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Before Establishing Marketing Department Structure, Make These 5 Decisions
By Sally Witzky | April 16, 2025
A good marketing department structure takes an enterprisewide view
When restructuring the marketing department, CMOs are often tempted to jump directly into revising org charts, which can be fraught with risk if critical decision factors are neglected.
The true strategic value of restructuring emerges only when decisions are deeply rooted in the broader enterprise context and functional needs. Adopting a wider perspective before altering the marketing department structure ensures the organization is purposefully designed to create demonstrable value, align with business priorities and drive sustainable growth and profitability for the business over the next three to five years.
Marketing department structure relies on five key decision-making factors
To offer strategic value to the organization, consider five key areas when determining a new marketing department structure.
No. 1: Your global enterprise priorities
When considering the best marketing department structure for your organization, the first step is to understand the C-suite’s strategic priorities for the next three to five years. Ignoring this broader context risks significant misalignment — and the loss of your CMO job.
For example, are potential mergers, acquisitions or significant structural changes on the horizon? Is the enterprise shifting from product to customer centricity? Does it need to accelerate its go-to-market speed?
Engage with CEO, CFO and CPO peers to clarify these strategic priorities and ensure the marketing team structure actively supports the company’s overall direction. This makes proving marketing’s value significantly easier.
No. 2: The required marketing expertise, skills and propensity
With a clear view of enterprise direction, CMOs can then define the specific expertise required within the marketing team. Determine:
The core competencies needed for future objectives. Examples include business acumen, prompt engineering for AI, or agile methodologies.
The desired team propensity. This refers to inclinations like desire to learn, comfort with ambiguity, or the ability to simplify complexity.
The talent mix. Find the balance of generalists versus specialists or perhaps versatile “T-shaped” professionals needed to adapt to evolving demands, especially as emerging technologies like generative AI continue to transform marketing.
No. 3: The right operating model
In evaluating marketing department operating models, including hybrid models, weigh the balance between:
Insourcing and outsourcing. While complex or well-funded teams might traditionally outsource more, bringing capabilities like primary customer data management in-house can be advantageous.
Centralization and decentralization. Determine which functions benefit from center of excellence (COE) structures (like marketing operations) versus being embedded within business units. Remember that “centralized” no longer has to mean co-located.
Global and local. What strategies and assets remain global, and what autonomy do local or regional teams possess?
No. 4: How to resource the marketing team
The goal of a new marketing department structure is to set the team up for long-term success, so it is important to consider how to resource both in the short and long term.
Operationally, this involves deciding how the department functions and potentially establishing a dedicated marketing operations team that acts as a “COO to the CMO” to drive consistency and efficiency.
Technology decisions, like planning for martech acquisition, integration or sunsetting, and ensuring ongoing team training to maximize ROI, are also vital.
Decide how to finance, train and buoy teams with internal resources (such as IT and DevOps for martech and web content management) and how to support the team with external resources (such as brand consultants, agencies or martech integration and implementation partners).
No. 5: How the marketing team interfaces with the wider business
This could mean aligning marketing strategists to specific business units, customer segments or even product lines, particularly where deep technical knowledge is required. Decide on the necessary internal service models — common examples include a marketing operations team, an in-house creative agency or an adaptive communications “newsroom.”
Be careful to avoid overengineering. Flatter org charts often promote agility and flexibility, though they require balancing the ability to maintain strategic focus when tasked with many direct reports.
Marketing department structure FAQs
What is the structure of a marketing department?
A marketing department structure includes details about the industry and business model, the level of centralization, the roles and responsibilities of direct reports under the head of marketing, digital marketing resources and the number of full-time equivalents (FTEs).
What is the best way to restructure a marketing department?
To restructure a marketing department, CMOs should align stakeholders, including marketing team members, on the purpose, goals and priorities of the restructure. Ensure the new marketing department structure is aligned to business goals and supported by operational processes. Create mechanisms for measuring progress aligned to business outcomes, process metrics and change metrics.
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