When you think of marketing organizations, what structures come to mind? Do you believe in the strictly traditional marketing structures? How should one organize their marketing team for optimal efficiency, communication, and customer focus?
In this article, we will share the top trends in organizing a marketing team, as defined by a recent HubSpot study, The CMO’s Guide to Marketing Organization Structures. In this, we will share the key features of efficient marketing teams, the structures that leading organizations use, and quotes from the organization leaders.
We hope these generous contributions shed some light on the subject for marketing leaders who are rethinking how to organize their departments to take advantage of changes to all stages at the buying process. Please take a look at these varied structures, compare them to your own, register for a marketing assessment, or check out our outsourced CMO services.
The Elastic Organization—Mindjet
Company Example: Mindjet
Company Headquarters: San Francisco, CA
Products or Services: Apps to help you brainstorm, plan, and manage projects.
Chief Marketing Officer: Jascha Kaykas-Wolff (@kaykas)
“As marketing continues to evolve, this organizational structure will adapt to whatever needs come about. Coupled with the adoption of new business processes like Agile Marketing, I believe functional depth expertise, coupled with cross-functional management of the work your team is focused on, will keep a steady stream of ideas flowing, more analytical decisions about which of those ideas to implement, and ultimately create predictability in the outcome of you and your team’s efforts.”
Structure of an Elastic Organization
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Features of an Elastic Organization
Marketing Operations professionals oversee the complexity of the marketing tech stack, IT integration, hypothesis testing, and optimizing customer experiences in the product.
- Flexible structure allows for adding headcount and/or functions seamlessly as the company’s product mix evolves.
- Much of the marketing org flows through Product Marketing Managers (PMMs).
- PMMs partner with functional experts in other sub-departments.
Source: Mindjet
Related: Emotional Marketing for B2B Companies
The TOFU Organization—Zendesk
Company: Zendesk
Company Headquarters: San Francisco, California
Products or Services: Helpdesk & Customer Support Software
Chief Marketing Officer: Bill Macaitis (@bmacaitis)
“I think future marketing org structures will put a much greater emphasis on post-lead metrics like Net Promoter Scores (NPS) as they attempt to maximize growth, minimize churn, and drive lifetime value.”
Structure of a TOFU Organization
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Features of a TOFU Organization
- This is a team built to scale top-of-funnel (“ToFu”) growth, with content marketing as the largest group, followed by advertising and product marketing.
- Tight alignment with the creative team is key – the head of the creative team reports to the CEO, and the department straddles both marketing and product.
Source: Zendesk
The Inbound Organization: HubSpot
Company: HubSpot
Company Headquarters: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Products or Services: B2B Marketing and Sales Software and Apps
Chief Marketing Officer: Mike Volpe (@mvolpe)
“I threw my old org chart in the trash when I joined HubSpot and started from the beginning. We built our entire company for the inbound era, from marketing to sales to service, because the buyer has all the power today and you need to realign your company for that. I think our org chart is the future of the marketing org because of that – we focus on an inbound experience that the buyer drives, with us providing value along each stage.”
Structure of an Inbound Organization
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Features of an Inbound Organization
- Focused on providing a buyer-driven inbound experience.
- Adds value through content and contextual marketing (e.g., dynamic, smart site pages and content based on a prospect’s relationship to the company).
- Steeped in buyer personas and delivering experiences tailored to those personas.
- Content as a dedicated function allows it to serve multiple internal “clients” (demand generation, PR, sales enablement).
Source: HubSpot
Related: 3 Ways to Align Marketing & Sales
The Funnel Focused Organization: Forrester
Company: Forrester
Company Headquarters: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Products or Services: Proprietary market research, consulting, events, and peer-to-peer executive programs.
VP of Marketing: Jeff Ernst Forrester VP of Marketing (@JeffErnst)
“I try to rationalize this structure by saying that team 1 is above the funnel, team 2 is top and middle of the funnel, and team 3 creates materials for the bottom of the funnel and acts as a service bureau to the rest.”
Structure of a Funnel-Focused Organization
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Features of a Funnel-Focused Organization
- Team 1 manages relationships with the top 50 publications and places Forrester analysts to speak at industry events.
- Team 2 focuses primarily on demand.
- Team 3 manages product collateral for the sales team and the production of anything that carries the Forrester brand.
Source: Forrester
Related: Is Your Marketing Modern?
The Culture Organization: GitHub
Company: GitHub
Company Headquarters: San Francisco, California
Products or Services: Hosted Git repository and social network for programmers, allowing members to collaborate on and monitor project development.
VP of Marketing: Brian Doll (@briandoll)
“I like to think of marketing as the intentional transfer of culture. It is an essential element to just about everything. Building great product is marketing. The way we talk to our customers is marketing. With that definition, I do see everyone participating in marketing to various degrees.”
Structure of a Culture Organization
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Features of a Culture Organization
- In this flat organization, everything is based on merit. Very few titles exist – only team names.
- The goal of marketing in this org is to transfer the culture everywhere, in the product that’s built, the marketing assets used to drive awareness and adoption… even internally.
- In this org, more than just defined “marketers” take part in marketing. The entire company is expected to uphold the culture of the company, whether through offline events, social media, or one-to-one user interactions.
Source: GitHub
Related: CMO vs. CIO: Clash in the Cubicle
The Customer Organization: Atlassian
Company: Atlassian
Company Headquarters: Sydney, Australia
Products or Services: Software that helps teams track, collaborate, code, and ship products.
Structure of a Customer Organization
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Features of a Customer Organization
- Built with a focus on the marketing funnel, from awareness-based branding to lead generation and nurturing, to customer retention.
- The bottom of the funnel receives a great deal of attention, as the “Customer 4 Life” team exists specifically to nurture and retain existing customers. The team’s goal is to improve customer success on existing products (i.e. retention) while upselling new features.
- Marketing Ops supports the rest of the organization.
Source: Atlassian
The Creative Organization: Rue La La
Company: Rue La La
Company Headquarters: Boston, Massachusetts
Products or Services: Members-only shopping site featuring some of the most sought-after brands in fashion, accessories, footwear, home, travel, and more.
Chief Marketing Officer: Robin Domeniconi (@RobindNYC)
“The future of marketing is truly dependent on the ability to integrate compelling content and commerce into a seamless experience. Creating that added value will keep customers loyal and coming back to your brand. That’s why all teams must be aligned and working together to deliver the most personal and enriching experience for our customers.”
Structure of a Creative Organization
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Features of a Creative Organization
- Marketing, merchandising, and creative align to provide Rue La La members with a fully integrated, seamless shopping experience.
- Marketing is organized by disciplines (such as acquisition, PR, or social) across each business category (e.g. fashion, home, travel). The GM of each business line sets the overall objective.
Source: Rue La La
Related: CMO Predictions for 2014
Redefine Your Marketing Organization
We welcome you to look into other marketing structures and tell us what you believe is the most effective.
At Modern Marketing Partners, we believe and recognize the value that each structure provides to each organization. We welcome you to share your opinions in the content section; and please bookmark and share this with your CMO.
