It sometimes surprises my clients that I don’t teach in my my Marketing Excellence (Mx) programme.
I make the assumption that your marketing team are very talented – that’s why you, as a senior marketer, hired them. But when was the last time that you indulged your marketing team in a series of structured group activities that improve their marketing abilities and performance and rekindle enthusiasm in marketing best-practice? In 3 x 3 hr workshops Mx programme does exactly that.
Instead of teaching I set a series of carefully curated exercises that encourage the team as a whole to sense-check their current approach to marketing. Each activity is facilitated in a way that brings marketing back to the core principles of research, strategy and tactics.
Over the last month’s workshops , I’ve had the privilege of watching talented marketing professionals, from a leading global payment business, immerse themselves in discussions around segmentation, positioning, and brand strategy.
Every workshop that I deliver reveals valuable insights, but in this end of year piece, I thought I would share three standout learnings I have taken from delivering and facilitating the Mx programme this month – in the hope that this helps you, as a senior marketing leader, with your team in 2025.
1. Surveys Spark Discovery
In each workshop, I include a short survey to prompt self-reflection. Each survey consists of ten questions designed to explore critical areas of marketing practice. For example, in one workshop, participants assess their company’s customer-centricity, and in another, they evaluate the effectiveness of their company’s positioning, messaging, and use of brand codes across all touchpoints.
This month, these exercises revealed something powerful: differing opinions and perceptions among team members about the company’s marketing effectiveness. This led to surprisingly deep self-reflection and then to the realisation that marketing teams often need to “market” their own initiatives and expertise internally within their companies.
It was a stark reminder of the importance of aligning internal perspectives to drive external success. Post workshop feedback from participants revealed that, of all the activities, these surveys had the most profound impact, sparking powerful conversations about priorities and alignment.
2. Collaboration Fuels Growth
The workshop environment fostered open discussion and collaboration, providing a safe space for the participants – each talented marketers in their own right – to challenge assumptions and share diverse perspectives. Stepping outside the workplace environment allowed participants to see their work through a fresh lens.
Many had true moments of clarity, whether it was grasping a new viewpoint or deepening their understanding of a challenge they were facing. These discussions not only built camaraderie but also left participants highly motivated to implement improvements and changes in their daily practices.
3. Perspective Drives Motivation
One of the most inspiring realisations was how skilled and intelligent mosts marketing teams already are — they simply need the space to step back, take the “helicopter view,” consider different perspectives, and refine their processes.
Too often marketing teams are on the hamster-wheel of ‘business as usual’ – meeting deadlines and delivering initiatives. When given the time to challenge their own thinking and tweak their approaches, they leave the Mx sessions feeling re-energised, enthusiastic, and ready to make impactful changes. It reaffirms the incredible potential of marketing teams when they’re given the right opportunities to grow and evolve.
If you’d like to learn more about the workshops we offer and how they can help galvanise your team, align them to speak the same marketing language, and reinvigorate their passion for making customer-focused decisions, please email me and I’ll be delighted to meet on Zoom or face-to-face to explain more about how we can help your marketing team rediscover their best practice and drive real impact.
I’ll also be happy to walk you through the anonymised feedback so you can see what the teams took away from each session. It’s gold.
Read more about my Mx course here: shoot4themoon.co.uk.
