What is the ideal marketing communications team structure?
We found that a quarter of the marketers dedicate over 50% of their time coordinating and planning across their marketing communications teams - here's where we think marketing leaders are going wrong.
In a survey we did in collaboration with Sirkin, we found that a quarter of the marketers dedicate over 50% of their time coordinating and planning across their marketing communications teams.
Spending half of your time planning and coordinating screams inefficiency within your marketing strategy. Nonetheless, without an ideal marketing communication structure, it’s possible you’re wasting even more than half of your time when it comes to managing the teams.
To convey the right brand messaging across your marketing activities and marketing department, you need to consider the ideal marketing communications team structure.
But what does an ideal marketing communications team structure actually look like? Let’s find out.
What is the ideal marketing communications team structure?
Splitting the marketing function into several departments has been a chosen structure for CMOs going back oh-so-many years, but it’s proven inefficient. Why? Team silos, that’s why.
In a perfect world, an ideal marketing team structure — no matter what your company size or your business goals — should take a more integrated marketing approach. This means it comprises team members with varied skills and capacities, all working together as one team.
That said, here are the teams you should have:
Web design team
This team helps present your digital communications to the target audience, and can be more generally known as the digital marketing team. From designing webpage layouts, solving code issues, updating the website, and creating backup files, the team is responsible for grooming your online image.
Among other responsibilities, they must ensure the design is attractive, provide easy navigation, ensure content is displayed immaculately, and the site is responsive across multiple devices.
They should also fix any issues that arise on the site promptly. Some of the key roles on this team may include:
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Web designer
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Web developer
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Back-end developer
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Front-end developer
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Graphic designer
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UX/UI developer
SEO (search engine optimization) team
The SEO team is responsible for getting you discovered online. Whether through your website or social media pages, they ensure the sites — plus the content published on them — are optimized for search, through things like on-page SEO (including keyword research) and technical SEO.
SEO best practices are forever changing, and those in these marketing roles help your team stay current to avoid losing your authority on SERPs.
The team can be in-house or outsourced, depending on your business size and hiring policies. Some of the roles on this team may include:
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SEO strategist
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On-page SEO specialist
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SEO copywriter
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Off-page SEO specialist
Lead acquisition team
Traditionally relinquished to the sales team, the lead acquisition role is now shared between the marketing and sales team.
Essentially, the marketing team attracts, engages, and nurtures prospects until they’re willing to transact with the business. Then they pass those leads to the sales team, who convert them into customers.
Some key roles on the acquisition team may include:
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Customer acquisition specialist
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Lead acquisition specialist
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Content acquisition manager
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CRO (conversion rate optimization) specialist
Product marketing team
Product marketers play a core role in marketing. They’re the reason your products get noticed (or ignored) on the shelves, on search, or on social media platforms.
They know how to package powerful product messages to shape buyer opinions and influence their decisions.
The product marketing team gives both your existing and new products their identity. And the stronger the messages are, the better the products should fare.
Some key roles in the product marketing team include:
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Brand specialist
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Product manager
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Product marketing specialist
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Product marketing manager
Content creation team
The content creation team (or simply, the content team) is responsible for producing high-quality content consistently for continued brand engagement, high-value user experience, and improved retention rates.
Guided by a content strategy, the team keeps your brand relevant through informative posts. They employ a mix of content types — blog posts, videos, infographics, webinars, white papers, case studies, eBooks, public relations, and podcasts — to captivate the audience and create brand awareness.
Key roles on these teams may include:
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Head of content
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Content creator
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Content manager
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Content writer and staff writer
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Video editor or production specialist
Social media team
Social media is a big deal in marketing. The platforms attract billions of users globally, with the estimated usage in the United States set to reach 243 million by 2025.
With various platforms (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, etc.) presenting unique opportunities, it requires social media marketing experts to test and experiment to identify the platforms that suit a brand.
Generally, the social media team knows how to stage successful campaigns, set up the analytics, and analyze the metrics for optimization.
Some key roles on this team may include:
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Social media manager
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Account manager
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Digital marketing specialist
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Social media executive
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Community manager
Creating a more integrated marketing team
The roles of these teams are closely related... or, at least, should be. Modern marketing requires marketing teams to function in an integrated way, otherwise your marketing efforts can be quickly misaligned.
That means working towards the same marketing goals, being aware of all campaigns being run, making more data-driven decisions, and repurposing where possible. Use all those skill sets to their fullest potential!
A lag, bottleneck, or blocker in one of the teams can impact the entire process negatively. This can have a knock-on effect and cause the customer experience to be confused and fragmented too.
Check out of full guide on how to build an integrated marketing team.
Tools for a flawless marketing team structure
Marketing leaders, are you wondering how to get all those teams to work seamlessly? Well, let’s just say: you’re not the only one.
Managing all those teams — no matter what marketing department structure you have — can get overwhelming quickly, but it doesn’t need to be that way. With a content marketing platform (like Optimizely Content Marketing Platform 👋) in your martech stack, you can do this effortlessly.
Tailor-made for marketers like you, a CMP can help you cut back the time you spend managing your marketing teams and focus on getting work done with features like:
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Shared content calendar
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Shared workflows
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Easy project management across marketing channels
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Content and data analysis
