Does your marketing department have a solid infrastructure? Do all of your company’s marketing professionals understand their role/function in the organization? Is the chain of command easily understood or only loosely communicated to marketing staff? Organizational (org) structures provide a framework within a company that ensures all employees are aware of their role and how they fit into the ecosystem of the business. Org structures present themselves on a spectrum anywhere from a traditional, top-down approach to more collaborative, flexible approaches. Org structures vary by company size, industry and business needs. Ideally, each company will create its structure based on their specific requirements and continue to update the org structure as changes occur, both internally and externally. As marketing departments become more complex, with new technologies and initiatives appearing all the time, it is important that Marketing builds and maintains an org structure that will enhance their current and future plans. This How-To Guide was designed to help you understand what the common org charts look like, the pros and cons of each structure and how to select the best org structure for your company. - See more at: http://www.demandmetric.com/content/selecting-org-structure-marketing

1. How-To Guide
© 2015 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Selecting an Org Structure for Marketing
By Kristen Maida, Senior Research Analyst
February 2015
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Does your marketing department have a solid infrastructure? Do all of
your company’s marketing professionals understand their role/function
in the organization? Is the chain of command easily understood or only
loosely communicated to marketing staff?
Organizational (org) structures provide a framework within a company
that ensures all employees are aware of their role and how they fit into
the ecosystem of the business. Org structures present themselves on a
spectrum anywhere from a traditional, top-down approach to more
collaborative, flexible approaches. Org structures vary by company size,
industry and business needs. Ideally, each company will create its
structure based on their specific requirements and continue to update
the org structure as changes occur, both internally and externally.
As marketing departments become more complex, with new
technologies and initiatives appearing all the time, it is important that
Marketing builds and maintains an org structure that will enhance their
current and future plans.
This How-To Guide was designed to help you understand what the
common org charts look like, the pros and cons of each structure and
how to select the best org structure for your company.

2. How-To Guide
© 2015 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
COMMON ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES
The most common org structures for a marketing department are
Centralized, Marketing Services, Center of Excellence, Decentralized
and Circular. The five figures reviewed in this section do show the
entirety of each structure; however, they do provide a glance at how
each structure is arranged. Here are graphics of five common marketing
org charts:
CMO
VP, Demand
Generation
Director, Content
Marketing
Director, Event
Marketing
VP, Strategic
Communications
VP, Customer
Success
Director, Customer
Engagement
VP, Marketing Ops
& Finance
Figure 1: Centralized Org Structure
CEO
President, Business
Unit A
President, Business
Unit B
President, Business
Unit C
Figure 2: Marketing Services Org Structure
Marketing
Services
Budget Budget Budget

3. How-To Guide
© 2015 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
CEO
Head of Corporate
Comm & Marketing
VP, Strategy & Branding
President, Business
Unit A
VP, Marketing
Programs - BU A
President, Business
Unit B
VP, Marketing
Programs - BU B
President, Business
Unit C
VP, Markting
Programs - BU C
Figure 3: Center of Excellence Org Structure
CEO
Business Unit
Head A
VP, Marketing Strategy &
Programs - BU A
Content Marketing Manager
Event Marketing Manager
Creative Services Manager
Business Unit
Head B
VP, Marketing Strategy &
Programs - BU B
Content Marketing Manager
Business Unit
Head C
VP, Marketing Strategy &
Programs - BU C
Event Marketing Manager
Figure 4: Decentralized Org Structure

4. How-To Guide
© 2015 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE DESCRIPTIONS
Each org chart in the previous section has its own unique attributes.
While each org structure has its pros, there are also cons that should be
considered before implementation or restructuring. The following table
details the key attributes, pros and cons of each chart:
Figure # Org Structure Description Pros Cons
Figure 1 Centralized
Is the top-down approach
traditionally used by mid-sized to
large organizations. It relies on a
singular, centralized marketing
department that reports directly
to the CMO/CEO.
Provides an easily
deciphered chain of
command; Enables
highly specialized job
functions; Allows for
continued growth as
a company expands
Can create
challenges with
communication
and adjustments to
market changes if
all departments are
silo’ed
Event Marketing
Manager
VP,Marketing
Ops&Finance
VP, Demand
Gen
Figure 5: Circular Org Structure
CMO
VP,Strategic
Comm
O=Gen
PRManager
VP, Customer
Success
Customer Success
Manager
MarketingOps
Manager

5. How-To Guide
© 2015 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Figure 2
Marketing
Services
Marketing Services acts as an
internal agency for all marketing
activities and programs. This
group obtains budget
requirements from each Business
Unit (BU) and provides the
Marketing function based on the
requirements for each individual
BU. This could be considered
“internal outsourcing.” BUs can
be based on product, market
segment or geographic location.
All marketing
activities are
executed and
managed in the same
“command center”;
Can be easily scaled
for growing
companies; Remains
cost effective with
one main source of
marketing activity
Marketing Services
group does not
control the budget;
May be issues
maintaining
consistency across
BUs
Figure 3
Center of
Excellence
Is similar to the Traditional
model; however, the
organization is structured by
Business Unit (BU). Business
Units can be based on product
division, market segment or
geographic location. In this
model, the corporation (as a
whole) maintains the strategy
portion of Marketing, but the
individual BU manages and
monitors the unique programs
and budget of Marketing.
Provides a
“command center”
for Marketing
strategy that is
filtered down to each
BU, which maintains
some level of
consistency across
the entire company;
Empowers each BU
to market its product
or to its segment on
their own with their
unique knowledge
Can cause serious
communication
loss and transfer of
knowledge; Can
provide each BU
with too much
autonomy and a
chance to stray
from the
company’s
overarching
strategic goals
Figure 4 Decentralized
Each Business Unit (BU) is
responsible for Marketing in its
entirety. Marketing strategy and
programs are run by each BU.
Allows each BU to
utilize their
knowledge of the
specific division,
market segment or
location to drive
collateral &
marketing programs
that increase sales
opps and closes
Creates a great
deal of autonomy
for each BU; Can
cause an overlap in
work if similar job
roles are
implemented in
each BU to do
similar programs
Figure 5 Circular
Is a more organic organizational
structure. It still provides a loose
chain of command with the
executive/leader at the center;
however, the ideology is that the
exec/leader will “radiate” their
vision & knowledge throughout
the department. There are bands
for each job level that indicate
different levels of knowledge
transfer and functionality. This
model is typically seen in SMBs or
start-up companies.
Allows a free flow of
knowledge and ideas
throughout the
organization;
Encourages constant
communication and
collaboration
Employees may
have a hard time
deciphering their
place in the
organization;
Immediate chain of
command can be
difficult to maintain

6. How-To Guide
© 2015 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
HOW TO SELECT THE RIGHT ORG STRUCTURE
Since there are so many ways that a company can organize their
infrastructure, there are several characteristics each organization must
consider in order to properly select the right org structure for their
needs. As mentioned previously in this guide, an org structure must be
specific to each company’s size, industry and business needs. Consider
the following items when implementing an org structure or
restructuring your company:
1. Chain of Command: The chain of command indicates exactly
how an organization is structured from the top of the
organization (i.e. CEO) all the way down to the bottom. A chain
of command can be long (i.e. CEO to SVP to Director to Manager
to Specialist) or short (i.e. CEO to Manager). It can also be rigid
(see Figure 1) or loose (see Figure 5).
 SMB: The majority of small to mid-sized businesses will
most likely see a short chain of command since there will
be less employees than the standard Enterprise. SMBs
should consider the benefits of both rigid and loose chains
of command. A loose structure provides more flexibility
with communication, reporting and adding new roles. A
more rigid structure will provide a solid backbone if your
company is gearing up for rapid growth.
 Enterprise: Large corporations will typically have long
chains of command as there tend to be more
responsibilities that need to be covered. The majority of
Enterprises will prefer a more rigid structure as well to
ensure all employees are aware of their direct reports.
2. Centralization: In order to determine how centralized your org
structure needs to be, you will first need to understand where the
decision-making power lies. A centralized org structure (Figure
1) indicates a main source of decision-making power; while, a
decentralized org structure (Figure 4) suggests that the decision-
making power is spread out through different parts of the
organization. Figures 2 and 3 show a combination of the two
with parts of Marketing being shared between a “command
center” and other parts of the organization. Both SMBs and
Enterprises may fall anywhere on the spectrum based on the
number of business units required, the number of
departments needed and/or the specialization/formalization
of job roles.

7. How-To Guide
© 2015 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
3. Product/Market/Geographic Needs: Organizations that offer
more than one product, serve more than one market segment or
do business in more than one location (i.e. regions, countries,
continents) must consider how marketing strategy & programs
may differ for each product, market and/or location.
 Single Product/Market/Location: Organizations that
do not handle more than one of these should not concern
themselves with this characteristic unless new products,
markets or geographic locations emerge.
 Multiple Products/Markets/Locations: Companies that
handle more than one of these should consider Figure 2,
Figure 3 and Figure 4 from the previous section. Each of
these structures have their merits and help multi-faceted
organizations divide up responsibilities and knowledge in
order to properly serve all customers.
As your company grows, encounters internal changes and/or sees
developments in the marketplace, you will need to reevaluate your org
structure to supplement business needs. An organization’s marketing
infrastructure can help or hinder business development, sales success
and customer engagement.
ACTION PLAN
Follow these steps in order to select and implement the proper org
structure for your company:
1. Review the org charts in Figures 1 to 5 and the
corresponding descriptions. Identify which org chart is most
closely oriented to your current structure.
2. Decide how you will arrange or rebuild your new
infrastructure. Follow the guidelines in the “How to Select the
Right Org Structure” section of this guide and relate it to the
associated org charts above.
3. Build your new org chart. Utilize our Modern Marketing
as a foundation to build your ownDepartment Structure
organizational plan.
4. Share your organizational plans with key executives and
begin to disseminate roles, functions and responsibilities
through your new channels of leadership and communication.

8. How-To Guide
© 2015 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
BOTTOM LINE
Organizational structures are a critical asset of any company. They
promote an understanding of job role/function, a guide for how
information should disseminated through the company and a framework
for responsibility and reporting. Marketing departments are no
exception to the need for an org structure. In fact, as more technologies
and programs are introduced into the marketing space, it is imperative
that Marketing considers how their functions are arranged and
managed. CEOs, CMOs and marketing leaders should review the
specific requirements of their businesses in order to properly
structure the marketing function for productivity and growth.