The Best Strategy to Cure Your Marketing Team Collaboration Woes

The Best Strategy to Cure Your Marketing Team Collaboration Woes Marketing teams have it tough. You’re one of the few departments that are expected to have a pulse on what every other department in the company is up to. From sales to support you need to be plugged in to understand what’s working, what isn’t, and how to improve. BUT, how are you supposed to master cross-department collaboration when your own marketing team is struggling to collaborate amongst themselves? Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone on your team, regardless of specialty, knew what was on tap and how they could contribute to each other’s success? Yes, it would. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not impossible. Here are the best, best practice tips for improving your marketing team’s collaboration. The Best Strategy to Cure Your Marketing Team Collaboration WoesWhy It’s So Hard for Marketing Teams to Collaborate Silos are a big problem for marketing teams. We’ve got Content Marketing, Public Relations, SEM, Social Media, Marketing Automation, the list goes on. And each of these specialties has their own sub-department, which makes collaboration even more challenging. If you’re a Marketing Manager, you’re painfully aware that these silios cause major problems. Poor collaboration is likely causing†¦ †¦ missed deadlines †¦ underperforming campaigns †¦ last minute fire drills †¦ and tension between your team members. However, there is hope. With a bit of bravery, leadership, and a solid strategy in place, you can overcome these silos and start collaborating better. How to Improve Your Marketing Team Collaboration It’s clear that  *a lot* of marketing teams struggle to stay on the same page. But what are you supposed to do about it? *A lot* of marketing teams struggle to stay on the same page. Heres how to fix it.Set Clear Goals Wait†¦ what? You’re probably a little confused since this is a post about marketing team collaboration, not one about KPIs. But hear me out on this one†¦ You’d be surprised how many marketing teams have conflicting goals and no idea how their individual KPIs fit within the company’s wider strategy. In fact, 29% of respondents included in this study  said they found no clear relation between their role and the overarching company strategy. Each team/individual should undoubtedly have their own KPIs, but there should be clear and consistent communication regarding how these are all working together towards a common goal. Here’s an example: Company’s main goal:  $50 million in sales by 2020 Public Relations goal: Reach 2 million people per month Content Marketing’s goal: Bring in 10,000 prospects per month Paid Search goal:  $5 $8 ROAS Marketing Automation goal: Convert 15% of prospects into customers Simply giving everyone a clear idea of where the company is heading and how each team’s KPIs help contribute can lay the foundation for good collaboration. Sometimes it helps to have a visual to get everyone on the same page. Here’s an example of how everyone’s goals fit into the marketing funnel and contribute to the company’s overall goal. Improve Communication Research  shows that improving your team’s communication can increase productivity by a whopping 25%. Improving your team’s communication can increase productivity by a whopping 25%.Sounds great, right? But communication barriers are one of the biggest hurdles for any team to overcome. Why is communication so challenging? Here are a few theories Firstly, marketers rely on outdated technology like spreadsheets to manage project plans, due dates, and tasks. These spreadsheets spiral out of control and leave you wanting to wipe the slate clean and start fresh†¦ so you do. And it works for a while, but the spreadsheet inevitably returns to mass chaos. Secondly, each team has hacked together a way to manage their own projects without a central, cross-team tool. This exacerbates the silo effect. Responsibilities and daily tasks become murky because they are managed across multiple tools. No one knows what they should prioritize nor when things are due. And there are a ton of meetings to try to figure it all out. (Fun fact: An astonishing 62% of marketers say wasteful meetings get in the way of their work.) Yikes. So how can you improve the communication of your marketing team?