In January 2012, we formed Hyper Marketing (HMI), an independent marketing services company in North America with 1,300 people in 24 offices. A successful marketing service business is nothing but the sum of the outcomes that people who work in that business create for their clients. Hyper Marketing’s successes are fundamentally created by our 1,300 associates.
Which is why, as CEO, my job is to be completely and maniacally focused on ensuring that we have the best people. So how do we attract and retain a talented workforce and motivate them to strive for excellence every single day? Here are three tips:
1. Articulate a clear point-of-view. Who are we and what do we stand for? People respond to a direction and will drive toward it. At Hyper, we want to be the best in our space — the company our clients adore, our people love and our competitors fear.
2. Empower your people and let them build successful capabilities for the company. We have built successful businesses like 4Cite, e-Tailing Solutions, Dark Horse, etc., based on ideas our people have had and passions they have followed.
3. Invest in training and continuous learning. Having our people learn new and expansive capabilities will be a big part of what happens at Hyper Marketing this year. We want people in the traditional marketing world to be conversant in all things digital. We want digital-only folks to learn other marketing capabilities. We want to build a company of “multi-linguists.” We are and will continue to be maniacally focused on our people. They are our differentiators. They are my top-most priority.
Missed last month’s Expert Advice? Read “Keep company culture in mind when hiring or recruiting candidates,” by Linda Sorbera, EVP, global human resources director, MRM.
