Marketing has undergone significant shifts over the past 20 years. The proliferation of digital technology, the rise of social media, and an increased ability to use data to drive decisions have transformed marketing teams and what is expected of them. New skills and priorities emerge constantly, leading to new roles and even entire reorganizations. Add labor market dynamics to the mix and one is forced to ask: do you even need a marketing team anymore? What does a modern marketing team need to look like? How do you meet the needs of today while staying ahead of tomorrow? Dustin Robinson, Head of Marketing and Community at Malt, dives into it.

1. KEYNOTE
AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS ~ SEPTEMBER 14 - 15, 2023
DIGIMARCONEUROPE.COM | #DigiMarConEurope
DIGIMARCONNETHERLANDS.NL | #DigiMarConNetherlands
Dustin Robinson
HEAD OF MARKETING AND COMMUNITY
MALT
Why You Don’t
Need a Marketing
Team Anymore

2. Why you
don’t need a
marketing
team
anymore.

3. 2010
Small marketing with
four to five primary
roles organised in a
hierarchical structure
Disruption of marketing
skills due to changing
technology and evolution
towards matrix teams
Emergence of
temporary
“extended team
members” and
project-based
team structure.
We’re not saying you should be able
to predict the future. But if you create
a culture of change and growth, your
brand will be able to adapt to
anything that comes your way.
?
2015
2023
The evolution of marketing over time
2030

4. 96% of marketers feel the
breadth of marketing skills
required for team success
has increased dramatically.
Average skill change for
marketers since 2015.
Skill inflation is
real

5. “It’s almost impossible to
be up to speed on all new
features and trends, so you
need experts on your team
who you can count on for
specific dilemmas.”
Annick De Pelsemaeker
Digital Marketing and Media
Expert - Freelancer
Key Challenges facing
marketing teams

6. A flexible, adaptable workforce allows
you to retain a core employee group
while scaling up and down as projects
require.
Blended teams are the future

7. Employees
● Continuity and stability
● Soft-skills, best practices
and institutional
knowledge
● Own the long-term
vision
Freelancers
● Access to specialized
skills
● Scalability
● Flexibility
● External knowledge
Future-Proof
Magic
● Knowledge/skill transfer
● Workload management
● Stress-test existing
processes
● Easier to test->learn-
>scale
Why blended teams?

8. ● Management and processes
○ Onboarding
○ Feedback
○ Access/security
○ Areas of ownership
● Defining scope of project
○ Project briefings
○ Timelines
○ Stakeholder expectations
● Coordination issues
○ Reporting
○ Handovers
○ Level of integration
Where can things go wrong?

9. Effectively managing blended
teams
1. Good
Onboardings
2. Project
briefings
3. RACIs
4. Regular Check-
ins
5. Maintain role-standard
rituals
6. Managing
expectations
For medium-large projects freelancers should undergo
thorough onboardings similar to employees
Set clear expectations, deliverables, milestones, etc.
Also, if there are grey areas add those as well.
For every project stakeholder define who is
Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed
Meet weekly or monthly, check status and milestones,
and also check engagement, health, etc.
Standups, sprint planning, post-mortems, etc. should
be used with freelancers just as with employees
Stakeholders need to know about roles and
deliverables of freelancers, just as freelancers need to
know what can expect as well.

10. Our guide to building dynamic marketing
teams
● Deep dive into the evolution of the marketing landscape
● Tools for configuring the team you need
● Tips for successfully managing blended teams