We all know that Marketing is undergoing a revolution. But what is important is how you respond to the demands that your consumers and customers are placing on your brand.
Here at Flock, we have identified six simple steps to defining and future proofing your Marketing Capability agenda, so that you can set yourself up for success, compete and win in market.
- Defining Your Vision & Marketing Strategy
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- Everything should start here. Where does your business want to be in 3-5 years, and what is is the role of marketing to deliver this business vision? And critically, what Marketing Capabilities do you need to deliver the vision?
- At this stage we frequently discover capability gaps across Marketing Skills, Technology, Process and Data. Sometimes, we’ll find there’s a need to restructure the organisation, transform the culture or recruit new agencies and talent to deliver the vision.
- Developing A Marketing Skills Framework
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- With the vision in mind, it’s essential to agree on the core Marketing skills that will make the biggest difference to your business. We advise clients to hold a facilitated session with key stakeholders to prioritise the core skills that will deliver growth and competitive advantage.
- Out of this discussion we are able to create a Skills Framework which demonstrates what marketing excellence looks and feels like at different levels, which we help specify for your business.
- Creating Role Profiles
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- We then use the Skills Framework to define Role Profiles for every role in the Marketing organisation. Not all Marketing roles require the same level of a particular skill, so it’s important to map out any differences in roles using the Skills Framework.
- The Role Profiles can then be incorporated into a set of Job Descriptions which can be used for recruitment and talent development purposes.
- Marketing Skills Assessment
- So you’ve set a vision and developed your strategy and a skills framework, and you’re clear on the specific skills required to drive accelerated performance and growth. But what skills exist within the team and to what level?
- To determine where Marketing strengths and skills gaps lie, we recommend a Marketing skills assessment, which can be carried out at team or individual level.
- The results will pinpoint exactly where Marketers are strong, and critically, where they are not. Once you’re clear on the priority skills for development and growth, you can choose to up-skill your existing talent or recruit new talent to plug any skills gaps.
- Capability Strategy and Skills Development Programme
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- The results from the Skills Assessment can be used to design a Capability Strategy, with a 2-3 year horizon, and a tailored Skills Development Programme which can be actioned immediately.
- Flock recommends leveraging the 70/20/10 framework to develop and embed a blended skills development programme.
- Measurement and Evaluation
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- Once you’ve established your strategy and skills development programme, KPIs should be set to track and measure ongoing performance.
- This will allow visibility across commercial, brand and capability metrics and will enable the business to assess the overall impact of any transformation programme.
If you’re interested in discussing any of these steps in more detail, or hearing how Flock can help your business, please get in touch.