Building the right team and how to align your marketing activities with changing trends

What Makes the Best Marketing Team? 

There is no one size fits all when it comes to the best marketing team. A competent team is a mix of different skill sets and people, that can be broken down into smaller specialized groups that focus on specific parts of the marketing plan. The team must have a clear understanding of their roles, responsibilities, and goals, have creative, analytical, innovative, and importantly a diverse set of skills. 

The number of people in a marketing team usually depends on the company’s size, the company’s age, and its marketing goals. For instance, some companies have an entire department dedicated to digital marketing, while others may only have one person in charge. Owing to a lack of adequate funds in many start-ups, often leads not to have a marketing team at all. However, this surely does not mean that they do not need one! MIA (Marketing In Asia) research reveals that only 54% of startups have a dedicated marketing team, and about a quarter (25%) rely on a single person for all their marketing needs. Amongst the funded group, 32% have a full-time marketing team, while 48% claim to be building one.  

Also read : The Importance of Thought Leadership in Today’s Startup Environment and How to Stand Out From the Crowd 

Building Your Own Marketing Team VS Hiring One 

Building your own marketing team is one of the most rewarding and satisfying things you can do as you get to work with people who are as passionate about the company as you are. However, building a team from scratch can be a time-consuming process, and it is not without its challenges requiring you to recruit, interview, onboard, train, and manage your new hires. The decision to build your own team or hire one outside is largely dominated by the size of the business and its financial position. Financial crunch and budget constraints often lead small companies to outsource and partner with other companies to get the help they need. The benefits of hiring an outside marketing team include: 

– Having experts in your field that know what they are doing 

– Accessing talent that might not be available in your local market 

– Leveraging expertise for a project or for short term needs 

– Elaborating on their own strengths by hiring other specialists. 

Of the startups considered by MIA, 82% of the bootstrapped and 20% of the funded startups rely on founders, junior staff, and partners for marketing instead of an experienced and dedicated marketing head/team.  

However, as the company grows, it becomes increasingly imperative to have an in-house marketing team that can take care of all the distinct aspects of marketing. 48% of the funded startups in the MIA study claim to be building a team either in-house or with partners. 

The right way to align- planning and review  

Marketing has changed drastically in the past few years, emphasizing the need for a structured and well-planned marketing strategy, more than ever, to remain competitive. The Importance of planning cannot be stressed enough as it can help a company stay ahead of the competition, increase its sales, and improve its brand awareness. According to the data of MIA research study, 72% of bootstrap startups claim they are using ad-hoc marketing as their go-to marketing strategy, while 28% say they have structured marketing or are beginning to structure. 45% of funded startups also make a similar claim and 44% claim to be working to create and implement an effective marketing strategy within 2022.  

66% of startups (51% bootstrapped and 15% funded) in MIA’s research say their current marketing strategy is not working anymore, not giving them the desired results. Maybe it is not targeting the audience wisely, is not timed correctly, or it is just obsolete. The question of why it is not working can only be answered by review. One of the most important aspects of a strategy is consistency. If you are not reviewing your work regularly, your strategy will never take off because you will not see any progress. A marketing strategy is not a one-time deal. It needs to be revisited and reassessed periodically. The frequency of review depends on the type of strategy, but it should be done at least once a month for most strategies. MIA data indicates that 20% of the startups review their strategy at least once a month. Out of the 40% who deny a regular review, 20% say they lack the necessary support to do so, 10% say they find it time-consuming, and 5% say they do not understand the process to review it. 92% of the bootstrapped startups either do not have a plan or do not review and update what they already have. The top two reasons cited were – lack of expertise and still being in the stage of finalizing their strategy.  

A review can help identify whether the marketing objectives are being met, if the customer journey is working, if any changes in the digital landscape need to be taken into account, and so on. Without reviewing consistently, marketers might miss a change in customer behaviour, the latest trend that has set in or a prevalent trend that has gone obsolete or new digital landscape developments, which could negatively impact their marketing strategy. 

To know more about marketing teams and need of consistent review- Download the report.