How Can a Freelance Marketing Assistant with No Industry Experience Create Effective Marketing Collateral?

Chatting to a newly-appointed freelance marketing assistant yesterday, working remotely and asked to collect, collate and publish marketing collateral.

The assistant concerned has no previous dental experience (and so cannot conjure up dental health education material for inbound marketing) and is struggling to get content from the team working in the practice.

The clinicians are far too busy and focused to ask for reviews, selfies, videos or before and after shots.

There is no TCO in the practice.

The rest of the team haven't been brought in to the concept of internal marketing and so don't know when, where or how to ask patients.

"Houston, we have a problem."

Just hiring a marketing person isn't going to make the magic happen.

Everyone in the practice has to be trained to support that person, to understand what internal, inbound and external marketing is, to appreciate the importance of their role in the process and to be given systems, processes, scripts and, most importantly, targets and timelines as to the quality and quantity of marketing material to collect.

How to brush, how to floss and it's National Smile Week isn't going to work, and God forbid you start promoting discounts, special offers and giveaways.

Marketing is a team event - the marketing assistant is like the editor of a magazine - the editor needs journalists and articles to publish - everyone in the team is a roving reporter, with their eye out for a scoop.