The way a marketing team is built has as much effect on results as the strategy it follows. Get the structure wrong and even a good plan struggles: the team ends up stretched across too many channels, dependent on a single person, or managing agencies it doesn’t have the experience to direct.
I’m Glyn Hurll, and as a fractional CMO, building marketing capability is a big part of what I do. My aim in every engagement is to leave behind a team that keeps performing after I step back. Here’s how I approach it.
Start with the strategy, not the org chart
It’s tempting to begin by listing roles: a content marketer, a digital marketer, a designer. But the right structure depends on what marketing needs to achieve. A sales-led B2B business focused on a few hundred target accounts needs a very different team from a product-led SaaS business acquiring thousands of self-serve customers.
So the first questions are: what does marketing need to deliver, through which channels, and which of those capabilities are core to how you win?
Decide what to own and what to rent
A useful rule of thumb:
- Own in-house the capabilities that are central to your growth model, require deep business knowledge, or need daily attention. That often includes marketing leadership, product marketing, marketing operations and your core demand generation.
- Rent from specialists the capabilities that need deep technical expertise, are used intermittently or benefit from scale. That often includes paid media, SEO, design, video, PR and events.
The balance shifts as you grow. Early on, a small in-house team with strong specialist partners is usually more efficient. Later, bringing high-volume or strategic capabilities in-house often makes sense.
The first hires
For many growing businesses, the first marketing hires should be versatile, commercially minded people who can work across channels and learn fast. Common early priorities include:
- A marketing manager or generalist who can run day-to-day activity and coordinate partners.
- A product marketer, especially for technology businesses, to own positioning, messaging and sales enablement.
- Marketing operations, either a dedicated role or a strong skill set within the team, to own data, tools, tracking and reporting.
Hiring a team of junior specialists without senior leadership is one of the most common mistakes I see. Each person does their part, but nobody owns the whole.
When to hire a permanent marketing leader
A fractional CMO can lead the function for as long as it makes sense. But there often comes a point where a full-time marketing leader is the right next step, typically when:
- The team has grown enough to need daily leadership.
- Marketing’s strategic importance justifies a full-time executive.
- The strategy and foundations are in place, so a new leader can build on them rather than start from scratch.
Part of my role is helping businesses reach that point well: defining the role, shaping the job description, supporting the recruitment and onboarding the new leader so the handover is smooth.
Make capability last
A team that outlasts any single hire needs more than the right people. It needs:
- Clear roles and ownership, so nothing important falls between the gaps.
- Documented playbooks for recurring work: campaigns, launches, reporting and agency briefing.
- Reliable data and reporting, so performance is visible without depending on one person.
- A rhythm of planning and review, from weekly team check-ins to quarterly planning.
- Development, because good marketers stay where they’re learning.
Agencies are part of the team
Treat specialist agencies as an extension of the team rather than an external supplier. Brief them properly, share the commercial goals, include them in planning, and hold them to outcomes rather than outputs. The best agency relationships I’ve seen are built on clarity and mutual accountability.
Next step
If you’re deciding what your marketing team should look like next, whether that’s your first hire, a restructure or recruiting a permanent marketing leader, book an introductory call. I’ll help you work out the right structure for where the business is going.