Over at the KLG, I’m your typical business guy and a big part of my “job” is making sure that our marketing is firing on all cylinders.
First and foremost though my focus lies on implementing our, perhaps even more so – my vision, giving guidance and direction of where I would like to go and eventually be so that everyone is on the same page. Being an entrepreneur, my drive to implement ideas into something visible is less than boring, however taking care of the marketing for such a big (growing) business can take its toll, especially when you consider the amount of time it takes to interact with customers on a one-to-one basis.
Take out all the activities that go into marketing the company, the ideas, the vision and the future products that go along with that and you still have the big batch of dough to mix, making sure all the ingredients are just right – this goes from rough draft to sketch board, coding to design, to meetings and calls, etc. Each area consumes a piece of me and I need to efficiently manage the process and those involved with it. Its not an easy task, ensuring that all are aware of what is happening and I’m aware of what everyone is carrying out in terms of the above.
To be frank, Ive launched 7 projects including my personal site here on hermannk.com/, and about 6 sub-projects within those. Now, as a whole those are a lot of activities taking a lot of my energy. Some would argue that its simply too much for someone to carry out, however I argue the fact that if managed reasonably (delegation) than I see no issues. Yes, some projects move slower than others (one of my initial larger ones currently on hold), yet the overall progress is satisfying. My primary focus is currently my inital “back to the roots” idea which is developing wonderfully and to be launched soon. I have my vision, I have my goal, put 1 and 1 together, what do you get?
It is with that in mind, that I believe that marketing within a start up should be the whole team’s responsibility, both as individuals and as a team. Here’s a couple of ways in which I think the individuals on a team can contribute to the marketing effort of the mothership;
Blogging.
If you have a company/team blog, get the whole team to blog and add their voice / opinion to the mix. I know there are many people that hate blogging and they should probably not be forced. But getting the odd blog post out of a team member is really valuable!
Interactions across social channels.
Every member on your team obviously has their own following of friends, contacts and other interested parties. Having them tweet a link or publish a Facebook status about the company helps spread the marketing message to audiences to which you – as a company – would not necessarily have access.
Interacting with your community.
I think there’s a lot of value in having the whole team interacting with users via the comments on your blog, your forum or any other support structure. Having the team visible to your users increases their perception of how in touch your team is with user problems. Massive marketing win here.
Expert Profiles.
In a way that almost combines the above three points, I truly believe that individuals should continue to build their individual social profiles, CV’s and reputations online. They should be regarded as experts, which holds a significant advantage for your company. Users love to work with experts! So encourage team members to keep up their own graphic portfolio’s or maintain a profile. Don’t try to own them; you employed every team member as an individual.
I know (from experience) that some of these things will be tough to integrate with your team, but that shouldn’t deter you from doing so anyway. Having a diverse set of hands on board, will give your marketing voice a kinda oomph that can’t be achieved otherwise. And as a team should take collective responsibility for the success of such a marketing strategy.
Convey the energy, Convey the message, Convey the vision, Convey direction, Convey responsibility and delegate for the win.