Let’s talk about today’s marketing team member.
Tell me if this sounds familiar… I started a new role in a marketing team on a Monday. The job duties were pretty well defined in the interview process and reasonable for a single team member.
By Tuesday afternoon, the role changed dramatically andnow I’m responsible for all of these activities and more.
FROM THIS…
Initial Responsibilities:
Branding, Sales Enablement and Events
TO THIS…
Email Marketing, Retargeting Campaigns, Content Marketing, Thought Leadership, Sales Enablement, Affiliate Programs, SEO, SEM, Web Design, Events, Collateral Design, Direct Mail, Copywriting, Branding, Product Positioning, Product Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Digital Media Buying, Lead Generation, and Analytics
Feeling Overwhelmed?
Do I have experience in all of these different specialized areas? Yes.
Do I believe I could do all of these different activities? Yes.
Do I believe I could do anything more than the minimum for each of these areas? No.
I could just get by doing the minimum and shining in at most 1 or 2 areas. The rest would have to just be good enough. Feeling overwhelmed? I sure was!
Introducing The T-Shaped Marketer
As I tried to make my way through the to do list where all of those activities were a priority, I learned about the T-shaped marketer.
This concept of T-shaped persons describes the abilities of people at work. Often times the word “generalist” is used to apply to a T-shaped person.
The vertical bar on the letter T represents the depth of related skills and expertise in a single field. The horizontal bar is the ability to collaborate across disciplines with experts in other areas and to apply knowledge in areas of expertise other than one’s own.
The T-shaped marketer diagram creates a blueprint for how someone could grow their marketing skills created by Brian Balfour.
T-Shaped Marketer Components
According to Buffer, there are 3 components of the T-Shaped Marketer.
Base knowledge is the non-marketing-specific areas that everyone on the team should have. In theory, anyone who applies for a marketing role within your company would have competence with these abilities, and anyone on the current marketing team would focus on leveling up in these areas first and foremost. These basic abilities trickle down and inform the other skills you need. Are we saying they need psychology degrees? No, but having a basic understanding of behavior psychology, persuasion and influence definitely help when crafting campaigns.
Marketing foundation is the marketing-specific subjects that are useful across most all marketing channels. Some of these foundational skills aren’t the foundational skills at every company. Most teams don’t expect everyone on the team to have foundational skills in CRO. The marketing foundation at your company is likely to have some unique areas of value meaning this T shaped model will have a unique set of components for your business.
Channel expertise refers to audience and acquisition channels. The idea with channel expertise is that someone will have one or more channels for which they have great depth of knowledge. This would be where we feel we have the most expertise.
It’s Your Turn
This is the breadth of the marketer. Think right now of your existing marketing team. What are their strengths? Where are the weaknesses?
Remember: They can’t do everything. You want a marketer that is really good in one to three areas. If they are producing amazing work in those 1-3 areas, you will see results. As a generalist, if you want them to be great in all areas, they will produce ok work. Is OK really good enough to push your business forward?
Let’s use me for example. I have a degree in psychology and am self taught in design (for the last 20 something years). I’ve been building on my skills with analytics and testing. However, if you asked how amazing I am at databases or SEO, I’m not, but that’s where my team complements me. However, I’m confident in my ability to write product messaging, create emails that get opened and design a beautiful, highly converting website.
This T shape could easily be applied to any of your marketing team members with varying depths of expertise. Line up your team members and see how many areas are missing expertise.
Reconciling Gaps
Once the team is lined up and you have areas of expertise mapped out, you will notice some obvious gaps. These gaps may be small and easily covered by a re-prioritization of your team goals. These gaps may also show that it may be time to bring in some help.
Before we jump right into hiring a team member, is it necessary? Some gaps require a full-time internal team member. Some gaps can be filled with the right marketing partner. We know we can’t do it all and we can’t do it all well. That’s where a marketing partner comes into play. Partners have the resources and expertise you need to help you achieve more with your marketing. Let’s be clear. This is a partnership. It’s not taking away anyone’s job from someone on your team. To be successful, they are a part of your team. They work with your team and align on goals, strategies and tactics to accomplish the organizations goals.
If you are thinking of adding in a marketing partner, click here to get The Eight Must Ask Questions When Hiring a Marketing Partner.
Get Started
Get Your FREE Backstage Pass
Whether you have a large team or a small team, the Backstage Pass is designed to provide an independent, unbiased look behind the scenes at your own company’s marketing.
At Rockstarr & Moon we are dedicated to helping businesses of all sizes thrive, which is why we offer the Backstage Pass for FREE. Armed with industry-leading tactics, we have helped global corporations achieve +500% conversions, +200% in sales and more.
In this 90 minute FREE Backstage Pass Workshop, we will identify quick wins and areas of opportunity for long-term growth.
Want the backstage pass? Apply today. Space is limited.
Set the Stage
for Your Business’s Big Debut
The Rockstarr Biz Bootcamp is the premier self-paced course built for aspiring business owners, like you! Launch your business, get sales and create your own future wealth.
Transform Your Business
and Get Results
ELITE is a yearlong coaching program for ambitious marketers & business owners who want to increase revenue, decrease doubt, and accelerate their growth.
The 4 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting a Business
1. Know Your WHY You need to know your why when starting a business. Ask yourself: Why are you doing this? The why is the purpose behind it all and will drive you in your quest to succeed. It shouldn’t be complex or drawn out. As your business grows, your why will...
The 20 Must-Read Quotes For Starting a Business
Starting a business can be exciting, inspiring, and frustrating all rolled into one. To help you stay motivated, here are the top 20 must-read quotes for starting a business. “A big business starts small.” -Sir Richard Branson“You don’t build a business, you build...
How I Started My Business and Found Independence From Corporate America
It’s 2010 and I’m working for my parent’s printing company thinking I had it all figured out. But, I was about to experience a rude awakening, and life as I knew it was about to change. The housing bubble burst and the recession was in full force. The government had...
Gain The Independence You Need From Your Dead-End Job
Mondays. It was the day I dreaded the most every week. I’m lying. Monday through Friday I would wake up already thinking about my overflowing work to-do list. I would crawl out of bed knowing that hours of Zoom calls that could have been emails wait for me in the...
Cheers to Strong Women
On this International Women’s Day, I wanted to celebrate the strong women in my life. Growing up in a family full of strong women, you would think I would know how to begin this blog. It’s taken me a while to be able to put into words the meaning of strength from...
10 Common Landing Page Mistakes to Avoid
A landing page is built to encourage visitors to take a specific action. Whether it’s opting in to a lead magnet, resource, or newsletter, purchasing a product or service, or filling out a form, every good landing page requires two things: a great offer and a great...
Top 5 Reasons Why Your Website Doesn’t Convert
You built out a beautiful website with amazing landing pages and the highest definition images – but you’re not getting visitors to do what you want them to do. You’re left wondering why all your hard work is going to waste. If you’re having trouble converting...
10 Quick Fixes for a More User-Friendly Website
With today’s rapidly changing digital trends, your website can feel outdated and old real quick. And, it’s difficult to keep up with the trends if you don’t have the time and money to invest in such a large ongoing project. To help you deal with this challenge, we put...
14 Secrets to Keeping Your Visitors on Your Website
Did you know that 70 to 96% of the people who abandon your site will never return? That’s why one of your number one goals with your website is to convert people into customers on their first visit. The longer your visitors stay on your website, the more engaged...
How to Write Attention-Grabbing Website Headlines That Convert
Writing headlines is hard. A great headline can get you clicks, which can lead to higher conversions. But, you’ll come across more bad headlines than good – especially on social media. You have seconds to make an impression before people leave your website. So, we...
10 Mistakes People Might Hate About Your Website
Having a bad website can cause you to lose customers, ultimately losing you money. But, you’d be surprised how often this happens. Oftentimes, businesses will design their websites without knowing what goes into a great site. From our experience, these are the 10 most...
5 Simple Ways to Optimize Your Website to Get More Leads
Creating an optimized landing page is one of the most effective ways to generate leads for your business. But, it’s more than just placing a “Sign Up Now” button on your page to see leads. Instead, you’ll have to be much more strategic about your approach. First,...
The Social Media Metrics That Matter
Let’s face it! When it comes to social media metrics, it’s confusing and overwhelming. Every week there seems to be a new metric created. Luckily, your social media goals will help determine which metrics are most important to you and your business. For every goal you...
25 Ways to Grow Your Social Media Following
Today, as more businesses are joining social media, the real question many are asking is how do I gain more followers organically? Not just any followers – real followers who aren’t bots, who love your brand and are looking to engage. There are a number of ways you...
8 Easy Steps to Creating a Killer Social Media Strategy
The key to success when it comes to social media is having a strategy. Without a strategy and understanding your goals and your audience, it’ll be difficult to get the results you want. Whether you’re a seasoned social media pro or you’re starting from square one,...
How to Keep Your Audience Engaged on Social Media: Step-by-step
You spend hours on copy and design to get a social post ready to be engaged and connected with. You check your engagement hours later only to find one of the most frustrating parts of social media – there’s no engagement. It’s a hard pill to swallow because not only...
The 4 Keys to Social Media Success
There’s a lot more to social media marketing than posting on Facebook or Twitter and forgetting about it once you post. Unfortunately, social media marketing is often treated as a single discipline, but it’s actually composed of four equally important parts. If...
4 Mistakes You’re Probably Making on Social Media
Social media has completely revolutionized how people interact with brands. People have come to expect “always-on” experiences in real-time that are personalized for every moment. In fact, 76% of consumers expect the brands they love to understand their wants and...
The Best Social Media Channels For Your Business
From marketing managers, to a business owner looking to leverage social media, it’s important to understand the channels available. In doing so, you can help maximize your reach, engage with the right people, and grow your business by achieving your goals. To keep...
Marketing Tools and Tactics
Did you know... There are more than 73 Marketing Tools & Tactics Every time we turn around, the world of marketing evolves and there is a new platform or tactic capturing your audience's attention. According to DigitalMarketer, there are 73 marketing activities...