How to Motivate Your Marketing Team

Different people have different motivations so it can be tricky to identify what works best for everyone, but there are some universally effective ways to inspire employees

How to motivate your marketing team: guide

Motivated employees are 87% less likely to resign from their roles

With this in mind, it’s important that managers understand what motivates their team in order to ensure they feel valued.

Different people have different motivations so it can be tricky to identify what works best for everyone, but there are some universally effective ways to inspire employees.

Let’s take a look at how to motivate your marketing team.

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Woman speaking to her colleagues in the office. She's at the head of the table.

1. Give your team a voice

One of the best ways to keep your team motivated is by evolving around them. As a manager, give your team the space to express their opinions and listen to what they have to say.

You might not agree with all of their ideas or suggestions, but it’s important to show your employees that their contributions are valued.

Letting go of control can be difficult, especially if your team has grown quickly and you’re not used to managing many people, but if it proves beneficial for the business, then giving over control to the people who know their job best is a great way to create a motivated workforce.

How to give your team a voice

  • Let team members take the lead on projects and in meetings

 

  • Give your team space to share and develop their ideas before saying ‘no’

 

  • Keep in mind that women in your team may be less likely to speak up in meetings, particularly those that are dominated by men

 

  • Look for opportunities to refer to your female colleagues for input and be present during meetings to understand when someone may want to speak but isn’t being given the opportunity.

2. Set clear goals

Another thing that helps employees feel engaged at work is having clear objectives and goals set out by management.

If there’s no direction provided by leadership, then employees will start feeling confused about where they stand within an organisation or department; this leads them into uncharted territory where there isn’t any guidance or assistance available when needed most.

Understand your leadership style and learn how to hone your leadership skills to ensure you are supporting your team in the right way.

Ways to hone your leadership skills:

  • Be self-aware and challenge your own thinking

 

  • Observe what other people need and ask them questions

 

  • Practise your communication

 

  • Be consistent, but know when to change things up

 

  • Embrace continuous learning in your work environment

3. Challenge your team to achieve more

As a leader, it’s important to challenge your team. Most people feel motivated by a challenge, so try to encourage your team to strive to improve their skills and achieve bigger goals.

Set specific and challenging goals that can be achieved within a reasonable time frame, making sure they are realistic and attainable for each individual member of the team. Setting unrealistic expectations will leave your employees feeling overwhelmed and stressed.

As well as setting goals for your team, make sure you then provide feedback on how your employees are doing so they know where they stand at all times and can continue to improve until they achieve success.

Examples of ways to challenge your team

  • Set collective goals for your team to achieve each quarter or year

 

  • Encourage your team to reflect on their own abilities and set themselves goals in areas they consider themselves to be weaker in

 

  • Discuss new skills that your employees would like to learn and support them in striving to achieve this

4. Bring in some fun

When considering how to motivate your marketing team, bringing in some fun is a great way to mix things up and keep your team engaged.

Which activity you choose as part of this step will depend on what makes sense for your workplace environment and culture overall; however, don’t forget that just because something feels like “work” doesn’t mean it has to be boring!

If there are any opportunities to make work feel more exciting, then definitely take advantage!

Ways to add more fun into your workplace

  • If your team loves music, you could set up a music quiz at the end of each week so everyone can compete against each other and have fun doing it

 

  • Or maybe there’s something else that your company could do on a regular basis—maybe it’s karaoke every Wednesday or monthly pizza parties

 

  • Fun doesn’t have to be organised, either. Encourage your team to take time away from their everyday tasks and do something they enjoy; perhaps it could be going for a walk, listening to a podcast or meeting a friend for coffee

5. Show that you value your team's contributions

Motivate your team by making it clear that you value their input and contributions.

Let your team know that they are valued and that their efforts are important. This can be done through praise, encouragement, and the occasional treat.

Motivating your marketing team can be a difficult task, but it doesn’t have to be. By making sure that you’re keeping them engaged with fun activities and challenging them to do better every day, you can inspire a high level of motivation in your employees.

How to acknowledge contributions and success

  • Acknowledge your team’s achievements publicly, whether in meetings, company emails or in other ways

 

  • Encourage your team to share their achievements too and make the workplace a supportive environment where your team feel that their achievements will be celebrated

 

  • Specifically acknowledge the different roles that people play in work-related successes, rather than congratulating everyone in a sweeping statement – this will help your employees feel like their contributions are valued

Support your team's development

94% of employees say they would stay at a company longer if they invested in their career.

It’s clear that employees want their employers to support their professional development, so ensuring that you prioritise this as a manager is a great way to keep your team motivated.

If your team have access to learning resources, courses and training opportunities to learn new skills, they will be more motivated to apply them to their role.

Don't wait for your team to approach you about development opportunities. Actively seek ways to support your team and suggest opportunities for training, development and progression

Be aware of your own gender biases when it comes to training, development and seniority in the workplace and do what you can to counteract them

Ensure that everyone is able to access the same training as others, even if they work part-time due to childcare responsibilities

Discuss your employee's training needs with them to ensure that they understand where they can seek development opportunities

Top tips to help you support your team's development:

Don’t wait for your team to approach you about development opportunities. Actively seek ways to support your team and suggest opportunities for training, development and progression

Discuss your employee’s training needs with them to ensure that they understand where they can seek development opportunities

Ensure that everyone is able to access the same training as others, even if they work part-time due to childcare responsibilities

Be aware of your own gender biases when it comes to training, development and seniority in the workplace and do what you can to counteract them

The Girls in Marketing Membership

Included in the Membership each member of the team gets access to:

  • Marketing-related workshops delivered by industry experts (these are recorded and can be re-watched at any time)
 
  • Virtual networking events to meet other marketers
 
  • A library of marketing templates and other resources In-depth courses (including both theoretical courses and comprehensive, practical guides to help people complete a marketing task step-by-step)
 
  • Access to our wonderful community through our Girls in Marketing Slack channel
Woman using Girls in Marketing membership

As well as the individual support we offer to your team members, we also work with you as a company to ensure your team is receiving the best experience possible.

We are constantly updating our member’s resources and improving the Membership, and we do so by collecting feedback from individual members and teams.

Fill in the form, to download this guide as a PDF

A question that most marketing managers will face at some point during their careers: how to motivate your marketing team.

There are few things more frustrating than working at a job where you feel undervalued and unmotivated. Research actually shows that motivated employees are 87% less likely to resign from their roles. With this in mind, it’s important that managers understand what motivates their team in order to ensure they feel valued. 

Different people have different motivations so it can be tricky to identify what works best for everyone, but there are some universally effective ways to inspire employees. Let’s take a look at how to motivate your marketing team.

Give your team a voice

One of the best ways to keep your team motivated is by evolving around them. As a manager, give your team the space to express their opinions and listen to what they have to say. You might not agree with all of their ideas or suggestions, but it’s important to show your employees that their contributions are valued. 

Letting go of control can be difficult, especially if your team has grown quickly and you’re not used to managing many people, but if it proves beneficial for the business then giving over control to the people who know their job best is a great way to create a motivated workforce.

Set clear goals

Another thing that helps employees feel engaged at work is having clear objectives and goals set out by management. If there’s no direction provided by leadership, then employees will start feeling confused about where they stand within an organisation or department; this leads them into uncharted territory where there isn’t any guidance or assistance available when needed most.

Understand your leadership style and learn how to hone your leadership skills to ensure you are supporting your team in the right way.

Challenge your team to achieve more

As a leader, it’s important to challenge your team. Most people feel motivated by a challenge so try to encourage your team to strive to improve their skills and achieve bigger goals.

Set specific and challenging goals that can be achieved within a reasonable time frame, making sure they are realistic and attainable for each individual member on the team. Setting unrealistic expectations will leave your employees feeling overwhelmed and stressed. 

As well as setting goals for your team, make sure you then provide feedback on how your employees are doing so they know where they stand at all times and can continue to improve until they achieve success.

Bring in some fun

When considering how to motivate your marketing team, bringing in some fun is a great way to mix things up and keep your team engaged. When you’re looking for ways to boost morale at work, try bringing in fun activities. For example, if your team loves music, perhaps you could set up a music quiz at the end of each week so everyone can compete against each other and have fun doing it. Or maybe there’s something else that your company could do on a regular basis—maybe it’s karaoke every Wednesday or monthly pizza parties—these are easy ways for everyone to bond over shared interests.

Whatever activity you choose as part of this step will depend on what makes sense for your workplace environment and culture overall; however, don’t forget that just because something feels like “work” doesn’t mean it has to be boring! If there are any opportunities within the confines of what’s currently available within your business model then take advantage!

Show you value their contributions

Motivate your team by making it clear that you value their input and contributions.

Let your team know that they are valued, and that their efforts are important. This can be done through praise, encouragement, and the occasional treat. 

Motivating your marketing team can be a difficult task, but it doesn’t have to be. By making sure that you’re keeping them engaged with fun activities and challenging them to do better every day, you can inspire a high level of motivation in your employees. 

If you’re looking for practical ways to improve your leadership skills and support your marketing team, join us for this year’s Marketing Leadership Virtual Conference on 13th and 14th September. The conference is a free 2-day event designed to equip senior marketers and marketing leaders with the knowledge and skills to lead their teams in the most efficient and effective way possible.