Marketing Leaders: What to Know in Your First 90 Days

The first 90 days in a new role are extremely critical to your long-term success. This is especially true in the world of marketing, where the landscape is ever-evolving alongside rapid advancements in technology, data, and social platforms.

Marketing leaders must keep pace with these changes and build sustainable strategies that respond to (and take advantage of) any advancements in the industry.

We spoke with global leaders in marketing and identified 4 key areas marketing leaders should focus on in their first 90 days. By setting a strong foundation in these areas, marketing leaders can set themselves (and their companies) up for big wins.

This Blog Features Highlights from Your First 90 Days: The New Marketing Leader Playbook, A Collection of Advice from CMOs, Directors, and Marketing Leaders. Download the Full Playbook Here.

4 Essential Areas for Your First 90 Days as a Marketing Leader

 

1. Building Your Team

As a new to your role marketing leader, the first order of business is meeting and building your team. This includes meeting with everybody on your marketing-specific team as well as in other areas of the company.

This not only allows you to better get to know your coworkers and the culture (and the best lunch spots nearby). These early conversations also help you understand the following:

• How operations are linked

• Strengths and weaknesses of different teammates

• What people think is working in the company, and what they think needs work

“I scheduled time to talk to each member of the team to learn about their roles, the history of marketing in the company (what did and didn’t work), and any changes they would like to see,” said Glenn Marczewski, Marketing and Communications Manager at Living as a Leader.

Depending on your company resources, you may also choose to hire new team members or an agency at this stage in order to supplement any expertise.

2. Look at the Big Picture

After meeting with your team, it’s important to assess the full picture of your company and marketing operations as they currently stand.

Natalia Contreras, Director of Marketing at Up to Par Management, suggests going through the following checklist in your first 90 days:

• Secret Shop the customer experience

• Company reputation assessment

• Website SEO analysis

• Social Media channel analysis

• Paid media ROI

• Review editorial calendar, adjust deadlines if necessary

• Review ALL sales funnels

• Review marketing budget and spend

• Review existing advertising contracts

Reviewing all of these elements at the beginning of your tenure as a marketing leader will establish a great baseline to look back on later. It also provides an opportunity to identify any gaps or processes that just aren’t working.

 

3. Develop SMART Goals for Company Growth

The most important thing you can do as a marketing leader is to set clear goals for yourself and your team.

These goals should be informed by your newfound understanding of your team and the current state of the business (as outlined in the previous two steps).

Many marketing leaders suggest making and tracking goals isn’t enough. Be sure the goals you set are “SMART” and take into account the variability of your company’s possibly changing day-to-day demands.

 

4. Set Trackable KPIs

Just as you set clear goals, make sure you are setting trackable KPIs that enable you to easily determine how the company is doing at every level.

Set up processes that allow your results and decisions to be backed by data. At Perfect Search, we pride ourselves on making recommendations that are data-driven. We don’t do guess-work, and neither do other professionals.

Geoff Hoesch, CEO of Dragonfly Digital Marketing shared with us his strategy for setting KPIs that work.

“Go through every marketing tool being used by your company and make sure accountability is in place. If it’s not and you can create that accountability, it’s an immediate win,” Hoesch said.

Great marketing is backed by testing, data, and adjustment. So set the foundation for success by tracking everything and drawing insights later.

 

---

At Perfect Search, we specialize in working with marketing leaders fairly new into their roles. Contact us today for a free audit—we help to identify gaps in your digital initiatives and spot quick wins.