Exploring Different Types of Marketing Team Structures: Benefits and Drawbacks

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By Jacob Maslow

Marketing teams are foundational to the success of any business, and their structure can drastically affect their performance. There are various ways to structure a marketing team, each with its unique benefits and drawbacks. 

From functional and matrix structures to geographical and network configurations, the design of a marketing team can significantly influence the team’s efficiency, creativity, and productivity. 

Having the proper structure can be the difference between success and failure. In this article, we’ll explore different marketing team structures, their benefits, and their drawbacks, so you can make an informed decision about structuring your marketing team.

What Is A Marketing Team Structure?

A marketing team is a group of people who work together to provide marketing services to their company. The marketing team is responsible for identifying the customers’ needs, developing marketing strategies, and promoting services or products to the customers. 

The structure of your marketing team defines job roles, determines the chain of command, establishes procedures, and outlines best practices to follow to achieve success. 

When a structure is effective, it supports the overall business objectives, ensuring that all employees clearly understand those objectives and creating the foundation for staff to collaborate and thrive while knowing where they stand within the structure.

Why Should A Business Use A Marketing Team Structure?

A marketing team structure is a way of helping staff members understand who their chain of command is as well as their role within a company. 

The structures create a guide for employees that provides them with what they need to know regarding available resources. It also assists management when creating essential procedure documents such as the employee handbook. 

As well as being helpful to employees at the individual level, an effective structure also provides all staff members, including management and executives, with a visual workflow to define how the company operates. 

This workflow will also show the tasks each role is responsible for, which, in turn, helps everyone see how they contribute to the business’s success.

While the benefits of each marketing team structure vary, one constant is that the proper form can help improve your marketing efforts. A well-structured marketing team can help you create better content and more effective campaigns, reach your target audience more effectively, and streamline your marketing efforts.

Functional Structure

In a functional marketing team structure, team members are organized based on their overall organizational function. In other words, team members report to the head of their respective functions but are not interdependent on one another. 

In this type of structure, team members responsible for specific functions, such as marketing strategy, demand generation, and content creation, typically report to a team lead, who reports to a department manager, who, in turn, reports to a department head. 

This means that each team member is responsible for their part of the marketing process. 

Product-Based Structure

In a product-based marketing team structure, team members report to the team lead or manager who oversees the type of product they’re responsible for marketing. 

In this structure, the different managers for each team report to an overseeing head of the department, who maintains the structure to ensure that all aspects are functioning efficiently. 

This structure is helpful for businesses with a wide variety of products or services. 

It allows team members to focus on the specific product types they’re responsible for marketing. Instead of trying to manage several different marketing campaigns, each team member is responsible for one type of product.

Matrix Structure

In a matrix marketing team structure, team members are organized in a way that combines functional and product-based structures. Teams are split based on the product they are working on and their overall function or specialty within the company. 

This creates smaller teams within each product and can establish a more effective working environment as each team is focused on a specific aspect of the product they work on. 

This structure helps team members collaborate more with each other and allows them to draw from one another’s strengths and knowledge.

Market-Based Structure

In a market-based marketing team structure, like with the product-based structure, teams are split based on which market, industry, or consumer each staff member is responsible for. 

In this structure, for example, one team may be responsible for marketing a specific product to people of college age, and another may be responsible for marketing to older generations. 

It allows each team to focus on its target demographic to create marketing campaigns tailored to the correct market.

Geographical Structure

A geographical marketing team structure is typical for larger companies with international interests spanning multiple countries, cultures, and languages. Like with the other structures, teams are based on the geographical area they focus on. 

This is beneficial as each area will have different cultures, which could impact the type of campaign the target market will respond to. 

In this structure, for example, one team member may be responsible for marketing products to customers in California, while another may be working on marketing projects for customers based in the UK.

Network Structure

A network structure is designed for businesses that intend to work with each other during marketing efforts to further their organizations. This is typically used by companies that want to focus on their internal operations while expediting their project timelines. 

In this structure, companies that want to perform a task not currently done internally may wish to outsource this to another company within its network or a new business to expand its network. 

For example, if a company wants to create new marketing materials but doesn’t have anyone in the house with graphic design skills, it could outsource this to a graphic design company to continue focusing on essential internal tasks for the project.

Wrapping Up

As you can see, there are many ways to structure a marketing team, each with its benefits and drawbacks. Before making your final decision on team structure, take the time to consider what is most important to you in a team. 

It’s essential to select a team structure that best fits the needs and personalities of your specific team members so that everyone can work to their full potential and achieve success.

FAQs

What is a product-based marketing team structure?

A product-based marketing team structure is one in which teams are divided according to the product or service they are responsible for marketing. Each team member is responsible for one type of product.

What is a network structure?

A network structure is designed for businesses that intend to work with each other during marketing efforts to further their organizations. This structure allows a company to outsource tasks that it does not have the resources or expertise for internally.

What are the benefits of a geographic structure?

A geographic marketing team structure benefits larger businesses with international interests, allowing each team to focus on its target demographic and create marketing campaigns tailored to the correct market. This structure also ensures that different cultures are considered when creating campaigns.

What should I consider when selecting a team structure?

When selecting a team structure, take the time to consider what is most important to you in a team. It’s essential to choose a structure that best fits the needs and personalities of your specific team members so that everyone can work to their full potential and achieve success.

 

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