How to Create an Effective B2B Marketing Team Structure For a SaaS Company 

The year 2023 seems a long way off, but for many B2B marketing teams it will be here before they know it. The pressure is on them to future-proof their organizations and stay relevant in an ever-changing digital landscape. The SaaS industry is predicted to grow to over $200 billion by next year, and with it the demand for marketing teams that can not only keep up with the pace of change but also lead the way.

According to Gartner, 80% of B2B SaaS sales and interactions will be digital. Hence, in order to stay ahead of the curve, B2B marketing teams need to structure themselves in a way that allows them to be nimble, adaptable, and always learning.

But what’s the best way for a SaaS company? In this blog post, we’ll outline seven structures that have worked well for other companies and discuss the benefits and drawbacks of each. 

We’ll also give you some tips on how to choose the right structure for your business. So read on if you’re looking to create a winning marketing team for your SaaS company.

What is a B2B Marketing Organizational Structure?

A B2B marketing organizational structure is the way that a company’s marketing team is organized. This includes the number of people on the team, their roles, and how they report to one another. There are many different ways to structure a marketing team, and the right choice for your company will depend on your business goals, budget, and other factors.

Benefits of a good B2B marketing organizational structure:

There are many benefits to having a well-organized marketing team.

• It can help to improve communication and collaboration within the team.
• It can make it easier to allocate resources and track progress
• It can also help to attract and retain top talent, as it shows that you are serious about your marketing efforts.

Types of B2B Marketing Organizational Structures:

Below are seven common ways to organize a marketing team. We’ve also included some pros and cons for each type of structure.

1. The Hub-and-Spoke Model

The hub-and-spoke model is a common structure for B2B marketing teams. In this model, there is a central team (the “hub”) that handles all of the strategic marketing tasks. This team is usually made up of senior marketers with a lot of experience. The “spokes” are smaller teams that handle more tactical tasks, such as lead generation or content marketing. These teams report to the hub.

Pros:

• It is a good choice for SaaS companies that want to have a lot of control over their marketing efforts.
• It can also be a good way to save money, as you won’t need to hire as many marketers.

Cons:

• It can lead to silos within the team. The hub may not have a good understanding of what the spokes are working on, and vice versa. This can make it difficult to align marketing efforts with business goals.
• It can also be difficult to scale, as you will need to add more marketers to the central team as your company grows.

2. The Matrix Model

The matrix model is a more complex structure. In this model, there is a central marketing team that works on strategic tasks. However, each marketing team member also has a “matrix” of responsibilities to other teams within the company. For example, a content marketer may have a matrix of responsibilities to the product team, the sales team, and the customer success team.

Pros

• It can help to improve communication and collaboration between marketing and other teams
• It can make it easier to align marketing efforts with business goals

Cons

• It can be difficult to manage, as there are a lot of moving parts
• It can be hard to hold team members accountable, as they have multiple matrices of responsibility

3. The Functional Model

In the functional model, the marketing team is organized by function. For example, you may have a team of content marketers, a team of demand generation marketers, and a team of product marketers. Each team works independently on their own projects

Pros

• It can be a good choice for companies that have a large marketing budget, as you will need to hire more marketers
• It can help to improve communication and collaboration within each marketing function

Cons

• It can lead to silos between the different marketing teams
• It can be difficult to align marketing efforts with business goals, as each team is working independently

4. The Flattened Model

The flattened model is similar to the functional model, but with fewer levels of management. In this model, the marketing team is organized by function, but there are fewer managers. For example, you may have a team of content marketers and a team of demand generation marketers, but both teams report to the same person

Pros

• It can help to improve communication and collaboration between the different marketing teams
• It can make it easier to align marketing efforts with business goals, as all of the team members are reporting to the same person

Cons

• It can lead to a lot of pressure on the team managers, as they will be responsible for everything that the team does
• It can be difficult to scale, as you will need to add more managers as your company grows

5. The Distributed Model

The distributed model is a newer structure that is becoming more popular in the world of B2B marketing. In this model, there is no central marketing team. Instead, each team member works independently on their own projects. The team members may collaborate on some projects, but they are not required to do so

Pros

• It can be a good choice for companies that have a limited marketing budget, as you will not need to hire as many marketers
• It can help to improve communication and collaboration between the different marketing teams

Cons

• It often leads to silos between the different marketing teams
• There is no central point of control, which can make it difficult to manage the team

6. The Inbound Model

The inbound model is a variation of the distributed model. In this model, there is no central marketing team. Instead, each team member works independently on their own projects. The team members may collaborate on some projects, but they are not required to do so. The difference is that in the inbound model, all team members are focused on inbound marketing tasks 

Pros

• It can be a good choice for companies that have a limited marketing budget, as you will not need to hire as many marketers
• It can help to improve communication and collaboration between the different marketing teams
• All team members are focused on inbound marketing tasks, which can help to align marketing efforts with business goals

Cons

• There is no central point of control, which can make it difficult to manage the team
• not everyone on the team may be familiar with inbound marketing principles and best practices.

7. The Divisional Model

In the divisional model, the marketing team is divided into smaller teams, each of which is responsible for a specific product or service. For example, you may have a team that is responsible for marketing your company’s flagship product, and another team that is responsible for marketing your company’s newest product

Pros

• It can help to improve communication and collaboration between the different marketing teams
• It can make it easier to align marketing efforts with business goals, as each team is focused on a specific product or service

Cons

• It can lead to silos between the different marketing teams
• It can be difficult to scale, as you will need to add more teams as your company grows

B2B Marketing Team MVPs for SaaS Companies

1. Content Marketer

The content marketer is responsible for creating and managing the company’s marketing content. This includes blog posts, eBooks, white papers, infographics, and more.

2. Social Media Manager

The social media manager is responsible for creating and managing the company’s social media presence. This includes posting content, engaging with followers, and running social media ads. 

3. Email Marketing Specialist

The email marketing specialist is responsible for creating and managing the company’s email marketing campaigns. This includes developing email lists, designing email templates, and sending emails.

4. Paid Advertising Specialist

The paid advertising specialist is responsible for creating and managing the company’s paid advertising campaigns. This includes developing ad copy, designing ad creative, and targeting ads. 

5. Web Designer

The website designer is responsible for creating and managing the company’s website. This includes designing the website, developing web pages, and optimizing the website for search engines. 

How to Start your B2B Marketing Team Structure

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to this question—it all depends on the size and growth stage of your company, as well as your budget and marketing goals. However, below are a few general tips to help you get started.

1. Define your buyer personas

This will help you determine what kind of marketing strategies and tactics will be most effective in reaching them. To do this, you’ll need to create buyer personas, which are fictional representations of your ideal customers. Once you have your buyer personas nailed down, you can begin thinking about how best to reach them.

2. Identify your marketing goals

Do you want to increase brand awareness? Drive more traffic to your website? Generate more leads? Converting more leads into customers? Once you know what you want to achieve, you can start thinking about which marketing activities will help you get there.

3. Decide which marketing channels will be most effective

There are a variety of marketing channels available to reach your target audience, such as paid advertising, content marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, etc. It’s important to choose the channels that will be most effective in reaching your target audience and achieving your marketing goals. For example, if you’re trying to increase brand awareness among C-suite executives, LinkedIn would be a better platform than Facebook or Instagram.

4. Create a marketing budget

Marketing activities can be expensive, so it’s important to create a realistic budget that takes into account all of the costs associated with your chosen marketing channels. Once you have a budget in place, you can start thinking about how to allocate it across your different marketing activities.

5. Determine what type of team structure will work best for your company

Now that you know who you’re targeting, what you want to achieve, and which channels will be most effective, it’s time to start thinking about team structure. The type of team structure you choose should align with the size and growth stage of your company as well as your budget and resources. 

For example, if you’re a small startup with limited resources, it might make sense to have a single marketer responsible for all aspects of the customer journey from awareness through conversion. 

On the other hand, if you’re a large company with a complex sales cycle and multiple product lines, it might make sense to have separate teams for each stage of the journey or for each product line 

5 Factors Influencing Your B2B Marketing Team Structure

1. Company Size

If you’re a small startup, you might not have the resources to support a large team, so you might need to be more creative in how you structure your team. On the other hand, if you’re a large company, you might have the resources to support a more complex team structure.

2. Growth Stage

If you’re in a high-growth stage, you might need to be more flexible in how you structure your team so that you can quickly adapt to changes in the market. On the other hand, if you’re in a more stable growth stage, you might have the luxury of being able to plan out your team structure more carefully.

3. Budget

If you have a limited budget, you might need to be more selective in which marketing activities you pursue and who you hire. On the other hand, if you have a larger budget, you might have the flexibility to hire more team members or outsource certain tasks.

4. Resources

If you have limited resources, you might need to get creative in how you allocate your team members’ time and energy. On the other hand, if you have more resources, you might have the luxury of being able to hire more team members or outsource certain tasks.

5. Customer Journey

If your sales cycle is short and simple, you might not need a complex team structure. On the other hand, if your sales cycle is long and complex, you might need to have separate teams for each stage of the journey or for each product line.

Final thoughts

The marketing team structure that we’ve outlined here is just one way to organize your B2B marketing team for SaaS business success. But it’s a good place to start if you want to ensure that all of the important bases are covered and that everyone on your team has a clearly defined role to play. Of course, there is no “one size fits all” solution when it comes to organizational structures, so feel free to tailor this system to better fit the needs of your own SaaS company. For more tips on growing your SaaS startup, be sure to visit our blog.