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New Marketing Job? Six Things To Master in Your First Month

New Marketing Job? Six Things To Master in Your First Month

Is a new marketing job in your future? Or have you recently taken the leap to a new employer? Nearly three-fourths of senior HR leaders say that success or failure during the first few months is a strong predictor of overall success or failure in the job.

That means you have to hit the ground running. No coasting allowed.

Two main objectives should be on the top of your agenda in your first month as an inbound marketer: learn and plan. Here are the six most important things to learn and do in those important early days.

1. Meet your team.

Your first days on the marketing job are not the time for sitting alone at your desk during lunch or ducking out the door at the first opportunity. Take time to get to know the people you will be working with.

You can use both informal opportunities, such as lunch with a group, or more formal “discovery” meetings over coffee with individual team members, to learn more about each person’s area of expertise, duties, and way of working.

 

2. Identify a mentor.

While your supervisor and peers on your own team are obviously important people to build relationships with, it is also helpful to identify a mentor to help you navigate your new company and role. Choose someone who “knows the rules of the road,” says Katie Burke, director of talent and culture at HubSpot. It should be someone who can answer questions such as how to convince your manager to approve something or even where to go to get an extra power cord.

3. Get your technology ducks in a row.

By the end of your first month, you should be completely organized and hooked in to the technology infrastructure in your company, including everything from getting connected to a printer to learning to use your company’s conference call technology and project management software such as Trello or Evernote.

Find a complete list of 15 different basic tasks to set up your desk, technology and business needs for the months ahead in Your First 100 Days: Succeeding in Your New Marketing Job.

4. Embrace inbound marketing.

If you are new to inbound marketing, now is the time to immerse yourself in learning about this customer-centric approach. This blog is a great place to start to get a feel for how inbound marketing works, as we cover a wide range of topics relating to inbound.

Or check out this series of content marketing videos for a quick run-down:

Our partner HubSpot offers a wide range of resources in their HubSpot Academy and their family of blogs.

5. Learn about your company’s products, services and personas.

Spend time each day reviewing your new employer’s current marketing materials, blogs, and internal documents such as branding guidelines and content strategies. Now is the time to ask questions. “You’re new, so you get a free card to do this,” says Mark Walker, content marketing and social media manger at Eventbrite UK. “Challenging, or at least understanding, pre-existing assumptions will give a greater feel for where you can have the biggest impact in the short-term.”

 

Many companies use a strategy management tool known as an M-SPOT: mission, strategy, playbook, obstacles and targets. Get a copy of your company’s M-SPOT and review it. If your new employer doesn’t formally use this tool, use the template on page 9 of our ebook Your First 100 Days to outline your own version.

Take time also to familiarize yourself with the various buyer personas your company has identified. All of this background information will be helpful in step 6 below.

6. Identify and plan your first key projects.

While your first month may largely revolve around getting your feet wet, you will soon need to dive in. During your first 100 days in a new marketing job, you should have at least five big projects you are working on to impact the business. By the end of the first month, plans for at least one of those projects should be outlined so you are ready to move ahead.

You need to work closely with your manager to determine what those projects will be. They should be strongly tied to your job description, with an understanding that these could be career-defining projects that allow you to get quick wins and set you up for success in the coming months and years.

Use a project template, such as the one on page 12 of Your First 100 Days, to answer the following questions:

  • What is this project? What are the end product and the goal?

  • Why is this a good investment of my time?

  • What steps will I need to take to complete the project?

If you get through the first month in your new job with a firm understanding of your business and its goals and plans for your first few major projects in hand, you will be ready to start making a difference for your new company. Find more recommendations for a successful debut in Your First 100 Days: Succeeding in Your New Marketing Job.

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