When it comes to your marketing, let’s face it. There are some things that are in your wheelhouse, and some that are not. It’s important to identify what marketing tasks you are best at performing and then hire specialists for the rest. So, what’s in your marketing “wheelhouse”?
The word wheelhouse refers to a baseball term, which means “the sweet spot of a baseball player’s strike zone where the most power and strength can be utilized.”
Whether you’re a sole proprietor or a corporation with a marketing staff, there are certain skill sets you either have or don’t have in your wheelhouse. Or, you may have the skills, but lack the interest, passion or motivation to execute the tasks.
Writing
Do you like to write; better yet, do people like to read what you write? There is nothing worse than writer’s block, and if you can’t get beyond it, you may want to consider hiring a ghost copy writer. This issue has especially reared its ugly head now that blogs have been proven to get great results for online marketing. (Last I heard, the blog abandonment rate was 95%.) Don’t start a blog if you don’t like to write or don’t have the time – hire someone who does.
Design
Do you have an in-house graphic designer? Does that person create great designs, and is there enough work to justify a full or part time position?
Speaking
Are you great in front of a crowd? A natural-born entertainer? Great at training and explaining your area of expertise in interesting ways? By all means go out and do some public speaking. You are an instant expert when you speak to an audience.
Relationship-Building
Are you one of those people who “hit it out of the park” if you can get that fae-to-face meeting with a prospect or prospects? By all means, focus your efforts on scheduling meetings, and let others carry out the other marketing tasks.
Project Management
Are you great behind the scenes, monitoring details, delegating tasks, holding staff and vendors accountable? This is a critical skill now that marketing has become more multi-faceted, with digital and mobile marketing being added to traditional print, mail, and trade show marketing.
Analysis
Now that we have more data to follow with online and social media marketing metrics automatically generated (traffic, click throughs, downloads, etc.), analytics is more critical than ever. Big data and business intelligence are areas where data needs to be crunched and processed.
Strategic Planning
Can you see the forest AND the trees? Or are you better at looking at the forest? Leave the trees (marketing execution) to others, and focus on strategic analysis, marketing strategy and planning.
Sure, larger organizations can hire the talent they need, but for smaller marketing departments and solo-preneurs need to know what’s in their wheelhouse. Then they can outsource or delegate the rest.
If you have marketing tasks that are outside your wheelhouse, contact Jennifer Beever at New Incite today. We provide outsource marketing services for growing companies.
