A friend of mine recently asked me what to look for when hiring their first marketing manager. Based on what he wanted to accomplish it was clear he needed someone who could generate inbound leads more than someone who could manage the more traditional aspects of marketing like event logistics, collateral production, etc. Those things could be part of the role, but secondary to growing the customer base through inbound marketing.
After sitting down and talking through my friend's goals and current capabilities, which were common for a small B2B software startup, we came up with a list of traits and skills.
Traits
- Entrepreneurial
- Resourceful
- Adaptable
- Self-Motivated
- Curious
- Analytical
Skills
- Writing
- SEO
- Marketing Automation Experience
If it appears the Traits well outweigh the Skills, you're right. In fact I even hesitated with including Marketing Automation experience because that can be learned if the traits are all there.
However, I had to include writing and SEO. Why? Here's the deal. When it comes to getting attention, whether it's from Search Engines or real people, you need to be able to communicate your company's message properly. That means this person will have to do a LOT of writing.
I believe in outsourced writing, in fact, I'm a big fan of WriterAccess.com and us it a great deal. However, I use freelancers for content that ISN'T about my company. If you're writing about your company you need an internal person who can really write.
SEO experience is also critical. SEO is complex and nuanced. It changes on a regular basis as well. Much can be learned on the job but you don't want it on your dollar. If you're starting from scratch, it will take months to begin seeing results from SEO so you need to hit the ground running.
And again, when it comes to SEO, there will be a lot of writing and editing. You want someone who can do that day in and day out and do it well.
The last skill, marketing automation, is where you might have to compromise. Skilled marketing automation folks are hard to come by, especially with writing and SEO skills. However, marketing automation will become the backbone of your marketing and sales organization so it's worth looking for those skills.
If you can find someone with those traits and those three skills:
- Hire them
- Work with them on messaging
- Give them a budget
- Bring in a few small vendors to handle paid advertising and design/development
- Grow
