I have spoken in my last three posts about the first three steps of the B2B marketer steps needed to grow the relationship between marketing and business leadership. There is a real need for good marketing out there. And in my experience, it's possible to grow relationships between the marketing department and the business they serve. It takes time, attention, and proof of delivery to create trust. This requires a team of brilliant and dedicated marketers who are committed to this goal and require the readiness of several business executives to travel to provide protection. I think there are five steps B2B marketers need to take to grow the relationship between marketing and business. Time for the fourth step!
To grow the relationship between marketing and business, you need a team of brilliant and dedicated marketers who are committed to that goal. And if you don't have it yet, you need to improve the skills you have or recruit them. Given the current marketing conditions, improving skills is a better bet because our profession is not a profession that talented people want to join. A Hubspot survey in 2018 found that marketing was less attractive as a profession for beginners than stock and legal brokers, and only slightly more interesting than lobbying and selling used cars. Increased skills require the marketing team to spend time in the business it serves. At British Land, I now have a marketing team that is ready to serve the parts of the business they serve. At PA Consulting Group, I look for opportunities to provide business roles to potential and senior marketers on placements to gain an understanding of business pressures and how P & L works. I founded the Marketing Academy to support this process and connect it to career development. Indeed very successful is this Academy, I have arranged it in every role that I have had in the past ten years. In recruitment, I looked for opportunities to bring people with P & L experience. I want people who understand the pressures and priorities that come with that responsibility. In fact, this understanding is more valuable than advanced marketing qualifications or extensive marketing experience.
So, the first step is that: marketers need to focus our work on results rather than input or output. Step two: we need to work in the strategic marketing section. Third step: we need to cut the jargon. And the fourth step is to build the skills and expertise of the marketing team through training and recruitment. Next step next time!
