It’s about that time of year when everyone is dreaming about what Santa is going to leave under the tree for them. Except marketers. We’re dreaming about one of OUR favorite times of year—budgeting!
Amy, you’re crazy! Who likes budget season?
Marketers do! We get to think big and pull out all the creative stops, scheming about how we’re going to sell more widgets next year. If you’re one of the marketers on Santa’s Good List, maybe you even have additional headcount and budget coming your way!
If we do our jobs well at Wheels Up, our clients grow like weeds. Them getting headcount is (almost) a foregone conclusion. Deciding how to use this precious resource is a big responsibility. New hires have the ability to raise the bar and exponentially contribute, or drag you down into the management sludge. We frequently help clients make headcount allocation decisions, sometimes going so far as to write job descriptions, source candidates, and conduct interviews.
Yay! Additional headcount! Wait… who the heck should we hire?
When you’re trying to decide what the skills profile of your new hire should be, here are some things to consider.
But first, a piece of unsolicited advice: Really be honest with yourself about how much time your team has to contribute to managing, supporting, and developing your new hire. Sometimes it makes sense to get the smartest, most senior person you can so they can come in and immediately add value. Other times, it’s a good idea to find someone junior with the right personality and intellectual chops to develop into the marketeer you need. Neither is a bad decision, but both can have significant consequences if you choose the wrong path.
Three roles to add to the in-house shortlist:
Roles that require very specialized product or industry knowledge. Or, if your company relies on a significant body of tribal knowledge, adding someone to the team who can centralize this super important intel and use it to make great marketing decisions will raise the bar. Product marketers, subject matter experts, highly technical writers—you need these folks to know every detail of your business, and outsourcing sometimes runs into long ramp times and mediocre, generalized work.
Rockstar marketing generalists are always solid team hires. You know the type I’m talking about—they have great instincts, can pick up whatever project you throw their way, and work well cross functionally to pull marketing in close with other departments. If you find one of these rockstar generalists, hire them!
Someone to handle the lower-skill, repeatable tasks—the grunt work that has to get done but is decidedly not the highest impact thing that you personally can contribute. Find yourself a marketing admin and get this stuff off your plate. Make your to-do list and prioritize it from highest value to lowest. Then look at the bottom quarter and delegate. Social media scheduling and (some) content creation, events logistics, regular admin tasks like scheduling blog posts and keeping projects on schedule with vendors—these are all tasks that can be taken on by a competent, fresh-out-of-school marketer who is looking for some great all-around experience. And as an added bonus, if you find an aspiring rockstar, you can help develop them into a core part of your team for years to come.
Three roles to consider outsourcing:
Roles that require specialized expertise are ripe for outsourcing. Think about SEO or digital advertising. These industries change fast, and you need an expert who is in the weeds all day, every day, to truly reap the benefits of this type of work. Web devs and CRM administrators are other good examples. Until you have enough work to keep these people busy full time (which most small and medium businesses don’t), it doesn't make sense to bring one on full time.
Experienced, high volume marketing generalists can churn out lots of work with little hand holding. These roles are perfect to bring for outsourcing to a contractor or agency to quickly add bandwidth. Writing generalists, copy editors, and designers all fit this bill. Because it takes so little time to onboard these folks, outsourcing this work is an efficient way to turn on (and off) extra bandwidth quickly with little disruption to the rest of your team. They can swoop in, complete a project or two, and then disappear until you need them again. So again, until you have enough consistent work to keep these roles very busy, pass.
Very expensive hires deserve extra consideration before adding to the team. Are you really ready for a full-time CMO? Or would a fractional engagement be enough? Most early stage startups could benefit from the strategic expertise of a senior strategy leader, but a c-suite salary is out of reach. Fractional marketing leaders have been on the rise in 2024, and you likely can find one who has specific experience in your industry and at your company’s growth stage. And most of the time the CMO you need when you have $2M in revenue is not the right person to lead the organization when you are at $20M in revenue, making your first CMO a short-ish term hire anyway.
No matter who you decide to hire, make sure that they have the dedicated support they will need to be successful. If you know me at all, you know that this is my favorite soapbox. Managers need to manage. Be realistic about your team’s bandwidth and their ability to bring on any new marketeers—inhouse or adjunct. Sure, another body is going to up your team’s output, but they will also increase demands on the rest of the team, too.
Lastly, as you consider candidates, be sure to prioritize the things you can’t teach someone how to do, like attitude, curiosity, and culture fit. If you have a great manager lined up to oversee your new hire, they can learn most everything else.
Congrats! It’s exciting to grow your team! Have fun with it. If we can help, let me know. (And because I’ll get in trouble if I don't mention it—we’re here to help with the work you decide NOT to bring in house, too!)
Happiest of holidays from the Wheels Up team!
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