One of the biggest parts of my job over the years has been as the conduit between marketing and IT departments - in fact, it’s one of the key ways I have sold myself in interviews as it’s a really important role to have within any organisation.
Marketing and IT traditionally have an acrimonious relationship. In the places I’ve worked, IT see marketing as a bunch of bimbos in expensive clothes who waffle on about “creative”, and know nothing about anything “real”. Marketing see IT as stinky, badly dressed nerds, obsessed with Star Wars and ninjas, and taking great pleasure in saying “it can’t be done” to any great idea marketing have.
I guess I’ve been lucky in working for both areas - I’ve been an IT geek and a marketing bimbo, and in doing both these roles I have more of an understanding about where the animosity comes from and how to get around it. So with that in mind, whether you are in Marketing or IT/Online, here are my 3 tips on making best friends out of both departments.
1. Sit the teams together.
Both teams with probably groan at the idea but I’ve found this has really helped everyone get to know each other. It’s much harder to have an “Us vs Them” attitude when you have to interact with each other closely and socially 8 hours a day. Even if it’s a matter of doing a coffee run together, or everyone wincing at the same loud phone-talker, this helps people grow closer.
2. Understanding of each others’ social interactions
I bet you most IT people have no idea what marketing does on a day to day basis (except seemingly get invited to fancy lunches and drinks), and vice versa for marketing and IT. For the record, having been on both sides, yes Marketing gets to have way more fun and social “networking” outings, but it really does get tedious. I’ve been taken out for some amazing lunches at fancy restaurants by agencies, but because I’d have to network and socialise with people I didn’t particularly like, I’d much rather have eaten a sandwich at my desk and read a magazine. It’s not always as much fun as it looks.
But Marketing, remember that IT never get invited to go anywhere, much less on a paid junket. They also like to socialise in different ways. You might not understand World of Warcraft or Second Life but these are not less valid ways of interacting - and most geeks find it more interesting than talking about shopping or the latest fashionable brand.
I think this is where the extrovert vs introvert question comes into play. Despite common misconceptions, being an extrovert doesn’t mean you’re loud, and introverts aren’t always quiet. It boils down to where you get your energy from. Extroverts get re-energised by social interactions, whereas introverts get their energy from within and can sometimes feel drained by social interactions.
Very generally speaking, marketers are usually extroverts and there tend to be more introverts in IT. As long as marketing understand that an IT geek isn’t being rude by putting on headphones and ignoring everyone, they are trying to protect their energy, and on the flip side, yes marketers tend to talk all day but that is their way of interacting and gaining energy, then half the battle has been fought.
3. Understanding roles
I think the biggest reason there is even conflict between the two teams is because no-one understands what is expected of the other teams, everyone is so focused on what is expected of them that it’s hard to look outside that and see what is expected of everyone else.It might seem like marketing just do “fluffy” work with creative but they’re measured on how many people know of your brand, decide they like it and go ahead and purchase or interact with the brand. This is much harder than it looks - when was the last time you reacted to a TV ad except to change channels? I think one of the worst part of being in marketing is that everyone is a critic - everyone within the company suddenly becomes an expert once they see your ad and the quote about art can easily apply to advertising - “I don’t know art but I know what I like”, meaning “I can’t explain why I don’t like the ad, I just don’t”.
IT/Online might seem like they are curmudgeonly and say “no” to everything but Marketing really need to understand the pressure that they are constantly under. Not only do they have to do all the development work within the company (not just for Marketing), they also have to stay on top of new development trends within the industry, be aware of security, AND deal with your stupid, pointless marketing request. :)
Just try to get an understanding about how long things take. A website generally takes about 3 months to develop from start to finish (including design and usability). Requesting it and then mentioning it needs to launch in a month is a horrible thing to do to people - it means they have to rush things out and do a bad job at it, which never feels very nice.
Involve IT from the beginning, when marketing first get the idea to launch a new website/microsite/email with the campaign. Not only will this solve any timing woes but by involving IT from the beginning it helps to give them a sense of ownership and provide valuable feedback at the beginning - and they will generally have loads of great ideas on how you can improve the original thought.
So there you have it… hopefully by now your marketing and IT teams are best of friends and are organising drinks over a game of World of Warcraft - or at the very least, they’ve become Facebook friends.
This post is tagged under: IT, Marketing, politics, random thoughts
