Unless you’ve been living under a rock on the dark side of the moon for the past few months, you’ll no doubt know that the brand new Star Wars film is due for release on December 17^th. Having dug the Stormtrooper costume out from the back of my wardrobe, excitement levels are at an all time high. I spent last weekend watching the existing 6 films, and that’s when I had a moment of realisation… Darth Vader and his Death Star were destroyed by the worst Achilles heel ever… a badly secured thermal exhaust port. If only he’d had the foresight to carry out a security audit of his entire operation and identify his weaknesses… Star Wars could have had a rather different ending altogether.

What’s your Achilles heel?

This got me thinking. If comprehensively understanding your existing resources and operations can enable you to perform better and avoid future catastrophe, then we B2B marketers need to be reviewing our teams quickly… if only to cover our thermal exhaust ports.

Like the Death Star, a B2B marketing team is made up of a multitude of human resources which must all be operating at an optimum level in order to generate results and secure further investment from the Emperor, I mean C-Suite. So whether it’s strategists, social media experts, specialist writers and designers, or even account managers, building the best team is vital for success, and survival.

Can your staff hit a target?

A recurring theme in the Star Wars franchise is that when placed under extreme pressure in close combat, Stormtroopers are almost incapable of firing their blaster rifle on target, and this can be the same for B2B marketers. With ever-increasing pressure mounting and workloads reaching never-before-seen levels, marketing staff can feel stretched and unable to perform their duties to their fullest potential. Now, as opposed to continually writing checks and growing the marketing team during this period, the best solution is to outsource certain roles to the experts.

Call Boba Fett

As the bounty hunter of the Star Wars franchise, Boba Fett was called on when the Empire and other organisations needed to outsource a specific job that their in-house staff were unable to complete. Why call Boba Fett? Well, he was an expert, he knew his role inside out, and was capable of getting results. And this is what B2B marketers need be considering now too. Not calling a bounty hunter, but outsourcing specialist jobs to experts.

With a growing number of B2B marketing channels and strategies, marketers should be looking to utilise the talents of experts in order to generate the best results in the shortest possible time. For example, tactics such as marketing automation can take upwards of a year to implement and see results from. However, with the help of an experienced agency, this time can be reduced to months or even weeks.

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