“Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishment toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.” – Andrew Carnegie You are probably reading this quote by Andrew Carnegie and thinking, wait a minute, the marketing automation tool I just invested in is supposed to be the fuel that drives uncommon results. Like most tools, however, it takes a unique set of skills to properly operate them, and ultimately, create those uncommon results. Our clients often ask us what skill sets they will need on their team in order to be successful in their lead management journeys. This is where I always wish I could come up with a really clever sports analogy, but unfortunately, I was the girl who was always picked last for the dodgeball team. I’m better suited to worlds with dragons and wizards – so fantasy analogies it shall be.
What I do know about is launching a successful demand center that will ensure your marketing campaigns drive the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) that matter. It’s easy to think about team member skill sets in silos, but it’s also an unnecessary expense. Chances are, most of the skill sets required for a robust demand center team already exist within your sales and marketing organization. As you grow your digital marketing team, you will want some dedicated team members in place to ensure that you are meeting organizational objectives and always driving towards optimization. I have broken down the basic skill sets into two categories, dedicated and leveraged. As your marketing automation solution evolves, you may need your leveraged team members on a full-time basis.
Dedicated Resources
Campaign Strategist – “The King (or Queen)”
The campaign strategist works closely with the Data Analyst to understand where your campaigns will have the most profound impact. Based on your demand generation calendar and data, your campaign strategist will keep your digital campaigns prioritized. This can be a tough position with competing agendas that exist within a single organization. Your King may have to sometimes say no for the greater good of the organization.
Project Manager – “The King’s Hand”
Someone needs to own the timeline, and with all the moving parts in creating an effective campaign, you will need to have a good project manager in place. Your Project Manager should be a great communicator, with the gravitas to hold all stakeholders accountable for tasks and milestones. The project manager will hold regular meetings with all stakeholders, and confidently raise the red flag when the project is in danger.
Marketing Automation Specialist (MAS) – “The Unicorn”
You know what they say about unicorns: they are extremely rare and hard to keep. Our industry is growing, and unfortunately, there is a lag in available talent. So once you have successfully captured your unicorn, treat him well, because everyone else wants one too. The MAS is using the tool every day – building out campaigns and keeping an eye on tactical metrics. A seasoned marketing automation specialist will easily recognize opportunities for campaign optimization.
Solutions Architect – “The Wizard”
The Solutions Architect is your power user in the tool. She can help you identify all potential pitfalls that could derail your campaigns. The Solutions Architect is responsible for building out the schematic that shows exactly how leads will flow into and out of your campaigns. In an organization with a new demand center, the Solutions Architect and the Marketing Automation Specialist are often one and the same.
Content Strategist – “The Librarian”
Content Strategist is a fancy term for Product Manager. This team member knows who your customers are, their specific pain points, and how your solution alleviates the pain. Your Content Strategist will help you to align your marketing materials to different personas at different stages of the buying cycle. He will also be able to identify gaps in content. Your Content Strategist will work with both the copywriter and designer to develop marketing assets, templates, and copy.
Non-Dedicated Resources
The Designer/Coder – “The Artist”
The Designer/Coder will create best practice templates for your campaigns. It is important that the Content Strategist give guidance on best practices for email and landing page design. Most tools will also require some coding on templates. It is not uncommon for template designers to also be well versed in HTML and CSS. You will find that knowledge of both will be important in customizing your templates.
The Analyst – The Knight
So “The Knight” analogy is a bit of a stretch here, but have no doubts, the Analyst will most definitely save your can, and maybe even the kingdom. The Analyst will interpret your data to help you understand where to nurture. The Analyst will also help you build discipline around the way you collect data, ensuring that you can properly segment by any demographic that informs sales. Finally, the Data Analyst will measure the performance of your campaigns, helping you to always optimize and creating a process of continuous improvement.
The Copywriter – “The Messenger”
Writing copy for emails and landing pages is an art form. A good Copywriter will know how to appeal to your customers through a thought leadership approach. She has studied what compels the different personas in your customer base, and understands she only has a few short seconds of the customers’ attention to convince them to engage with you.
A Prosperous Kingdom
Putting in place the right team members takes time. For some organizations, this can amount to years – because of budget restrictions and scarcity in talent. At DemandGen, we have all of these skill sets to help our clients meet the needs of an aggressive timeline, in a fraction of the time it would take to do it in-house. We are here to help you fill in the gaps, until that time when you are ready to run the kingdom on your own.
Catina Martinez is an Account Director at DemandGen. She works directly with clients to help advance their business needs, develop long-range marketing plans, and drive ongoing success with their marketing initiatives. Catina is Marketo Certified, and she is an Eloqua Master and promoter of the SiriusDecisions methodologies.
The post Building the Right Digital Marketing Team to Properly Manage the Kingdom appeared first on DemandGen.