The best way to kick-start marketing with no marketing department

Navigating marketing without a dedicated marketing department might seem daunting. It is, after all, a full-time job. But if you’re a busy CEO or managing director, marketing doesn’t have to be a headache if you stick to the basics.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you get started: 

Set clear objectives: Like any business discipline, define your marketing goals and objectives, and understand what you want to achieve through your marketing efforts. Whether it’s increasing brand awareness, generating leads, or driving sales, having clear objectives will guide your strategy and keep you on track. It’ll also provide a measure of how well it’s going. 

Understand your audience: This one’s a biggie – if you don’t know who you’re trying to reach, what their issues are, or where they hang out, it’s difficult to communicate with them in any meaningful way. Identify your target audience and understand their needs, preferences, and pain points. If possible or pertinent to do so, conduct market research or surveys to gather insights that will help you tailor your marketing messages effectively. Research also provides the basis of great marketing content to share with those audiences. 

Have a marketing plan: It doesn’t have to be pages long, but it must define who you’re targeting, what you want to say to them, how and via what channels – and have a measurement on whether you’ve achieved it. Develop a comprehensive marketing plan outlining your strategies and tactics. Determine which marketing channels and methods align best with your objectives and target audience, and consider using a mix of digital and traditional marketing approaches. 

Build an online presence: Establish a professional website that represents your brand and showcases your products or services. If you have the funds, invest in search engine optimisation (SEO) to improve your website’s visibility in search engine results, so that when a potential customer Google’s their challenges, your website is delivered in their search. 

Use social media: Create accounts on relevant social media platforms and start engaging with your audience – for B2B organisations, this is LinkedIn. Post valuable content, respond to comments, and actively participate in conversations related to your industry and its challenges. 

Content marketing: Develop interesting, valuable, and informative content, such as blog posts, articles, or videos, that resonate with your target audience. Content marketing can help position your brand as an authority in your industry and provides you with the lifeblood of digital marketing. 

Email marketing: Start building a target list of companies you’d like to work with and use email marketing to communicate with your audience. Provide valuable content, opinions, and updates to keep them engaged and informed. 

Measure: Use analytics tools to track the performance of your marketing efforts. Analyse the data to understand what strategies are working well and what needs improvement. Make data-driven decisions to optimise successful campaigns. 

Consider outsourcing: As your marketing efforts grow, consider outsourcing certain tasks to specialised marketing professionals. They can bring expertise and efficiency to your marketing efforts. 

Stay Agile and Adapt: Marketing is an ongoing process, and you’ll need to stay agile and adapt to changing market conditions and customer preferences. Continuously monitor and adjust your strategies as needed. 

Remember that consistency and patience are key in marketing. Building brand awareness and generating results often take time. As you gain more experience and resources, you can expand and refine your marketing efforts to drive even better results for your business. 

If you would like to find out more about how we can help you plan and deploy an effective marketing strategy that supports your business in challenging times talk to the team at Umbrella Communications. We offer a free one hour consultancy session with two of our expert consultants where we can discuss your challenges and aim to identify quick lead generation and sales wins for your business.