It’s very common for those who work in marketing departments to be siloed into individual job duties. Typically, a pretty standard marketing department is composed of a data scientist for the analytics, an SEO expert for content creation, and a few design experts. They might meet a few times a month to brainstorm ideas, but more often than not, they spend their days working on projects specific to their job title.
No matter what the preferred tasks are of each member of your team, however, there are plenty of skills all of your team members should be familiar with. Not only does it make things work smoother if someone goes on vacation, but it’s easier when you have a large project if each team member can pitch in on different areas. Let’s take a look at some skills everyone on your team should learn at least the basics on.
The Importance of Graphic Design
Graphic design is one of the cornerstones in any marketing department. We depend on graphic designers for the creation of all sorts of images, from the graphics on our websites to the designs we use for our company collateral, and brochures for customers. Many people are under the impression that you need to have majored in graphic design to know about it. These days, however, there are many programs available that have simplified graphic design to the point where even the novice can create an eye-catching brochure or presentation.
Of course, the most detailed projects should be left to the pros, but when it comes to a large project that needs all hands on deck, it’s helpful if everyone on your team can pitch in to help where needed. This often includes last-minute graphics. The use of programs like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator might be out of the league of someone who has no experience with photo editing and graphic design, but sites like Canva approach graphic design with more of a “plug and play” attitude.
Graphics play a huge part in a marketing campaign. More often than not, it’s the graphics that initially capture a potential customer’s eye or make a presentation more memorable. Out of all the skills to train your marketing department on, graphic design should be at the top of the list.
Analytics and Marketing: A Perfect Match
When thinking of marketing, numbers and data aren’t usually the first thought that pops into one’s head. Most people believe marketing runs solely on creativity with engaging blog posts, witty social media messages, and graphics that catch the casual internet scroller’s eye. However, behind all of that lives the great big world of analytics.
If you notice your team tends to immediately find other tasks to do if you mention running reports or analyzing data, it’s more than likely because they don’t think of themselves as numbers people. It’s common to hear that the sole reason someone gets into marketing is simply because of the lack of numbers involved. Not that we’re here to crush would-be marketer’s dreams, but marketing does rely quite a bit on analytics and numbers.
This is why it’s a good idea for everyone on your marketing team to familiarize themselves with running some basic reports with the various analytics tools you utilize within your organization. These tools allow you to get a better idea of whether a particular blog post or even an entire marketing campaign is performing as you hoped. From there, you can pinpoint what you need to tweak for your next campaign.
One of the most popular programs to use for analyzing marketing data is Google Analytics. It’s free to use, and if you have team members who need to be trained on how to use it, there are classes to help. Because at least one goal of every organization’s marketing department is to increase their Google Search results, it makes sense to use Google Analytics to determine how well your campaigns are doing in the eyes of Google.
Once you get your team on board with the basic ins and outs of the reports needed for analytics, it’s also crucial to introduce them to the different ways to categorize the data your analytics person acquires from the programs they use. One of the easiest ways to keep track of the information is through a KPI dashboard. The most daunting part of a KPI dashboard is the creation of it — deciding which KPIs (or Key Performance Indicators) you want to track. From there, once you run the reports, the data is easily entered into its designated category.
Nailing Search Engine Optimization
If you don’t outsource your search engine optimization, the content creators on your team can most likely figure out the best keywords to use in a particular piece of content. But because this is one aspect of your marketing campaign you want to keep rising steadily through the ranks of Google, it’s a good idea to give everyone a basic brush-up on what’s needed.
Even content creators take time off every once in a while, and if they don’t have a chance to write all of the content before they leave, some might be left to others on your team. If so, there is plenty of information out there for other employees to get a handle on the basics of SEO while the writers are gone.
How to Keep Your Sanity While Keeping Your Team in the Loop
Keeping your team in the loop on all the aspects of your marketing department can be stressful if you aren’t prepared. On top of that, you run the risk of stressing your team out if they aren’t prepared for the type of work they need to help with. This is one reason a Chief Learning Officer makes such a great addition to any organization. A Chief Learning Officer’s sole purpose is to create training and development programs to help continue the education of the organization’s employees. If you’re the head of marketing, the Chief Learning Officer has the responsibility of making sure your team is up to date on the basics of everyone’s role in the department.
Regardless of whether your company has the resources to employ a Chief Learning Officer, it’s still vital to keep everyone updated on their roles. This not only makes everyone’s workdays less stressful, but it also helps the department run smoother as a whole.
