Building a Marketing Department? How to Get Started

When tasked with creating or revitalizing a marketing department or strategy, knowing where to start is crucial. Here’s a breakdown of the foundational steps based on the cumulative wisdom and decades of experience from our 3X Marketing team:

1. Conduct a Marketing Audit:

Begin by auditing all fundamental aspects of marketing. Assess your digital presence, existing marketing initiatives, systems, and technology. What CRM and email automation systems are in use? How about asset management systems? This step is about taking inventory of where things currently stand.

2. Evaluate Cross-Functional Support:

It’s essential to understand how marketing has supported various business lines in the past. Engage in conversations with organizational leaders to gauge what needs to be done more, better, differently, or less. This involves understanding their objectives for the year, including growth goals, new geographies, and product or service launches.

3. Determine the Personnel and Structure Needed:

Based on the audit and cross-functional feedback, decide what personnel or support structure is necessary. This might mean hiring individuals with specific functional expertise or identifying external partners for outsourcing. Often, a blend of both approaches will work best.

4. Assess Marketing Maturity:

Use a “traffic light” system to evaluate each functional area of marketing: red for areas needing immediate attention, yellow for those with potential for improvement, and green for well-functioning areas. Next, figure out where you are on the marketing maturity curve in terms of sophistication and strategic approach, and how it’s tying back to business objectives. 

5. Set Expectations with Leadership:

It’s always about managing expectations. You will need to share your assessment with colleagues and the leadership team to get their feedback. You may be challenged on some things, and that’s ok. Establishing the foundation and setting realistic timelines is critical. This needs to be done before significant progress can be made. 

Whether you’re taking on a new leadership role in marketing or looking to assess and improve an existing department, these steps are your priority. They provide the clarity and direction needed to build a successful marketing strategy that aligns with business objectives and can be adapted depending on where you are on the journey. We’d love to help you with anything you may need along the way.