Careers are often be said to be squiggly. It can be hard to predict what is around the corner, so careers can seem driven by chance and often feel out of control. But it needn’t be this way.

Brands and businesses operate in the same uncertain world and perform because they have a clear strategy and plan. At Sideminds we believe the same is true for every executive too. By defining your personal purpose and vision, you can develop a career and marketing strategy, and execute against this over the long term. This means creating a plan that helps you develop the right skillset, whilst also building the right connections and nurturing these relationships, so you are in the right position at the right time for the next big moves.

Rarely do executives have time to do this. They are focused on the job at hand andonly face into this when there is organisation change, often leaving them out of a job and wondering what to do. In this situation they can find their network is too small and too cold to help them get back quickly.

Sideminds works with executives in roles, in-between roles and at different life stages. We develop a career strategy, personal brand and proposition, build a relevant network and show you how to use online digital tools to stay in touch and keep connected easily. Developing your career like this is a lifetime investment: you’ll have a structured plan and network if you become an ‘in-betweener’, more control with clear job goals when you are in a role, and be better prepared for a total career reset.

Every year the performance bar gets raised higher and marketing teams need to deliver more, often with less. As the incumbent marketing leader it can be hard to independently and impartially look at the plan and decide where there are opportunities to squeeze out more. This is a question we have been asked regularly and having been marketing leaders ourselves, we can look at the plans and suggest opportunities.

This helped a UK food manufacturer improve gross margin and marketing investment, by properly understanding what was adding value to the product mix and resetting the value proposition.

We also helped a global B2B IT consultancy, where the marketing mandate was driving underperformance and constraining growth. Marketing wasn’t engaged enough in the business planning process, minimising their input into sales collateral, which inevitably affected the quality and quantity of prospect leads. By reframing the relationship, creative execution and performance was improved.

And finally, a digital marketplace business required an audit of its multi-channel B2B and B2C marketing activity. This showed the overall approach was strong, but the translation of strategy into execution was flawed. There were over 50 different brand messages being communicated in different media channels, without a clear prioritisation or role down the acquisition funnel. Simplifying the strategy and focusing the messages enhanced performance.

Sometimes there are leadership gaps that need filling. This could be as a fractional CMO supporting the existing team, interim cover for a short-term vacancy or full permanent recruitment.

Sideminds can help in these situations. We are part of a network of over 40 C-suite marketing leaders, who are either independent consultants or ‘inbetweeners’. ‘Inbetweeners’ is our term for our pool of VP/Marketing Director or C-suite level leaders, who are between jobs and keen to take on roles as they look for their next full time post.

If you are recruiting for a more permanent role, we also help getting the brief right. The Marketing Leader’s CODE assessment helps decipher the blend of marketing skills you need in your company. It is the only marketing leadership assessment tool available and is used by CEOs and recruiters as a pre-screener to avoid the costly mistake of recruiting the wrong person.

The CODE report can be discussed directly with your recruitment company, or Sideminds can promote to our personal network of leaders, including The Marketing Academy Fellowship. The Fellowship is a network of over 300 senior C-suite marketers, who have been recognised by McKinsey for their marketing capability. Sideminds connections has placed CMOs recently in sectors like financial services and property.