Know-How Exchange : Other

Well........ That's a great question. I'm sure you are going to get all sorts of responses. In my humble opinion, the first 6 months are going to be the most important. You need to spend time understanding the company's business plan and goals for the future. Also spend a good deal of time understanding your target audience. If you are in a small company, chances are you won't have resources to get a lot of the marketing work done. So I would start networking so you can build relationships with potential partners/vendors to assist you in getting this work done. You just need to be confident in what you know and understand what you don't know. This website can be a great resource for you but in the end your going to be held accountable. So be confident and don't be afraid to take some risks.

Hope this helps!

Anthony

Here’s where I’d start.

1) Make a friend in Sales. Go for a one-hour chat out of the office, and find out how Marketing can help Sales. What makes customers happy and what doesn’t. Where Sales thinks Marketing helps and where it doesn’t. If there was only one thing Marketing could deliver to Sales, what would it be? Things like that.

2) Have the Sales person let you visit or interview two long-standing customers/clients. Again a very casual conversation to understand how they view your company, your product(s), your messaging, and your marketing tactics. What works and what doesn’t. If they ran Marketing at your company, what would they improve?

3) If you report to a Marketing head, get clear objectives on what’s expected. Also understand HIS or HER goals so you can help that person look good. Then spend 80% of your time in the first year hitting your goals, and 20% being innovative. Ratchet that down to 60/40 in year 2. If you come out of the blocks too soon with all sorts of new ideas and criticisms you are sure to have a rough time.

4) Be aware of everything that is going on in the company that could affect you. Know what the Web team is up to. What R&D is doing. What brand managers or business managers are planning as far as product revisions or new launches. The last thing you want to be seen as is a plodder who churns out marketing that works at cross purposes to other important events.

5) Read, learn, read, learn and read some more. Find a good inexpensive marketing conference you can go to. This shows your management that you have initiative and also allows you to network with peers outside of your company. Otherwise you will fall into the trap of having a one-dimensional perspective on marketing.

Of course this isn’t everything, but these would be the big “buckets” I’d recommend you focus most of your “extracurricular” time on. Good luck!

Hi Gshants -

Lead, Follow, or Get out of the Way is how I try to manage my career and I request that from the folks working with me, too.

By taking that approach, it sets expectations and also communicates that there are times when you will be leading, following, or letting someone else "run the show."

In Marketing management you are called upon to work in all 3 capacities!

Best,

Michael Melone
Gumption Media