A national study found that a whopping 43% of marketing teams report that their results were not satisfactory or positive. As a manager, it can be extremely frustrating to have an immensely talented marketing team that still can’t quite accomplish everything that you need them to do. While it is easy for team members to start pointing fingers, there may be some very avoidable roadblocks that are slowing everyone down.

If you find that your marketing team is struggling to stay on track, there may be some issues standing in their way that (thankfully) can easily be resolved.

Let’s discuss the top four obstacles that may be hampering your marketing team’s success.

Information Overload

Even the most talented teams are not immune to feeling overwhelmed, especially when it comes to big data and reporting. While the abundance of data and information has certainly helped many companies make better planning decisions, it can be difficult for teams to muddle through all of the numbers and understand how to interpret the dense information.

The sad fact is that most marketing teams are not trained well enough when it comes to determining the meaning behind the data. 90% of marketers do not know how to measure things like ROI and overall success of their strategies from big data metrics. With confusing terms about segments, filters, dimensions, and rates, it is easy for marketing teams to feel like they are reading an entirely different language when it comes to analytics.

It’s absolutely essential that marketing teams are able to determine which metrics are important so they don’t waste time gathering information that is unnecessary. If your team knows which metrics to pay attention to, it will help them break down the numbers more effectively.

Misalignment of Team Visions

Obviously, teams that have differing goals will find it difficult to work together successfully. 97% of employees agree that goal alignment has a direct impact on a project’s outcome, yet 44% of team members don’t even know what their company’s goals are!

It is up to team leaders to communicate a unified vision for the entire marketing team. The best way to get everyone on the same page is by encouraging employee engagement and participation in the process. By listening to questions, concerns, and suggestions of your employees, you can encourage your team members to be directly involved with every project.

Employee engagement plays a huge role in the success, satisfaction, and productivity of a business, and it affects the overall wellbeing of an organization. Highly engaged workplaces are 17% more productive and 21% more profitable, and employees that feel connected to their organization are less likely to leave their jobs. Encouraging this culture of engagement will help everyone in the team to become more connected and be able to work together more efficiently.

Unrealistic Expectations Without Sufficient Manpower

While it is important for leaders to set big goals for their team to accomplish, setting unrealistic ones can do more harm than good. The number one cause of stress for workers was having too many responsibilities at work, and 61% of employees reported that when they feel overwhelmed with an overbearing workload, their productivity levels declined.

It is important that leadership is connected with the marketing team to understand what is possible when it comes to expectations and outputs. Setting unattainable standards and goals for a team will only cause frustration and tension.

If your team is simply not able to consistently hit goals, then they may need help with better time management.  For this purpose, consider implementing a task management software to help everyone stay organized and connected to make things easier for your marketing team. A good system can make all the difference in making sure tasks and deadlines are clearly communicated and agreed upon. Even more, managers can track progress and efficiency to get a better understanding of their employees’ individual capabilities.

Unrealistic Recognizing Victories and Failures

It’s difficult to make improvements when you aren’t aware that things need to be fixed, which is why offering honest employee feedback is so necessary. Constructive criticism and deserved praise both have a strong positive effect on employee engagement and productivity, yet nearly half of all businesses do not offer any type of performance reviews.

Nearly 70% of workers wish that their employers would offer more feedback, and 69% state that having their accomplishments recognized would have a positive effect on their performance. By recognizing the victories of the team, members are encouraged and motivated to continue the pattern of success. On the other hand, managers and leaders do need to discuss past mistakes as well in order for the team to learn and adjust.

Marketing teams also need to pay extremely close attention to customer feedback and content engagement. This should be a driving force in determining what strategies worked and what needs to change. After all, there is no better way to know whether or not your efforts were a success than to hear it straight from the source. While reading the negative responses can be disheartening, it is important that teams use these reactions to make improvements for the future.

Conclusion

In order to run a successful marketing team, make sure that your team understands the in’s and out’s when it comes to analytical data reporting. Encourage open communication with goals and objectives so every member is on the same page and visions are aligned. Be sure that expectations are attainable for your team, and always give praise where praise is due.

Don’t let these roadblocks discourage your team to throw in the towel. All of these problems can be easily fixed if everyone is willing to pitch in and make a difference.  By making these small changes, you can certainly help your marketing team on the road to success.

 

About the Author: As Chief operations officer, Chief product officer and Scrum Product Owner, Sébastien is the mastermind behind Nutcache – an agile project management software with time tracking. He is a certified Professional Scrum Product Owner with over 20 years experience in project management in the software industry. His project related articles have been published on several major websites and blogs such as tech.co, smallbiztrends.com, business.com and many others.