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Marketing organizations in the current business environment have a number of challenges before them due to advances in technology and the cultural shifts that are happening because of them. To build a 21st century marketing organization it’s important to look carefully at these challenges to determine how to best structure marketing teams to deliver the most effective results.

Bernie’s guest on this episode is Betsy Rohtbart, Vice President of Digital Marketing at Vonage. On this episode, Betsy shares the lessons she’s learned about building a modern marketing team - through her experience both on the agency side and on the brand side. Her insights can be applied by any marketing leader in any industry who is tasked with building and evolving a marketing team that needs both digital and offline marketing skills, so you can be sure, you will hear practical, real-world advice from what Betsy shares.

Vengreso is proud to be a partner with Frost & Sullivan on the 19th annual Marketing Executive MindXchange event: Marketing Impact 2025. We’ll be moderating a Think Tank discussion focused on Creating a Consistent Omni-Channel Customer Journey. Join us at Marketing Impact 2025 July 16 – 18, 2018 in Nashville, TN to mix and mingle with forward thinking marketing executives and thought leaders. As an event partner, we’re excited to extend a $250 savings to all Vengreso subscribers. Simply visit: www.frost.com/mar and use discount Do You Have The Right Structure In Your Marketing Organization?

When it comes to structuring your marketing organization in the most effective way, there are many pieces to the puzzle. The first is getting clear about what the team is trying to achieve and work backward from there, building the capabilities in your team through training and hiring the expertise you need to accomplish that goal. As you do, be aware that the result is that your marketing department won’t look like the marketing department of any other organization because it will be customized to meet the needs of your customers.

When it comes to hiring the expertise you need, Betsy says the illustration that makes the most sense to her is to think of your marketing team like a game of Tetris. Your marketing organization will have a variety of expertise “gaps” that need to be filled but don't expect a one-size-fits-all candidate to appear on your radar. Some people are pure generalists. Some are pure specialists. A good marketing department needs both, a mix that fills in all the gaps and is able to remain flexible as technologies and marketing approaches change.

What is More Important When Hiring, Business Acumen or “Fit” on The Team?

Betsy says that the modern marketing organization must be fully immersed in the company’s goals but also able to frame those goals to agency partners so they can be successful in delivering for clients. So business acumen is critical in that situation. Marketing leaders need to go into every relationship with the attitude that everyone they work with is just as much working for the company as they are, even when those people are outside agencies.

And when it comes to finding the agencies or individuals that will do the best job Betsy says she would rather hire someone who is the right culture fit even if they are not as technically qualified as another candidate. Many times, the technical skills needed for a role can be taught to people who don’t possess them, but the characteristics that make for a good culture fit cannot be taught. For that reason, culture fit is more important.

The Dos and Don’ts of Building A Great Marketing Organization

There is a tremendous amount of detail that goes into building a truly great marketing organization in the modern world. Toward the end of this conversation, Betsy shared her own list of dos and don’ts about how to build a great marketing organization.

1. It is clearly a necessity for marketing organizations to stay up on how the latest analytics tools work - but knowing how to use analytics tools doesn’t mean your team will be good analysts. Ultimately there is a level of finesse that has to be learned - and it is learned by observation over time.

1. Marketing leaders need to be aware that at the end of the day you have to evaluate what you did as a team, admit mistakes that were made, and make changes that bring improvement. Learn from your mistakes and move on.

1. Work to create an independent, problem-solving attitude in team members by encouraging them to escalate things to you AS problems arise rather than after things are already out of control. That way you’re not solving problems for them, but teaching them how to solve problems themselves.

1. Work to build a team that works together like a healthy family. As the team grows, managers may need to break teams down into smaller groups to maintain connection and synergy.

1. Managers should keep themselves accountable for understanding the needs of the team and for leading by example. Demonstrate best-practices but also demonstrate how to own your mistakes, learn from them, and grow as a result.

You can meet Betsy Rohtbart, Vice President Digital Marketing at Vonage at the Frost & Sullivan 19th Annual Marketing Impact MindXchange event, July 16-18 in Nashville, TN where she is speaking on this topic.

Featured on This Episode

• Connect with Betsy on LinkedIn
• Betsy on Twitter: @BetsyMRohtbart
• Vonage
• Vonage on Twitter: @Vonage

Outline of This Episode

• [0:40] Bernie’s introduction to Betsy Rohtbart, guest on this episode - her role at the company.
• [3:22] What does the 21st Century marketing department look like?
• [6:37] The role business acumen plays in the modern marketing department
• [8:36] What is the role of “fit” in the modern marketing organization?
• [11:06] How can marketing organizations stay current?
• [15:29] Management dos and don’ts for building a great marketing organization
• [21:27] The importance of managers being willing to take blame for their mistakes

Resources & People Mentioned

• BOOK: Good to Great by Jim Collins
• Adobe Analytics
• Core Metrics
• Google Analytics
• Alan Masarek, CEO of Vongage
• The Selling With Social Podcast with Vengreso CEO, Mario Martinez, Jr

Connect With Bernie and Social Business Engine

• https://www.facebook.com/socialbusinessengine/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernieborges/
• https://twitter.com/bernieborges
• https://twitter.com/sbengine

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This podcast originally appeared on Social Business Engine