With the end of the year approaching, it’s truly one of the busiest times for online marketers. However, it’s also crucial because you need to boost your sales throughout Q4 – ensuring you hit your year-end revenue targets.
That’s where you need to be certain your marketing team is operating at peak performance. While it takes much force to ramp up your team, your efforts will be worthwhile. You’re ensuring you move your small business toward the big picture goal.
To assure you achieve your end-of-the-year success, here are ways to boost your marketing team in Q4.
6 Tips to Strengthen Your Marketing Team
1. Assemble a Team Meeting.
Having a meeting with your marketing team is essential to achieving any goal. This helps with communicating the pertinent aspects – especially for remote employees since they’ve experienced a 26 percent decrease in communication at the start of the pandemic.
However, this is not your average monthly marketing meeting. Instead, it is designed to get your team to focus on the end of the year.
During your team meeting, consider asking what you can do better in Q4. This is to ensure you have a strong marketing strategy in place. Therefore, it’s vital to evaluate a few factors, including:
- Current marketing strategy: How has it been working for your business so far?
- Business’s goals: How can you achieve them through effective marketing tactics? Should you remove or add anything that would help make your strategy successful?
- Your marketing team: Go over who is on your team and assess their roles and responsibilities. Maybe there’s a new initiative or project that someone can dedicate most of their time to so they can bring more value to Q4.
2. Establish Clear KPIs.
Further into your meeting, you’ll need to talk about your employee’s KPIs (key performance indicators). That way, you can establish ones that each team member can follow.
Creating clear KPIs gives your team members something to focus on in the last quarter – making a genuine impact on the business.
Implementing this strategy is the best way because it helps them stay organized in prioritizing their to-do list. Plus, they'll know when to say “no” to specific tasks. That way, they know where to invest their time and understand which parts matter.
However, KPIs aren’t only good for helping task prioritization. They also mitigate work overload, keep people accountable and give team members a sense of belonging.
3. Are You Missing Any Key Pieces to the Puzzle?
It’s crucial to ensure you’re not missing any key pieces to your puzzle. So consider asking yourself and your team if you’re missing anything. If you are, what is it, and why is it important?
Do you have the resources to access your “missing piece?” If so, what are the consequences if you don’t have it?
Going over anything you could be possibly missing guarantees you have everything on hand to bolster your team in Q4.
4. Have the Right Tools for the Job.
What tools does your team need to be successful in Q4? Giving your team access to the right tools means you set the stage for hitting your goals.
Maybe your team needs project management software like Asana to help get the job done correctly.
However, it’s not just about using the right tools. You might also need to consider that your team needs additional training to be more productive.
You may even need to address gaps in your team’s knowledge by hiring outside help. It’s also important to remember that you can outsource some tasks entirely.
For example, suppose one of your team members has extensive experience with CRM. However, they need help implementing it within your organization. This part is where it would make sense to hire a contractor specializing in these cases.
That way, you free up time for your employees to focus on other projects like converting leads and sales training. Or, maybe this will give them the time to step away from their desk for a bit.
5. Know the Effectiveness of Your Marketing Strategy.
To get everybody on the same page, you’ll need to ask questions to help you know your marketing strategy’s effectiveness. Here are the top questions to consider:
- What went well in Q3? Which campaigns were successful and why?
- What didn’t go as planned in Q3? Why not and what could you have done differently to prevent it from happening in the future?
- Are there any new goals for Q4 that will help you achieve your objectives for this year or beyond? If so, how do you measure those goals and ensure you’re meeting them on time?
6. Build a Cadence for Your Team Meetings.
Now that you’ve done the hard work in preparing a focused team, setting goals, and removing roadblocks, it’s time for your team to get tactical.
This next step is to develop a cadence for your team meetings and reporting cycles. Doing so will help you track your progress, allowing you to hit your goals more successfully.
So when your team is measuring, you learn what you need to do to improve your strategies.
Some businesses like to have weekly status meetings. You’ll go over information such as data and the progress you’ve made toward your goals. Going over the necessities allows you to assess your situation and take corrective action.
You may need one person to hold a data and reporting role to bring to the weekly meetings. Another person could also be the note taker for tracking progress.
Lastly, using a whiteboard will help bring your team to focus. That way, they can visualize where everyone is and what they need to achieve those goals.
Achieve Your Q4 Revenue Success
If you’re looking to bolster your marketing team in Q4, there are many ways you can do so. It all depends on the needs of your company and what kind of improvements you want to make.
However, these tactics above will help guide you as you prepare your team for the busiest part of the year.
Yet if you want to boost your marketing strategy, hiring an expert from outside might be a good idea. They can bring fresh ideas and insights into the mix and incorporate the same tactics above.
Eleanor Hecks
Eleanor Hecks is editor-in-chief at Designerly Magazine. She was the creative director at a prominent digital marketing agency prior to becoming a full-time freelance designer. Eleanor lives in Philadelphia with her husband and pup, Bear.