Rockstar Marketing on a Budget

Developing an internal marketing department while still hitting your sales numbers

7 min readJan 6, 2021

The question arises throughout the growth of an organization as to how to transition marketing functions. Gartner, which surveyed 432 marketing executives across the US and Europe, found 1/3 of marketing work has shifted from agencies to in-house. CMOs expect that trend to continue into 2021, according to the results.

When questioned, the shift came for these reasons — cost savings, consistency of message, and relationship growth with creatives and agencies. If this is the case for your intentions into the new year, let’s consider how this strategy may look.

It’s not internal vs. agency but rather the best mix of talent to get the job done.

There is a progression of levels, depending on the stage of your organization. It’s not internal vs. agency but rather the best mix of talent to get the job done. The truth is that there is no perfect system but there is always a better way. Let’s address these growing pains and how to navigate through these stages.

We will discuss four primary considerations. The idea is to address the fluctuating nature of any organization. The changing landscape of your marketing plan is a vast subject and should start with a high-level strategy. There are many stages of organizations, from startups to mature corporations. For this article, we will focus on the core middle because this is somewhere after catching your breath of the startup hustle and those culture changes along the way. I’ll touch on startups in the late stages as this is the time you start to assemble a Rockstar team — in my opinion, the most exciting time for any company.

Let’s dive in, shall we?

STRUCTURE

Offering information that is valuable to everyone is a challenge. There is no “one size fits all” kind of structure.

Agile teams are found to be better at responding to changes, handling big projects, and meeting projected timelines and budgets.

Much is changing in marketing today, specifically in the digital realm. There are so many different ways to reach an audience.

Corporations in these stages are relatively nimble and the marketing department has yet to establish an identity. There are many different types of structures to adopt.

A traditional hierarchy may seem most natural but consider other forms. Agile marketing is an autonomous leadership style that works in a decentralized environment. Agile teams are better at responding to changes, handling big projects, and meeting projected timelines and budgets, according to Gartner survey results.

Today, plenty of companies adopt variations of traditional and agile systems to work for their audience. Having an elastic organization focuses on agility and funnel focused teams are divided by their location in the funnel. Modern Marketing Solutions highlights 7 different systems and examines them with real-world case studies.

It’s tempting to dive into the details because there are so many interesting practices going on today. But let’s expand our vision and open the frame to consider marketing as high of a level as possible.

STRATEGY

The goal in the context of growing your marketing team is to understand the work that needs to be filled by either in-house or agencies.

Having a solid business plan is essential — don’t get lost on implementation.

Here’s a useful chart to help founders identify their marketing activity. This seems as good a place to start as any.

Source: Firstround.com “So You Think You’re Ready to Hire a Marketer”

“Founders looking at this list may recognize tasks they’ve already taken care of and maybe didn’t consider to be marketing: defining the audience you’re serving, writing an email about your product to a prospective customer, hiring a designer to make your logo, approaching a partner,” says Arielle Jackson of First Round Review.

Keeping our focus high level, look at your marketing mix and compare it to the chart above—consider what that means in today’s reality.

A strategy is very much tailored to the business and the nature of your audience’s habits. I will simply suggest that the need for a specific strategy is paramount to your success. If you need help developing a strategy, consider hiring a fractional CMO at this stage.

Once a strategy is in place, make sure there is a plan to appropriately communicate it throughout the organization and filter it into third party teams. Having a solid business plan is essential — don’t get lost on implementation.

Internal communication is easier said than done. If you need help, check out platforms such as Sociabble or ClearPoint Strategy. The goal is to educate your team to have a good sense of right and wrong for the company. That way, when an external team member suggests a message or the pursuit of the wrong target audience, your team can quickly get them back on track.

BUDGET

Many founders throw all the money left over at marketing instead of following a budget. Probably a side effect of knowing it’s important, but no time for one of the many things on a founder’s to-do list.

Consider everything to do that will fall into that budget — digital, PR, internal communications, design, etc. It is likely there’s more to do than you can afford, so pick wisely.

According to Neil Patel, startup marketing is a whole different science. He suggests using all your resources. Startups will consume higher marketing budgets. After that stage, a consistent monthly budget with a solid strategy will help you transition to the next step.

Here are current trends on what others are spending, according to a Deloitte survey. The following are percentages of gross revenue.

B2B service = 12%
B2B product = 8.3%
B2C service = 15%
B2C product = 13.9%

Consider everything that will fall into that budget — digital, PR, internal communications, design, etc (use the chart above). It is likely there’s more to do than you can afford all at once, so pick wisely.

How to use agencies is an x-factor and quite possibly a superpower. The best specialized talent is found at agencies.

IMPLEMENTATION

There should not be any hard lines in the way you implement this plan. Organizations change shape, so the goal is best to be progressional. You have had many successes already; continue doing what has already worked for you.

How to use agencies is an x-factor and quite possibly a superpower. The best specialized talent is found at agencies. Think about it; there are so many different marketing types, and no way you can find everything you need in 1, 5, or even 20 people. For instance, guerrilla marketing is so specialized and creative — don’t expect this person(s) to be on your staff, and if they are, that’s amazing, but you surely have holes in that bucket somewhere else. Use agencies to plug those holes and achieve those results.

Now that you have considered your structure, strategy, and budget, it’s time to dole out the tasks to the most effective team.

Assuming you have an agency or agencies taking care of specialized parts of the strategy, here’s a shortlist of different marketers’ to integrate into the team.

1) Mid-level Marketer — 5 year’s experience. Some agency experience preferred and demonstrable success in campaigns. No leadership experience is required unless you need them to represent marketing at board meetings. (Consider this the first marketing hire)

2) Marketing Intern — Can fill in where your mid-level person acts as a mentor. They should have some real-world experience running social media or digital sales, and preferably some demonstrable successes. (A great option if you have a proficient marketer that can develop others professionally)

3) Specialized Marketer or ancillary to marketing functions — Consider a content writer or a graphic designer. Don’t expect this person to do it all, either. For instance, just because you have a pro graphic designer doesn’t mean they can design a complete brand book for a new product — but they may be able to help you find and manage a third party. (The right hire fills a lot of holes)

4) Director level or CMO— Must have proven leadership experience. Wikipedia describes the CMO as one who must “quickly react to the changing market conditions and competitive dynamics and must reshape, as needed, the company’s strategy and execution plans based on real-time market scenarios. Each of these products comes from a different department, so the CMO must be a nexus of information” it is a highly receptive role, with involvement in departments such as production, information technology, corporate communications, documentation, public relations, law, human resources, and finance.” (Hire a senior level executive when you have enough decisions to warrant it. If the work you have is down in the weeds, a VP-level candidate may not have visited in some time and will likely not be the best use of her time.)

SUMMARY

Hopefully, this paints a picture of how a marketing team can integrate into your organization. Create a structure that serves as a guide in which to grow. Set the budget. Build a strategy with tasks lined up and assign them to the best teams to get the results you seek. Follow a plan, draw it out like a wireframe, and stay flexible while you grow. In the end, your marketing department will create an identity — preferably one that is innovative and has room to grow with the business.