How To Run A Marketing Team

I’ve seen so many marketing leaders over my twenty years in CPG, whether it was my days as a junior marketer observing those I was under or observing my own issues as I was finally taking the reigns of a marketing team.  The biggest problem I see and hear about is “lack of consistency”.  And yet, I do believe consistency is one of the most important attributes for a good leader of a marketing team. People always use the word “Leadership” which sometimes implies that the leader should be “leading” the team.  When you are leading the marketing team, you should be encouraging those under you to be Leading the way.  And maybe stop leading so you can let them lead.  Even in the military, where there is a chain of command you are supposed to respect, the best leaders are known to have a bottom up mind where they listen to those closest to the issue and respect their judgement before offering their own. Whether you are at the Director or VP level, whether your team is 3 or 30 or even more, here are some thought starters to help you better manage your marketing team.

 

Be a Consistent Leader with People

This is my #1 rule for sure. And it’s the easiest to fail on. When you have multiple brands under you, it’s so easy to forget what you said 5 days ago on one of the brands.  Never be afraid to say “what did I say last time?”, which can help you make sure you stay consistent.  While it might sound weak, it’s much stronger than when your brand manager says “yeah, but last time you said….”   People have to know how to act around you.  You have to set up an avenue where they are comfortable enough to approach you, and be able to communicate the good and bad.  A scary leader discourages people from sharing the bad results, leaving you in the dark.  On the other hand, open dialogue helps you be more knowledgeable of what’s really going on, so you can run the business.  Also, they have to be able to challenge you and push forward new thinking into the system.   This helps your brands to stay modern, push new ideas and connect with consumers.  If you push your ideas too far, you could be pushing ideas from a generation too late.

 

Be Consistent with the Work

Be consistent in how you think, how you act in meetings and how you approve.  Inconsistent behaviour by a leader does not “keep them on their toes” and create an atmosphere of “creativity”.   It inhibits creativity, and creates tension that adds no value to the brands.  People forget that leadership assumes “followership” from your team.  Creating a good atmosphere on the team will make people want to go the extra mile for you.  Be a good listener and you’ll be surprised on what people tell you—how honest they’ll be, how much they’ll tell you.  Knowledge makes you a great leader, and it starts with listening. You also want to hold your team to a Consistently high standard of work:  Rather than being the leader by example, I’d rather see you establish a standard and hold everyone and yourself to that standard.  .  For a new director, this is one of the harder areas—how to balance the freedom you give with the standard you demand.   The key is to be more process orientation than you might have been when you were Brand Manager.   You need to organize the team and build in processes in a way that produces consistent output, your team hits all deadlines, stays focused and keeps things moving.  But it can also show up in the quality of brand plans, execution and interactions with everyone specifically sales.  Be the control point of the team, and not let slips, errors or delays show beyond the team.  Delegate so you motivate your stars, but never abdicate ownership of how your team shows up.

 

Be a Leader who Makes Decisions

When your team comes to see you, they expect your challenges and should be ready for them.  But they want your approval and also expect that.  Early in my career, I once worked under a VP Marketing who said in every speech “what you can expect from me is….” and we never saw it.  We kept waiting. And we started to parrot the phrase “what you can expect from me…”  There’s nothing worse than the constant deflector.  The leader who challenges and sends you back to the drawing board, not because the Brand Manager hasn’t thought of everything but because you can’t make a decision.  Find your way, whether it is through sorting through a decision tree with criteria, whether it is to give yourself a certain amount of time or whether you want to ask for advice from those you trust.  But you have to eventually make a decision. Those leaders who let research make the decision are just as weak.  I’ve always said my view of market research is only to get you to the point of “so what do you think?” but it should never make a decision for you.  Otherwise, what do we need you for?

 

Run the Process and the P&L, let them Run the Brands

While your people run the brands and the execution, you should run the P&L and essentially run all the marketing processes.  You have to run the P&L and make investment choices.  Bring an ROI and ROE (Return on Investment and Effort) mind set to those decisions.   These choices will be one of the essentials to making the numbers and gaining more freedom in how you do the job.  In terms of process, it’s always been my belief that great processes in place—brand planning, advertising, creative briefs—is not restrictive but rather provides the right freedom to your people.  I’d rather my people drive all their creative energy into great work that gets in the marketplace, not trying to figure out what slide looks really cool in the brand plan presentation.  I’ve worked as a Brand Manager in a marketing team without process and it was total chaos, not fun at all.  Remember when you were a Brand Manager and the passion you put into that job—the greatness you sought–drove you even harder.  Now it’s time, for you to step back and let them have that same passion to do amazing work and drive the results.  It has to be about them, not you.  At the VP level, I used to walk into every meeting knowing that “I knew less about the issue on the table, than anyone in the room”. I looked for ways to support and encourage great thinking, while challenging them to reach for even better.  It’s not easy to balance giving them to freedom and yet knowing when to step in and make a decision.

 

It’s About the People, Stupid

As Brand Managers, it’s all about us. But beyond that level, it is all about them, not you. I didn’t figure it out until mid way through my marketing career. If you have better people, you will have more success.  So as the leader, Focus on the People and the Results will come:  The formula is simple:  the better the people, the better the work and in turn the better the results.  You should have a regular review of the talent with your directors.  Clearing out those members on the team is crucial to ensuring you have room for your best to move up.  Most marketing people still view their current job as a stepping stone to something else.  Either her or there.  Use that to your advantage as the leader by ensuring you are constantly giving them enough reason to stay.  I’d encourage you to ensure there’s a systemic way to get feedback to everyone on the team, preferably on a quarterly basis.  Waiting for the annual review is way too late and almost negligent as a leader. Your people have the potential to grow with feedback.   But without feedback, they’ll be confused and even frustrated.  You should invest in training and development.

 

Make Your People Better

Marketing Training is not just on the job, but also in the classroom to challenge their thinking and give them added skills to be better in their jobs.  Marketing fundamentals matter.  And the classic fundamentals are falling, whether it is strategic thinking, writing a brand plan, writing a creative brief or judging great advertising.  People are NOT getting the same development they did in prior generations.  Investing in training, not only makes them better, but it is also motivating for them to know that you are investing in them.  And that helps drive retention and commitment into producing great work and driving results.

Better people, means better work and better results.

photo credit: atomicShed via photopin cc

 

Thoughts & Comments:

Now that we know what it takes to be a successful marketing team leader, what does it take to be a successful team member? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below! Leave a comment and we’ll give you a big shout out on Twitter to our 10,500+ followers!