Between setting staff size, balancing dueling skill sets and interdepartmental rivalries, marketing managers have their work cut out for them.
Here’s how Sharat Sharan, co-founder, president and CEO of global webinar solutions provider ON24, does it.
Q: What advice do you have for determining the size of a marketing department?
A: All organizational functions should be shaped by the goals of the business, and a marketing team is no different. Start with your objectives, then determine the talent level, experience and headcount it will take to achieve them. If rapid growth is the top priority, it’s important to have a strong, strategic leader of demand generation with a healthy team behind him or her to execute campaigns, pump out content, analyze all the results and double-down on the tactics that are driving pipeline. A business that’s in a slower growth stage or more mature phase can slow down their demand generation efforts and place more emphasis on brand building, creative campaigns and sustaining their reputation.