Danny Asling’s Post

Most marketers are DROWNING.   Being pulled in 1,001+ different directions.   Instead of *doing* marketing, they are:   – Educating others on marketing. – Pushing through mammoth to-do lists. – Saying “Yes!” to more projects. – Dealing with internal politics. – Proving their productivity. – Setting expectations.   Rarely are they given the space and time to think strategically. In fact, most of their day-to-day is eaten up by everything EXCEPT doing the work that matters.   But it’s not their fault.   It’s the culture that drives this. The (misguided) assumption that suggests if we do more, and get the word out more, we will grow faster. Nonsense.   Truth is, a busy marketing team does not equal an effective marketing team.   If the foundations are not in place, then the company is not going to excel at marketing, and certainly not at growth.   The marketing head (and her team) must be given the time, patience, and resources to LEAD and DO marketing.   Whilst you’ll never stop the flow of new ideas (because everyone is a marketer apparently), you can put things in place to help ease the strain on the department.   My advice…   1) Document Everything. — The plan should be on paper for all to see. Doesn’t need to be polished but scannable. What are the goals? What are the priorities? What’s in progress today? Transparency helps inexperienced leaders that will likely default to the assumption that not much is happening in marketing.   2) Structure New Requests. — Implement a simple way for other departments to raise marketing requests. This could be a simple form or Slack channel. Make it mandatory for each request to specify the problem and WHO this impacts. Keep everything in one place. Not multiple channels and/or different formats.   3) Market Your Marketing. — Create an internal channel where you can share what marketing has shipped. I’ve used a simple internal newsletter in the past. A Slack channel is another. This is a great way to provide short commentary. This works wonders for perception and stops the question of “what does marketing actually do?”.   4) Implement Trades. — Everything is “urgent” today but you only have a certain number of hours in the day. You can’t do everything. Something must be cut. Getting hold of this early pays off in the long-run. One of the best ways to handle this is a trade-off discussion. What is taking a backseat today? And why?   Some of this stuff looks and sounds easy.   Yet, only few truly implement and reap the rewards.   #marketing #saas   PS. Far better… find a CEO that backs you to decide on number 4. You and you alone.

Most marketers are DROWNING. Being pulled in 1,001+ different directions. Instead of *doing* marketing, they are: – Educating others on marketing. – Pushing through mammoth to-do lists. – Saying “Yes!” to more projects. – Dealing with internal politics. – Proving their productivity. – Setting expectations. Rarely are they given the space and time to think strategically. In fact, most of their day-to-day is eaten up by everything EXCEPT doing the work that matters. But it’s not their fault. It’s the culture that drives this. The (misguided) assumption that suggests if we do more, and get the word out more, we will grow faster. Nonsense. Truth is, a busy marketing team does not equal an effective marketing team. If the foundations are not in place, then the company is not going to excel at marketing, and certainly not at growth. The marketing head (and her team) must be given the time, patience, and resources to LEAD and DO marketing. Whilst you’ll never stop the flow of new ideas (because everyone is a marketer apparently), you can put things in place to help ease the strain on the department. My advice… 1) Document Everything. — The plan should be on paper for all to see. Doesn’t need to be polished but scannable. What are the goals? What are the priorities? What’s in progress today? Transparency helps inexperienced leaders that will likely default to the assumption that not much is happening in marketing. 2) Structure New Requests. — Implement a simple way for other departments to raise marketing requests. This could be a simple form or Slack channel. Make it mandatory for each request to specify the problem and WHO this impacts. Keep everything in one place. Not multiple channels and/or different formats. 3) Market Your Marketing. — Create an internal channel where you can share what marketing has shipped. I’ve used a simple internal newsletter in the past. A Slack channel is another. This is a great way to provide short commentary. This works wonders for perception and stops the question of “what does marketing actually do?”. 4) Implement Trades. — Everything is “urgent” today but you only have a certain number of hours in the day. You can’t do everything. Something must be cut. Getting hold of this early pays off in the long-run. One of the best ways to handle this is a trade-off discussion. What is taking a backseat today? And why? Some of this stuff looks and sounds easy. Yet, only few truly implement and reap the rewards. #saas #marketing PS. Far better… find a CEO that backs you to decide on number 4. You and you alone.

Most marketers are DROWNING. Being pulled in 1,001+ different directions. Instead of *doing* marketing, they are: – Educating others on marketing. – Pushing through mammoth to-do lists. – Saying “Yes!” to more projects. – Dealing with internal politics. – Proving their productivity. – Setting expectations. Rarely are they given the space and time to think strategically. In fact, most of their day-to-day is eaten up by everything EXCEPT doing the work that matters. But it’s not their fault. It’s the culture that drives this. The (misguided) assumption that suggests if we do more, and get the word out more, we will grow faster. Nonsense. Truth is, a busy marketing team does not equal an effective marketing team. If the foundations are not in place, then the company is not going to excel at marketing, and certainly not at growth. The marketing head (and her team) must be given the time, patience, and resources to LEAD and DO marketing. Whilst you’ll never stop the flow of new ideas (because everyone is a marketer apparently), you can put things in place to help ease the strain on the department. My advice… 1) Document Everything. — The plan should be on paper for all to see. Doesn’t need to be polished but scannable. What are the goals? What are the priorities? What’s in progress today? Transparency helps inexperienced leaders that will likely default to the assumption that not much is happening in marketing. 2) Structure New Requests. — Implement a simple way for other departments to raise marketing requests. This could be a simple form or Slack channel. Make it mandatory for each request to specify the problem and WHO this impacts. Keep everything in one place. Not multiple channels and/or different formats. 3) Market Your Marketing. — Create an internal channel where you can share what marketing has shipped. I’ve used a simple internal newsletter in the past. A Slack channel is another. This is a great way to provide short commentary. This works wonders for perception and stops the question of “what does marketing actually do?”. 4) Implement Trades. — Everything is “urgent” today but you only have a certain number of hours in the day. You can’t do everything. Something must be cut. Getting hold of this early pays off in the long-run. One of the best ways to handle this is a trade-off discussion. What is taking a backseat today? And why? Some of this stuff looks and sounds easy. Yet, only few truly implement and reap the rewards. #saas #marketing PS. Far better… find a CEO that backs you to decide on number 4. You and you alone.

Most marketers are DROWNING. Being pulled in 1,001+ different directions. Instead of *doing* marketing, they are: – Educating others on marketing. – Pushing through mammoth to-do lists. – Saying “Yes!” to more projects. – Dealing with internal politics. – Proving their productivity. – Setting expectations. Rarely are they given the space and time to think strategically. In fact, most of their day-to-day is eaten up by everything EXCEPT doing the work that matters. But it’s not their fault. It’s the culture that drives this. The (misguided) assumption that suggests if we do more, and get the word out more, we will grow faster. Nonsense. Truth is, a busy marketing team does not equal an effective marketing team. If the foundations are not in place, then the company is not going to excel at marketing, and certainly not at growth. The marketing head (and her team) must be given the time, patience, and resources to LEAD and DO marketing. Whilst you’ll never stop the flow of new ideas (because everyone is a marketer apparently), you can put things in place to help ease the strain on the department. My advice… 1) Document Everything. — The plan should be on paper for all to see. Doesn’t need to be polished but scannable. What are the goals? What are the priorities? What’s in progress today? Transparency helps inexperienced leaders that will likely default to the assumption that not much is happening in marketing. 2) Structure New Requests. — Implement a simple way for other departments to raise marketing requests. This could be a simple form or Slack channel. Make it mandatory for each request to specify the problem and WHO this impacts. Keep everything in one place. Not multiple channels and/or different formats. 3) Market Your Marketing. — Create an internal channel where you can share what marketing has shipped. I’ve used a simple internal newsletter in the past. A Slack channel is another. This is a great way to provide short commentary. This works wonders for perception and stops the question of “what does marketing actually do?”. 4) Implement Trades. — Everything is “urgent” today but you only have a certain number of hours in the day. You can’t do everything. Something must be cut. Getting hold of this early pays off in the long-run. One of the best ways to handle this is a trade-off discussion. What is taking a backseat today? And why? Some of this stuff looks and sounds easy. Yet, only few truly implement and reap the rewards. #saas #marketing PS. Far better… find a CEO that backs you to decide on number 4. You and you alone.

Most marketers are DROWNING. Being pulled in 1,001+ different directions. Instead of *doing* marketing, they are: – Educating others on marketing. – Pushing through mammoth to-do lists. – Saying “Yes!” to more projects. – Dealing with internal politics. – Proving their productivity. – Setting expectations. Rarely are they given the space and time to think strategically. In fact, most of their day-to-day is eaten up by everything EXCEPT doing the work that matters. But it’s not their fault. It’s the culture that drives this. The (misguided) assumption that suggests if we do more, and get the word out more, we will grow faster. Nonsense. Truth is, a busy marketing team does not equal an effective marketing team. If the foundations are not in place, then the company is not going to excel at marketing, and certainly not at growth. The marketing head (and her team) must be given the time, patience, and resources to LEAD and DO marketing. Whilst you’ll never stop the flow of new ideas (because everyone is a marketer apparently), you can put things in place to help ease the strain on the department. My advice… 1) Document Everything. — The plan should be on paper for all to see. Doesn’t need to be polished but scannable. What are the goals? What are the priorities? What’s in progress today? Transparency helps inexperienced leaders that will likely default to the assumption that not much is happening in marketing. 2) Structure New Requests. — Implement a simple way for other departments to raise marketing requests. This could be a simple form or Slack channel. Make it mandatory for each request to specify the problem and WHO this impacts. Keep everything in one place. Not multiple channels and/or different formats. 3) Market Your Marketing. — Create an internal channel where you can share what marketing has shipped. I’ve used a simple internal newsletter in the past. A Slack channel is another. This is a great way to provide short commentary. This works wonders for perception and stops the question of “what does marketing actually do?”. 4) Implement Trades. — Everything is “urgent” today but you only have a certain number of hours in the day. You can’t do everything. Something must be cut. Getting hold of this early pays off in the long-run. One of the best ways to handle this is a trade-off discussion. What is taking a backseat today? And why? Some of this stuff looks and sounds easy. Yet, only few truly implement and reap the rewards. #saas #marketing PS. Far better… find a CEO that backs you to decide on number 4. You and you alone.

Most marketers are DROWNING. Being pulled in 1,001+ different directions. Instead of *doing* marketing, they are: – Educating others on marketing. – Pushing through mammoth to-do lists. – Saying “Yes!” to more projects. – Dealing with internal politics. – Proving their productivity. – Setting expectations. Rarely are they given the space and time to think strategically. In fact, most of their day-to-day is eaten up by everything EXCEPT doing the work that matters. But it’s not their fault. It’s the culture that drives this. The (misguided) assumption that suggests if we do more, and get the word out more, we will grow faster. Nonsense. Truth is, a busy marketing team does not equal an effective marketing team. If the foundations are not in place, then the company is not going to excel at marketing, and certainly not at growth. The marketing head (and her team) must be given the time, patience, and resources to LEAD and DO marketing. Whilst you’ll never stop the flow of new ideas (because everyone is a marketer apparently), you can put things in place to help ease the strain on the department. My advice… 1) Document Everything. — The plan should be on paper for all to see. Doesn’t need to be polished but scannable. What are the goals? What are the priorities? What’s in progress today? Transparency helps inexperienced leaders that will likely default to the assumption that not much is happening in marketing. 2) Structure New Requests. — Implement a simple way for other departments to raise marketing requests. This could be a simple form or Slack channel. Make it mandatory for each request to specify the problem and WHO this impacts. Keep everything in one place. Not multiple channels and/or different formats. 3) Market Your Marketing. — Create an internal channel where you can share what marketing has shipped. I’ve used a simple internal newsletter in the past. A Slack channel is another. This is a great way to provide short commentary. This works wonders for perception and stops the question of “what does marketing actually do?”. 4) Implement Trades. — Everything is “urgent” today but you only have a certain number of hours in the day. You can’t do everything. Something must be cut. Getting hold of this early pays off in the long-run. One of the best ways to handle this is a trade-off discussion. What is taking a backseat today? And why? Some of this stuff looks and sounds easy. Yet, only few truly implement and reap the rewards. #saas #marketing PS. Far better… find a CEO that backs you to decide on number 4. You and you alone.