As communications manager, I’m always looking for ways and to amplify the reach of our campaigns and to optimize engagement both internally and externally. I don’t have a big team but we can be pretty scrappy and I’ve managed to pull together some really strong partners internally to ensure we are working hand in hand to pull together our best ideas and talents to launch truly integrated marketing communications campaigns. Collaboration is key here and you have to be able to manage both vertically and horizontally. Here are the key players:
- Director of digital marketing
- Our in-house graphics designer/video editing guru
- Various marketing partners (depending on the initiative and platform our activities are tied to)
I can’t emphasize how critical it is to develop strong relationships with these key partners internally as you have to be able to work seamlessly together to optimize resources and ideas. We lock arms around business planning every year to ensure our plans for the following year are aligned and integrated so that digital activities support big marketing and communications activities planned for that year. When time to execute, we have to work very closely together to ensure that we’re pulling together our external partners including our digital marketing agency and PR agency so that the work they deliver is seamlessly tied together and that we’re executing things internally as appropriate to save on costs and to maximize our budgets.
It’s around the time of year when budget planning gets kicked off for the following year so this topic is top of mind for me at the moment. For those interested in dipping your toes on the corporate side, these are some helpful insights that will help you be successful that first year when you’re looking to make an impact and during that critical period when relationships are formed.