It’s possible that an outdated marketing department structure could be holding you back from reaching your true potential. After all, the industry moves quickly and is constantly evolving, so you’re going to need to be flexible with your structure.
However, a lot of business owners aren’t on board with the process of change. Nobody likes change, especially when it requires a lot of effort. But in order to stay ahead of the competition, you’ll have to bite the bullet and alter your structure to suit.
You can’t sit around and ignore change. If your business is going to be successful it has to be built to scale. But what are the different frameworks that are typically adopted by businesses and how can you implement them? This post will cover everything that you need to know.
We’ll cover:
Your team are arguably the most important part of your business. Without them, you’d have nothing. No marketing materials, no extra knowledge and no company culture either. Plus, you definitely wouldn’t be able to turn round requests as quickly as you can with a large team.
So, well-organised teams are in better stead to succeed and avoid big failures. But you must get it right. If you’re lacking the right teams to provide support then the chances are that you’ll be shortchanging your success.
If you don’t correct common issues and make sure that your structure is perfect for your business, you could be capping your potential future success.
Like a lot of things in business, there’s not a one-size-fits-all approach that works for all companies. Businesses have different needs and so do their customers, even if they’re in the same industry. So, there’s not a tried and tested method that’s guaranteed to drive results for your business.
The size of your company will definitely help shape your framework. Some structures are more suited to certain businesses, what works for a larger company probably won’t be suitable for a smaller company on a lesser budget. The classic structures you’re likely to come across are:
Small businesses tend to have a marketing team of just two or three employees. Due to the limited availability of resources, you need to think about what areas of marketing they’re going to cover. Obviously, your workforce is going to have to be able to carry out various generic tasks.
The marketing areas that you should prioritise on and focus are:
Just because there are these main areas to focus on doesn’t mean that you have to employ somebody for each. As a small business, when you map your team out it could look like:
As your business starts to grow and expand, you’re going to need to add new faces to your team to cope with customer needs and demands. Small to medium-sized enterprises can have a range of employees from 10 to 249.
So, you’ll find that when you first expand into this tier you’ll have people looking after various segments of the business. However, as you continue to grow these will then start to form proper departments with various employees within them.
Or, before you get to this stage it may be necessary to employ somebody who oversees proceedings for the whole department. A Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) is usually the role that looks after the whole department, but it could also be a Marketing Director or Head of Marketing.
Underneath your CMO, your various teams may look like this:
Enterprise businesses typically have more than 250 employees, which means that the layers within your company will be very deep. Layers of management and specialist employees will dominate the top layers and junior, less experienced employees can be introduced at the bottom of the framework.
Having expert knowledge within your employee base is central to your success. And this doesn’t have to apply to enterprise companies alone, expertise can be beneficial in any business scenario.
However, in larger companies, there are more specialist employees in your framework so there’s more potential for their level of knowledge to come together.
The lesser experienced employees will learn a lot from the more knowledgeable specialists which leaves your business in a great position. These employees are often graduates or apprentices who are willing to soak up knowledge and start on a lower salary rate, which is very beneficial to the business.
Having the right structure is one thing, but it can’t guarantee is efficiency. Your framework sets up your team in the best position for success. However, you still need to motivate and organise your team properly. Here are 7 ways to do this.
If your schedule is becoming increasingly busy, don’t be afraid to delegate your tasks to other team members. As long as you’re being fair and not heaping too many tasks on a team member that will hamper their own workload too much. It’s a good chance for your team members to show responsibility and enhance their skills.
Your communication needs to be spot on – if it’s not, then how can you expect to be successful? Whether it’s email or face-to-face and internally or externally it needs to be kept to a consistently high standard. That way, clients, customers and employees know where they stand.
If you know the main strengths and weaknesses of your employees you’ll be able to match and assign your job roles more effectively. For example, you wouldn’t put a design-focused employee in a content role, would you?
Employees are more motivated to work harder when there are incentives involved. We’re not saying that everything should be incentive-based, but your employees will appreciate being rewarded every once in a while. A bit of healthy competition will keep morale up and improve the culture of the business.
If the CEO of a company is seen lazing around or not getting their hands dirty with the nitty-gritty, the chances are this attitude will trickle down through the framework to your employees. Don’t be afraid to take on the little tasks, your employees will appreciate and respect your hard work.
If your team is trying to work towards a goal that is simply out of reach, they’re never going to feel like they’re doing their job properly. If they can’t hit their targets, they’re never going to get the satisfaction and feeling of achievement. Don’t set your goals too high if you want to keep your morale at a high.
The more tools that you have, the easier your job becomes, right? Rather than using some old out of date technology that is going to slow you down, the latest advancements will only help with productivity.
So, now you’ve seen how having the right structure of your marketing team in place can affect your business, it’s time to unlock that potential.
Not only does this come from a suitable team framework and employee motivation, but your marketing itself is a main contributor to your business success.
Subscribe to our fortnightly newsletter to hear about our latest podcasts, blogs, career advice & jobs.
What distinguishes successful B2B companies? We delve into the essentials of B2B interactions, offering strategies for those looking to make their mark.
