Is the structure of today’s marketing department broken?
When I held my first official job in marketing decades ago, everyone was an employee. We did not use freelancers. The only outsiders were our ad agency.
The President of the company felt that everyone should work for the company, within the business and no outsiders. Only employees. He thought it built a better culture. And in those pre-Internet days, no one worked from home.
When I became responsible for the department and part of leadership, that changed. And I convinced our President he was living in the past and we needed a fresh model for marketing.
The Hollywood Model
Today, marketing departments at small to mid-sized companies are morphing into a Hollywood model.
In Lala land, you have freelancers – producers, actors, writers, producers, directors, lighting experts, costumers, PR folks, social media mavens, etc. coming together for a project. They are a team for four to six months, and then they go their separate ways.
And a new group is assembled for a new production.
This approach may signal how you will manage a marketing team today.
Instead of hiring people who are generalists – why not hire individuals for specific positions through agencies or third-party organizations. Time gets wasted in most traditional marketing department jobs– that I think that organizational model will slowly evolve into something different.
The well-run marketing teams of the future will not try to hire people who are generalists – they will want experts who understand how to market direct-to-consumer through Amazon, or who have in-depth SEO knowledge or people who are Instagram gurus.
A New Approach
Think of all the jobs needed to be done for a marketing team. Here are a few:
Social, e-commerce, web, copywriters, design, media buying, creative, direct mail, events, strategists, analyst, market researcher, planning, and budgeting, to name a few.
Why not hire a few people and then outsource most of the rest of the work?
Let your small in-house team, manage the freelancers or agency folks. The benefit comes from defining specific, value-added projects, not fluff, and time-wasters.
Your in-house experts in e-commerce platforms get dragged into distracting meetings or getting sucked into office politics.
Let your in-house staff be actual managers and leverage agencies and freelancers with better skills than any one individual.
An Example
Say you run a beverage or snack food company with several brands.
And, you want someone doing social media work for you.
You could bring in someone with limited experience, and with benefits, it ends up costing the company $40-50K. Remember, benefits can add 30-35% to the cost of a full-time employee.
What ends up happening to that person, is they get tasked with several other areas to work on and dilute their social media efforts. Over time, they spend half their time doing what you hired them to focus on achieving.
Or, you could find an agency that focuses on social media.
If managed properly, you could have them doing the work needed and using their learning from the agency’s other clients to help you get a better return on the invested dollar.
The person you hire might have three years of experience, but if you find the right agency, you could spend that same $40-50K much more effectively.
I know this works. I have done it many times.
Perhaps it does not work for every job – but for many roles, outsourcing is a better model.
What do you see for the future of marketing departments at small to mid-sized companies?
Do you think the Hollywood model is right for your company?
Is it time to go a little Lala land?
Need help with establishing your marketing department?
I can help. You can set up a time chat with me about your marketing challenges using my calendar. Our initial conversation is free. You talk, I listen. Email me jeffslater@themarketingsage.com or call me. 919 720 0995. Visit my website at www.themarketingsage.com Let’s explore working together today.
Photo by Jake Blucker on Unsplash
