Nervousness and excitement are typically the feelings that are felt by those starting new positions, whether it is in a new company or their existing one. Sometimes those feelings are triggered simply by walking into a space and not knowing anyone, sometimes it’s a new marketing role with more responsibility than you have handled in the past. Whatever the reasoning behind this feeling is for you, we have all felt this.
Thankfully, there are ways you can avoid this feeling and ensure you get a handle on your new marketing role with a step in the right direction. There are suggestions such as “always show up prepared”, “work hard”, etc. but all of these suggestions are simply reminders of what you should be doing on a daily basis. Back when I started my first marketing job I did not have anyone to turn to for advice. Other than my boss who was training me. This is why I decided to do some research on my own on ways to improve my productivity when first starting a job. These are some of the helpful guidelines and tips I used.
Use Their Strategy
If you want to help your new company or use your new power in your new marketing role to help the company grow, you will first need to learn where they are going. One of the first things you need to do is get clear on their strategy, what they are monitoring, where they want to grow, and steps they plan on taking. Then by speaking to your manager you will understand where exactly it is that your role fits into this plan. And you can understand your requirements more in-depth. From here you can have discussions in the short and long term to help these strategies.
Listen
This seems like a fairly obvious one, but done right it can have profound results. When you are first starting you will want to sit back and listen to everything they have to say, what they are doing, why they are doing it, where they are headed. And at first, you may want to offer suggestions based on your experience, but for now, it is best to listen. Ask questions to gain further knowledge and get details. You will also need to get a handle on their process, how their team works, how ideas get passed along, etc. This can only happen by listening, then once you have absorbed all the information and understand how their team works. You can begin to offer suggestions based on their existing work. Not only that but based on your experience as well, they did hire you because of it.
Read Everything
You need to understand the voice of the company. Every piece of content, whether it be a blog, press release, social post, etc. has a voice and the company works hard to ensure that voice remains the same across all channels. This voice will tell what kind of messages they share. Whether it is more conversational, formal, technical, etc. The best way to figure this out is to read as much content as you possibly can. Go on their website and read their copy, scroll through social media accounts, don’t stop until you get a general feeling. Once you have a hold on this voice you can emulate it in your style and the work you produce.
Work With Clients
To understand who buys your product/service is to know who the company is. Do internet searches with your product category and see how easily you can find your product. Then scroll through the competition and how easily your clients can find you. Go on your website with your fresh to the company eyes and navigate through, learning how your clients would typically learn. Then, learn more about your clients, who they are, why they buy, what issue are they solving, etc. This will help you understand how your clients come to find you, why they choose you, and how they interact with you. All very valuable pieces of information so you can ensure it is as easy as possible for them to navigate.
Find Success
What does success look like for you and your team? What does it look like for the business? These metrics are important as they will help guide you through these milestones and give you a path to follow. Ask your teammates what they consider to be the most important metrics and what they are striving to hit. Whether it is for a specific campaign or overall. These will give you good goals to strive for as you are getting your feet wet. Or else you will simply be posting content, creating marketing campaigns and more with no endgame in sight.
Study, Study, Study
As a marketer, you need to understand the product/service better than anyone. If you don’t know your own product how are you going to be able to market it appropriately and have anyone else interested in it? Of course, the best way to do this is to actually use the product and test it the way you would use it compared to other methods of use. This will give you the knowledge of how it performs and potential different use cases. Taking note of these will allow you to convey your message in your marketing materials to your target audience.
Action!
As much as starting a new marketing role is listening, learning, and taking everything in, make sure you do take some action. This doesn’t necessarily mean walking in and restructuring an existing campaign. This could be something small like taking over a daily task from a teammate or offering to help on a major task. Ask your manager where you should be allocating your time and resources and point your talents in that direction. You will want to show your team that you are a contributor and someone they can count on when they need assistance.
Start a Conversation
Make a point to meet your teammates outside of the marketing department. Sometimes teams can be isolating, but it is important to talk to the other departments such as sales, development, support, etc. Introduce yourself, what you are working on, and ask what they are working on. It can drastically help your marketing efforts to fully understand the entire workflow process. It is also important for all teams to have a clear line of communication in case there are any issues. This can build trust and give you valuable insight into not only individual teams but the work environment. You may not think a member of the marketing team can help a developer, but you would be surprised!
Wrap Up
These tips may seem a bit common and simple but doing them will make your transition into your new marketing role that much easier. It can be very intimidating going into a new team that is already accustomed to doing things a certain way. Not to mention they have been working together for a while. But this does not mean that you cannot show up and slide right into the team without missing a step. Teams are excited for new perspectives and a new way of looking at situations and you offer just that. But it is important to understand when you should be inputting your ideas and when you should be trying to change existing initiatives.
If done incorrectly or too soon you could be stepping on people’s toes. Or, you could be suggesting solutions without all the relevant information and those solutions may not work based on the missing information. It is important to bond with the team. And learn all you can so you can help your team and business achieve their goals.