An inside look into how the Bannersnack team makes such a big impact | Zest Blog

An inside look into how the Bannersnack team makes such a big impact

Sometimes the best way to check on ourselves is to take a peek at how other companies operate. Learning how their teams are structured, what tools they use, and how they work can provide valuable insights.

With that in mind, I want to share a glimpse into how my team runs. I’m the Content and Communication Manager at Bannersnack (and a longtime Zester), and below is an inside look at how our 15-person marketing team works.

If you have any questions feel free to email me! [email protected]

1. How many people are on the Bannersnack marketing team?

Our marketing team, here at Bannersnack, consists of 15 marketing specialists. They are strategically split into four units: Content & Communication, Email & Automation, SEO, and Paid Advertising. Although we’ve grown a lot in the last years, we’re still looking to expand our capabilities as a SaaS marketing team.

2. What are the main channels of Bannersnack’s marketing strategy?

As I previously mentioned, our marketing strategy centers on four big pillars: Content & Communication, Search Engine Optimization, Email & Automation, and Paid Advertising.

The first one listed handles everything from content creation and strategy to distribution, as well as PR, community management, and social media.

The SEO team focuses on onsite and offsite SEO optimization and growing the quality and quantity of our website’s traffic.

The Email & Automation team handles everything from simple emails, in-app messages, and newsletters to complex multichannel automated campaigns to nurture leads and convert them into customers.

The Paid Advertising team manages media marketing and advertising campaigns, and implements paid search, display, and social advertising strategies based on our product’s needs.

3. How does the marketing team stay on top of the latest trends and implement the best practices in online marketing?

Online marketing is an industry that changes by the hour, therefore staying on top of the latest trends and sticking by the best practices is our utmost priority. We put a lot of sweat and effort into creating innovative digital experiences and providing the best solutions, primarily because our platform caters to the needs of marketing practitioners and designers’ needs. 

We make sure that we’re always up to date with the latest industry news and technology trends, and if things change, we act on them in a timely fashion. We’re doing a lot of news monitoring, and we get our data from trustworthy sources.

Being part of such a great team helps because everyone here is passionate about what they do, and they are among the first to know when change occurs, whether it’s about Google algorithm updates or trending topics. 

We’re also up to date with our competition, but most importantly, we’re actively listening to our community.  We implemented a customer-centric business approach, and we’ve been growing our product based on our community’s needs.

4. How does the marketing team discover new content?

Content is everywhere, so discovering new content is not rocket science. It depends on the topic, but we get a lot of fresh content from trustworthy, high-authority websites, and blogs. Twitter is also great for helping me stay up to date with the latest news. I’m also subscribed to a few marketing newsletters, and for a broader view, I use tools like Buzzsumo and Zest.

5. What tools does the marketing team use on a daily basis?

At this time of the year, we try to use fewer tools, as getting your head wrapped around too many of them can turn into a time-consuming affair. We use Jira for task management, while for information or document storage, we use the Google suite and the Microsoft Office Package. For our communication, both internal and external, we use Google Hangouts, Gmail, and Outlook. Each of us also uses more advanced tools based on the particularities of our jobs.

6. What are the biggest challenges faced by the marketing team in terms of productivity and how the team works together?

Productivity has not been an issue for us, as most of our work is quantifiable or measurable. 

We believe that teamwork makes the dream work, so working together has never been an issue for us. We have a cross-functional marketing team, and we think that as long as we all know what the goal is, we can work together towards achieving it.

To this extent, we hold internal weekly meetings so that all team members are up to date with our priorities and ongoing projects. These meetings sometimes take 15 minutes and other times up to one hour. They are also great for discussing new initiatives and ideas.

We’re also relying on our collaboration feature to manage marketing designs and campaign deliverables via Bannersnack, which helps a lot.

7. What is your content distribution strategy?

Creating quality content has always been a major pillar for our content distribution strategy. Each month, we focus on publishing high-quality content around topics that are of interest to our readers. All our articles have something in common: excellent keyword research and strategy,  and a good understanding of our users’ behavior and needs. We then use our media channels to promote them, including our social media channels and newsletters. Additionally, we run outreach campaigns to get mentions, shares, reviews, or place guest posts. At times, we also use paid advertising to boost our content. To a certain extent, we’re doing what everybody else is doing.

For example, we recently published a piece on Instagram carousels: “The Ultimate Guide to Creating Engaging Instagram Carousels.” Instead of publishing a basic, 10-step article on how to create Instagram carousel ads and post, we compiled an extensive piece of content covering everything you need to learn for designing professional-looking Instagram carousels. We also gathered a few quotes from top Instagrammers, asking them to share their best tips on carousel posts, and then wrapped everything up in an infographic. This article was at the core of our Instagram carousel ad launch campaign. 

8. Do members on your team use Zest? If yes, how do they use Zest?

We’ve used Zest a few good times, mostly because Zest never fails to deliver high-quality leads, allowing us to reach our target audience more effectively. Plus, with Zest, we get to share knowledge and start conversations while also boosting our content.

Bannersnack is an online banner maker tool that allows companies to easily design professional banners for all their marketing needs.