How to Build and Maintain a Marketing Department in Your Company

Digital transformation and the growing importance of digital marketing have made the demand for marketing professionals greater than ever before. If your company isn’t already thinking about how it can ramp up its marketing department, then it’s time to get to work. Even small businesses can benefit from investing in a dedicated marketing department. That’s because marketing departments are responsible for everything from market research to social media campaigns and everything in between. A dedicated marketing department can also help to streamline decision-making, which will ultimately help your company to grow.

Define What a Marketing Department Does

Before hiring for a marketing department, you’ll want to make sure that you understand the role that it will play in your organization. Your marketing department should have a clear focus on acquiring and retaining customers. Marketing departments can help companies to refine their products and services. They can also be used to reposition the brand and increase sales among existing customers.

Define What a Marketing Department Doesn’t Do

Outside of marketing, a department that’s focused on marketing is rarely found. That’s because marketing departments typically don’t handle customer support or sales. A marketing department is often responsible for both traditional and digital marketing. That includes everything from direct mail to email marketing campaigns and everything in between.

What Qualities Should Your Company Look For in a Marketing Department?

Marketing departments are often responsible for a wide range of duties. As such, it can be difficult to identify what makes a good department. To help you choose, consider using the following qualities to identify the best departments within your company. - Clear Company Focus - Good marketing departments should be focused on one thing and nothing else. That focus should be rooted deep within the culture of the organization. - Clear Company Objectives - Good marketing departments should know exactly what they’re trying to accomplish. This can help to avoid the confusion that often occurs when departments try to be everything to everyone. - Wide Skill Set - Good marketing departments should have a wide skill set as well as a solid understanding of the big picture. That’s because marketing often involves many different tactics and strategies. - Strong Traditional and Digital Marketing Skills - Good marketing departments understand how to use both traditional and digital marketing methods. That’s because the two often work together. - Strong Business Data Skills - Good marketing departments should have strong business data skills. That’s because marketing departments are often responsible for analyzing and interpreting data.

Create a Job Description for Your New Marketing Department

Before hiring for a marketing department, companies often start by creating a job description for the work they need. This helps them to identify the ideal candidate and make sure that your company is on the right track in its hiring process. Depending on your existing setup, you might want to look first at what you want to achieve and what skillsets you already have in place. From there, it’s possible to create a more detailed job description that fits what you need to achieve your goals and not a preconceived position that might still leave gaps.

Create a Company-wide Job Opportunity

Once you’ve identified the ideal candidate for a marketing role, it’s a good idea to create a job opportunity. A company-wide job opportunity can help to attract the best talent to your company. By creating a company-wide job opportunity, you’re opening the door to marketing candidates who are interested in working across your organization. To begin, you’ll want to publish your company-wide job opportunity on your company’s career page. You can also use social media to promote the opportunity. You may also want to create a company-wide job opportunity landing page. This will help to make it easy for marketing candidates to apply.

Train New Employees and Hire Existing Talent

To make sure that your new marketing department has the tools it needs to succeed, you’ll want to train your new hires and hire existing talent. That’s because hiring from within your company can be a cost-effective way to fill key roles. As such, you’ll want to make sure that your new hires are trained, not just on your company’s core principles and values but also on marketing skills. To make this a reality, be sure to include marketing training in your new hire’s onboarding process. By doing so, you’ll make sure that your new hires are ready to hit the ground running. If you’re hiring from outside your company, you’ll want to make certain that that marketing candidates are aware of the skills required for their role.

Conclusion

As your company continues to grow and transform, so too will the importance of marketing. That’s because marketing has the power to change how customers perceive your company and its products and services. To ensure that you’re ready when this transformation occurs, you’ll want to make the most of the time that you have. Metolius has experience in partnering with companies, to help guide this process and deliver the tools, training and advice that leads to a marketing department that has all the tools it needs to succeed.