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You're better off doing your own marketing work in house. You have more control and independence. You develop key capabilities. And you probably save money.
Not many providers of marketing services will tell you this, but it's generally true--provided you have the staffing and the in-house skills you need to do the work yourself.
And even if you don't have all the in-house talent and skills you need, it's often better to hire and develop than to rely on outsiders.
Even so, outsiders can offer value in these short-term situations:
The world of B2B marketing is changing fast. A stream of technical innovations have enabled buyers to shop very differently from the way they did just five years ago.
Most B2B companies are shifting their marketing from traditional print or paper media to digital and online media.
But today’s digital media require knowledge and skills that barely existed just eight years ago. Here are a few examples:
Chief marketing officers (or CMOs) say their teams aren’t adapting fast enough. And their teams don’t have the resources they need to do their job properly. Demands on marketing teams are growing faster than marketing headcount.
Experienced marketers may not have the mindset or all skills they need to execute digital strategies effectively.
Younger marketers who do have the right skills are often in short supply. And they may lack the business experience you need to have on your team.
Marketing leaders have a hard time finding the right people. They can’t just fire the staff they have and hire “digital natives.” They also need the business experience of their more senior staff.
In this environment, it often makes sense to upgrade the skills of current employees. That’s where training or coaching can add value.
But don’t count on advertising or marketing agencies to help you develop the new skills. They’re in the same boat as most CMOs. They have a hard time finding the right talent for their own transition to digital. In addition, they’re in business to do things for you. They won’t want to teach you how to succeed without them.
It can be hard to find good sources of coaching or training for B2B marketing--especially in areas that are changing fast. Paper books on marketing are often out of date by the time they're published.
Packaged training programs also tend to go out of date fast. And off-the-shelf training, by definition, isn't tailored to your needs.
You face four common challenges in building the skills of your marketing team. The training programs available to you are often:
The best training is the opposite of all these things. It’s relevant, appropriate, current, effective, and flexible.
But even the best training still has the big limitation of being a one-time or occasional event. Most of us quickly forget the lessons we learn from occasional training.
Coaching can be a good choice when you want to surpass the limitations of training and don’t have appropriate mentors on staff to coach your own team.
Coaching can improve performance, mindset, and skills in ways that aren’t possible through training. Coaching involves one-on-one interactions that help people grow by doing, asking, and receiving feedback. It occurs within the context of a specific job or project. With coaching, your people can ask plenty of questions as they work through their day or week.
We watch over your shoulder. We help you do real work from day to day. We stick with you. It’s a longer involvement.
Here are the benefits:
Redwell offers coaching in these areas:
Redwell uses collaborative tools to provide coaching, including telephone, email, Google Hangouts, Skype, GoToMeeting, or your preferred medium.
Depending on your needs, we will set a reasonable monthly fee. You can stop your coaching whenever you like.
Redwell offers training in these areas:
We deliver training remotely (by webinar) to small groups. We also provide training in person.
If Redwell doesn't offer exactly the kind of coaching or training you want, we'll be happy to suggest capable alternatives.
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