Marketing is always one of the first things that a scaling business should invest in.
But, as many growing businesses know, deciding what marketing looks like for your team often isn’t so simple. With so many potential ways to maximise your marketing strategy, and even more ways to structure your team to achieve that vision, it can be hard to reconcile business needs with business budget.
As a Chief Marketing Officer with over a decade of experience both in-house and outsourced, I’ve seen it all: the one-man band, the scrappy start-up team, the 15+ person marketing crew…
And if I’ve learned anything, it’s that there truly is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to building out your marketing team. Each structure will always have its pros and its cons, and businesses will always need to be discerning when it comes to deciding what things they require and what things they’re willing to accept.
But there are ways to optimise your marketing department from the get-go, ensuring that you are building out the most cost-effective and complementary team for your business.
Doing so requires you to really analyse your business’s needs, goals, and budget, and be open to a range of team structures and work styles. But once you do, you’re sure to end up with a team that optimises your output whilst keeping your costs fair, encouraging scalability all the while.
Ways to Structure Your Team
Large In-House Team
A fully in-house team is by far the most traditional route. Made up of full-time or part-time employees (and sometimes a blend of both), an in-house team promises full company immersion and dedicated owners of various projects. Oftentimes, these teams are made up of highly specialised roles such as Content Marketing Managers, Event Marketing Managers, Social Media Marketing Managers, and more.
These teams can often be limited by cost, capacity and capability. In-house teams tend to be the most expensive option once salaries, benefits and various employer responsibilities are factored in. It is also highly dependent on the business’s ability to hire en masse.
In-house teams also often face up against the challenge of overworking (the smaller the team, the bigger the issue; more on that in a moment) with task delegation sometimes becoming complex — even despite a group of highly specialised team members.
Many scaling businesses will often see this as the ultimate goal, but will struggle to bridge the gap and figure out how to manage marketing until they reach that point. Oftentimes, this leads to small (sometimes as small as one person) in-house teams, which come with their own constraints.
Cost: High. Large in-house teams come with salaries, benefits and all other legal employer responsibilities to contend with… not to mention the high price tag that comes with full-time marketing leaders.
Who should consider it: 99% of scaling businesses will not be at this point. While they may look to this structure as a sort of guiding light, it’s almost never the starting point for companies looking to grow.
Small In-House Team/Solo Person
More businesses than not will begin with a one-person team that, if they’re persistent, will likely grow into a small in-house team. In fact, most businesses will then stay within this group, relying on a core team of 1-5 to do all of their marketing.
Usually, these sorts of teams are made up of a Marketing Lead or Manager, a Marketing Executive or two, and potentially some specialised roles, such as Social Media Manager.
It’s incredibly important for businesses to remember that they can’t just hire a single Marketing Manager and call it a day; one person will never be able to do it all, and attempts to do so will end in a subpar level of output… no matter how skilled a marketer!
So, while the one-person department may seem like the starting point, it can lead to overstretched work and subpar execution.
Even with some growth, these teams tend to be spread thin and eventually need help.
Now, this isn’t to say that small marketing teams can never be the right fit for a business; if you’re part of a small business looking to merely keep the lights on when it comes to marketing, a small in-house team can be the right call.
However, once it’s time to take things to the next level and invest in growth, more manpower and specialised expertise will always be needed.
So, the question inevitably becomes: will you want to hire someone else, or outsource help?
Cost: Medium-High. As ever, in-house staff comes with the cost of… well, keeping in-house staff. The small size of the team will mitigate some of that, but it will severely limit your company’s options when it comes to growth marketing.
Who should consider it: Medium to small businesses who are looking to “keep the lights on” in their marketing, but not trying to considerably push their marketing as a key channel. Think regular blog posts, social media, newsletters, and some paid ads, but not strategic campaigns, large-scale events, or significant PR pushes.
In-House with Outsourced Help
More and more we are seeing in-house teams rely upon outsourced help over new hires; whilst this has always been a method, the modern preponderance of agencies, freelancers and fractional professionals is making it all the more common.
Most often, I see this happen one of three ways:
- An in-house marketing leader or director overseeing a team of outsourced specialists
- An outsourced leader, such as a vCMO, overseeing a team of in-house staff
- A mixture of both in-house and outsourced team members
This is often a sweet spot for businesses who are exploring strategic growth marketing without hiring more full-time staff. It allows highly qualified expertise without the hefty price tag, and can help to bridge and gaps in the marketing department.
Cost: Reasonable-Medium. Having in-house staff members aware of and managing things day-to-day as well as the benefit of specialists can help growing businesses get a good amount of bang for their buck.
Who should consider it: Scaling businesses that want to keep their core marketing function in-house but want to stay cost-conscious whilst still utilising top talent.
Fully Outsourced
The most contemporary option is the fully outsourced team, where all marketing is handled for the business by an outside entity.
Agencies used to rule this method, but a blend of a virtual Chief Marketing Officer and freelancers has begun to offer a compelling alternative.
Oftentimes, agencies run the risk of coming with a lot of bloat and unnecessary hoops despite incredibly high prices. With the size of many agencies, it’s often the case that businesses pay a premium for their time despite then being handed off to a junior account manager.
Now, that’s not to say that agencies can’t create incredible work; however, in my experience, for every great agency, there are many understaffed, overpriced agencies that won’t be able to dedicate the proper amount of time to your account.
Nowadays, non-agency providers like vCMOs provide highly involved, expert support at a more affordable cost. They also provide oversight, whether that be over an internal team or by bringing along their own outsourced staff. They often have access to other experienced professionals such as designers and copywriters, providing highly specialised support without highly specialised price tags. Importantly, this means that they can expand and contract the team (and thus pricing) at will to fit the current needs of the business.
Plus, where many agencies focus on execution, vCMOs are able to provide strategy before guiding execution. So, while the means of fully outsourced teams are shifting, it’s all the better for businesses, with more options than ever on how to structure their team.
Cost: Dependent on method. For vCMOs, reasonable. For agencies, medium-high. vCMOs cost will always be more competitive when considering level of output and expertise against cost (and what it may cost to get a Marketing Director in house).
Who should consider it: Scaling businesses looking for equally scalable, expert marketing support should consider an outsourced team. In particular, an agency is better for short-term outsourcing (i.e. a particular campaign), whereas a vCMO is always better for ongoing growth marketing support.
Think About Your Goals, Needs and Gaps in the Team
As you go to make your decision, it’s important to consider the pros and cons of each team type, and weigh them heavily against your own goals, needs, and gaps in the team.
Some questions to ask yourself are:
- Is this a role that will require lots of in-office presence, or am I happy having a distributed team?
- How important is expertise & specialisation?
- What areas of marketing do I want to expand?
- What level of strategy guidance do I need?
- What do I already have covered in-house?
- What do I need now, and what will I need in a year’s time? What about five year’s time?
- What is my budget? How much am I happy to spend on a team?
- What is my ultimate goal for my marketing team?
These questions will help guide you on what level of support you may need, and what form you may want that support to take.
Remember, in-house hiring also typically comes with location-restraints, and opting for remote, hybrid, or outsourcing expands your hiring pool significantly.
My two cents? Don’t jump to in-house immediately. Figure out what you need, your ideal outcomes, and your budget, and explore different options before committing to a full-time hire.
If you’re not sure, it’s always worth having a conversation with a vCMO to see what outsourcing may look like for your business. If nothing else, outsourced marketing support can help bridge the gap as your business grows and decides the best avenue going forward.
James Le Gallez (main picture) is the Founder and Chief Marketing Officer at Edward & James, a qualified marketing consultancy helping professional service providers make confident decisions, execute effectively and grow with intent.
