Is Your Marketing Team’s Structure Working for You?

The make-up of your marketing team makes all the difference. When the structure is out of whack, then it can become a major blocker on team performance as a whole. If you’ve been failing to bring in results lately, then there could be some structural fractures that are causing the issues.

Below, we’ll take a look at some of the reasons your team might need a reshuffle, how you can go about structuring a marketing team the right way, and what the ideal marketing team structure looks like – so you can drive growth and results once again.

Signs you might need to rethink your marketing team structure

With any pain point, there’s no shortage of symptoms to go with it. If any of these warning signs sound familiar, then it might be time to rethink the architecture of your marketing team.

Roles aren’t defined

Maybe your team looks a little like this: there are marketing roles within the ranks, but the roles themselves are properly defined. Any activity the team does isn’t specific to channels, and the work is only carried out on an ad-hoc basis.  

Communication is poor

Across the team and with the wider business, a lack of proper communication, and alignment with wider business goals, foils any potential progress the work you’ve carried could make. 

Marketing channels aren’t aligned

Where there’s a lack of communication, you can bet mis-aligned marketing channels aren’t far behind. When the teams’ activity is failing to pursue the same goals, then it’s clear things need a re-structuring.

Gaps in knowledge and experience

This can often relate back to a lack of defined roles. Let’s say someone on your team is skilled with on-site content, but they’ve also been tasked with social media activity – something they lack experience in. If they’re too focused on the latter, then the former’s going to suffer too – even with their expertise.

No established marketing team

Speaking of being spread too thinly, there are some businesses that have no established marketing team at all. And that can mean all marketing activity falls on the shoulders of a single employee. A tall order no matter how experienced they are.

The different areas of a marketing team

A strong marketing team is one with proper know-how across key areas – which we’ll cover below. Of course, business size and goals will dictate their inclusion, but they’re all important, so we reckon they’re worth highlighting.

Brand

The brand team deal with developing and maintaining a business’ brand identity, using their skills to create the positioning, messaging, visual identity and brand guidelines a business can consistently represent itself with.

Paid

Managing paid advertising campaigns across the likes of Google and social media channels, the paid media team broadcast messaging that’s backed with plenty of ad spend, so it reaches the right audiences at the right time, and maximises your ROI.

Organic/Content

For the organic or content team (the terms are pretty much interchangeable), improving search visibility and driving web traffic is the name of the game. And they do that through relevant, targeted content and campaigns that speak to the interests and needs of a brand’s audience.

Search Engine Optimisation

By targeting the right keywords and optimising a website’s structure, the Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) team are another team driven by improving web traffic and increasing a business’ search engine performance.

Email/Customer Relationship Management

Chances are your inbox is filled with emails from brands you like, featuring all sorts of tempting deals or offers. You’ll have these because of an Email or Customer Relationship Management team taking care of a sales pipeline designed to nurture leads. In other words, they know how to speak to your interests through a well-timed email.

Social Media

Whether it’s through company news, offers and deals, or user-generated content, the social media team is responsible for building a consistent, engaging and on-brand presence across the social channels a business’ customer flocks to.

Web Design

To make sure a site delivers a smooth, user-friendly experience – and keeps it up and running if any technical issues take place, the web design team’s mix of expertise and creative flair maintain a standard both a business and its customers demand. 

Product

If you’ve got a product with great features and benefits to show off, then the product team will be able to effectively highlight them through product pages, copy and campaigns that connect to your audience and bring the product’s story and features to life.

Traditional

Amongst all these digital disciplines, traditional marketing like print advertising, radio, TV, direct mail and outdoor advertising shouldn’t be discounted. And combined with digital tactics, their efforts help to make for more rounded, comprehensive marketing strategies. 

How to structure a marketing team

Whatever roles your marketing team is made up of, there are certain key elements you’ll need to weigh up if you’re serious about properly structuring it. Let’s take a look:

• Business objectives: What do you want your team to ultimately achieve? Whether it’s increasing brand awareness, boosting sales, moving into new markets or developing your service offering, identifying your goals should be the starting point.
  
  
• Resource allocation: Do you have what you need to get things off the ground? You’ll have to work out whether everything can be done in-house, outsourced to freelancers, or a combination of both – and the budget you can put behind their work too.
  
  
• Marketing channels: Knowing which channels you’ll use to target your business’ audience is also essential. A lot of this will depend on your team’s expertise, but knowing ahead of time is well worth getting a hold on.
  
  
• Target audience: Another element of your team’s structure, and its success, is delving into the background of your audience. Market research, customer data and buyer personas will all let you home in on what makes your users tick, and your team can then focus on creating content that’s speaks to their needs.  

The best marketing team structure

Every business will have its own idea of the ideal marketing team structure, but broadly, there’ll be some common factors among the most successful, such as the below…

Alignment with business objectives

When business and team objectives are on two separate paths, then growth is going to prove difficult. Communicating with the Chief Marketing Officer and other senior stakeholders stops this from happening, ensuring everyone is pursuing the broader business strategy with the right level of focus.

A clear strategy is in place

The discussions you’ve had with these high-level stakeholders, as well as what’s under the How To Structure a Marketing Team section above (and our guide here) will lead you to creating a clear strategy that details goals, tactics, audience insights and reporting processes, so that everyone’s on the same page.

Roles are defined

There are plenty of different job roles in marketing, which makes overlap is common. Properly structured teams can avoid this by making sure their roles are well-defined, specific and based on their skills and experience. And when they’re assigned tasks, they aren’t ad-hoc requests outside of their abilities or knowledge.

Alignment and collaboration

Along with aligned goals, everyone on the team is up to speed on how other colleagues are progressing on specific tasks, and that any issues are communicated across the team when they arise.

How mature is your business’ digital marketing?

Another key part of a successfully structured team involves knowing its level of digital marketing maturity. Rushing into certain tactics before you’re ready tends to backfire, leaving you further behind your competition than you might have already been. So, how can you make sure this isn’t happening?

Take our quiz

Our Digital Marketing Maturity quiz will unlock the level of maturity you’re currently at. The results provide your team with a chance to get the lay of the land, a digital marketing pit stop where they can catch their breath and avoid activating the activity they don’t have the skills to ability to do so yet.

Supercharge your business’ digital marketing

And with our Digital Marketing Maturity Matrix, you can use your results to score your business’ capabilities (including team structure) and create the roadmap needed to get your team to the next level of commercial growth. 

See which stage you’re at here.

Need help creating leads, increasing site visits, and crafting a website that’s going to have a hand generating revenue? Get in touch with the BANC team or give us a call on 0345 459 0558 to see what we can do for you.