First 6 months as new B2B Marketing Leader – Davinia Khong

Davinia Khong is a B2B marketing leader, a keynote speaker, and is the senior marketing leader for the APAC region at Backbase. Davinia drives lead generation and branding efforts for Backbase. Here she describes the challenges in the first six months of a marketing leader and makes an impact.

She shares the common traps a b2b marketer should avoid in initial days, the guiding rules behind a great career, and the marketing tips and roadmap for growth.

Three common traps that a marketing leader should avoid in the initial days are:

• Failing to focus: It will be information overload for an initial couple of months. Everyone will have their idea of how the marketing department should function. You are bound to be overwhelmed by the number of meetings, the flood of messages you are going to receive.
  
  Keep your focus and prioritize what is required. Do not say yes to everything. Stick to your game plan and list your achievements down to showcase your department heads.

• Failing to get the wins that matter to your boss, sales, & CEO:  Talk regularly with your higher-up folks every week. List your achievements so that you stay true to your game plan and aligning with the overall business strategy. Play to your strengths.

• Failing to ask for help: Do not get stuck in the bubble where you feel everything is going great. Build a relationship with your higher-ups so that they will give honest feedback on your performance. Do not take these to heart, instead use them as stepping stones to grow. Ask for additional help if you need to perform.

Three guidelines to avoid the above strangling traps are:

• Prepare, start before day 1: Speak to people who are better than you for guidance and mentorship. Especially with a secure network. Talk to agencies on their case studies. It has a ton of information and hidden jewels.

• Know your baseline: Dig into the KPIs and matrices. Identify what needs measuring; find out the quality of the audience and leads. Ask people about advice. You will get an idea of how they view marketing.

• Pitch the destination: Visualize what you want to achieve, and believe in it. Do not reinvent the wheel; just make it better. Test what is working and repeat it. Ask people for feedback during development and keep the communication open.

Three marketing tips and strategies for marketing leaders

• An influencer to influence: Before getting an influencer on board, you should understand that the medium is the message. Today the same word can be repeated, plagiarized blatantly. But the uniqueness of an influencer cannot be repeated.

• Short-term vs. Long-term: Have both the activities (short and long-term activities) planned. Keep an eye on the goals and pivot as the situation changes

• Spearfishing vs. casting the net: have a mix of content or messaging both for particular customers and the broader audience, respectively.

The 180 days roadmap for marketing leaders:

Quick Wins (60-90 days)

• Always be on the top of “Paid and Social Media” “Events/ meetings (Physical/Virtual)” Email Automation, Videos

• Look out for public relations and media partnership

• Leadership profiling

The wow factor (150-180 days)

Aim for delivering on the Influencer and pillar asset in the first half of the year. Then you can reap the benefits of the activity during the latter part of the year.

• Prepare a teaser launch. Integrated E2E

Prepare your Pilot projects (30 -180 days)

• Assign and recruit people and agency resources for your pilot projects

• Discuss the viability of the pilot projects and check on your MarTech Stack.

She also shares various other tips for marketing leaders in sailing them through the tough times and pushing career beyond limits.