Backers of digitalization insist on machines power, claiming that in an upcoming decade, lots of processes will be automatized and the demand for human labor will decrease. The one process which can never be replaced in this chain is human communication, as it is the key to successful internal and external business relationships. We need to nurture these bonds and contribute to their development. On the other hand, technological advancement can facilitate and promote communication among team members.
Who is tightly connected with and dependent on communication? That is the Marketing team, they work to attract people, to interact with them and to serve them. Why is it important to be on the same wavelength? Because lack of communication leads to interfered processes, misunderstandings and repeated actions. Relying on these reasons, let’s consider 7 real ways of how you can help your Marketing team to improve communication.
#1 Initiate and close the loop
The team will perform at a high level only if they will be all tuned together and communicate with each other. It will help you create the interaction loop. Here are following steps how to evolve it:
- They should talk to each other and listen.
- Despite having different tasks and authority level they feel equal and valued.
- They are connected not only professionally but have something to talk about outside the office and share business as well as personal world.
- It is important to be respectful in a social environment.
When your marketing team organises a presentation for a potential client, preparing to the meeting itself and running a research they spare some time and efforts on that. Afterward we usually hear that they need some time for consideration and as they are ready with the decision, we’ll be informed by call or email. But as a couple of weeks pass, we start to wonder, maybe they have missed something or they forgot. And it is so frustrating to be in that hanging condition and hope for the best.
Remember always to close the loop with a follow-up. Even notification or informing messages should be closed. It can be whatever, a smile, yes or no answer or full feedback. That is the matter of being a courteous, respectful and dependable person. Make closing the loop your second nature and encourage your teammates to do the same.
#2 Use the single communication tool
The working process of the Marketing team is built on constant communication, feedbacks, creative brainstorming sessions and flow of ideas. That is why you need to choose the tool, which will help your team get in touch and reconcile their work.
The key point is to keep it all in one place with the defined topics and tags to each project or process you are working at. It is easier to find the needed message or specify unclear details without having to people search it among the variety of messengers or email inbox. Also, don’t forget to create some #fun channel or thread, which is gonna be for non-related to work issues (they are also needed for the work process).
#3 Define a suitable task management tool
Usually, projects involve from 3 to 7 people. Despite the number of team members or project length, it is crucial to have every task, process, agreement or estimate sorted, logged and tracked. That is why we recommend installing a project management software to keep your team on the same page. Besides increased company’s profit everyone will be informed about the current project status.
#4 Keep the streamline
Schedule daily morning and evening 20-25 min meetings with your Marketing team to discuss the agenda of the day and finalize the workflow. When co-workers are aware of the current situation, you save a lot of productive time and eliminate miscommunication along with failed deadlines.
Even if you have a task tracking management system, you still have to set priorities and discuss it with a team. Such sessions can help your team get straight to the point, receive help if they are stuck and lead a brainstorming session. Those constant meetings work even more efficiently for brainstorming, they can discuss the strategy or share ideas or run a research with phone number look up or name on a potential client they consider to work with. Having it planned in advance, everybody will need to adjust their schedule and be prepared.
#5 Share marketing metrics
The marketing team will achieve goals and target KPIs only if they have all the relevant project data accessible and at hand. Social media manager can’t plan postings if he doesn’t know about the content creator progress and targeted outreach of his articles. The content manager is unable to reveal his article to the public without designer’s branded pictures or graphs. Every single metric has to be available to the marketing team member as it determines the content creation and marketing campaign itself.
#6 Measure performance
It may happen that not everyone in the marketing team performs equally. As half of them are creators and half are analytics their performance will differ (some will be always in a crunch time and other will do their best just in time). Identify the right performance metrics to boost individual productivity. The most important thing here is to divide tasks equally among them according to their abilities and not overload as it will lead to the increased stress level and failed deadlines.
#7 Bring up a dream team
Each task requires time and commitment of one or two professional, but the whole marketing campaign is developed by the team. It is so important to be the part of that team and be involved.
- Initiate team-building activities in the office and sometimes out of it.
- Be fine with short coffee brakes to chat about the day (it is a good way to get closer to each other and fresh your mind before the new start)
- Invest in employees’ development. That can be a new educational course to attend to improve or maybe advance some skills, or a workshop, conference or just some interesting book.
Nevertheless, all your professionals are different personalities and have diverse skills set, you can help them to collaborate efficiently and exceed all expectations. Just follow these ways listed above and make communication your company’s value. Not only your dream team will be thankful but customers will be attracted by this unison.