Learn about defining your marketing organization structure

As marketers, it is up to us to know our buyers and give them the experiences they want before someone else does. And to do that we need the right type of marketing organization. So why change? Today’s buyers are informed and connected and they want meaningful and consistent experiences with brands, no matter where they are in their individual buyer journey. They expect interactions with your customer support team to be consistent with their experience with your sales team. And whether you meet that expectation will influence their engagement with your company. As marketers, a shift in our perspective as well as our organization is required in order to engage with buyers in the ways that work for them. We need to build our organizations around the buyer experience, have the right mix of talent on the team, and position marketing in the right place within the organization. Let’s start with an organizational concept based on the buyer’s experience.

Traditionally, marketing departments have been organized by the delivery channel, one silo for television, one for radio, one for print, and so on. With the rise of the internet, organizations added more silos to include web, social networks, and mobile devices. Silo structuring can make coordinating efforts across teams difficult to navigate, leading to differences in content and approach. This can be apparent to customers switching between channels and devices, leading to a frustrating user experience. So how should marketing organizations be structured? There isn’t a single solution that works for all companies, but to create the consistent experience that customers want consider structuring horizontally across all channels for brand and advertising, product marketing, field marketing, demand generation, and customer marketing.

Consider creating centers of excellence for content marketing and marketing operations to support these teams. This ensures consistency of content and messaging across all groups and channels, and provides the operational expertise needed to run campaigns using Marketo’s engagement platform. Now we’ll talk about building your team with the skills to succeed in your new structure.

With your ideal organization defined, the next step is to ensure that you have the right mix of talent. Generalists who can span multiple channels will meet the needs of this type of organization better than channel experts. You’ll want to identify marketers who, in addition to being creative, fall into one or more of these categories; Thinkers, people who can make sense of the vast trove of data buyers leave behind as they move between channels. Feelers, those who can intuit meaning from customer interactions and behaviors. And doers, the ones who can execute on content creation and project management. Lastly, we’ll look at how you can align marketing with your company.

In addition to thinking about the structure and composition of your marketing team, you should also consider where it fits and how it interacts within the larger organization. To meet the expectations of modern buyers, marketing should create exceptional brand moments at every touchpoint, based on a 360 degree view of the customer and their interactions with your brand. This means marketing needs to be an alignment not just with sales, but also with IT, customer service, and other teams who are in contact with buyers or customers. Marketing is the team best equipped to understand customers’ needs and drive a consistent experience with your brand throughout the customer life cycle. Building a strong organizational structure and team helps you focus on the customer experience. Know your buyers, listen to them and engage them through relevant content at a meaningful point in their life cycle. Using Marketo will help you win in the engagement economy. -