Choosing the Profile of SME marketers in your organisation
It may sound like a recruiter’s job only, but the matter of fact is, your marketing success will be determined by the skill set and experience of the person in charge of your marketing. As such, you should take a keen interested in finding the person with the right profile for your SME. As discussed earlier, in SMEs marketers have a generalist profile, but even the most broad knowledge does not cover all aspects that are necessary to connect to the target audience on an initial shoestring budget.
Hiring for the start-up phase
You want a person who can market plan and understands the value of organising not only your planning, but comes well connected to local vendors when it is time to implement activities. It is important to start off with a strong brand development. The marketer in the start-up phase can either develop brands (has a creative background, e.g., comes with a job title like ‘art director’) or is a marketing manager who can direct an outsourced team to develop the brand in accordance with your market strategy. This includes knowledge or access to market research so that the brand development is grounded in real world needs and wants of your customers. Don’t fall in the trap of thinking that all you need is a logo for your business cards, unless you are not serious of building a company brand that gives you return on investment.
A person with strong creative background may give your visual market presence the edge if you are in life style industries, however, if you are manufacturing widgets or other commodity products, you may want to consider a B2B (business-to-business) marketer with a commerce degree who understands the ins and outs of B2B marketing and out sources the creative parts on your behalf.
SME brands are now in a fortunate position to have low-cost, far-reach digital tools at their communication disposal but it requires some dedication and expertise to leverage them. Most of all, after the start-up phase, marketing is about widening the appeal and building on existing equity internally and externally of your business. You might find, that your start-up brand builder or manager does not want to continue in a monitoring role, or that stewardship and control is not their cup of tea. Find a supplement or replacement for the next phase in your company life cycle.
Hiring For Growth
This is the phase when initial ground work has been done, the company should have a brand identity and marketing direction. And a pretty good understanding who their customers and competitors are and will be. The creative part now involves planning and steering the brand. Stewardship is replacing development for the most part of the marketer’s SME role. Budget presentation, market research and campaign planning are the forte of SME marketers in a business growth phase.
The role is working closely with your sales department (where applicable) and influences service delivery and internal brand building (internal brand building: connecting your brand with your employees). How much of the stewardship can and should reside in one person depends on your growth plans and business strategy. As mentioned in part 1 of this post, its about skill distribution and industry fit.
Marketer Profiles for SME’s (PART 2)
Choosing the Profile of SME marketers in your organisation
It may sound like a recruiter’s job only, but the matter of fact is, your marketing success will be determined by the skill set and experience of the person in charge of your marketing. As such, you should take a keen interested in finding the person with the right profile for your SME. As discussed earlier, in SMEs marketers have a generalist profile, but even the most broad knowledge does not cover all aspects that are necessary to connect to the target audience on an initial shoestring budget.
Hiring for the start-up phase
You want a person who can market plan and understands the value of organising not only your planning, but comes well connected to local vendors when it is time to implement activities. It is important to start off with a strong brand development. The marketer in the start-up phase can either develop brands (has a creative background, e.g., comes with a job title like ‘art director’) or is a marketing manager who can direct an outsourced team to develop the brand in accordance with your market strategy. This includes knowledge or access to market research so that the brand development is grounded in real world needs and wants of your customers. Don’t fall in the trap of thinking that all you need is a logo for your business cards, unless you are not serious of building a company brand that gives you return on investment.
A person with strong creative background may give your visual market presence the edge if you are in life style industries, however, if you are manufacturing widgets or other commodity products, you may want to consider a B2B (business-to-business) marketer with a commerce degree who understands the ins and outs of B2B marketing and out sources the creative parts on your behalf.
SME brands are now in a fortunate position to have low-cost, far-reach digital tools at their communication disposal but it requires some dedication and expertise to leverage them. Most of all, after the start-up phase, marketing is about widening the appeal and building on existing equity internally and externally of your business. You might find, that your start-up brand builder or manager does not want to continue in a monitoring role, or that stewardship and control is not their cup of tea. Find a supplement or replacement for the next phase in your company life cycle.
Hiring For Growth
This is the phase when initial ground work has been done, the company should have a brand identity and marketing direction. And a pretty good understanding who their customers and competitors are and will be. The creative part now involves planning and steering the brand. Stewardship is replacing development for the most part of the marketer’s SME role. Budget presentation, market research and campaign planning are the forte of SME marketers in a business growth phase.
The role is working closely with your sales department (where applicable) and influences service delivery and internal brand building (internal brand building: connecting your brand with your employees). How much of the stewardship can and should reside in one person depends on your growth plans and business strategy. As mentioned in part 1 of this post, its about skill distribution and industry fit.