marketing team meeting
Sep 23, 2019

Do You Need to Strengthen Your Marketing Team?

By Matt Dodgson

Co-Founder - Recruiter & Marketer

As technology continues to advance at a rapid rate, businesses need to start becoming more creative with their efforts. Otherwise, they’ll start to blend in with the rest of the competition and it’ll become increasingly harder to grab your target audience’s attention.

As your marketing efforts enter new territories, is your team qualified enough to pull off these new skills? You don’t want team members who aren’t experienced in these areas attempting to carry them out. The chances are they’ll be more prone to mistakes and it’ll take longer, so we’d advise you look at hiring specialist employees for new areas.

This blog will detail the different areas of how to improve a marketing team and will assess whether you need to invest in new staff to help you with your efforts.

 

We’ll cover:

 

Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR)

 

AR and VR are great tools to have for your business, but they’re highly technical so you can’t afford to cut corners when investing in them. They’re amazing for people interacting with your business and massively improve your customer experience too.

If your customer can accurately envisage how your product will benefit them, then it’s going to make the buying decision a lot easier. Especially in B2B where price points tend to be higher and decisions need to be approved by the buying committee within the business.

 

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So, to make sure that the best results are achieved and the purchasing decision is as easy as possible, you should look at hiring a specialist. AR and VR are a great way to stand out from the crowd, but you have to get it right. The last thing you want is to be remembered for all the wrong reasons – customers have long memories too.

So, when looking for an AR or VR developer, make sure that they have the following skills and knowledge:

 

  • 3D modelling and scanning.
  • 3D games engines.
  • 360° photography and videography.
  • Basic mathematics and geometry.
  • Knowledge of programming languages.
  • Software design kits.
  • Advanced design skills.
  • Attention to detail.

Video Marketing

 

In 2018, 78 percent of internet traffic was video content. This staggering figure shows the importance that video marketing has on customers in modern times. It also shows that a lot of businesses are already using video, so if you’re not currently doing so, there’s a chance your competition could be leaving you behind.

Just like written content, there is a whole load of video content published on the internet. So, what is it that’s going to differentiate your videos from the rest? Why should somebody click on your videos and not your competition? A skilled videographer will know the ins and outs of the industry and how to draw in an audience.

 

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You need to take video marketing seriously if you want to produce great results. You’ll never reach the heights that you potentially can if you don’t employ an expert videographer. It’s possible to start videography yourself with a good camera and the equipment but if you don’t have the knowledge, then you’re only going to get so far.

When recruiting a videographer, the following skills are a necessity:

 

  • Understanding of the audience and buyers.
  • Determining the appropriate video styles.
  • Platform knowledge and experience – e.g. YouTube and Vimeo.
  • Time-management.
  • Optimisation.
  • Attention to detail.

Content Marketing

 

Content is nothing new to marketing, but it arguably holds more importance than it ever has before. Its what gives customers visiting your website their first impression. That’s why it’s so important. If you can’t get your own content right, then how can you be trusted to provide a faultless service in other areas of the business?

Due to the importance that’s placed on your content, can you really afford to leave it in the hands of somebody who only has limited knowledge on creating and optimising it? We wouldn’t recommend it.

 

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Hiring a content marketing executive can have the following benefits for your business:

 

  • Improve your search engine rankings and overall SEO. Making you a lot more discoverable to potential customers.
  • Improve your conversion rate. They’ll know how to write to an array of different audiences for all business sizes.
  • Regularly publish blogs to build an archive of killer content.
  • Improve the authority of your site with in-depth research and error-free pieces of work.
  • Generate more leads and retain more existing customers.

 

Your content marketing executive should have the following skills and experience:

 

  • Strong written skills – of course.
  • The ability to write to different audiences and different styles of writing.
  • A portfolio of content to show their previous work.
  • A solid understanding of SEO.
  • Time-management and organisation skills.
  • Attention to detail. In both editing and research.

 

Email Marketing

 

Email marketing isn’t a new approach at all. It’s been around for a while – and there’s a reason for that. In B2B marketing, it’s exceptionally efficient in nurturing leads and helping them along the buyer’s journey. So, in order to get your customers through the buyer’s journey more effectively, your emails need to be on point.

This method of marketing is very popular due to how easy it is to get started. Also, it’s relatively inexpensive so it’s possible to generate good profit. However, if you’re wanting to take your email marketing to the next step you should look at hiring a specialist or look at training up your content expert.

How can an email marketing specialist help your business grow? Well, here’s how:

 

  • Increase brand recognition. A specialist’s sole focus will be sending emails, so get your brand name, logo and tagline in front of your audience more regularly.
  • Increase credibility. A consistent flow of top-quality content being released is a great way of gaining readers trust and will promote customer retention.
  • Educate current clients. It’s important to continue that relationship building even once you’ve signed a client. So, an email newsletter is a great way of touching base with them and letting them know where you currently stand.
  • Reach a wider audience. Drive email newsletter and subscription members back to your site with backlinks. Therefore, more people will potentially be seeing your blogs that they might have otherwise missed.

 

An email marketing specialist should have the following skills:

 

  • Strategic thinking.
  • Automated lead nurturing and lifecycle emails.
  • List management.
  • Copywriting.
  • Analytics and testing.
  • User experience.
  • Basic email specific technology.

Product Marketing

 

Product marketers are considered as the most important hire within a marketing team. That’s because product marketers are responsible for the growth and success of your overall business model. As your product or service develops, it’s up to the product marketers to advance both of these in accordance with customer and client needs.

 

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A lot of businesses don’t prioritise hiring product marketers. And we think they’re wrong for doing so. The value of product marketers to a business is invaluable. Some of the jobs they carry out are:

 

  • Identify the perfect customer for your business through segmentation, personas and targeting.
  • Understand and research your competitors and their approach.
  • Re-evaluate the pricing model.
  • Determine the best way that your business can provide value to its clients.
  • Develop the messaging so that it resonates with your target audience.
  • Own the go-to-market strategy and work with the sales and marketing teams to ensure this is executed correctly.
  • Be the product and customer evangelist, both inside and outside the organisation.

 

As we’ve mentioned, a product marketer is a key job within your team. So, when recruiting for one you need to make sure that they have all the right skills and credentials. These include:

 

  • Empathy and the ability to resonate with customers.
  • Creativity.
  • Problem-solving.
  • Research skills.
  • Analytical skills.
  • Marketing skills.
  • Strategic planning and business skills.

Make Sure You Recruit Properly For Your B2B Tech Business

 

So, we’ve outlined 5 areas that marketing teams can strengthen their teams. And after reading it, does it sound like you could do with recruiting new members of staff? If it does, don’t worry – you definitely won’t be the only ones.