30-minute call with a Crisp marketing leader and ask us anything.
