Marketing Department Roles

Building a dedicated marketing team for your business will help bring your marketing efforts to the next level. When hiring for this department, you’ll want to consider the different tasks and responsibilities, and then create the right roles to ensure success. To learn more, we asked a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members the following question:

“What is one particularly important role to fill when building a marketing division? Why is this position so crucial?”

Here’s what YEC community members had to say:

1. Project Manager

“Every phase of your marketing cycle should have a project manager leading that vision your team designed. When you want to hire for this role, you should consider promoting from within your company. Chances are, your veteran employees understand the processes and how to take advantage of all of the tools at their disposal.” ~ Chris Christoff, MonsterInsights

2. SEO Specialist

“SEO specialists can help you rank for keywords on your website, but they can also help you create marketing material that is helpful for social media search engines. A specialist can also help get more eyes on a specific piece of content while improving your visibility on the platform as a whole.” ~ John Turner, SeedProd LLC

3. Analytics Specialist

“Given the investment you’ll make in various marketing initiatives, it’s important that you have someone who’s data-driven and fluent in analytics so they can parse between underperforming and overperforming campaigns. Ideally, they’ll be able to pinpoint the shortcomings of different projects and provide targeted recommendations for improvement or pauses. They’ll also scale winning campaigns.” ~ Firas Kittaneh, Zoma Mattress

4. Creative Head

“Your creative team will shape how people feel and think about your business online. After all, all people have to go by is your content, as well as your logo, brand colors and website presentation. Your creative lead will create graphics that embody your business values and work. They also need to make it consistent across all channels, making them a key part of your marketing team.” ~ Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner

5. Writer

“A solid writer is an important part of any marketing team. Just think about all of the different channels you need to write for: your website, blog, social media posts, email marketing and so on. A good writer will be able to create content that resonates with your target audience, encourages consumers to take action and helps grow your business.” ~ Thomas Griffin, OptinMonster

6. Brand Manager

“A brand manager is responsible for how people view your business from the outside in. They will advise you on colors, themes, and more and on keeping it consistent. Having a brand manager is important because they will help you create a unique voice that leaves an impression on people. In a world with so many competing and similar products, you need to depend on your brand image to stand out.” ~ Blair Williams, MemberPress

7. Content Strategist

“We often see marketing as this kind of content hose. Make this, write that, post this, share that. Content is key in a strong marketing team, but the role many employers forget is that of the strategist. Many CEOs believe “we’re good on strategy—I handle that,” but the fact is marketing strategy is very different than business strategy or growth strategy. Make room for this on your team.” ~ Matthew Manos, verynice

8. Marketing Analyst

“An expert in analytics is key. Every audience is different, so you can have great strategists and those implementing the strategies across social media platforms or in marketing campaigns elsewhere, but if someone isn’t checking to see if the marketing is working, then everyone is wasting their time. Have a data-driven analyst on your marketing team to share results with the rest of the team.” ~ Diego Orjuela, Cables & Sensors

9. Influencer Specialist

“In every division, you need to hire someone who is actually the target market. For you to understand the mindset of the customer, you need to hire someone who actually belongs to the market. We may have the best of the bests in the team, but without the knowledge of someone who is actually the target market of the brand, all efforts are useless. An influencer is a perfect addition to the team.” ~ Daisy Jing, Banish

10. Social Media Manager

“Hire a social media manager. You will need someone specifically dedicated to managing the media content that your business shares on all the various platforms. You will need someone that not only understands the content you have to share, but also the audience you are targeting and how to be creative in building engagement.” ~ Matthew Podolsky, Florida Law Advisers, P.A.

11. Marketing Innovator

“New marketing channels are popping up all the time and sometimes the channels you think will work, won’t. You need a marketing leader that’s got experience in the marketing channels you feel like you need to be in, but also one that understands new marketing trends and isn’t afraid to test different channels to find something that works. New marketing trends open up new opportunities.” ~ Andy Karuza, FenSens

12. Marketing Director

“It’s important to have someone on your team who understands your marketing mission and knows how to get you there. A marketing director is someone who can take the vision of your company’s brand and be able to communicate it successfully across all platforms through words and images. This person should be a creative, out-of-the-box thinker who can help elevate your product to the next level.” ~ Stanley Meytin, True Film Production

13. Content Lead

“Above your writers, you have content leads. They’re responsible for tracking your progress, approving your content calendar and getting new publications. It’s crucial to have this position filled for your marketing division or else you won’t know how your content is performing and how it’s impacting your business.” ~ Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms

14. Marketing Operations Specialist

“Think of a marketing operations role as an internal Swiss Army knife. This non-client-facing role is cross-functional and understands every facet of the business, from sales to product. MarkOps does not manage people but rather acts as the glue and resource lead for the marketing team. This is the biggest difference between a marketing manager and a marketing operations role.” ~ Jared Polites, LaunchTeam