Top Tips for Highly Effective & Productive Marketing Meetings {Updated}

As a leader of a marketing team or a leader of a company, you probably know just how important it is to conduct regular meetings with your employees. When it comes to marketing, though, meeting up regularly with your team members to discuss your marketing strategy, workflow, and objectives, is crucial for the success of your marketing campaigns. But of course, it’s not just about meeting up regularly, it’s about maximizing the effectiveness and productivity of every meeting.

Because after all, sitting around a conference table or talking for an hour on Zoom doesn’t guarantee that you’ll get anything done, or that you’ll be able to maximize performance as a result. No, your meetings need structure, they need order and an agenda, and they require the right tech to communicate data and ideas effectively.

So, let’s put all of that into perspective and give you a guide to conducting highly effective marketing meetings that deliver results.

IDENTIFY THE GOALS AND THE TALKING POINTS

To start, don’t schedule another meeting with your team until you know how to set goals and define the talking points. Yes, there is a lot to talk about, and yes, there might be many goals you’re trying to achieve, but that doesn’t mean that all of those should find their way into your meeting. After all, there’s only so much you can achieve in a short timeframe.

So, your first order of business is to set the right goals for every meeting, and then identify the key talking points. You can do this by:

• Identifying the purpose of the meeting.
• Prioritizing tasks and objectives.
• Listing the people who need to attend.
• List the decisions that have to be made by the end of the meeting.
• Setting SMART goals to give more structure and order to your meeting.
• Setting time aside for miscellaneous issues and talking points.

INVITE THE RIGHT PEOPLE, EMAIL THE REST

Leaders love to organize meetings with their remote teams, and there’s a good reason for it. Organizing a video meeting allows the leader to be in control, communicate their thoughts effectively, and get feedback in real-time. However, even though that might be what you need, it might not be what your employees need.

We all know that at least one of our meetings could have easily been an email, which is why it’s imperative that you only invite the crucial people, and email the rest. Not everyone in your marketing team needs to attend all of the time, so just meet up with the key actors, talk about your marketing campaign, and send an email to everyone else defining the next steps. That way, everyone’s happy, the meeting is more productive and less cluttered, and people are able to devote time and energy to other crucial tasks.

USE THE RIGHT TECH TO COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY

Business technology allows us to take our companies forward on numerous fronts, particularly digital marketing. When it comes to running highly effective meetings, though, having the right tech on hand can make all the difference.

Firstly, you need a robust communication system and a strong internet connection when meeting in a virtual space. Then, it’s important to facilitate the flow of information between the people in the conference room and the people working remotely.

Now that many are working from home but some people have come back to the office, it’s important to have the best video conferencing solutions at your side, such as the right presentation tools, screens and sharing functionalities, and high-quality audio systems. Focusing on and investing in the right hardware allows you to set the stage for a great meeting, one that facilitates communication and teamwork.

SET A CLEAR AGENDA AND A SHORTER TIMEFRAME

One of the key differences between productive and unproductive marketing meetings is that the former has a clear agenda. Every effective meeting should have a detailed agenda and a clear timestamp assigned to every talking point, especially if you’re managing remote teams.

That’s where you as a leader come in to create an agenda that covers all the topics you need to discuss with your team and set clear timeframes. This keeps the meeting moving along and ensures productivity. While you’re at it, always try to shorten the meeting if you can. People don’t like drawn-out meetings, nor are they particularly productive, so keep it as short and efficient as possible.

WRAP IT UP WITH AN OVERVIEW AND NEXT STEPS

Concluding a meeting is not just about saying bye-bye and waving at the camera, it’s about setting actionable steps, noting down the objectives for the upcoming week, and having a clear understanding of the road ahead. If you want your marketers to be as productive and successful as possible, then you need to set the right expectations at the end of the meeting.

Make sure that everyone is on the same page, encourage people to speak up if there’s anything on their mind, and reiterate the talking points in a concise way. This is how you set your marketing team up for productivity and success until the next meeting comes around.

OVER TO YOU

Running a productive marketing meeting is so much more than going over the latest reports. Be sure to use these tips to take your meetings to the next level and keep your team members productive and happy.