How happy are your employees? More specifically, how happy are your marketers?
It’s important to keep your finger on the pulse of your team members. A happy team leads to a happy business, as companies with strong levels of employee engagement have 21% higher levels of profitability than companies with low levels of engagement. So, do your marketers feel valued and invested in? How do they feel about working for your organisation – and what will you do if they give you constructive feedback on how you can make their workplace more enjoyable and stimulating?
As a manager, it’s critical you not only listen to your team members, but proactively act upon what they tell you. One key aspect you can’t afford to ignore is training and development, particularly if your team tells you this is high on their agenda. One third of people changing jobs say their decision to move on is down to boredom and the need for new challenges, with just 29% of employees saying they are “very satisfied” with career advancement opportunities at their current organisation. That makes it critical for you to give your marketing team members the opportunity to develop their skills through training. Here are our top five tips on how to develop your marketers.
Regular coaching and feedback
Coaching has myriad benefits for teams of all disciplines, and marketing is no exception. Effective coaching can help your marketers to focus their efforts, become more self-reliant, understand what they need to do to succeed and can ultimately help them to achieve your goals. And when your marketing team succeeds, so does your whole business.
In addition to proactive coaching, you also need to provide positive and constructive feedback to your team. Start by asking your marketers how they prefer to receive feedback – especially constructive criticism – and then make a point of delivering it in this way. More than 75% of employees think that feedback is valuable and 60% would like some form of feedback on a daily or weekly basis, and it’s up to you to provide this to your marketing team.
On-the-job training
Good training is hard to come by, especially in busy companies where managers and leaders are pulled in many different directions. However, 24% of marketing teams say that training is a top challenge for them, which is no surprise in the current market place where teams are increasingly lean and marketing professionals are expected to master many skills in their roles.
With that in mind, you need to make sure your marketers have the right training to be confident and effective in their roles. Whether that’s providing Google Analytics certification, a workshop on the latest SEO techniques or brushing up on social media best practice, there’s plenty you can do to ensure your team keeps developing.
Company leader mentoring
Never underestimate the power of mentoring in the workplace. Marketers tend to be curious and ambitious by nature, so will appreciate the opportunity to learn from someone successful in their field. While the majority of Fortune 500 companies have an established mentoring programme, smaller organisations may not have the resources to implement formal programmes. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t offer mentoring to your marketers. Personal, one-to-one mentoring from company leaders can be a fantastic development opportunity and reward to high-performing marketers. Consider pairing marketers with leaders they don’t usually work directly with to give them exposure to different perspectives, approaches to work, experiences and management styles.
Employee recognition
Did you know that 85% of professionals want to hear the words “thank you” in their day to day interactions? Employee recognition has a wide range of benefits and can make the work environment more positive and productive. Marketing professionals want to feel that their efforts are acknowledged and appreciated – and if not, they are more likely to look for new roles elsewhere. Regular, consistent employee recognition that ties in with your company’s purpose, brand and culture can make all the difference to ensuring your marketing team remains happy and engaged. For more on the types of incentives and rewards your marketing team might appreciate, take a look at our blog on keeping marketers happy with incentives.
Online training and development
There are thousands of free online courses available for marketers – and that’s before you even look at paid training and development programmes. With 93% of people saying they’d stay at a company for longer if it invested in their careers, it’s clear that you need to commit to your marketing team’s ongoing development – and this doesn’t even have to cost you a penny. Give your marketing team a set amount of time each week to complete online courses and grow their knowledge, and you’ll be rewarded not only with a more engaged team, but with marketers who are more knowledgeable about their work.
Get help from BMS Performance
Now you know how to develop your marketers – but how can you make sure you’re hiring and retaining the best talent? If you want to make sure you hold onto your top marketers, get in touch with our marketing team today to see how we can help!
