In its late-April Q&A with New York agency Summer Friday’s Michael Cruz, “Nine secrets to building and retaining high-performing marketing teams,” ClickZ covers a lot of important considerations for those overseeing marketing teams. Author Kamaljeet Kalsi kicks off the story saying, “Marketing talent attrition is a major pain point for managers and leaders globally.” We could not agree more!

Clients relied on Dept. 11 to help them solve this problem long before the pandemic changed business forever, and these challenges have only grown in scope and complexity as marketing teams try to avoid the Great Resignation and keep their teams and organizations on track. Some of the team-building principles Michael discusses with ClickZ get right at the heart of how we help clients succeed and our deep roots in marketing team building:

• “When I think about high-performing marketing teams the main focus is adaptability, one of a magnitude we’ve not seen before.”
• “People need a purpose to help them strike a balance in the workplace and life as they continually merge.”

Solving for attrition is only half the battle 

While we applaud all the times Michael shares tips for keeping high-performing teams in place, best practices to keep top talent engaged and more, in today’s hyper competitive marketing world, recruitment can be just as difficult. 

Marketing teams relying on anything less than a two-pronged strategy to add and retain talent are likely to fall short, but even this two-pronged strategy requires that “adaptability” that Michael mentioned. Today’s competitive hiring environment has made finding and hiring the right talent more difficult than ever. Currently, it’s a job seeker’s market with more job openings than available candidates. They have new demands (greater pay, better benefits, flexible schedules, remote work) and the leverage to wait for employers to meet them.

Staff augmentation and fluid staffing to the rescue

A great many organizations have embraced a staff augmentation strategy to help lessen the impact of this longstanding recruiting truth:

Onboarding a full-time employee is often not the most efficient or effective way to secure the best marketing talent or add those hard-to-find skill sets. More adaptable strategies like fluid staffing, project-based hiring, and staff augmentation partnerships can save the day.

At Dept. 11, we seamlessly extend client teams by functioning as either a staffing resource with a network of talented and reliable experts, or as a full-service marketing agency based on each client’s unique needs. We make being adaptable easier for clients, by expanding and contracting as their marketing needs ebb and flow. 

Contact Dept. 11 today to discover how we can elevate your approach to marketing team building and help you adapt on the fly like never before.