Blueprint for an Efficient Small Marketing Team Structure

It’s no secret that marketing teams vary in size, as does the structure—some are as small as three people, while others may consist of 100 or more.  

When it comes to a larger team structure, it’s comparatively easy. You can simply follow other large organizations and find resources to achieve your desired team structure. 

But when you have limited resources and fewer people to run your marketing team. You have to understand the unique dynamics and individual roles. Then, figure out the marketing team structure yourself to become successful. 

In this article, we will discuss how you can optimize your small-size marketing team and get the most out of it.

What is a Small Marketing Team Structure?

First, let’s get to know the small marketing team. You can call your marketing team when it ranges from a handful of people (3-5) to slightly larger teams (up to 10) in some cases. The way you organize your marketing department with a limited number of staff is called your small marketing team structure

There is no one-size-fits-all solution for a small marketing team structure, as it depends on various matters like business goals, industry, budget, and available resources of your organization. 

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What are The Five Basic Organizational Structures in Marketing?

It’s time to start with the most important topic you need to know if you want to structure your small marketing team – the basics. We will be discussing the five commonly used structures for marketing teams to create a fundamental base for you. Later in the article,  you will find out how you can incorporate these structures with your small marketing team. 

Flat Organizational Structure:

Startups and small businesses like this one a lot because there isn’t much or any middle management between employees and their upper management. Employees answer directly to the leaders of the company. 

Why choose:  Due to this short chain of command, the team has independence, faster communication, and collaboration, which makes it perfect for small teams. 

Cons: But when your startup starts growing, this structure has poor scalability. 

Functional Organizational Structure:

A functional organization is one of the most common ways to set up a team. With this setup, employees are grouped (like operations, marketing, finance, human resources, etc.) based on their expertise. Functional managers oversee the entire team and get reports.

Why choose:  Functional organizational structures allow team members to focus on their core tasks and learn departmental knowledge. It also gives them clarity in their roles.

Cons: Teams can struggle to communicate and collaborate since each department has its own goals and priorities.

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Projected Organizational Structure:

The projected organization is the exact opposite of a functional organization structure. The project is the main focus, and the team works on different projects under the supervision of your project manager.

Why choose: It is particularly well-suited for small teams that need to balance multiple projects and adapt to changing priorities and opportunities.

Cons:  Due to project-by-project resource allocation, duplication is one of the greatest problems of a Projectized Organization Structure.

Matrix Organizational Structure:

Matrix org structure combines functional and projected structures. In this structure, team members have two reporting lines: functional manager and project manager. Functional managers and project managers have different responsibilities depending on the matrix organizational structure (weak, balanced, or strong).

Why choose: It provides easy access to expertise as there is to reporting managers. Encourages cross-functional collaboration, which enables efficient resource allocation.

Cons: On the other hand, the biggest disadvantage is head conflicts that might confuse your employees. 

Composite Organizational Structure

Composite Organization Structure is the combination of Functional, Projectized, and Matrix structures. You can tailor the structure to meet your unique needs and effectively manage a range of marketing projects and functions, which makes it perfect for small teams.

Why choose: Most modern organizations employ a composite organizational structure as it creates a balance of specialized expertise with the flexibility to work on multiple projects simultaneously.

Cons: You can face challenges like complexity, confusion, conflict, cost, etc. 

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How to Choose an Effective Marketing Team Organizational Structure

Well, It’s time to find an organizational structure that suits your organization’s goals, culture, and industry. Here’s a step-by-step suggestion for you on how you can choose an effective marketing team organizational structure.

Step 1: Assess Your Current Situation:

Before you start your team, you need to evaluate your current marketing situation. For that identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. SWOT analysis can help you with this. You also need to understand your customers and their needs, as well as your competitors.  

Step 2 Set Your Goal:

Based on your current situation and your desired outcomes, you need to set clear and specific goals for your marketing team. You can use SMART goal parameters to ensure that your marketing goals are aligned with your overall business goals and vision.

Step 3: Determine the Roles:

One of the main challenges of a small marketing team is balancing between covering all the essential aspects and specialization. You can solve it by keeping a mix of generalist marketers and specialist marketers in your marketing department org chart. The number of generalist and specialist marketers depends on your organization’s needs. 

CMO:

Your CMO, the head of marketing, is the leader of the marketing department. He/she oversees the overall strategy, budget, and performance of the marketing activities. Hiring, training, and managing the marketing staff is also his /her responsibility. 

You are probably thinking about how you are supposed to hire this type of high-level employee. Don’t worry, we got you covered. You can find out more information about early-stage hiring from this article.

Generalist Marketers
These marketers are the backbone of your marketing department. You can call your content writer, social media manager, SEO manager, etc., generalist marketers. This type of marketer is flexible and adaptable to changing needs and priorities.

That’s why they are essential for your small team. They can also handle multiple aspects of marketing, such as content creation, social media, email marketing, SEO, analytics, and more. 

Specialist Marketers
You can not only have generalist marketers in your team; you also need some specialist marketers. They can oversee the work of your generalist marketers and provide them with expert opinions and guidance.

They can also focus on a specific area of marketing that is critical for your business, such as product marketing, digital marketing, or brand marketing. 

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Step 4: Choose your ideal small marketing team organizational structure.

Once you figure out the role and size of your team, it’s time to choose the ideal small marketing team organizational structure. As we mentioned above, there are five types of organizational structures that are commonly used in marketing team structure. Here we have prepared some marketing team structure examples so for your for better understanding.

Let’s say you have five people on your team. Your CMO, SEO & content marketer, Brand manager, Social Media marketer, and PR manager. Just like the above marketing department org chart, you can try a Flat organizational structure for your team. Your CMO is your marketing head, who oversees the work of the rest of the team.  

Or you can try a Matrix structure to build a marketing team where you can use your resources efficiently by using cross-functional collaboration. In this structure, you can have a functional manager and a project manager to oversee the work of your marketing team, and everyone else reports to you. Both of your managers report to your CMO.  

With a Functional structure, you can focus on your core tasks. Let’s say you divide your team into two core functions –  Content Marketing and Digital marketing. To build the marketing team, assign two functional managers to overview the team. Managers will report directly to your CMO. 

Your content marketing specialist and SEO/SEM  manager will report to the functional manager (Content Marketing). The work of your analytics specialist and social media manager will be viewed by your other functional manager(Digital Marketing).

The specialty of the Composite structure is that it combines specialized skills with the ability to manage multiple projects at once. One of your teams can adopt a functional structure with roles like Content Marketing Specialist, SEO/SEM Manager, Analytics Specialist, and Graphic Designer.

Meanwhile, the other team can utilize a projectized structure with members like a Digital Marketing Specialist, Social Media Manager, Analytics Specialist, and Graphic Designer. Both teams can share resources, such as the Analytics Specialist and Graphic Designer. In this structure, there is a dual reporting system; team members report to both the functional manager and the project manager. Both managers report to the CMO.

Step 5: Review, regulate, and restructure

You might think once you structure your team, your job is done. But the truth is you just started. Figuring out the best team structure requires continuous iterations. You need to review the progress and monitor resource utilization continuously. You also need to be prepared to restructure your team structure if needed.

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Small Marketing Department Structure Best Practice

Last but not least, here are some best practices to help you create a small marketing team structure that works effectively and efficiently.

• Ensure that team members have clear roles and responsibilities. This clarifies tasks and prevents overlap.

• Promote cross-functional collaboration, which can lead to creative problem-solving and more comprehensive marketing initiatives.

• Allocate resources based on the importance of each marketing function and project. 

• Define KPIs that align with your marketing goals. Regularly assess and report on these metrics to track your department’s performance.

• Encourage a data-driven culture where marketing decisions are based on data and analytics.

• Keep a strong focus on understanding and meeting the needs of your target audience.

• Be ready to adapt and evolve your department structure as your business and marketing goals change.