This is how you become the best marketing manager – five tips + bonus tip!

I keep saying it, make sure you know your products and services. By using products in your personal life, for example, or by installing them yourself. When your products are in your head, as well as your heart, you will be able to talk to everyone – from management to technical staff and customer service. And you will be able to create marketing and communication that really matters. With content aimed at tips and tricks for end users for example, through your own various communication channels. But also through internal communication about the challenges you are facing. A good marketing manager is not afraid to search his own heart and take a critical look at his own products and services. This is the only way to provide optimal customer service. 

Personally, I hate routine. As soon as I notice I’m taking things for granted, I start looking for new angles. This helps me a lot in my role. A marketing manager simply is the creative focal point of an organization. It’s up to you to look for boundaries, face new challenges and create concrete ideas. Make sure you talk to other parties about this matter – your team, the management, the sales department. And don’t be afraid of rejection. Keep developing your ideas and keep talking. The management and the sales manager want to hear different arguments. Put yourself in another party’s position and before you know it people will go crazy over your creative ideas. 

As a marketing manager you never work alone. From internal teams to external website developers, translators and communication offices – you are all working towards the same goal: to stay top of mind with the end customer. That’s why you need to select your partners and suppliers with care. Make sure you don’t just choose the most creative office for example, but find out if future partners have the same mindset and culture. For current relationships the two key words ‘trust’ and ‘invest’ apply. Be yourself in relation to other parties, be honest and dare to trust each other. If one of you makes a mistake, the point is to solve it together – after all you’re a team. Don’t cease all cooperation when a mistake occurs, but invest in a long-lasting relationship. 

I like to do odd jobs around the house when I’m off work. One thing my hobby taught me is the importance of having the right tools. That’s why ‘never save on the right tools’ serves as my motto – both at home and at the office. The right tools make your work easier, faster, and more pleasant. The way I see it, a marketing manager can’t do without two tools. First, a headset. Once a terrible tool in my opinion, but now crucial if I want to do my job. The sound and connection are always perfect and more importantly, a headset offers you freedom of movement. You are able to pace up and down, look out the window or gesture during your call – anything to support your creative process. The second tool is the general flip chart, or just a regular whiteboard. It helps you see the overall picture and offers you direct insight into to-do lists, brainstorming ideas and focus points. Doodling on an A4 paper doesn’t work. Think big – your ideas require more space! 

This tip particularly applies to international marketing managers. It might be tempting for them to speak from personal experience too much – ‘in the Netherlands we see this or that’, ‘in France this or that happens’. Don’t! Try to use examples from other countries and focus on international situations. Keep in touch with other countries and visit them regularly. Only then you really are a representative international marketing manager. 

It might be cliché-ridden, but your job also needs to be your hobby in a certain way. The days will be long if you don’t. Without passion or enthusiasm for your products or industry, it’s hard to believe in the things you do. Or worse, it might block your creativity during your conversations or tasks. And without passion or enthusiasm you will also notice that you won’t recognize ‘connections’ between your product or service and certain everyday situations. And that’s a shame, because that’s where the best stories and opportunities are situated for you as a marketing manager. 

Of course I like to talk about my job. Even after office hours, with various people around me. Sometimes I’ll talk about telephony, other times I’ll talk about marketing, how to serve clients optimally or how to convince them to buy our products. The list goes on. You have to be able to handle this, but you also have to enjoy it. And that’s exactly the reason I’ve worked in high-tech environments for over fifteen years now.