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This blog was last updated in May 2020.If you’re running a small business, it’s understood that you probably don’t have the budget or resources to employ an entire top-notch marketing squad to be at your beck and call when you need them, or even at all. Just because you don’t have the cash to have the biggest team, though, doesn’t mean you can’t make the most and do the best you can with what you’ve got to work with.Small marketing teams can still churn out great strategies and execute successful sales pitches just like the big dogs can. The key to doing so is simply knowing what you have to work with and utilizing it to the best of your ability. Don’t over- or undersell yourself. If your goals are too lofty, it’s very easy to sink. On the other hand, undervaluing your content marketing team can also mean not working at your full potential. This means you’re missing leads, exposure, and sales you could have gotten otherwise.The first step is starting with a nice and sturdy team foundation. Both your content management and marketing teams have to know they have a solid backbone in order to be happy and productive, so it’s your job to start setting them up for success.
How to Position Your Small Marketing Team for Success
1. Reuse and Recycle Resources
Chances are you have a pretty limited budget to work with in terms of your content production, and that’s okay. To start with, try to repurpose as much already existing content as possible. It’s not being cheap; it’s being financially responsible and fiscally smart.This also allows for a content management team to get creative. There are a wide variety of mediums and platforms to post content on, and this leads to more opportunities to diversify the content you’re pushing out. This kind of repurposing saves time and money. You don’t have to continually pump out more content when you can just refashion content you already have.The ultimate upside to this comes in when you think of how small your team is. The fewer team members that exist, the more each person has to give their all to support the cause. Recycling content means that a little bit of the pressure is pulled off of the generation of new ideas and into the realm of “How can I make this old idea seem new again?” an effort that many say is easier than starting over completely.
2. Make the Environment Positive
It’s not just something for feng shui and yoga: Positivity in the workplace does lead to more productivity and happier employees. It’s been found time and time again that nurturing employees and team members leads to better quality work put out at a faster rate.This sort of dichotomy is especially necessary in smaller teams. Bigger teams have an expectation that a voice will get lost in the crowd. Think of it like this: You have a team of 50 marketing experts. How long will it take to hear all of their voices and how many will actually be valuable? If you have five people on your team, each person has the ability to fully voice their opinion. Every spare set of eyes and ears is absolutely necessary. When these team members feel heard and important, they don’t feel excluded and downtrodden, leading to a better work output.You also don’t want to lose any employees on an already small marketing team. If someone, even just one person, on that team feels excluded or like they don’t want to work anymore, their quitting can have a huge impact on your entire marketing division and content goals. Remember that on small teams, no one is expendable.
3. When Possible, Outsource
As a small business owner, you have a lot on your plate, and so do all your employees. Especially obvious when you’re just getting started, it can be difficult to juggle all of your tasks at once. Think about how this can make life hell for an already underfunded and resource-lacking team.The answer can sometimes be outsourcing. It’s good to keep a majority of your work in-house and to not let employees fall by the wayside, but sending off some projects to outside sources can help alleviate the stressful load you and your employees are facing.This can also be a very good strategy based on understanding the skillsets present in your team. A team with a lot of people who are good at content creation but who lack in the management area can be great for content repurposing and producing, but content posting and management can be delegated to someone outside the business.Even with a small marketing team, you can make big things happen. Having the right tools is helpful, too. Sign up for a free trial with e-clincher today.
