3 key challenges often arise during the complex process of building a high-performing marketing team within a B2B SaaS organization:
In this article, we'll explore strategies to overcome these obstacles and build a successful B2B SaaS marketing team structure.
There's no right or wrong way to structure a B2B SaaS marketing team. Most experts agree that strategy should dictate B2B SaaS marketing team structure and not the other way around. This is why each marketing team will look different from the next.
This also means the team structure will change every couple of years as your strategy adapts to the growth stage. So, while hiring, keep this in mind. Look for fluidity in structure and fill any skill gaps based on your current team’s strengths. For example, Your chief marketing officer is well-versed with demand generation and product marketing, your first marketing hire should be well-versed with marketing analytics for growth marketing.
Draw a Venn diagram of your strengths and goals. As a marketing team leader, if your strength is content creation for different marketing channels or creating a cohesive account based marketing strategy, and your goal is to generate more organic MQLs for sales teams, the intersection of these two is where your team structure lies—content marketers, brand marketers, experts on marketing automation tools and marketing ops.
For instance, if your strength is leveraging social media channels to educate your audience about your product and its use cases, and your goal is to build a brand and generate more awareness in a new market, your SaaS marketing team should be structured around content marketing and inbound marketing strategy.
That said, here are some GTM motions and how marketing teams can be structured around them:
Product marketing is particularly effective for SaaS companies that offer products with a low barrier to entry and a strong network effect. Say your pricing structure is a freemium model that encourages more adoption it makes sense to rely on product-led growth. In these instances, you want to hire for the following positions in your SaaS marketing team:
If your marketing efforts rely on the growth marketing model, your SaaS marketing team should comprise the following roles:
If you want to establish yourself as a thought leader and build strong relationships with your target audience, you should consider hiring for these key roles on your marketing team:
To effectively execute an inorganic growth strategy, you need the following people:
A dedicated team focused on sales, business development, and customer success is essential for this strategy:
Once you've decided on the specialization of your marketing team members based on your marketing strategy, creating a hierarchical structure becomes important. It gives clarity on ownership and makes collaboration within different verticals easier. Here are questions that help define it:
The first thing to figure out is if the different marketing operations are autonomous or rely on one another to get the job done. Each has its perks and drawbacks.
Autonomous teams: benefits
Autonomous teams: drawbacks
Interdependent teams: benefits
This marketing team structure facilitates collaboration and makes it easier to align with the sales team.
Interdependent teams: drawbacks
The next problem to tackle is leaders. It is tempting to build teams around leaders or managers and their strengths. But with the dynamic nature of GTM strategies and resulting changes in team structures, this will prove very difficult to manage in the long run.
It is better to avoid structuring teams around leaders. Ownership for marketing campaigns can be allocated to individuals with "lobbyists" rallying for the cause. They facilitate the marketing efforts to ensure the operations run smoothly.
The best way to go about this problem is to ask yourself if the issues you are facing are evergreen problems or not. Hiring for a niche or particular specialization hardly ends well in the long and so act accordingly. Say for example you need a regional support and communications team for a country you are expanding to. This task can be outsourced to an agency without hiring for the problem.
Most leaders cite a lack of bandwidth as the reason for expansion. This is never a good reason to expand your team. You should only aim to hire when there are new processes or specializations you need to work on. This also helps foster an environment of growth. Once you achieve certain results in a particular marketing department, you should look to scale those efforts by building engines that help you scale your success without investing in new hires.
Imagine your marketing team as a high-performing sports team. Each player has a specific role, understands their strengths and weaknesses, and works seamlessly with the others to achieve victory. As Comet GTM leader, Shri Mithran, rightly points out, hiring the right people for your marketing team requires a clear understanding of role clarity.
The first step is to identify the specific problem your team is currently facing. Are you struggling to keep up with content creation? Do you need someone to develop innovative product marketing strategies? Just like a coach analyzes their team's weaknesses, you need to understand your team's limitations and where they need the most support.
Once you know the problem, you need to find the right player. In sports, you wouldn't put a defensive lineman in charge of scoring goals, right? Similarly, in marketing, you need to consider whether you need a "thinker" or a "doer" for the role.
Hiring for the right skill set, whether a "thinker" or a "doer," will ensure your marketing efforts are at their best. Remember, a strong marketing team isn't just about individual talent; it's about finding players who complement each other and work together toward the shared goal of achieving marketing success.
In a kitchen, the garde-manger chops and cuts veggies and fruits, irrespective of the dish they go into. In the same way, cross-functional teams can be assigned to achieve specific results rather than siloed teams. For example, instead of picking team members focusing on a specific product launch, structure your team so that a product marketer takes ownership of customer acquisition. They will collaborate with members from various departments like marketing, sales, product, and design to ensure a successful product launch when it happens.
The same goes for a customer success team at a SaaS company. Traditionally, they might be organized based on experience or seniority. However, a more agile approach involves forming specialized teams or "pods" focused on specific customer segments or product features.
For example:
These pods allow for closer collaboration, knowledge sharing, and quicker adaptation to changing customer needs. This flexible structure can improve efficiency, foster teamwork, and create a stronger sense of ownership among marketing teams.
By carefully considering your team's composition and ensuring that members have the necessary skills and expertise, you can effectively manage the various aspects of your marketing strategy and adapt to the evolving needs of your business.
At TripleDart, we offer comprehensive SaaS marketing services that can help you build and optimize your marketing team. Our team of experienced professionals can provide consulting services, act as an interim marketing team, or serve as an extended resource to supplement your marketing efforts.
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