6 Key Roles to Build an Efficient Marketing Team Essential roles you need to have a strong foundation in your marketing department.
By Nicole Ramirez Edited by Russell Sicklick
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Jack of all trades, but master of none is a common phrase used in the marketing industry. The reason behind this common phrase is that many of us are forced to be exactly that. Companies hire marketing managers that they expect to do everything from social media to web development. The problem is that companies fail to see that marketing teams can not be just one or two people for scale and growth.
Related: Build Your Marketing Team in the Order that People Buy Things
When building a marketing team, you need to have the proper structure in place to be successful. There are a few essential roles you need to have a strong foundation in your marketing department. Here are the six roles that you need to build a strong team.
Strategy lead
This role is your overall team coach. You need someone who can guide the department in one direction and set goals and KPIs. They are responsible for planning and executing strategies that drive brand consistency and increase revenue. They manage the budgets, calculate ROI, communicate with other departments in the company and delegate tasks. They are an experienced strategic marketer who has ideally worked in multiple aspects of marketing and understands the overall ecosystem of the team.
Content creator
The bread and butter of your brand should be in the messaging. They are responsible for ensuring that the content aligns with the strategic direction of the overall initiatives set by the strategy lead. This person needs to have a solid editorial background and plan content for the website, social media, marketing materials, product descriptions and more. Another critical part is writing for SEO and evaluating the engagement metrics to adjust content as needed. They should keep up-to-date on the latest SEO techniques and have the ability to do keyword research and incorporate it in the content to increase overall search ranking and engagement.
Graphic designer
The designer is responsible for the visual creative of the brand, both offline and online. They should be able to follow the team's specifications and show initiative in bringing creative ideas to the table and being innovative. Outside of having technical skills in design platforms to perform the job, this person should also have strong time management and project management skills to meet deadlines.
Website management
This person does not necessarily have to be a web developer but should know how to manage a CMS enough to create new pages, content changes and updates to the website. A basic understanding of HTML and CSS, as well as SEO and website analytics, is vital. They should work closely with the content creator and the graphic designer to increase traffic and engagement on the web entities and ensure a seamless online experience for users.
Social media
Too often than not, social media tasks get assigned to someone on the team and get lost in the mix. It is essential to have a complete social strategy and regular upkeep with social media. Their responsibility is to keep all social channels consistent with the brand, increase engagement, monitor commenting and identify trends to pivot strategy.
Related: Social Media Team: Building an All-Star Team in 5 Simple Steps
Digital channels manager
This person is your overall digital marketer. They should identify the best digital channels for the brand and create a strategy around those specific channels. This could be paid media, media buying, paid social or email. Depending on the amount of work, they could handle the channels themselves or work with outside agencies or contractors to assist. This person should have a background in digital analytics and knowledge of digital advertising platforms.
These roles are just a start to building a solid marketing team, and each can be expanded or tweaked based on the needs of a company. In order to scale a high-performance marketing team, everyone must work together to reach the overall goals and drive to succeed.
Related: How to Build Your Modern Marketing Team (or Become Your Own ...
