The best Marketers (aka YOU) know that internal Marketing is as important as external.
How can you expect to sell to your prospects if you can’t even sell your ideas internally…
You’re telling me a salesperson, who doesn’t believe in your company’s offer, can close as many opportunities as a salesperson who has been sold the vision, knows what they’re working towards and why? Please, we all know better.
Selling your ideas to your team, department, other departments (Sales, Legal, Finance), and Leadership is an important hurdle to jump over. It becomes an opportunity to increase the impact AND efficiency of your Marketing efforts.
But trust me, I learned this the hard way and that’s why I’m writing this today. 🤪
So, here are some things I’ve personally done in the past, working at Oracle, SnackNation, ChowNow, and ServiceTitan, to help with internal Marketing: 👇
1️⃣. Weekly internal Marketing newsletter: I’m a HUGE fan of this approach (I just love newsletters in general if you can’t tell LOL).
It’s fit for showcasing upcoming campaigns, the why behind new pieces of content, where you’re pacing to goals (LOVE the transparency), and highlighting successes from other campaigns.
Don’t overlook the highlighting success aspect of the internal newsletter. Keeping the big wins top of mind so that *cough cough* Finance and the executive team can be consistently reminded of how effective the Marketing team is, will be a big lever to pull when budgeting comes around. This is positioning. 🙂
2️⃣. Weekly meeting with Sales: Every week I used to present to the Sales team about new ads we’re running, new channels, and I give them content to help them sell.
As Marketers it’s OUR JOB to make Sale’s job easier.
On top of that in these meetings we would share the results of our competitions – and we’d let our Sales team win gift cards based on the most pipeline created and most booked meetings. (Just a simple, fun way to get buy-in.)
This hits on a few fronts, and it’s important especially as we worked on building a cohesive unit. Think of your company like an F1 team, if the 2 drivers (envision this as Sales) aren’t on the same page as the pit crew (Marketing), then you’re in for a tough race.
There needs to be communication from both teams on what they’re seeing out on the track and the adjustments the pit crew sees that need to be made, otherwise kiss the podium goodbye.
A weekly meeting will give you the opportunity to hash all of this out. And, to build your friendships. Friends help friends.
3️⃣ Presenting in company all hands/ hosting a monthly marketing all hands:
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Monthly is key here so that there’s RESULTS that show BIG SWINGS. Weekly, you’re still connecting with all the right people. Monthly, you’re showing huge wins and highlighting where things went wrong (transparency). We need to be in the weeds (weekly) and build towards the future (monthly).
And, who doesn’t love a good little public speaking practice I get nervous thinking about it.
4️⃣ Consistent communication of company’s values and goals:
This is especially pertinent for those who have a team of Marketers they manage. Selling the idea to your team is just as important as selling the public on the idea.
Giving clarity behind WHY your team has certain deliverables and the overall company objectives this accomplishes, will cause all sorts of efficiencies, spark new ideas, and give the campaigns an extra layer of purpose.
This all goes back to empowering your employees, you don’t just want them to be order takers, enabling them with the vision can spark tons of new ideas.
5️⃣ Internal TV show:
Now don’t roll your eyes at this one, I can see this becoming a BIG BIG trend in the next decade.
Video is becoming more prominent every second. An internal TV show could be a fun way to build rapport between departments, seniority levels, and ages. I mean, name another strategy that could do all 3? I don’t think there is.
Company news, achievements, important announcements, have fun with it and channel your inner high school morning announcements days LOL. Don’t waste time here. 1 take no fancy tricks and make it easy to watch (short LOL).