Whether you’ve been working in marketing for a long time or not, habit and routine can lead to complacency if you’re not careful. It’s important to be especially weary of becoming stagnant, and generating “passing” results; the type of outcomes that are not terrible, but not transcendent either.
The role of a good marketer is to provide outstanding leads to sales for follow-up and conversion. Alignment helps ensure that sales and marketing are working towards a common goal and that the feedback loop is a closed circle. When synergy is created in this way, the two become a dynamic duo.
But what happens when you feel like something is off? Here are some tips to help you up-level your marketing skills to get back on track.
Turn your “I can’t,” into a “How Can I?”
I am amazed at how many times I hear marketers blame external forces outside of themselves for why their campaigns didn’t turn out as planned. It seems like a common way to off-load fault onto something (or someone) else and save face. And while this has become an acceptable norm for most people in society today to protect their own egos, for me it’s a cop-out. I know that my opinion will ruffle some feathers, but for me, those are just excuses. You may think that they are legitimate reasons and use them to explain away any situation, but in reality, if you do that, you are not opening yourself to learn and grow. Any time I hear the words “I can’t,” I realize that the person I am speaking to has gotten to the end of their skill set. I have learned to turn the “I can’t” into the question, “How can I?” so that I can continue to improve what I put in, to get a better outcome. What you put in is what you get out, so if you want top-quality results you have to start by asking yourself better quality questions instead of making excuses as to why you “can’t.”
Grow Your Knowledge
Continued learning should be a habit for all marketers. It’s important to have constant exposure to new theories, ideas, approaches, and tactics since marketing (especially in the tech sector!) is changing all the time. Anything that’s not growing dies as they say, so what are you doing to grow each day? Taking a marketing masterclass, learning a new perspective, and implementing a change in strategy could be just what you need to spice things up. Modeling yourself after those that have had proven success doing what you want to achieve is a great first step. For me, continued learning is something that I schedule into my calendar EVERY DAY without exception. In fact, it’s an integral part of my daily routine. I am always reading, taking online classes, asking questions of my mentors, and bouncing ideas off of my peers. It’s important not to fall into the “I already know that trap,” where you think your own experience trumps other people’s suggestions. Even the experts can learn new tricks, so stay curious!
Focus on Your Intention
If your intention is to generate a greater volume of high-quality leads, then that should be your focus; if your intention is to educate and nurture prospects across channels to create more visibility for your brand, then that should be your focus. Each intention requires a specific outreach strategy; many marketers get stuck because they forget that, and try to be too many things to too many people. Meeting your prospects where they are in the sales cycle with the appropriate messaging for each phase is key to creating a lasting impact. Moreover, showing up to give instead of to get should be a guiding principle for all of your marketing outreach initiatives. It’s not just a trend to focus on your purpose—it’s an important way to distinguish your offer from that of your competition. Setting your intention at the start of your day to concentrate your efforts on your most important priorities will help you move from default/reaction mode into strategic/design mode.
Conclusion
Change is the one constant in life. Whether we’re talking about changes to the playing field, changes to market conditions, changes to the competitive landscape, changes to the way prospects want to engage with your brand, or changes to the types of content they prefer to consume, change is inevitable. Making sure that you are capable of adapting to such changes and are not rigidly standing in opposition to them will help ensure that you are constantly up-leveling your skill set when it comes to marketing your product or service. For me, this is what keeps the job exciting and new! By embracing that and using it to your advantage, you will find that your own contribution and growth is guaranteed.
