Kathleen Booth

One of the best investments you can make in your career is to build a strong network, both online and offline. Online networking is an excellent way to gain exposure to a broader audience that can help surface opportunities while also exposing you to new ideas and perspectives. Consistency is key with online networking. Once your profile is set up and completed, you should be setting aside time on a regular basis to post on your own profile, and respond to others' posts. The key here is to approach it with a "give before you get" mentality. Focus on behind helpful, answering questions, and making introductions. This is how you will build relationships and gain the trust of your network.

Before evaluating different marketing automation solutions, it's important to start with a needs assessment. Begin by listing out the specific functionality you require, ranking each requirement as a must have, nice to have, etc. In addition, it's important to evaluate who on your team will be involved in implementation and ongoing usage of the solution you select. Their level of experience and technical expertise will help determine whether you'll need specialized support to get the most out of your chosen solution. Finally, know how much you're willing to spend. This may be a specific budget, or it may be a level of spend determined by the expected ROI of your marketing automation solution.

Marketing automation uses technology to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and impact of your marketing team and budget. It's a tool, and like any other tool, it is only as effective as the people using it and the strategy behind it. For B2B marketing teams, this means setting clear objectives for why you're investing in marketing automation, what you hope to get out of it, and what your expectations are for how the team will use it. Clear expectation setting, coupled with structured onboarding, ongoing training and regular monitoring and measurement of results, will build a strong foundation for success.

Marketing automation used to be a premium solution reserved for larger companies with generous budgets. The reality today is that there are automation solutions for companies all sizes and budgets - including a number of free options for companies just getting started. Arguably, if you have any kind of regular marketing function within your business, and you are active on more than one channel, you should be using some sort of marketing automation solution. Doing so will save you time, allow you to do more with less, and eliminate human errors while also improving your marketing results and your ability to track what's working and what's not.

Too often, we wait until our teams experience big wins to celebrate. Meanwhile, our teams are working hard and accomplishing things on a daily and weekly basis that help drive organizational outcomes. Celebrating this as its happening is the best way to reinforce the behavior you're looking to drive within your team and build morale.

Change management in any situation is about communicating early and often, and starting with WHY. Most marketers expect change - what they need in order to navigate it effectively is context. As a marketing leader, it's your job to explain what the change is, why it is happening, and what the expected impact will be on the company, the customers, and the team. Starting this conversation early has an added benefit of creating space for the team to provide feedback and share their perspective. Often, this can help identify risks or impediments that otherwise leadership may not recognize.