Tiger team

What is a tiger team?

Tiger teams are cross-functional groups that come together to solve complex, high-stake challenges quickly and effectively.

While the term originates in military and aerospace contexts, tiger teams work super well in a marketing context too (if we do say so ourselves).

Whether your marketing tiger team is based on solution, persona, campaign, or something entirely different, key stakeholders will coordinate and collaborate to work towards a specific objective.

5 benefits of the tiger team approach to marketing

Organizations or marketing teams that adopt tiger teams will see a bunch of benefits, including:

1. Less (or no) departmental silos

   
   With key stakeholders in different fields of marketing (eg. content, campaigns, product marketing, social media) having regular meetings and conversations, you see the walls of departmental silos start to break down... resulting in even more benefits and even better results. You can't turn your nose up at that, can ya?

2. Enhanced communication across teams

   
   One of the benefits of breaking down silos in your marketing team has to be how it impacts communication. A tiger team means there's a representative from multiple teams that can give insight into what they're up to, what they can (and can't) do right now, who things should be delegated to, and so on.

3. Stronger, more integrated solutions and campaigns

   
   We don't want to harp on about the importance of consistent messaging... except no, we really do. The moment you introduce a tiger team approach into your marketing, you'll see how content across channels starts to flow better; this is down to the aforementioned (huge) communication improvements, and a greater level of understanding on products, campaigns or products for each team.

4. Deeper collaboration for more streamlined results

   
   And do you know what happens with consistent messaging? Greater brand awareness, greater brand building, and a greater customer experience. And do you know what that all means? Better results. But don't make each project a one-and-done situation; take all your post-campaign learnings to your next tiger team meeting and share the good sh*t.
   
   Oh, and by "good sh*t", we mean the good, the bad, and the ugly behind the data. It's a learning process—don't you forget it.

5. Minimal skill or knowledge gaps

   
   When you've got people in your marketing team that are very good at what they do, why wouldn't you reach out to them? With a tiger team, it makes their knowledge and skills even more accessible to you.

Who should be on your tiger team?

Here's the thing: tiger teams can—and will—be different in every company. The key stakeholders in your tiger team will depend on:

• Objectives and goals
• Marketing channels you use
• Product or solution expertise

You know, stuff like that. The likelihood is that your tiger team will change over time, and that's okay. Keeping things fluid and ready-to-evolve will set you up for success—because honestly, who knows what will happen next in this digital landscape.

Don't know where to start? Here are some simple steps to choosing your tiger team:

• Select members based on specific project needs
• Prioritize diverse skills and perspectives
• Ensure representation from key departments
• Balance expertise with collaborative potential

Tiger team best practices: 6 for success

Grouping together and calling yourself a "tiger team" is all well and good because it sounds bada$$, right? Wrong. If you're not following best practices, you might as well call yourself a team of friendly house cats... which doesn't have the same ring to it, does it?

Here are some tiger team best practices to follow:

1. Set clear role definitions and communication protocols

   
   Each member of your team needs to understand exactly what they're responsible for and how they should communicate—and generally work—with others. Document who owns which tasks, who has authority to make specific decisions, and how information should flow between the team.
   
   Clear protocols should also specify expected response or delivery times, preferred comms channels for different types of information, and methods for escalating any urgent issues (but fingers crossed, these won't be necessary).

2. Have a deep (and mutual) understanding of the core problem

   
   Before diving into solutions or your next big campaign, you've all got to understand what needs to be solved. This usually involves researching the issue and the target audience, gathering data from key stakeholders and past marketing efforts, and ensuring everyone shares the same perspective on what success looks like.
   
   And yes, this is another thing you wanna be documenting before it's kicked off, so you can do regular reviews and keep aligned.

   Read our guide How to improve marketing team alignment as a marketing leader

3. Iron out well-defined scope, goals, and deliverables

   
   You've got to establish clear boundaries around what you will be and won't be tackling. This might include setting specific, measurable objectives, defining what 'done' looks like for each deliverable, and creating timelines with concrete milestones.
   
   This will help prevent scope creep, keep the whole team focused, and keep those Sunday scaries at bay.

4. Take part in regular, structured meetings

   
   Consistent check-ins help maintain momentum and alignment within your team. To make these meetings actually efficient, you should have clear agendas distributed beforehand, specific outcomes you need to achieve, and of course, follow up with action points for everyone.
   
   How often you have these meetings will depend on the project's needs, but always consider other people's time eg. less of the "This could have been an email" moments.

5. Maintain efficient communication channels

   
   You're not going to get far if you don't have the right tools and platforms to get you there; this counts for how you share information, too. The communication or information-sharing channels you need are both instant messaging like Slack, Teams or just your standard email, but you also need a central repository to keep all that documentation we've already mentioned.
   
   Your comms channels should be chosen based on the type of information being shared, as well as the urgency of messages.
   
   
   
   Say hello to Optimizely Content Marketing Platform, complete with easy-to-use workflows for all the team, and an integrated DAM.

6. Stay on top with proactive workload management

   
   Managing the team's capacity means regularly monitoring individual workloads, balancing tiger team responsibilities, and adjusting resources where necessary. To do this, you want to track both individual and team capacity, identify any bottlenecks that come up along the way, and have contingency plans for those unexpected surges in weekly tasks.

Integrated marketing: Do more (and better) with less

No, you don't need to hire more marketers. No, you don't need to ask (or beg) for more marketing budget. No, you don't have to completely change-up your marketing strategy.

Instead, you've just got to reset your approach to marketing and ultimately, make for a more integrated team.

Introducing tiger teams into your marketing organization and your creative processes is just one way to get started with integrated marketing. In fact, the tiger team approach embodies integrated marketing's core principle: breaking down barriers to create holistic, adaptive solutions.

By bringing together diverse talents, fostering open communication, and maintaining laser-focused objectives, you can achieve more innovative and impactful outcomes with fewer resources.

Check out our 10 step guide to building an integrated marketing strategy.