Running a marketing meeting can feel daunting, especially if it’s your first time or if past marketing meetings haven’t gone as planned. Fortunately, a little preparation goes a long way to help things go smoothly. Let’s go over some basics for getting started.
Marketing Meeting Fundamentals: Have A Purpose and An Agenda
Before putting a marketing meeting on a calendar, it’s important to determine the specific purpose of the meeting. Are you brainstorming ad campaign ideas? Planning content? Reporting on progress and important news? Kicking off a new campaign?
Knowing the purpose of your marketing meeting sets you up for success. With it, you can set expectations. You’ll also know whether the meeting veers off-topic and away from your goals. A clear goal helps you determine who does and doesn’t need to attend the meeting. Lastly, it determines which agenda template below is right for you.
Use these free marketing meeting templates to keep your meetings on-task and on-time. Fill one out and share it with attendees in advance. Allow attendees to respond with any changes they feel are needed. During the meeting, use the agenda to make sure nothing gets overlooked. You can also use it to take notes and document action items at the end of the meeting.
Looking for more detailed instructions for using marketing meeting templates? You’ve come to the right place.
How To Use Our Free Marketing Meeting Templates
Below, you’ll find some free marketing meeting templates that you can download as a Word doc or copy as a Google doc. Simply click “Use template” on the one you want to use. Then, scroll down on the template page. You’ll see options to download for Word, open as a Google Doc, or use the template in Hugo.
Once you’ve downloaded or copied the template you can use it as is or customize it to meet your specific needs. Here are some tips for making the most of these free templates:
- Select the agenda that most closely matches your meeting purpose. There are multiple options, so review them all and pick the best one. Don’t worry if none of the options are perfect—all of our free marketing meeting templates are completely customizable.
- Start at the top of the agenda. Fill in the objective, theme, goals, purpose, or overview first so you have a clear direction.
- Scan the rest of the template, filling in any obvious pieces of information you already have.
- Look at the empty spaces. Are they empty because you are missing information, or is this section unrelated to your meeting purpose? If it’s unnecessary, simply delete the section. If you need more information, use the prompts in the template to guide you.
- Consider what’s missing. Is there important information that doesn’t fit cleanly in a section of the free agenda? Simply add in your own section. You can copy-paste an existing one to keep the formatting.
- Ideally, create an agenda well in advance of the meeting, and share it when the meeting is scheduled. This way, you can share it with attendees ahead of time and ask for feedback on whether anything is missing or can be scratched off.
- In the meeting, move through the agenda from top to bottom. Assign a time-keeper if you’re unsure you can keep time while running things. Encourage participation from everyone present, and make sure everyone knows what the next steps are before leaving the room.
After a few marketing meetings, creating and moving through an agenda will be a snap.
Running a Marketing Meeting FAQ
Understandably, many people have questions about how to run marketing meetings as well as possible. Here are some frequently asked questions about marketing meetings, and our answers:
Q: Who should I invite to the marketing meeting?
As a general rule, the only attendees in a meeting should be people who need to be there to achieve the meeting’s goal. Anyone else in attendance could be completing more important work.
When deciding who to invite, start with the meeting purpose and consider who needs to be in the room to achieve that goal. If you’re working from a list of potential attendees, cross off anyone who can get everything they need to know from a copy of the meeting notes afterward.
Q: How do I schedule a marketing meeting?
Once you have a list of attendees, use your organization’s calendar and scheduling tools to send a meeting invite. If you’re able to see other people’s availability, that’s great. Look for a date and time where everyone, or at least most attendees, are available.
Sometimes, you can’t see all attendees’ availability. For example, some attendees might be coming in from outside your organization. If that’s the case, you’ll need to ask everyone about their availability. You can do this through an email chain, but a tool like Doodle might be more efficient.
Q: What are some good marketing meeting icebreakers?
Marketing requires creativity, so it’s no surprise that meeting leaders are always looking for a new way to break the ice. Check out our 20+ Easy, Fun Icebreakers for some ideas.
Q: What KPIs should I share in a marketing meeting?
Depending on your organization’s marketing strategy, there are many possible KPIs (key performance indicators) you may be tracking and reporting on. Currently, content marketing, social, website activity, lead generation, and revenue tend to top the list of marketers’ concerns.
To narrow down the best KPIs to include in your marketing meeting, try referring to our post on 15 Digital Marketing KPIs for Every Marketing Channel.
Q: How do I take good meeting notes?
Many marketing meetings have a designated note-taker. Note-taking demands a lot of attention, so generally speaking the note-taker shouldn’t be someone whose input is essential to the meeting.
One great way to reduce demand on resources and reduce the chances of human error in note-taking is to use meeting notes software such as Hugo.
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