The marketing field is expected to grow 8% from 2018 to 2028. With this remarkable growth, the functions and responsibilities of modern marketing teams will also expand. So, it is crucial to have skilled team members capable of performing diverse roles.
Knowledge and talent alone will not be enough to stay ahead of the competition. Collaboration among team members is equally important to overcome challenges and produce better results. Marketing teams can also leverage automation and use tools like Abyssale to enhance teamwork, save time, and boost productivity.
But before starting a journey towards marketing excellence, let’s first understand the marketing team roles and responsibilities. Also, learn about the best tools and practices to help you build an ideal marketing structure that delivers exceptional results!
So, let’s get started!
What Is The Structure Of A Modern Marketing Team?
Team structure is how roles, tasks, and responsibilities are assigned and coordinated among team members to achieve goals. It also defines team sizes, clarifies workflows, and decides the reporting hierarchy.
Well-organized team structures align the members' expertise and skills with the tasks and objectives. They also impact problem-solving approaches, accountability, and overall performance. So, organizations should use an efficient team structure based on their objectives, organizational strategy, and complexity.
The most common types of digital marketing team structures that marketing teams can choose are:
#1. Cross-Functional:
A cross-functional team structure (modern setup) is a group of people who own various expertise and work together to achieve common goals. This form of collaboration is more common in modern businesses as companies aim to benefit from the diverse perspectives of the team members.
The cross-functional team structure breaks the organizational barriers between departments (in typical team structures) and fosters collaboration. Organizations choose team members based on their skills and expertise needed to contribute to common goals.
Building a cross-functional team does not mean that each team member must know everything. Rather, the entire team must be skilled enough to develop and supply a complete product.
Here are a few of the benefits of cross-functional teams:
- An increase in productivity
- It prevents the bottlenecks
- Communication is fast and clear
- Accountability
- Higher quality work
- Cost-effective
#2. Departmental:
Departmental team structure is a traditional setup where the companies organize teams according to their job functions. The formal structure helps businesses understand their personal needs, manage the hierarchy of employees, and ensure that they have skilled staff.
As companies have different departments, it lets employees understand their roles and focus on tasks with minimum confusion. Let’s look over examples of department structure in businesses:
1- Functional Structure:
The functional structure creates a network of different departments, each focusing on one aspect of the business. For example, an IT department provides only IT-related services, while the marketing department works on advertising.
The number of departments a business should have depends on its size, type, and needs. Hospitals, for example, will have multiple departments, while a clinic, comparatively, has fewer departments.
2- Hierarchal Structure:
This structure shows a clear chain of command, including the leaders or managers and team members who report to their supervisor. Though this structure can be applied to other structures, most companies use it independently (as small businesses with few employees).
3- Divisional Structure:
It is similar to a functional structure. However, instead of creating independent departments, the structure focuses on a specific aspect of the business. Also, every division has broader responsibilities. This team structure is best for organizations that provide different services or products, like international clothing brands.
How Team Sizes Vary Based On The Agency Size?
The size of the marketing team depends on the size of the business. For example, in the case of a small consulting firm that consists of 100 people, the marketing team can have eight members. For a general reference point:
- An agency with 25 employees: One marketer
- An agency with 25 to 49 employees: Three marketers
- An agency with 50 to 249 employees: Eight marketers
- An agency with unlimited employees: About thirty to hundred-plus marketers
Besides the size of the agency, the size of the marketing team also depends on the budget and goals. For example, you will hire more social media specialists if you run a cupcake business and want to increase leads through TiKTok.
Role 1: Marketing Strategist
Marketing strategists implement marketing strategies and do extensive research to identify new marketing opportunities. They also develop innovative concepts to promote brand awareness and use marketing tactics to promote products to attract and retain customers.
Here is what a marketing strategist typically does in the marketing teams:
- Data Analysis: Marketing strategists have a solid understanding of market trends and put extra effort into performing in-depth research. They review data from economic trends, population groups, and various advertising methods. The marketing strategies and compelling data help to understand potential gaps and locate opportunities for future development.
- Development Of Improved Strategies: Marketing strategists always develop innovative ideas, an essential part of planning. According to these ideas, changes are made in marketing campaigns to meet overall business goals and budget requirements.
Marketing strategists are also pros at collaborating and communicating with other team members. They act as a bridge to ensure everything, from designing to messaging and execution, works together to get the best results.
A marketing strategist typically collaborates with creative team members (graphic designers, web designers, and copywriters) to ensure that marketing assets are high-quality, consistent, and on-brand. They also work with the sales, marketing, and data teams to ensure everyone is on the same page and working seamlessly to meet the goals.
- Tool That Can Assist In Strategy Execution:
Abyssale is a great tool for marketing strategists, especially those who still depend on designers to execute marketing campaigns. The tool automates the creation of channel marketing images.
You need to create the template once, and later on, you can freely create variations in the style, images, and copy. If you don't have the time to create the assets, Abyssale provides 100+ pre-built templates.
Not only that, you can also generate thousands of visuals from a template and import CSV files or create one directly for Abyssale. So, don't depend on any team member to launch your campaigns as soon as an idea comes to your mind!
Role 2: Content Creator
A content creator is a versatile team member comfortable working across multiple channels, including video marketing, blog writing, podcasts, and social media. The creators facilitate the creation and management of the content and collaborate with other team members, especially SEO specialists and designers.
Let’s look over all the roles that content creators play within a marketing team:
#1. Writers
In the content creation process, the writers are responsible for creating content for different paid ad campaigns and websites and writing papers and scripts for podcasts or videos. They are well-versed in social media terminology, so they ensure that content echoes the overall tone of the brand message. The content writers collaborate with designers to produce the materials and content to support the business's inbound marketing strategies.
#2. Designers
The designers manage the marketing and sales collateral and websites and develop and implement logos, social media graphics, and ad layouts. They assist in marketing management and play a key role in campaign management. A designer can also scale up content marketing strategy and projects like webinar slides, ebooks, and expo banners.
#3. Video Producers
The video producers can complete various tasks, including editing promotional videos. They ensure that all marketing materials remain consistent across multiple platforms and align with the brand's values. In collaboration with advertising and sales teams, they create, edit, and publish the videos (for social media and promotional use).
Collaboration Between Creators And Strategists:
Content creators and strategists are the two essential roles of marketing teams. When they collaborate, they can create a powerful chain of creation. For instance, they can improve brand authority, awareness, and engagement. Collaboration also ensures that resources are managed and better shared. They can both bring amazing problem-solving breakthroughs and spectacular ideas to life!
Role 3: SEO Specialist
About 61% of marketers say SEO improvement is their top inbound marketing priority. So, how can your marketing team be complete without Search engine optimization specialists? They have an advanced understanding of SEO processes and help organizations remain visible and relevant online.
The SEO specialists maximize the inbound traffic to the website via SEO analytics and keyword integration. They also work with other team members (content marketers, data analysts, and visual designers) to focus on digital marketing.
SEO specialists collaborate with website developers and UX designers to ensure website content is optimized. However, the SEO specialist's role doesn't end here; the specialist also leverages AI for SEO, making things faster and easier.
- Tools To Optimize SEO Efforts:
The following are the tools that you can use to optimize your SEO efforts:
- Ahrefs:
It is one of the best SEO tools for keyword research, site audits, local SEO, and backlink analysis. The tool can also show the competitor's top-performing pages and backlink growth and compare the website's present and historical data. One of the amazing features of this tool is the lowest DR in Ke Word Explorer.
- Rankability:
Rankability is ideal for on-page SEO, keyword research, and SEO content creation. The tool uses the latest NLP technology, mixing Open AI and Google's NLP to achieve the most relevant SEO suggestions. Customer support is what makes this tool stand out!
Role 4: Social Media Manager
The social media manager is responsible for creating content that represents the core values of brands and social media management. Some of their creative marketing roles include interacting with customers, monitoring social media trends, and responding to audience queries. These tactics ensure that brands remain visible and boost their engagement in the online space.
The role of a social media manager within a marketing team can vary depending on a company's specific needs and goals. For instance, they can collaborate with content creators to ensure a balanced online presence. Plus, they both reinforce the reputation and reliability of your brand to ensure that all the social media channels deliver high-quality content consistently.
The social media manager can handle engagement on social media accounts, while the content creator can focus on driving interaction. Together, they can build a loyal following and stronger relationships.
Role 5: Marketing Analyst
Marketing analysts have statistical knowledge and are skilled in all platforms (such as Google Analytics). They measure the performance of marketing campaigns using metrics and data. These marketing analytics let agencies optimize activities and prove ROI. They also have strong storytelling skills, which enable them to present insight and turn the findings into full-scale campaigns.
To execute data-driven marketing and fruitful strategies, they always stay updated with market trends and collaborate with other team members. They also use tools and an online database to understand market dynamics and design the best possible strategies.
If you also want to use a tool for data tracking and visual content creation, Abyssale would be the best choice for your integrated marketing strategy. The tool speeds up your asset production, offers banner formats, and handles multi-format campaigns efficiently.
It facilitates team collaboration and invites stakeholders to give feedback. Ultimately, your team can get quick approval and launch more campaigns in less time. So, what do you need more?
Role 6: Project Manager
The project managers guide all the other team members. They bring an idea to life, ensure every task is completed on time, and play a crucial role in achieving the desired results with minimal inefficiencies.
They identify and plan the resources needed to complete tasks. They are also responsible for intradepartmental communication and assigning tasks to other members. The project managers also create and maintain the schedules, document the reports, and view the budget. A person with the following skills can fulfill this role:
- Time Management Skills: With these skills, a manager can meet the set deadlines without compromising quality. The skills also allow the manager to set realistic task schedules and reassign the roles as needed.
- Organizational Skills: These compromising skills help the managers break down the projects into smaller tasks and design clear plans to accomplish each task.
- Marketing Communication Skills: The manager needs to be an effective communicator to maintain open discussions with team members. The project managers also have to share the progress report with clients, so communication skills are a must.
Tools That Enhance Project Management Within Teams:
The following are the tools that marketing teams can use for marketing project management:
- Monday.com
Monday.com is one of the leading project management tools. It helps project managers and team members stay aligned with their goals and streamline workflows. The best part is that the tool syncs project information in a single place and represents it visually appealingly. Monday.com makes it easier to track project status, as you can see the entire team’s work at a glance.
- Basecamp
Basecamp is a simple, easy-to-use setup tool for marketing teams. It can be used for task management and communication, as well as for organizing clients and tracking the project's progress. With Basecamp, you can assign tasks to one or multiple members. Users can also message the board to discuss ideas or projects. You can also benefit from separate screens for project management with the client while using Basecamp.
Role 7: Paid Advertising Specialist
The paid advertising specialists manage the paid advertisements (PPC and social ads) on different platforms. They also use these platforms to reach the target audience and achieve their goals through ads and paid promotions. Below are the key responsibilities of a paid ads specialist:
- Keyword Research: The ads specialists conduct keyword research to find relevant search terms and keywords that align with the target audience and advertisement goals.
- Campaign Setup: The advertising specialists also create and configure the paid ads campaigns on different digital platforms (Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and Bing Ads).
- Campaign Strategy: An ads specialist also develops paid advertising strategies, which include campaign objectives, budget allocation, target audience, and expected outcomes.
- Ad Copywriting: They also craft compelling ad copies that align with the campaign objectives and attract clicks.
- Audience Targeting: The ads specialists also define specific audience segments according to their interests, demographics, and online behavior, then target them.
- Ad Extensions: They also implement extensions like site links, structured snippets, and callouts to boost visibility and provide additional information to the audience.
- Collaboration With Other Team Members: The advertisement specialists collaborate with other team members (content creators, analysts, and SEO specialists) to ensure a unified approach to brand messages across all platforms.
- Campaign Analysis: They also analyze the CTR, quality score, and conversion rates to locate areas for improvement. It helps in further improvements and the implementation of the needed adjustments.
Tools For Automating And Optimizing Paid Advertising:
If you want to automate and optimize your paid advertisement campaigns, use the following tools:
- AdEspresso by Hootsuite:
AdEspresso by Hootsuite is super easy to set up and an ideal tool for creating, managing, and optimizing ad campaigns. It offers a straightforward A/B testing option and simplifies the convoluted world of Instagram, Facebook, and Google PPC advertising.
- Optmyzr
Optmyzr is a game-changer for Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon ads runners. It is a script-based solution, which means users can automate the many tedious tasks related to PPC management at scale. The tool also offers no-code functionality, which lets you implement powerful automation without getting into technical detail.
How To Manage A Marketing Team Effectively?
If you want your marketing agency to move forward, understand how to manage a marketing team effectively. And, for your help, below we are sharing the tips that will help you in team management:
#1. Set Clear Roles and Responsibilities:
If your team members work harmoniously towards overall business objectives, your agency can stay ahead in this competitive industry. So, clearly define your team members' roles and inform them about the deadlines. It will also help you to prioritize activities and resource management.
However, you should conduct regular meetings and implement effective communication strategies to achieve the objectives. In this way, the team members will effectively contribute to the completion of projects and the agency's success.
#2. Encourage Cross-Function l Collaboration:
Cross-functional collaborations let individuals with different skills and areas of expertise work together and achieve common goals. However, you must foster open communication within your agency to ensure things get done smoothly and efficiently. It will encourage idea-sharing and lead to more creative marketing strategies. Regular check-ins and meetings with an agenda involving the team members can also be effective. In this way, you will provide a constructive and open platform for discussion.
#3. Focus on Project Management:
The project management help you establish clear communication, set deadlines, allocate resources, manage the budget, and ultimately streamline the workflow. Therefore, you should focus on project management to manage the marketing team efficiently and run your marketing agency successfully.
Also, you can get help from project management tools like ClickUp to improve things. Let's know more about this tool in detail here:
ClickUp:
ClickUp can help you manage tasks, documents, campaigns, and clients in one place. This tool makes collaboration with team members and client work easier. You can also connect your data with ClickUp and create dashboards to get data-driven insights from your workflows. The best thing is that this tool is highly customizable and lets users view marketing campaigns on lists, calendars, and Gantt charts.
#1. Monitor and adjust Strategies:
Campaign performance tracking lets marketing agencies understand how well their teams perform against the goals. The KPIs (website traffic, social media engagement, sales revenue, leads generated, and conversion rates) provide useful data and insights. The data gained from these KPIs, and feedback can help you implement the required changes in your marketing strategy and guide your team toward success.
#2. Empower Team with Tools:
You can empower your team by automating the repetitive tasks with tools like Abyssale and your team members 90% of their time. As a result, they can focus on other tasks, boosting productivity and efficiency and letting your marketing agency run more campaigns.
Abyssale lets you connect your current data and tools to generate thousands of visual assets within seconds. The best part is that no training is required to use this tool, and a free 14-day trial is also available. So, give it a try!
Collaborative Tools for Marketing Teams
Below, you can find the best collaborative tools for marketing teams. So, pick any of these to ****streamline your workflows:
Project Management Tools
The reason behind 67% of project failures is that organizations undervalue project management. Likewise, organizations that use manual processes for project management have a project failure rate of 18%. So, if you want to avoid these failures, manage your asks efficiently and track the progress by using the following tools:
# Trello
Trello is a flexible, simple, and powerful tool. It includes boards, lists, and cards to give you a complete overview of your team members' work. For example, boards can keep the tasks organized, lists tell about different stages of tasks, and cards represent the tasks and ideas and hold the information to get things done. Not for project management, the tools can also be used to empower meetings and onboarding to a new project.
# Asana
Asana keeps the teams accountable by organizing all the tasks and projects in one place. The tool provides everyone visibility into the work they need and the steps to reach it. You can see the project as a calendar, list, Gantt chart, or timeline. Plus, you can use this cross-functional team collaboration tool to add labels to your tasks. You can filter, sort, and report on projects or work automatically.
Communication Tools
Businesses can leverage marketing automation tools to communicate, enhance operational efficiency, and nurture the sense of team relationships. The marketing collaboration tools foster innovation and maintain a shared vision across diverse teams. Let's see here which tools you can use for efficient communication:
# Slack
Slack offers different communication channels, direct message options, and the option to integrate with third-party tools. The purpose is to bring information and people together. This tool allows teams to prioritize tasks, stay aligned, and share ideas. Data says that teams using Slack see a 47% boost in productivity. So, why not allow it to your save time and streamline the workflow?
# Microsoft Teams
is integrated into the Microsoft 365 suite. The tool combines video conferencing, file sharing, and live chat options to make communication and collaboration more effective and efficient. You can have two channels: private (focused on private conversations with specific people) and standard (available and visible to everyone).
Content Creation Tools
Manual content creation takes a lot of time, and the chances of errors are also higher. But the good thing is that Abyssale is available, which can speed up the visual asset production (10 times) and let the designers spend 90% of their time. Resultantly, the marketing teams can launch more campaigns. The tool automates banner production and ensures brand consistency throughout all campaigns.
With Abyssale, you can efficiently handle multi-format campaigns. You can also create templates or get hundreds of banner formats and countless banners without depending on designers. This way, you can eliminate production bottlenecks usually used by overworked designers.
Abyssale lets any of your team members collaborate seamlessly on the marketing campaign. You can also get feedback from clients directly on the platform, which is another huge plus. Aside from that, you can also connect existing tools and data to generate thousands of visual assets in seconds.
So, if slow asset production also kills your growth, unlock your marketing agency's full potential today with Abyssale!
Data and Analytics Tools
The marketing analytic tools let the users collect, analyze, and report the data related to marketing campaigns. Resultantly, the teams can adjust their strategies based on real-time data. Below, you can find the best data analysis tools:
# Google Analytics
Google Analytics lets users review the data across different platforms, apps, and webs. With this tool, marketing agencies can understand the full journey of users. They can also use this tool with other Google solutions to completely understand your marketing efforts and boost your performance. Also, the teams can understand how the target audience uses the apps and sites, which ultimately helps them take action to improve their experiences.
# SEMrush
SEMrush is a comprehensive digital marketing data analytic tool with powerful digital analytics tools. These tools help teams with market research, competitor analysis, keyword research, paid ad analytics, keyword position tracking, and social media management. The gathered data can be used to find gaps in marketing strategies and implement changes to achieve goals.
File Sharing Platforms
File sharing and cloud storage tools play a key role in the success of businesses. You should also integrate file-sharing platforms like Google Drive and Dropbox for seamless file-sharing and collaboration. Let's get to know about these platforms in detail here:
# Google Drive
Google Drive is a scalable and simple cloud storage system for teams of all sizes. You can effortlessly upload, share, open, and edit files from any device. It streamlines workflows and boosts efficiency. The other plus is that Google Drive can also be integrated with your Workspace applications. So, what do you need more?
# Dropbox
Dropbox lets users share, edit, and sign documents and collaborate on projects. The tool delivers flexible sharing, so any team member can access shared files without an account. Dropbox DocSend slows the page-by-page analytics and permission controls to track the files used in real time. It lets you see when contractors, clients, or collaborators viewed your content.
Conclusion
When you aim to build a high-performing and successful marketing team, understanding the essential roles of marketing strategists and advertising specialists is crucial. Also, the marketing industry grows fast, so you must automate the process to keep up with new trends and manage your team. For example, you can use Asana for project management, Slack for communication, Semrush for data analysis, and Dropbox for file sharing.
What could be better than Abyssale for content creation? Abyssale boosts (10X) your set production speed, lets the designers collaborate on the campaign, saves 90% of their time, and enables you to launch more campaigns. So, automate asset production with Abyssale, as it is the only solution to bottleneck production!