In our last article, we talked about one of the biggest mistakes we see businesses make when hiring a marketing employee. The tendency is to write a job description that asks one person to do everything. Instead, we suggested taking a step back and asking a different question.
What are you actually hiring this person to accomplish? That one question has a way of changing the entire hiring process.
Let’s assume you’ve done that and you’ve hired someone who’s talented, curious, and genuinely excited about the opportunity. They’re producing good work, fitting into your culture, and beginning to make a meaningful contribution to the business.
Naturally, your attention shifts to something else. How do you keep them?
For many business owners, the first thought is compensation. If we pay them well, they’ll stay. Compensation certainly matters, and we would never suggest otherwise.
At the same time, research has consistently shown that opportunities for professional development play an important role in employee retention. People want to feel like they’re learning, growing, and becoming better at what they do.
That got us thinking. We wonder how often employees leave a company without ever realizing that’s the reason.
Not long ago, we were talking with someone who works for one of our nonprofit clients. Half joking, we said, “It feels like you’d do this work even if you weren’t getting paid.”
She laughed and replied, “I would… but don’t tell my boss.”
We all laughed, but it made us think. She wasn’t talking about her salary. She was talking about work that challenged her, work that mattered, and opportunities that continued to challenge her. You could hear how engaged she was without her ever using that word.
We can’t help but wonder how many employees start looking for another opportunity simply because they’ve lost that feeling, even if they can’t quite explain what’s missing themselves.
Think about it for a minute. Very few employees walk into their manager’s office and say, “I’m leaving because I don’t feel challenged anymore,” or “I don’t see opportunities for professional growth.” More often, they simply start feeling restless. A recruiter calls. A job posting catches their attention. Another opportunity sounds interesting. They may not even be able to explain why.
Then they accept a new position, find themselves surrounded by new challenges, new ideas, and new opportunities to learn, and suddenly they feel energized again. Looking back, they may realize it wasn’t only the new salary that excited them. It was the feeling that they were growing again.
When people talk about career growth, they almost always describe it the same way. You do good work, earn a promotion, get a new title, and move up to the next rung on the ladder.
That certainly happens. But what happens if there isn’t another rung? In many small and medium-sized businesses, the next rung is often you, the business owner. The good news is there is an alternative.
More often, growth comes from expanding your skills and taking on new responsibilities. Someone notices something the business needs, raises their hand, and says, “I’d like to learn how to do that.”
If that happens, don’t miss it!
That’s one of the clearest signs that you’ve hired someone who’s engaged and looking for opportunities to grow. They’re telling you they want to become more valuable to the business. They’re asking for more responsibility before you’ve had to assign it.
As a business owner, that’s a tremendous opportunity.
Sometimes helping them grow is as simple as paying for an online course or carving out an hour during the workday to learn a new skill. It might be giving them time to research a new technology, attend a conference, earn a certification, or spend time with someone who’s already developed that expertise. It doesn’t have to be expensive, and it certainly doesn’t have to be formal. What matters is that you recognize the opportunity and respond to it.
The immediate benefit is obvious. Your employee develops another skill that makes them more valuable to your business. That’s all well and good.
But there’s another benefit that’s just as important. Your employee learns that you noticed. They see that you recognize their desire to grow and that you’re willing to invest in helping them get there. For many employees, that’s every bit as meaningful as the training itself.
You don’t have to become a marketing expert to lead a marketing employee well. What you can do is create an environment where learning is encouraged, new responsibilities are welcomed, and curiosity is rewarded. Sometimes that happens naturally inside the business. Other times, it requires looking outside the organization for mentorship, accountability, or simply a community of people who understand the unique challenges marketers face.
Hiring the right marketing employee is a tremendous investment. Helping that person continue growing is one of the best ways to protect it.
When employees leave for a better job, that’s understandable.
When they leave because they couldn’t continue growing in the job they already had, that’s a different conversation.
If you’ve invested in hiring a great marketing employee, don’t let their development stop on day one. Our Marketing Talent Acquisition process includes ongoing mentorship designed to help marketers continue growing while giving business owners a trusted marketing advisor to help guide the journey.
