Building the right marketing team for your business starts with strategizing your hires around the size of your business and its growth trajectory. A small business or startup will have to prioritize certain roles over others at first, and scale up to a fully-fledged marketing department. There are some roles that serve as good starting points when you’re building your team though.
Here is a broad overview of some common marketing team roles:
- Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)
- Team Leader / Marketing Manager
- Writer / Content Creator
- Visual Designer
- Data Analyst
- SEO Strategist
- PR Specialist
- Web Developer
- Paid Media Specialist
- Social Media Manager
These days, a tech-savvy marketing team is a must – you’ll need people who understand the digital world, and know how to generate leads and revenue online. Let’s take a look at some of these roles in more detail.
Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)
The CMO is your chief strategist, the architect of your marketing department. This person is responsible for the company’s marketing strategy, generating revenue through marketing efforts and managing the department’s budgets. They should have a good understanding of the different expertise of each person on the team, as well as knowledge of the company’s overarching goals and how the marketing team supports these.
The Team Leader
Also known as the Marketing Manager, the Team Leader is responsible for executing the CMO’s marketing strategy and reporting back to the company’s leadership. This role usually requires a marketing generalist who has experience with many different areas of marketing. They need to be an experienced strategist, with an entrepreneurial spirit, a proficient multitasker, as well as a people person with the ability to lead.
The Team Leader manages budgets, creates schedules, sets deadlines, creates campaigns, and oversees the team’s performance. Above all else though, they lead their team to success, and support them along the way.
The Words Person
Copywriter. Content Creator. Content Specialist. Whatever you call these writers, words are their specialty. No matter what kind of marketing content you need to create, you’ll need someone who’s good with words to create it. A strong copywriter will excel in both long- and short-form content for anything from the wording of your website, to blog posts, advertisements, email newsletters, social media posts, press releases, and video scripts. Content creators are also responsible for content strategy, editorial calendars, and sometimes even search engine optimization (SEO).
A content specialist is a must-have for any marketing team. They should be able to produce powerful, compelling, and persuasive content that builds the company’s brand and engages potential customers. This role can also transition into overseeing all content operations, working with freelancers to scale the company’s content output.
Designer
Sometimes called a graphic designer, this role is the butter to the writer’s bread. Writers and designers often work very closely together to ensure that the company’s words and imagery are on-brand and engaging. An effective designer knows how to catch the consumer’s eye and get someone’s attention. Whether it’s images for print advertising, or visuals for an emailer, designers know that what people see creates a lasting first impression. A marketing team is incomplete without a designer to bring the brand to life visually.
If you can find someone who is multiskilled as both a designer and a web developer, all the better. Your website is the face of your company, so it’s important to have someone dedicated to its development and maintenance.
SEO Strategist
As your marketing team grows, you will want to invest in a specialist focused on making your content more visible online. The role is all about search algorithms and optimizing the company’s content for search engines in order to boost traffic to your website. An SEO specialist should understand website development, audience trends, keyword research, and link-building strategies to generate increased traffic and potential business leads. The person that fills this role will need a good understanding of marketing, as well as experience in improving a company’s search rankings. This role requires an expert eye for reading analytics reports, and keeping up to date with industry changes.
Pay-Per-Click Specialist
If a writer is the words person, the paid media specialist is the numbers person. This data-driven role is responsible for managing the company’s online advertising, so they need a strong financial background with experience running pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns. This person is focused on return on investment (ROI), optimizing advertising for conversions, and keeping up to date with algorithm changes. Their days are spent reviewing ad spend, optimizing keywords and landing pages, checking ad copy and adjusting for improved performance, making bid adjustments, and analyzing campaign results.
Social Media Manager
Social media management is just as important as ranking well in search engines, and is an important skill set in any marketing team. This person needs to create engaging content for different social media channels, and manage the company’s relationship with the community on each platform. A Social Media Manager will handle platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and more. This role is about maintaining the company’s social media presence, scheduling content, and engaging with each online community.
In-House Hiring vs. Outsourcing Marketing Work
Marketers ensure potential customers know about your products and services, presenting them in the best light to increase brand awareness and generate revenue. The size and structure of your marketing team will depend on the volume of work, and the size of the company. For example, a small bakery is likely not going to need an SEO strategist or data analyst.
If you’re not yet ready to scale your marketing to an entire in-house team, a virtual marketing manager or digital marketing agency can be hired to support your marketing efforts. Outsourcing in this way can give you cost-effective access to content, design, SEO and social media expertise without having to hire a person in to fill each role. This is ideal when you want the best ‘bang for your buck.’
