Hiring a marketing manager? Look for a candidate with these 3 skills
When you have a business and realise that you are about to get to the next level, but need to hire a marketing manager first - you are on the money! You see, too often people that run businesses are so focused on sales, they are not thinking about marketing and brand. While it is true that a business cannot survive without sales, it is also accurate that without marketing, it is highly unlikely a business will reach the next level.
One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is overlooking the importance of marketing.
One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is overlooking the importance of marketing.
When a business hits 10 employees, it is a good idea to hire an outsourced marketing department. There are a lot of great companies in this space that are well-equipped to help your business build its brand, delivering your 'story' to those who need to hear it and filling your sales pipeline so that your sales team have no excuses not to sell. However, when they hit 50 employees, it's a different story. You need to be looking at the big picture, and what your business really needs to achieve to hit the next major milestone. There are a few skills that are integral in a marketing manager who is going to take your companies places:
Ability to sell your story
Before a candidate even walks in the door, they need to know about your company. Why? Because if they don't do the basics now, they never will. That means knowing your story how you tell it now, and being able to communicate that effectively to you and your team. If they can't tell you story the way it needs to be told, they cannot take your business to the next level. This means that they need to read everything there is to know about you before they walk into a job interview. Then they need to work out whether this story "sells" or what they can add to it to make it easier for the market to respond.
Know what engagement is and lead by example
If you have a marketing manager and they are going for a job interview with your company, the chances are that they have been to your website. That means they would have seen your social media handles and company blog. If they don't connect with the company on social media, request to connect with key people in the organisation on LinkedIn, and write a comment on a few of your blogs - then they aren't really wanting the job. More than that, they possibly are not going to champion social media engagement for your company, thus, they cannot be a marketing manager with influence. Instead, look for marketing managers that do all of these things and go one step forward by sharing your content or posts, or writing in a LinkedIn group that you have posted one of your blogs in, and sharing their enthusiasm for your company.
Indepth knowledge of data science
You cannot lead a marketing team without indepth knowledge of data science. While they may not have to write a marketing strategy any longer, as their a robots to do that, they will need to definitely understand the analytics behind all your data, and be able to adapt your communications, public relations activities, social media posts, content, lead generation campaigns and so on, according to data science. Many of the traditional skills of a marketing manager have been outsourced to robots, technology or agencies, but data science is critical to making the right decisions.There are many marketing managers that rely too heavily on marketing agencies. While the partnership is imperative to ensuring that the company is able to do the things they need to do from a marketing perspective, someone has to "own" marketing, and that person is the marketing manager. When you meet candidates and their eyes glaze over when you mention data science, you know that they are possibly too old school. That's not going to take your company to the next level. It also shows that the person has not invested in keeping up-to-date with the requirements of their jobs.
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comments ( 5 )
James
13 Sep 2018This was a really fascinating read and acts as a good guide for both; businesses looking to hire a new marketing manager or for someone who is hopping to become a marketing manager. It just goes to show that there is a lot more at play when hiring someone, beyond just relevant skills and job requirements. A potential marketing manager that doesn’t show interest in engaging with you and your business before the interview, likely don’t have their heart in it and won’t be engaged further down the line; after being hired.
ReplyRay
04 Sep 2018As a marketer myself having worked in both an agency and client-side environment, I can figure the importance of having an outsourced marketing department in a company. It would help a company save time, money and effort since they no longer need to seek an agency as an intermediary to help them build marketing strategies, design ads, do branding or whatsoever (not to mention the fact that the company can be in control of the marketing team and easily track their progress, which would be challenging if the company hires an agency to do the job).
ReplyBesides, having a marketing team would stimulate the sales team to work harder and more productively, as the marketing team will generate a potential amount of leads for the sales staff, and as you said, they will not have any excuses not to sell!
These wonderful tips would be great to me as I now know what a company expects from a marketing manager, and learn these tips to improve myself as a marketer.
Thanks!
- Ray
Claudia
03 Sep 2018This is definitely true, marketing managers are important because they are the one who will build your brand awareness, hence they need to fully know about your company and want to be part of it.
ReplyMeggie
03 Sep 2018"When you meet candidates and their eyes glaze over when you mention data science, you know that they are possibly too old school. That's not going to take your company to the next level. It also shows that the person has not invested in keeping up-to-date with the requirements of their jobs."
ReplyI overlooked this important fact :))))))) Thanks for that.
Kaelyn
31 Aug 2018I like how these aren't just great tips for those looking to hire a marketing manager, but also for those looking to be a marketing manager. There's a lot of factors that go into the interview process on both sides, and this is an excellent guide!
Reply