How to choose a marketing team structure that looks good on more than just paper

Most things in life are only as good as their foundation. Houses, sundaes, sand castles… marketing teams.

It’s true. A good structure for your marketing team will help you weather the storm when you’re under pressure to increase marketing revenue – all while keeping your headcount to a minimum.

We don’t want to toot our own horn, but HubSpot’s marketing team is pretty darn good.

Now that we’ve cracked the code, I’m here to help you choose a team structure designed for growth and give you the tools to make the most of your first (or next) marketing -Setting can get out.

Table of contents

What is a Marketing Team?

A marketing team is a group of professionals within a company who work together to increase a brand’s visibility. In marketing, there are typically multiple teams that specialize in areas such as content marketing, social media, product marketing, marketing operations, and growth marketing.

But what exactly do we do? Ah yes, the age-old question that we as marketers try to answer every time someone asks what we do for a living.

What does a marketing department do?

The marketing department is responsible for generating brand awareness, promoting products and services, and driving the company’s growth. General responsibilities include brand and campaign management, creating marketing materials and materials, creating written and multimedia content, conducting customer and market research, and working with the sales department to bring leads into the company.

At HubSpot, we are essentially a group of marketers who market marketing software to other marketers. It’s a little bigger, but you get the idea.

How big should my marketing team be?

The size of your marketing team depends on this Size of your company.

When I worked for a small consulting firm with about 100 employees, our marketing team consisted of about eight people.

Now that I work at HubSpot with 7,000+ employees, you can probably imagine how many marketers we have spread across different functions.

As general reference point:

• Less than 25 employees = a great marketer
• 25 to 49 employees = about three marketers
• 50-249 employees = about eight marketers
• Over 250 employees = around 30 to 100+ marketers

However, the size of your marketing team is also determined by your goals and budget.

If I had a cupcake business (big fan of sweets here) and wanted to increase leads from TikTok, I would focus on hiring more social media specialists.

And as a consumer products company, I want to spend about 25% of my revenue on marketing based on average industry marketing budgets.

Then I would have to break that down even further to figure out where hiring fits into my overall marketing spend.

The conclusion: I will always argue about quality over quantity. The quantity will increase as you scale, but you need to build a quality structure to support it from the start.

How to structure a marketing department

Well, I can’t tell you Exactly how to structure your marketing department. There are far too many factors to consider.

What I can do, however, is outline three of the most common types of structures: by function, by discipline, and by product.

1. Structure of the marketing department by function

Best for: SMBs (5 to 100 employees) with a marketing “team” consisting of one person wearing many hats and small teams with limited headcount, resources, budget and bandwidth.

The functional departmental structure is similar to that of a simple agency and covers the pillars of a campaign from idea generation to completion.

A team like this can consist of a few full-time employees, part-time employees, or be staffed entirely by contractors.

Common teams in marketing departments structured by function include:

• Operations
• Creative
• Project management

2. Structure of the marketing department by discipline

Best for: Mid-sized companies (100 to 1,000 employees) where marketing has a revenue figure and is responsible for generating leads and contributing to the company’s pipeline.

The most common are marketing departments that are structured according to disciplines.

These teams will run regular campaigns throughout the year to meet the company’s sales goals.

Common teams in marketing departments that are structured by discipline include:

• Social media
• Content marketing
• product
• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• website

3. Structure of the marketing department by product

Best for: Large companies (1,000+ employees) with predictable sales patterns that don’t need to run frequent, standalone marketing campaigns to generate business.

This marketing department structure organizes marketing teams by product.

If you have a proven marketing system in place to generate demand for the business, you can use a product-like marketing structure to grow in new, innovative ways.

Global teams may also value this structure as it reduces the redundancy of roles across regions and gives hiring managers the ability to recruit talent globally.

Common teams in marketing departments structured by product include:

• brand
• growth
• acquisition
• media

Types of Marketing teams

I mentioned that the marketing department structure by discipline is the most common structure, so I’ll break down some of the most common teams in this category.

Social media

Your social media team creates and executes social media marketing efforts.

This team must know how to create engaging content to increase brand awareness, generate leads, and engage with audiences.

Possible roles: Head Account Manager, Social Media Specialist, Content Creator, Social Media Analyst

Required skills: Content creation, graphic design, social media management, project management, data analysis and storytelling

General Responsibilities:

• Create, plan and measure social content performance
• Develop social media images and videos using tools like Canva or Adobe
• Use of social media management tools to track success
• Respond to customers who interact through social media tags or posts.

Make the most of your lifeSocial media team structure:

• SMEs: Your dedicated marketing team member should have general knowledge of basic marketing practices and social media experience to build an online presence.
• Medium size Company: If you can afford multiple marketing roles, specialize in marketing functions such as social media manager, which can be its own role.
• Large companies: Consider structuring your social media team with specialists and managers to lead and oversee social media strategy, as well as roles for day-to-day social media activities.

Pro tip: To help small teams, social media management software gives marketers the tools they need to implement an entire social media strategy, such as the tools in HubSpot’s Marketing Hub.

Content marketing

Your content creators (read: me) will ensure your brand has enough content to tell a cohesive, compelling story. The content they produce will be useful in all aspects of your marketing functions, from videos to blog posts.

Possible roles: Head of Content, Video Producer, Staff Writer, Content Creator, Jr. Content Creator

Required skills: Writing, editing, organization, graphic design, project management, SEO, HTML and storytelling

General Responsibilities:

• Create and edit content such as blog posts, social media and e-books
• Create high-quality multimedia assets like podcasts, videos and webinars
• Collaborate with creative teams and ensure messaging consistency across all materials

Make the most of your content team structure:

• SMEs: Your content creation team could also be your social media and product team. Therefore, make sure they have good organizational and time management skills in a fast-paced environment.
• Medium size Company: Take the time to hire a content creator who understands your brand story and your brand voice.
• Large companies: Larger companies that hire a content creation team may hire people based on their skills or the needs of other teams. Social media agencies, for example, need content creators for each customer or customer group.

product

The product team communicates the features and benefits of your product to the customer. They organize and promote a product’s messages and how it connects with your brand and your target audience.

Possible roles: Brand Specialist, Product Marketing Specialist

Required skills: Research, analysis, strategic planning, cross-functionality, writing, customer service, a creative problem-solving mindset, technical knowledge, pricing strategy and customer solutions

General Responsibilities:

• Identify audiences you want to communicate with through product pages and ad copy
• Plan campaigns for new and existing products or services
• Create product pages and develop product promotion strategies
• Research, analyze metrics, and use that knowledge to plan future campaigns
• Demonstrate a deep understanding of overall marketing functions

Make the most of your product team structure:

• SMEs: The product marketer you hire as a small business owner is likely your only marketer. Therefore, hire someone who has experience or proven knowledge in writing, presentation, marketing, and business.
• Medium-sized and large companies: Consider hiring product marketers by product stack (e.g. phones for a technology company) or by specialty (e.g. a role based solely on copy development or production strategy).

Search Engine Optimization

The SEO team will primarily drive traffic to your web pages by optimizing content and ensuring your brand ranks in the SERPs for topics related to your product or service.

To achieve these goals, you need people with strong technical, programming and writing skills.

Possible roles: SEO Strategist, Senior SEO Strategist, Historical Optimization Author

Required skills: Writing, editing, problem solving, experience with programming and technical thinking, analysis, spreadsheets, drive and the ability to adapt

General Responsibilities:

• Write, edit and proofread content
• Optimize content for search engines and key audiences
• Conduct keyword research and identity ranking opportunities
• Analyze content performance to inform future keyword strategies

Make the most of your SEO team structure:

• SMEs: Make sure your SEO tasks are handled by someone who is skilled in analytics, optimizing content for search engines, and keyword research.
• Medium-sized companies: Consider hiring people for various SEO specialties such as historical optimization, link building management, and increasing website traffic.
• Large companies: Consider hiring managers who are SEO experts, who can provide experienced advice to other team members and manage multiple SEO projects simultaneously.

website

Of course, every company needs a website. And as your business grows, you may need to hire someone full-time to maintain your website.

This team is responsible for everything dotcom related. Therefore, you should hire a creative who is knowledgeable about web design, web strategy and optimization.

Possible roles: Web Developer, Senior Web Developer, UX/UI Designer, Front End Web Developer, Web Designer, Visual UX Developer, Graphic Design Specialist

Required skills: Programming, Creative Suite programs, interpersonal communication, website and email design, UX alignment, content management software, understanding of web standards and best practices, and SEO

General Responsibilities:

• Demonstrate your knowledge of programming and web design
• Develop new websites and update existing content
• Create new web experiences and refine customer touchpoints
• Improve user experience across the site
• Act as a point of contact for web-related issues

Make the most of your website team structure:

• Companies of all sizes: I would recommend structuring your web design as needed. If you can afford to build a whole team, you can start hiring experienced web developers to update and maintain your website.

Other types of marketing teams

Here’s a quick and high-level overview of the other types of teams I mentioned in the Function and Product Structure categories.

Operations

Your operations team is responsible for managing the technical aspects of your marketing efforts. You maintain the tech stack, handle marketing automation, manage email marketing workflows, and plan and produce webinars.

Required skills: Workflows, automation, written and oral communication skills, problem solving, team building

Creative

The creative team is responsible for what your customers see when they come across your brand. This team will handle graphic design, copywriting, video production and some web design.

Required skills: Graphic design, written communication, video production, photography, copywriting, front-end web design

Project management

To ensure that everything stays on schedule, within budget and within scope, the project management team intervenes. People in this role typically coordinate with both operations and creativity to keep things running.

Required skills: Organization, project management, agile framework, budgeting, time management, written and oral communication

brand

Your brand team knows everything about your company and bundles it in a way that potential, new and existing customers can identify with and external companies appreciate.

Required skills: Strategic thinking, written and oral communication, creativity, copywriting, social media management, customer journey mapping and buyer journey mapping

growth

Your growth marketing team is responsible for generating demand and leads for the company in existing or new markets.

Required skills: Content marketing, content strategy, SEO, copywriting, web design, UI/UX design and HTML

acquisition

Your acquisition team is made up of people who live and practice methods to delight the customer at every step of their buyer journey. You will turn to your acquisition staff to acquire leads and fill the sales pipeline.

Required skills: Conversion rate optimization, UI/UX design, HTML, content development, content design and data analysis

media

Your media team should include many of the functions listed above, but with an emphasis on the audience experience. Your media team knows that media products are best developed when your brand has a strong presence in the market.

Required skills: Video production, video editing, public speaking, creative writing, research, data analysis and journalism

Together Marketing team roles

Any successful marketing department structure requires leadership and a hierarchy of individual employees.

How deep or broad you organize your team is up to you, but here are the key roles you can expect to see on any marketing team.

Roles of marketing staff

• Chief Marketing Officer (CMO): Decision maker, has the vision and is committed to the team culture. Reports to the CEO.
• Vice President (VP) of marketing: Sets strategy for the marketing department at a high level. Reports to the CMO.
• Marketing Manager: Sometimes referred to as “marketing manager.” Translates the Vice President’s strategy into an actionable plan that managers can implement with their teams.
• Marketing Manager: Frontline HR leaders who manage individual contributors and are responsible for leading their team to achieve the goals of the larger strategy.

Market roles of individual contributors

• Marketing consultant: Typically an expert in a specific discipline such as SEO or content creation. They are hired as freelancers, contractors, or even on a part-time basis to help marketing teams achieve their goals.
• Main marketer: Full-time positions at the highest level that an individual employee can achieve over the course of their career. Master of their craft and not an all-rounder.
• Senior Marketer: They actively improve their skills in a specific discipline, but can also take on larger-scale projects to build other soft and hard skills.
• Marketing specialist: Plays more of a generalist role in the team. Encouraged to explore marketing disciplines to understand how tactics work together to achieve strategy.
• Marketing Coordinator or Associate: Entry level position for graduates or new marketing professionals looking to make a career change. You will take on ad hoc tasks in various marketing departments and begin to build relationships with senior team members.
• Marketing Intern: Temporary employee completing a degree, usually in a marketing or communications field. After completing your studies, you may be offered a full-time position as a marketing representative or coordinator.

How to build a marketing team

Now that we’ve covered marketing team sizes, departmental structures, and shared roles, it’s time to get into what you’ve all been waiting for… the how.

1. Create a hiring strategy.

Start here: Before you can hire someone, you need to develop a strategy Building your marketing team. To do this, you need a clear understanding of your organization’s hierarchy.

You also need to consider the needs of the company.

Are there specific areas where you need additional support? Maybe you have a social media specialist who is great on a day-to-day basis, but you need someone at the manager level who can really drive your strategy.

Are there gaps in your marketing department? If you’re focused on getting leads but don’t have a dedicated acquisition expert, this is your opportunity to hire one.

In most cases, hiring without a strategy leads to layoffs and role confusion.

2. Write the job descriptions.

Once you have your strategy in place, it’s time to write job descriptions and start recruiting.

Luckily, we have an entire post dedicated to job description best practices.

However, I believe that the most important way to write a good job description is to make sure you have a clear idea of ​​your target candidate.

I’ve written several marketing job descriptions in the past, and this understanding always matched the needs our team identified in step one.

Once you know who you want to hire, it becomes easier to create a concise, realistic and bias-free job description.

3. Find candidates.

Before you start recruiting candidates from external sources, try looking internally for interest first.

Internal candidates offer you the opportunity to support an employee in developing their career. Additionally, you save time and resources that you would otherwise spend searching for external talent.

If your internal talent pool is exhausted or you need more specialized skills, there are several resources available to help you achieve this.

You can turn to recruiters, headhunters and candidate sources when searching. You can also browse candidate collectives or private member groups Black Marketers Association of America to list your job opening.

LinkedIn is also a great place for searching and screening candidates. Why not work with your mutual contacts to find your next great employee?

I’m sure you’ve seen the #OpenToWork and #Hiring frames by now. Read here to see if they actually work.

4. Extend an offer.

There is a lot of discussion about how to interview for top marketing talent. How many interviews are too many? How do you know which candidate is right for you? How long should the process take?

We know this can be challenging for both small and large businesses, so take advantage of it this free resource to understand what to ask to objectively evaluate your candidates.

When you’re ready to make an offer, consider all the variables: their experience, their interview performance, their formal marketing training (courses, degrees, certifications), and any special skills that will help complete your team.

Use this information to create a fair offer that aligns the offer with the needs of the market.

Be prepared to negotiate and ask questions about commonly overlooked benefits like insurance, on-call time, and professional development grants.

5. Integrate your new employees.

Once you’ve made the hire, you’re not done building a great team. The work continues long after the offer letter is signed.

Create or refine your onboarding process to help your new employees understand the company, team culture, and their role. Both parties (you and the new employee) should feel like they made the right decision by joining the company.

Plus, Research shows that companies with strong onboarding processes increase new employee retention by 82% and increase productivity by 70%. Win.

One step closer to your dream marketing team

To hire the best talent, you need to know the best skills for each role. Even if you only have the capacity to fill one or two marketing positions right now, it’s a good idea to invest in people who have the potential to grow into new roles in the future.

If you start with the right structure for your business type, take the right hiring steps, and align the team around a shared vision, you’ll have a marketing team that will make even the Fortune 100 companies jealous.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in November 2014 and has been updated for completeness.