One-Person Marketing: Three Critical Tips for Success

How do you manage proposals as a one-person marketing force? In theory, no proposal should ever be written by a single person. Client managers, project managers, and firm leadership should have a say in crafting win themes, putting together the best team, and making sure your proposal is responsive to the client’s needs.

In theory.

Small and mid-size firms often don’t have dedicated client managers or salespeople. Project managers are busy working on billable projects while leadership has that pesky responsibility of making sure the business is running smoothly. Marketing is almost expected to happen in a vacuum, with one proposal writer trying to anticipate client needs and put together a response without guidance.

You can be the most incredible proposal writer the world has ever seen, but if you’re marketing in a vacuum, you aren’t turning in your best work.

One-person marketing is tough, but it can be manageable. Here are my top tips for successfully managing a solo marketer role:

Clearly define roles.

Yes, you are “the marketing person”. But what does that entail? Are you responsible for identifying and crafting win themes, or is your job to craft a proposal based on someone else’s strategy? Do you manage go/no-go decisions? Do you handle other marketing tasks, like brochures, client relations, website, social media, graphics, events, etc.? If so, what takes priority?

Make sure you and your team understand the role of marketing within your firm. You need to be involved in strategy discussions for proposals or have a system in place for handing off information from leadership or whoever else acts as the sales front or client relations manager(s) in your firm. You also need a clear hierarchy for marketing tasks. Deadline driven tasks, like proposals and events, obviously take precedence over website updates or social media posting. But what if you’re expected to work an event at the same time a major proposal is due?

Make the process manageable.

Did you inherit a marketing process? When I started working as a Marketing Manager, I inherited a bit of a mess. The previous marketing team seemed to have created a “fire drill” environment, where every proposal was produced at the eleventh hour, with no involvement from anyone else in the firm until the final draft. In essence, they forced their own vacuum, and everyone suffered because of it.

In my case, I inherited an unsustainable marketing process. Perhaps you inherited a successful one, but you see opportunities to make it better. Don’t be afraid to adapt your process to your needs. If leadership needs to be involved sooner, communicate the reason and the importance of doing so to them. If there are extraneous steps, cut them out.

You are not a solo-marketer.

Even if you are the only person in your company with a marketing title, you are not alone.

That’s so important, I’m going to repeat it.

You are not alone as a marketer.

Make sure leadership provides you with a vision for the firm. Do they want to expand to new geographic markets or new building types? Do they want to target a particular client base? Do they want to double in size or sustain their current staff? These goals are important for you to know and understand, otherwise, you’re flying blind.

For proposals, someone from the proposed project team should be involved. A project manager who will ultimately have day-to-day contact with the client may be a good person to develop a project approach. Leadership probably needs to sign off on overall win themes and things like cost proposals.

If you are solely responsible for all aspects of a bid, make absolutely certain your process is working for you and you have access to all the resources you need to succeed.

What other challenges do you face as a solo-marketer? Let me know in the comments below.