How to Succeed as a One-Person Marketing Department
One-person marketing teams aren’t uncommon. In fact, you’ll find that many marketers are being asked to be social media managers, content creators, lead generators, customer service experts, SEO specialists, and advertising pros (to name a few). If those titles ring true for you, never fear. Solo marketers can build a robust marketing machine for their organizations with the help of the right tools and strategic planning.
Laying the Groundwork
Whether you’re new to a company or on the hunt for a better marketing solution, it’s key you set the stage for your solo show to succeed. Here’s how:
Set Clear Expectations
When multiple demands are made on your time, it is critical you protect yourself and your resources to do your best work. Set clear expectations with your colleagues and leadership about realistic timelines, outcomes, and resources so that they understand what you have on your plate.
Buckle up because this is the space for you to defend your decisions, demonstrate your expertise, and protect your time. Avoid unnecessary meetings and block out your schedule so you can have the time to actively work on the projects that produce results
Stay Organized
As the god Hercules once said, “A hero is only as good as his weapon.” Well, a marketer is only as good as the systems they put in place. Organization will be the wind in your sails and the framework for all you do as a one-person marketing team.
A comprehensive calendar that tracks content publishing dates, project workflows, important holidays, and product drops can help you prioritize tasks and propel you forward. Scheduling your work time can also be a massive productivity boost rather than staring at your to-do list with dread. Whether you work with spreadsheets or a sophisticated CRM, find a way to track and monitor your progress.
Align with Business Objectives
To enable your success, get onboard with all other departments about the key elements of your marketing strategy. This will break down obstacles that could slow your processes and stop you from investing time and energy into projects that will ultimately get turned down. Collaborate with your leadership to clearly define the following:
A brand guide: brand voice, fonts, graphics, colors, etc.
Target audience: who are you talking to, how do they come to need your product/service
Big-picture company goals and how marketing goals might support them
Brand identity and vision
Taking Action
With your foundation in place, it’s time to get to work. One-person marketing teams often have so many different demands on their time that it requires a little bit of homework to determine where to best invest your energy for the maximum impact. That’s why we suggest starting with a marketing audit of sorts.
How to Conduct a Marketing Audit
So, what goes into a marketing audit? Essentially you need to evaluate what areas of your marketing are effective, where there are opportunities to improve, and what resources you do have. Here are five questions to help launch you into that audit mindset as you determine your next steps.
Which channels or campaigns have delivered the highest ROI?
Are we reaching our target audience effectively?
What type of content or messaging resonates most with our audience?
Where are the bottlenecks in our customer journey?
How well are we measuring and analyzing our performance?
These questions should guide you on your quest toward actionable insights that will help you refine your marketing strategy.
Identify Key Traffic Channels
Now, we are on the hunt for where new customers are finding you. Look at your traffic and engagement data—what platforms are seeing regular results?
This is where some marketers can start feeling overwhelmed. Social media alone offers dozens of options for marketing your business, but are any of those currently working for you?
Don’t forget to evaluate your website, customer referrals, online inquiry forms, lead magnets, email lists, events, and community engagement. Avoid the urge to be on every platform and double down on your top-performing channels and campaigns. Instead, ask: Where does your business shine?
Amplify What’s Working
Now that you’ve identified your high-performing channels transform them into an endless fountain of new leads. Find new ways to amplify those results through optimization. For example, if you are succeeding with new email subscribers, build out more drip campaigns or create a subscriber-only newsletter. If you get attention through organic website traffic, create unique, engaging content and regularly evaluate your SEO. The goal is to strengthen what is already working rather than trying to build up channels that need more time and effort to produce results.
Use Data for Continuous Improvement
Rely on data to help you make strategic decisions quickly and efficiently. Regularly review performance on your website, emails, social channels, and paid ads. You can make adjustments where needed and stay agile as you adapt new strategies. Much of marketing comes down to testing, so be prepared to pivot if something doesn’t quite produce the results you were looking for.
Your Marketing Toolbox
When resources are tight and you are strapped for time, having the right tools can be transformative to how you run the marketing side of your business. Start by evaluating your strengths and weaknesses (be honest, it’s just you that you’re talking to). Understanding gaps in your skillset will be part of how you determine where these tools may come into play.
Automation and AI
Automation and AI continue to make new advancements in tech that (mostly) make everyone’s lives a little bit easier. For marketing, there are multiple opportunities for you to implement automation and AI while still giving your customers a genuine experience.
Automation comes in clutch for email marketing and social media management. Get all your deliverables (emails, social posts, etc.) set up to deliver automatically so you don’t have to hit send at the exact right moment. Email campaigns can be set up to move customers along in their journey without any additional oversight.
Tools like chatbots can help you manage large influxes of customer inquiries by segmenting questions and tackling FAQs. In fact, chatbots now participate in 39% of all chats between consumers and businesses. Other AI, like ChatGPT, can act as a sounding board for ideas and build project outlines.
Outsource to Strategic Partners
You don’t have to walk the marketing path entirely alone. As previously mentioned, outlining your strengths and weaknesses as a marketer can help you define areas where using a contractor or agency could benefit you. Even if you are a full-stack marketer, removing some tasks from your list to an outside partner could give you back the time to focus on your core objectives. Consider the advantages of outsourcing social media management, SEO, or content writing and how their deliverables could make you a more effective marketing leader at your organization.
Lean on Internal Team Members
Even if marketing isn’t part of their job description, internal team members may have resources or skills that could help with certain marketing responsibilities. Product teams give great insights into content marketing. Customer service could help you list out FAQs and provide feedback on website UX design.
Succeeding as a Solo Marketer
The best marketers know when to ask for help. Building up resources and relationships to support your marketing efforts will make you more effective at driving impactful results for your company.
For help crafting communications and content that connects with your audience, there’s Comma Copywriting. Let us deliver timely, relevant content straight to your inbox. Get started by getting in touch with us and scheduling a 20-minute copywriting chat. We’ll help you rock the stage as a solo marketer.
