Fifteen of San DiegoÛªs top marketers gathered this week foråÊThe CMO Club’s San Diego ChapteråÊDinner. The topic of the eveningÛªs roundtable was ÛÏThe Reality ofåÊ24/7 Real Time Marketing – Don’t just Survive but ThriveÛ (stay tuned for a blog post on that exciting topic) but we kicked off the discussion by asking every marketer at the table to share a lesson theyÛªve learned duringåÊtheir career. The responses were as diverse as our attendees; who have held positions with everything from global Fortune 500 companies to healthcare startups.
Here are some of their top tips for fellow marketers:
- Come again? After you share something with your team, check in with a few people to ensure that they heard and understood what you meant to convey.
- Share! Release your agenda. Share your ideas so that you can grow and learn with other members of your team and company at large.
- Stay in touch. Make talking to customers a regular habit.
- Support your team. Your team is a source of brilliant ideas. Build them up and give them access to the resources they need to grow.
- Sales + Marketing. View Sales as your friend, not your enemy.
- Celebrate your wins. Communicate your wins with internal stakeholders ÛÒ donÛªt assume anyone knows about your successes.
- Follow the numbers. Whether youÛªre B2B or B2C, you have to figure out how to leverage your customer data.
- Rah! Rah! Rah! Become your brandÛªs biggest cheerleader. If you donÛªt believe in your brand, itÛªs hard for those around you to believe in it.
- Communicate.åÊConstantly work on improving your communication skills ÛÒ both internally and externally.
- Customer comes first. In everything you do, consider your customer first. Turn customer service into marketing and vice versa.
- Make an impact. WeÛªre business people first. Focus on the business and how to make a financial impact.
- Befriend your CFO. Understand the financial drivers of the business.
- Network, network, network! Always keep networking. You never know when you might need a helping hand.
- Add value. Continue to figure out how you can add value to the company and educate those around you on what you do.
- Aim high. If you donÛªt feel anxiety over something youÛªre working on, itÛªs not big enough.
