BullsEye Department Spotlight: Marketing
Recently, we spoke with Gina Kennedy-Toney, Vice President – Marketing & Communications about Marketing’s goals, recent accomplishments, challenges, and the many ways that the marketing team contributes to driving revenue.
Q: What are the Marketing department’s goals?
We have a lot of goals that align with our purpose and that purpose is to enhance the sales efforts by creating a consistent drumbeat through brand awareness, education, channel insight, event support, advertising, media relations, and social media. The main goal? To drive revenue. We open the door. Sales closes it.
Q: Tell us about some of the functions of the Marketing organization
Our team is small but mighty and everyone does a great job jumping in and helping whenever and wherever needed. Our Marketing Development Manager focuses on all things brand awareness from our collateral, presentations, and the “look and feel” of the BullsEye brand in the marketplace. Our Channel Marketing Manager focuses on Channel ROI, partner portals, event management, and team alignment with our partners. She is the conduit between our partners and our sales teams. Lastly, but in no way least, our Digital Marketing Manager focuses on all things digital from the website, digital advertising, social media, SEO, campaigns and so much more.
Q: Does the Marketing team interface with other departments?
Marketing works with almost every department. We’ve had stellar executive leadership support to ensure our brand and messaging stays consistent. In fact, all departments are required to submit their external docs, and communications for the marketing team to “gussy” and review before they are shared. In addition, many department leaders come to us with an idea to grow the business, support their team, put a process in a digestible format, or even create a communication to deliver (good or bad) news. We love the interaction.
Q: What is ONE word that best describes a “day in the life” of the Marketing department?
Pivot. We’re constantly evaluating what “works” and what doesn’t. Our products and services are ever evolving, and our focus can be diverted if there is a priority event or ad-hoc “must have” that needs attention.
Q: What are some challenges the Marketing team faces?
Like any organization, we face hurdles around capacity to complete every project we’d like to do. Similarly, we work to balance bandwidth across multiple teams, keeping in mind the impact and effort. Teamwork is critical to ensuring success and smooth integration of marketing efforts. We’re really fortunate in that we have team members that specialize in specific marketing functions yet can jump in and help in other areas when needed.
Q: How does the Marketing department promote morale and collaboration within the team?
We meet two days a week at 8 a.m. as our day starts, just to synchronize on deliverables and latest developments. We also have a weekly meeting to track progress on our KPIs, share our “to-do” list, ask any outstanding questions, brainstorm topics, or share anything exciting; whether professional or personal. We know that each of us are really good at what we do, and recognize that, as a team, we become great!
Q: What are some of the ways the Marketing department has displayed BullsEye’s core values?
Similar to our theme, the Marketing team really exhibits the values in all that we do. Marketing is a collaborative environment. Without teamwork, innovation, and excellence, we wouldn’t be able to accomplish our goals.
Q: What are some of the Marketing department’s recent accomplishments?
We completed a full re-brand in September 2021. We worked for close to a year on the project. We launched a new website which included all new product names, graphics, and content; even the architecture was changed from our old site. Of course, we updated everything from collateral, internal systems, training, and onboarding assets and more. It was a big team effort, and of course there was some controlled chaos-which we know is part of change. We really learned a lot and are immensely proud of the end result.