How to Onboard Your Marketing Team to Equip Them for Success

One statement I hear quite often is, “I know I need to bring on a Marketing Team, but I don’t even know where to start.” I get it. Handing over your marketing tasks can be a challenge, even if you don’t particularly enjoy doing them yourself. Finding the right people is hard enough – training them to properly market your business can seem overwhelming. This is where a strong onboarding program and solid systems come in – they will go a long way toward preparing your Marketing Team for success!

There are other things to consider, though. As you grow your team, you’ll find that each department has its own “vibe,” its own personality. Your Financial Controls Team will tend to be very detail oriented, while your Sales Team will probably be competitive and focused on goals.

Your Marketing Team, on the other hand, will likely be filled with people who have a unique mix of strategy, creativity, and collaborative thinking. As this team grows, you’ll find that each person will bring a new specialty and perspective to the team. If you’re clear with your vision and expectations – and if you provide the structure they need along with room to innovate – you’ll be able to step back a bit and watch them do amazing things.

This is where the challenging part comes in, though. Where do you find that balance?

Onboarding Your Marketing Assistant

Most likely, the first person you’ll bring onto your Marketing Team will be a Marketing Assistant. This superstar is a must for any business, whether you’re a solo operation or are already building your team. If you’ve never handed your marketing over to another person though, the process can be confusing.

I’ve worked with business owners who bring on a Marketing Assistant and expect them to just take on everything from Day 1 (hint – this approach won’t end well); I’ve also worked with Owners who are scared to hand over anything because it won’t be done just the way they want. (I completely understand the desire to hold onto your marketing, but this isn’t a healthy approach either.)

This is where onboarding and systems will save the day. Yes, you will still need to communicate with your Marketing Assistant and set the vision for your content, but strong onboarding and systems will save you so much time.

By the way – if you would like to fast track the process and have these procedures and systems ready to go for your next hire, let us know! We have designed a package that will help you not only hire the right person the first time, but also get them onboarded and trained quickly so they can start cranking your marketing wheel and let you reclaim your time!

Training Your Marketing Coordinator

Once your Marketing Team grows to the point that you have multiple team members and contractors, chances are you’ll find yourself attending far too many meetings each week. (At one point, I had 14 weekly marketing meetings. 14.)

At this point, you really do need someone to handle all of the logistics and many of the meetings for you – someone who can oversee your content calendar, keep your team on time, make sure everything is on brand and on message, and hold everyone accountable to their tasks and deadlines.

At the same time, your Marketing Coordinator will be responsible for keeping you updated on marketing stats, project and campaign progress, and any issues that need your input.

While it is great to be able to hand all of this over to a dedicated team member, it’s also necessary to make sure this superstar is onboarded effectively and has strong systems in place to work with. With these in place, your Marketing Coordinator will have the chance to get everything under control and hit the ground running.

Having these in place also allows you another benefit: time to work with your Marketing Coordinator on things like your vision, your messaging, and ideas for upcoming promotions. When you don’t have to dedicate all of that time to the training and “doing,” you have much more freedom to innovate and grow!

By the way – if you’re ready to bring on a Marketing Coordinator but the thought of developing all the onboarding procedures and systems seems daunting, we have you covered. Our Marketing Coordinator Package includes everything you need to find the right person to manage your Marketing Team – and all the training and resources they need to do the job successfully!

And if you want to ensure your entire Marketing Team has the right systems in place as you grow, we have you covered! My team and I spent the last couple of years creating the Marketing Systems Manual Package – but you can put our efforts to work for your business with our open and go solution!

The bottom line is, your Marketing Team needs strong onboarding procedures and systems to do their job successfully. Not only is this a vital aspect of your profitability, it’s also key to building a team that will stick with you and feel invested in their roles. It’s our goal to help you grow your business effectively without having to spend all the extra time and money on the trial and error. Using our proven framework, you really can grow your business more quickly while reclaiming your time and focusing on the things that are most important to you!