Like most marketers, I’ve had plenty of successes, but I’ve my fair share of failures, too.
So I was thinking today about what led to those failures. And when I look back at the ideas that didn’t do so well, it usually comes down to one thing: trying to flying solo.
In other words, when I’ve gotten feedback and support from my team ahead of time, my ideas were more likely to succeed.
But when I failed to so, failure was more often the outcome.
Unfortunately, I learned this the hard wayâŠ
A Failed Campaign That Should Have Never Gone Live
A few years ago, there was this one Facebook ad campaign that I was really excited to test out. Some new message I thought would really hit home.
So I grabbed one of our designers, and a few hours later we had it launched.
And guess what?
It was a dud.
Itâs not that you shouldnât run experiments and be comfortable with some failures in marketing. Thatâs key to learning.
But if I had taken ten minutes to get some feedback from a couple of people in sales, they would have told me right away that the message wouldnât resonate.
My shortsightedness had caused us to waste time and money, when we could have easily avoided it.
Whoops.
Excluding Your Team Means Failures in Marketing
This is just one example, but if you fail to get support and feedback from your team before you launch major marketing initiatives, there are a few bad outcomes you’re putting yourself at risk of:
- Hard to verify success. If you want to others to see your idea as a success, you’ll need to agree on what success looks like ahead of time. This means putting in the right metrics in place and aligning on how they’re tracked. It’s much easier to do this upfront.
- Lack of effort from your team. If others aren’t convinced that your ideas is worth doing, but you rely on their support to get it done, then you may not get more than a token effort from them. No one wants to spend time on a project they don’t believe in!
- No ongoing support. Even if an idea you’ve tested shows promising results, it won’t matter if your team doesn’t have the bandwidth to support a new initiative month after month. Addressing this ahead of time can help avoid that.
- Poor results. Like in my example above, you spend time on an idea that could easily have been improved if you had sought feedback. Get input from whoever is closest to the problem and you’ll be much better off.
Why We Fail To Involve Others
If it sound obvious that including your team up front can help you avoid those outcomes, why is it still so tempting to move forward alone?
A big reason is fear.
Fear that our idea wonât ever get off the ground because others donât see its value.
Fear that weâll be missing out if we donât get something done right away.
Fear that an idea will get âruinedâ if others provide input.
When we operate out of this fear, it ends up being easier to just âdo somethingâ than to spend time getting input ahead of time.
But ultimately you have to get over that fear if you want to succeed consistently – especially if youâre part of a marketing team.
Itâs something Iâll always be trying to improve on, but here are a few things Iâve learned that have helped me be more successful in getting my teamâs feedback and support and avoid failures in marketing.
How to Get Your Team To Back Your Marketing Ideas
Be Open To Being Wrong
No one likes a know-it-all. And as smart as you might be, youâre still not going to be right 100% of the time. Admit this up front and it will be much easier to create a sense of collaboration with your team.
Recognize That Not Every Idea Has To Win
If every single one of your ideas is a âmust doâ, well, that just gets annoying. Donât try to win every battle. If you have a smart team and they tell you something is a bad idea, maybe it is. Or maybe it isnât, but if you let your team veto a few ideas, theyâll be more supportive of the ones that you do drive forward.
Listen, Then Recommend
Ever visit a mechanic who âknowsâ whatâs wrong with your car even before youâve had a chance to explain everything thatâs going on? No one likes that mechanic, even if heâs right. To avoid that outcome, ask others to tell you what they think is going wrong before you make any recommendations. Youâll earn their support in the process.
Turn âYourâ Idea Into âOurâ Idea
If an idea is yours and yours alone, there are two problems. First, it probably has issues that youâve overlooked. Secondly, no one is going to get excited about âyourâ idea. But if they have the chance to critique and improve your idea, then it becomes âtheirâ idea too.
Be Patient
Sometimes people just need time to think through a marketing idea before they can back it. If you have people like that on your team, give them some time to process it before pressing for their support. Not only will they appreciate the chance to ponder your proposal, but theyâll probably have some good advice on how to improve it too.
Crawl, Walk, Run
If you have an idea for a major initiative thatâs going to represent a big commitment, start small first. It will be easier to get others to back the effort if they can see signs of success from a test.
Build Trust Before Going Big
This one matters especially if youâre new on a team. You might have the right idea for a brand overhaul, a major event, or a dramatic change to the teamâs way of operating. But it will be hard for many people to back those ideas if you havenât established trust and credibility first.
Reference What Others Have Done
Chances are, your ideas have already been attempted by someone else. So if youâre sensing some hesitation, point to other successful executions of your idea to help others see how itâs done and what a successful outcome looks like.
Empathize
Ask enough people about your idea, and youâre going to find concerns, questions, and probably some pushback. Maybe these comments are valid, or maybe theyâre just driven by emotion. If itâs the latter, then sometimes people just need to be heard. Even if you donât agree with them, youâll be able to build trust just by listening and empathizing with where they are coming from.
Understand That Not Everyone Sees Marketing The Same Way
Marketing is such a broad discipline. Marketers and non-marketers alike can have widely different views on what marketingâs role is and how it should be executed. So sometimes you have to get clarity on this before you move forward. If your team doesnât align on this, then youâll have systemic issues that will continually get in the way!
Great Marketing Isnât About You
Whether youâre leading a marketing team or contributing to one, being successful and avoiding failures in marketing over the long term means putting your ego aside.
Yes, pushing some initiatives forward on your own can be gratifying in the near term.
But more often than not, if you exclude your team from providing input and fail to get their support, you’re only hurting your odds of success.