Not reaching and converting the numbers of people you want? Replacing your marketing team is not the answer. Tune that team up! When you want to reach and convert more people, empowering and training your team to know their limits and identify when to take the car to the mechanic is a good option, and way more cost efficient.
Think about it: Do you buy a new car when something is broken?
You take your car to the mechanic because, even if you know how to take the car from a point A to a point B, you are not a specialist of what is under the hood. Very often, marketing teams get scared when management suggests an audit of their processes. Fear sets in. “Are they going to replace us?” Forget management! The marketing team itself should initiate this type of inspection. Just as you don’t like to spend your day at the mechanic waiting for your car, it is a better use of time than trying to figure it out yourself. You may even break something in the process that forces you to make even more expensive repairs.
When I tell this story, I hear some people telling me that they would prefer to have a “mechanic” in their staff just in case something happens. I understand the logic, but what does the “mechanic” do when everything is running fine? Usually, (s)he gets into the daily stuff that company marketers need to do to move the needle, and (s)he stops thinking with urgency because there are other time-sensitive projects to manage. After one year in the position, the mechanic becomes assimilated, and management wonders he cannot fix a problem as promptly as it popped up.
I consider myself as a Marketing fireman, always ready to put down fires and save lives. While it makes sense to have a fireman/firewoman, mechanic, plumber (whatever visualization you prefer), it is only suited to very few large organizations, startups with high growth, and companies that have a very aggressive approach to the market.
Superman is a great superhero, but let’s be honest, he sucks at his reporter job because he is always gone when there is a story to be written. He would fail all of his yearly employee reviews.
Audit your marketing team; your customers need it. Ask “lower-level” marketing personnel what needs to be done differently to improve results. Very often, people in contact with prospective customers (customer service, sales, or first-level marketing) have great ideas on how to improve the communication with clients. Make sure that the company’s culture allows employees to speak freely, and rewards them for doing so.