Marketing allows a company to tell a story to its customers. Effective marketing can convey the tone, goals, ethics and even aesthetics of a company at just a glance. As such, knowing which marketing roles are the most critical to help a business thrive can be quite a difficult challenge. That’s why we asked entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following:
“Which role or roles are absolutely critical for the success of a fledgling marketing division? Why is that role so important?”
Here’s what they had to say:
Important Marketing Team Members
1. Chief Marketing Officer
“CMOs set the tone for success in any marketing team. Without energetic, success-driven leaders in the CMO role, marketing efforts can stagnate as middle managers struggle to find a direction and less-experienced creative, buying and support staff follow their own direction rather than focus on a common goal. CMOs who lead with vision and offer consistent support can have the most impact.” ~ Joey Kercher, Air Fresh Marketing
2. A Good Strategist
“Having a good strategist on the team is essential to any marketing team. This person may have done strategy for clients in the past and will have solid knowledge of the overall vision and what will work and what may be riskier.” ~ Joel Mathew, Fortress Consulting
3. Marketing Manager
“As a digital marketing agency, the best success we’ve had in delivering real results for clients has been working with strong marketing managers. Someone who can take the vision of their CMO then use the full breath of their team, their vendors, and other company resources like sales and development to reach the overall company goals.” ~ Kerry Guard, MKG Marketing
4. Market Research Expert
“Market research is important for understanding your target market as well as your current customers. This role is responsible for putting together the buyer personas for your organization as well as creating surveys to find out how happy your customers are with your existing product and what they would like to see from you in the future.” ~ Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner
5. A Good Analyst
“The person who gathers your marketing campaign data and gauges its effectiveness has one of the most important roles of the team. A team runs blind without an analyst. This person is able to tell to look at the data and tell you whether a campaign was worthwhile. This allows the other members of your team to come up with new strategies and to adjust campaigns accordingly.” ~ Blair Thomas, eMerchantBroker
6. Copywriter and Digital ‘Jack-of-All-Trades’
“You can do a lot with a copywriter and someone who understands all the available digital channels. You will need copy for articles, social media, email marketing, and to improve your website, so invest in a good writer. A jack-of-all-trades manager can develop a comprehensive marketing plan that focuses on key channels and helps produce great content. He can also roll up his sleeves when needed.” ~ Ismael Wrixen, FE International
7. Content Marketer
“Content marketing is one of the most low-cost and highly effective strategies to building brand awareness, building trust with consumers, improving your organic search and generating leads for your business. That’s why it’s important to have a content marketer on your team who knows how to create content like blog posts, videos, social media posts, etc. that your audience will want to engage with. ” ~ Chris Christoff, MonsterInsights
8. Social Media Manager
“Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Snapchat are great places to introduce your business to new audiences and make sales. So, you need a social media manager to curate your brand’s social channels. Posting content is important, but you also need a social media manager to monitor and respond to comments since so many consumers are using social media for customer service too.” ~ Blair Williams, MemberPress
9. SEO Specialist
“For any marketing division in any company, the most important goal is gaining exposure. And the best way to do this is online, through search engine results. Any marketing team that works toward high search engine rankings is going to see significantly more success than most other marketing strategies; in fact, it can even increase the effectiveness of other strategies!” ~ Bryce Welker, CPA Exam Guy
10. Someone to Oversee Operations
“Assuming you have the strategy covered, you’ll need someone who’s going to be capable to implement all of those things. These days content writers and performance marketers are a dime a dozen, but those who can actually implement multifaceted campaigns across several platforms and softwares are rare.” ~ Nicole Munoz, Nicole Munoz Consulting, Inc.
11. Project Manager
“In any internal marketing group, especially a new one, there’s so much coordination needed. Managing communication between PR, IT, sales and different agencies, communication and organization is essential to successfully execute the many different campaigns and tactics. A strong project manager ensures effective communication between all stakeholders — and keeps everyone on task too.” ~ Dan Golden, BFO (Be Found Online)
12. Digital Marketing Manager
“Marketing is still catching up to our digital reality. This means that the best opportunities for cost-effective marketing are mostly online, and “online” encompasses more and more of our lives. Heck, even billboards can fall under digital marketing. And in a fledgling marketing division, every penny counts, and the best ROI is typically online.” ~ Jacob Drucker, Supply Clinic
13. Financial Analyst
“How much of your revenue last month was profit? What do you need to make in the next quarter to increase profits by 10 percent? Most of us can’t answer these questions immediately. To avoid feeling like each day is a hustle or that the future is unpredictable, hire a finance analyst. For a fledgling market division to spread its wings and fly, it needs to know where its money is coming and going.” ~ Shu Saito, Godai Soaps
14. Public Relations Team
“As more and more people enable ad blockers or pay for services to bypass ads altogether, companies will look toward public relations. A public relations team would be responsible for getting your product mentioned in news articles, guest posting, and generating backlinks from high domain authority sites to help boost your site’s SEO.” ~ Jared Atchison, WPForms
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