Building a successful company requires a lot of things. Strong leadership. A distinct niche. A value proposition that clicks with your audience. Products and services that people want. A brilliant marketing campaign. Steady cash flow.
But more than anything, you need a phenomenal team.
Of course, you want people on your team who fit in, “get” your vision, and share the same values as the leadership. You want people who are eager to learn and grow with your company. You also want people who have the skills to jump into projects and are enthusiastic about hitting the ground running.
As we’ve gone through the process of hiring and bringing new people onto the Marstudio team, we’ve quickly realized that most people can be divided into three types of skillsets – generalists, specialists, and a hybrid – and all three are required for the perfect (or nearly perfect!) team.
Here is why you need all three:
Generalists are a mile wide and a foot deep.
Generalists tend to see the big picture and keep their pulse on things – think about an office manager. He knows a little bit about a lot of things, but he knows enough that he can easily talk to and help customers. He does not need to be an expert on any subject, because he knows who to turn to for additional information.
Specialists are a foot wide and mile deep.
Specialists know a lot about one or two things – like a website developer. She’s the do-er, the one who focuses on the nitty-gritty details as she works to bring an idea to life. Despite her deep knowledge, she often may not be the best person to talk to a customer, as her explanations tend to focus on the technical side of a project.
Hybrids are half a mile wide and half a mile deep.
Hybrids have relatively deep knowledge and experience in a few select areas – they are your strategists. They know enough about a handful of areas to build a rather detailed roadmap or project plan, but they cannot execute the entire plan – instead, they pull in the rest of the team to help turn their vision into results.
Their skillsets are complementary.
Put generalists, specialists, and hybrids together, and you quickly see how complementary their skillsets are. The generalist – in our case, the office manager – knows everyone, what they’re working on and who to turn to for answers. He can also bounce around from team to team to help out on various projects and share his ideas (especially handy when he knows the customers).
The specialists – such as designers, developers, and marketing assistants – are given specific tasks to carry out by the hybrid – in our case, the strategist. This is exactly how Marstudio works, and honestly, we don’t believe there is any better possible way.
Take Matthew, our studio director who fits in the generalist category. He’s our fifth employee, and he works on a little bit of everything – business development, email marketing, client engagement and retention, building brand awareness, sales, overall studio management, and financial stuff. Dana, our Project Director, also falls into this category. She keeps the Marstudio team on track with our various projects, and communicates frequently with clients to keep them updated.
Then we have Carlos, our art director, who focuses on bringing design and marketing ideas to life via print, video, and animation. Obviously he’s a specialist, and he’s just as vital to our team as Matthew or Dana. The support staff in the design, development, and marketing departments are also specialists, each in their own areas.
Finally, we have Annie, our Media Director. She oversees web development, but like our Creative Director Sam (another hybrid), she also meets with clients to determine their needs and put together design, development, and marketing strategies.
Want to build your perfect team? Start making a concerted effort to hire Matthews, Carlos’s, and Annies. Good luck!
Prefer to have an entire team already assembled to help with all your marketing needs? Contact Marstudio today!
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