Who's Who - Essential Roles on Every High-Performing Marketing Team

Much like with sales, people often lump every member of the marketing team together. They assume the entire team is made up of creative thinkers, solely focused on coming up with big ideas. Alternatively, they may believe that the marketing team is full of strategists, only concerned with analyzing data and making adjustments that increase leads at the top of the funnel.

The truth is you need to have people with a variety of skills in order to inform, plan, and carry out the tasks that keep your funnel full and moving. This means strategists, creatives, data analysts, coordinators, videographers, and more.

From large organizations with robust marketing teams with 100+ team members to smaller companies where everybody wears multiple hats, here are the 8 essential roles on any marketing team.

The Leader

The marketing leader is responsible for the overall execution of the entire marketing plan. Their job isn’t to get into the details on the day-to-day creation of each specific component of the marketing plan. Instead, they focus on the big picture, crafting the overall strategy, reviewing and giving final approval on key messaging, and working closely with the sales team to make sure the two groups are aligned.

One of the most common mistakes we see in the structure of marketing teams is to spread the responsibilities of a marketing leader across several members of the team, or even the company. Why is this a problem? It creates two things: confusion and delays.

Yes, collaboration is key to the success of the marketing (or any) team, but decision by committee can easily be its downfall. Approval processes become lengthy and even simple questions may turn into debates. Not to mention, without clear responsibilities, it’s difficult for anybody to feel empowered to take ownership and give final approval.

The Project Manager

Anybody who’s worked on a marketing campaign, or, more realistically, several simultaneous marketing campaigns, understands just how many moving pieces there are. It’s the project manager’s (often referred to as the coordinator) job to juggle them.

These highly organized members of the team are in charge of deadlines, managing timelines, assessing action items and next steps, and troubleshooting when something inevitably falls behind schedule. They set the milestones, make sure every member of the team has what they need to keep moving forward, and are the reason initiatives are completed on time.

They do this by organizing strategic marketing meetings, creating and closely managing action plans, and ensuring milestones are hit. They also aid in communication between various members of the team, update any online project management software, double check that things are done correctly, and more.

When things go to plan and stay on schedule, it’s most likely because of the project manager.

The Digital Marketing Strategist

This tactical position is responsible for all of the outreach that brings people into the top of the integrated marketing funnel. This means driving traffic to the website, getting people to subscribe to email campaigns, increasing social media exposure, and raising awareness for the organization.

They make sure the content used to drive growth in the top of the funnel is consistent with the efforts of the sales and marketing teams so that they aren’t just increasing the number of leads, but the right kind of leads.

They consistently review and update the website, provide SEO content, manage and review Google Ads, and explore other online advertising programs. They also oversee and manage social media efforts, tracking which ones are performing and what doesn’t seem to be resonating with target customers.

The digital marketing specialists work closely with content writers to make sure blogs, social media posts, and other online copy is optimized for SEO and driving lead growth.

The Funnel Manager

The funnel manager is in charge of making sure that the leads procured by the digital marketing specialist continue to move through the funnel until they make contact with a salesperson. Essentially, they’re responsible for integrating the sales and marketing teams.

The funnel manager handles marketing automation with different applications and / or CRM tools and collects data about what the leads are responding, or not responding, to within the funnel. This includes reviewing web stats each week and comparing them against previous trends to understand what campaigns are drawing in leads, managing monthly newsletters and other marketing efforts to determine what content leads tend to click on or respond to, and developing user testing programs to get feedback.

Most importantly, they analyze the data and present their findings to the marketing team, along with insights and recommendations for how specific campaigns can be adjusted to more effectively convert leads.

The Writer

A commonly contracted role, this member of the marketing team writes content for the website, email campaigns, blogs, social media posts, and more.

Ideally, the writer will have access to both the sales and marketing teams to make sure that the content they write is accurate and aligns with both the marketing plans and the messaging customers seem to be responding to.

It’s also beneficial for the writer to have access to the full marketing strategy and plans, as it will help them understand the goal for each piece they write. This will allow them to make recommendations and craft content in a way that is reflective of the big picture messaging, plans, and goals from various campaigns. They’ll be able to recommend what content should be used, how often content should appear on different channels, recommended length, and more.

The Multimedia Provider

Yes, we all are capable of taking pictures, videos, and recording audio from our phones – but let’s leave the professional work to the, well, professionals.

As a specialist in the capture and creation of video, photographic, and audio content, this commonly contracted role works closely with the sales and marketing teams, oftentimes including the writer.

For photographic work, they prepare for photoshoots, making sure they understand what needs to be captured, take photos, and provide final edited copies. For video shoots, they’ll often prepare storyboards and provide creative recommendations in addition to capturing and editing the footage. They may also record and edit audio recordings for podcasts, voiceovers, audio testimonials, and more.

During the post-production phase, they may work with the graphic designer to produce any necessary graphics.

This role is one that has continued to grow in scope and importance. Video content is a critical part of the sales funnel. Consumers are constantly using TikTok, YouTube, and other social media platforms, not just for entertainment, but when making decisions about what organizations to work with or what brands to buy from. It may be tempting to use stock photos and videos, but visuals that feature your team, clients, and stakeholders will always read as more authentic.

The Graphic Designer

Iconic brands can be recognized from a single image, logo, or ad. The person responsible for creating those visuals and making sure they represent the look and feel of the brand is the graphic designer.

Your graphic designer is responsible for creating and designing all marketing collateral, including all website content, social media graphics, company logos, and more.

They either develop or adhere to brand guidelines, including colors, fonts, design elements, logos, and more. Their goal is to make sure that anything your organization shares, from website home page banners to social media graphics, are a consistent part of the overall look and feel of the brand.

The Tech Guy

Technology is a critical part of sales and marketing, especially because the vast majority of marketing is done online.

You need a website that loads quickly, is easy to navigate, and meets the needs of the user. You need to make sure all of your webpages operate seamlessly on both a computer and a smart phone.

If it’s not, your funnel will be in trouble.

Leads and customers simply won’t spend time on a website that is difficult to navigate, doesn’t load correctly, or they don’t feel is secure, which is why it’s essential that your website prioritizes the customer experience, first and foremost.

A knowledgeable person in this role will help you select a website platform that meets the needs of your marketing team’s strategic plans, can be easily edited by internal team members, and creates a great user experience for your customers. They’ll also establish security functions and malware protections and oversee website integration with other applications, like your CRM tools, accounting, inventory, and more.

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A healthy relationship between sales and marketing is vital to an organization’s success. Dive deep into this effective strategy in our book  Sales & Marketing Alignment. If you'd like more insights on how you can improve your sales leadership, contact us.

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