Day 15: Accountability

Day 15 of 30. Let’s talk about how to hold people accountable. Whether that’s your internal team or your marketing agency, you need to hold teams and people and your crew accountable to the business and to the dollar spent.

We’ve already talked about regular reporting and how crucial that is for you to understand and make good decisions, now let’s talk about setting goals.

Before you begin -whether there’s a new product to launch, a new location, we want to try something new, or whatever it might be- setting objectives and clearly articulating them is key. Then beyond that, it’s important to agree that those objectives are 1) the key objectives and 2) the important ones. There’s a lot in marketing that is about vanity. You don’t want to go after vanity- you want to go after things that actually move your business forward. So, agreeing before you start is huge on all fronts. 

Reporting, as mentioned before, is one way of holding the team accountable not necessarily to the task (you don’t want to micromanage) but to the outcome. Communicate early some desired markers like, “we want this many customers,” or “we need this many leads,” and then let them have the autonomy and trust that they are working to get to the right place by whatever means necessary. Clearly outline for them the boundaries like brand voice, principles, etc., and instill the conviction that we don’t ever violate them. We want to make sure that they don’t overstep any bounds or misrepresent the company.

Not every marketing practice is going to have an immediate, direct ROI, but what you’re looking for is an ROI from all of the marketing strategy. Ideally, setting good goals right before you begin is your best practice- both with your own team or with an agency. Those are really good solid conversations to have from the start.

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