1.
THE CMO’S GUIDE TO
MARKETING ORG
STRUCTURES
with contributions from:

2.
Mindjet CMO Jascha Kaykas-Wolff recently published an insightful
SlideShare on modern marketing organization structure. In it, he
pointed to a surprising lack of publicly available content on the
subject. To spark discussion among marketing leaders, we've riffed
on Jascha's concept by asking a diverse set of innovative CMOs to
contribute their marketing department's structure to our roll-up
presentation.
MIKE VOLPE
CMO, HubSpot
@mvolpe
We hope these generous contributions shed some light on the
subject for marketing leaders who are rethinking how to organize
their departments to take advantage of changes to all stages at the
buying process. Please take a look at these varied structures,
compare them to your own, and share your point of view on Twitter
using the hashtag #CMOPOV. I look forward to swapping thoughts.
Yours,
Mike

3.
How to Read the Following Slides
Each section explores a particular company’s marketing team structure, as
supplied to HubSpot by the company’s lead marketer.
Each role is categorized using these six overarching functions:
Product marketing and related functions
Content strategy and creation
Creative, events, PR, and related marcom functions
Demand generation (direct or through channel)
Analytics and operations (database marketing and related marketing tech)
Upsell, renewal, and churn reduction (typically customer marketing)

4.
THE ELASTIC ORG
Apps to help you brainstorm, plan, and manage projects.
HQ: San Francisco, CA

5.
THE ELASTIC ORG
Source: Mindjet

6.
THE ELASTIC ORG
Key Features
• Flexible structure allows for adding headcount and/or functions seamlessly as the
company’s product mix evolves.
• Much of the marketing org flows through Product Marketing Managers (PMMs).
• PMMs partner with functional experts in other sub-departments.
• Marketing Operations professionals oversee the complexity of the marketing tech
stack, IT integration, hypothesis testing, and optimizing customer experiences in
the product.
“As marketing continues to evolve, this
organizational structure will adapt to whatever
needs come about. Coupled with the adoption of
new business processes like Agile Marketing, I
believe functional depth expertise, coupled with
cross-functional management of the work your team
is focused on, will keep a steady stream of ideas
flowing, more analytical decisions about which of
those ideas to implement, and ultimately create
predictability in the outcome of
you and your team’s efforts.”
Jascha Kaykas-Wolff
Mindjet CMO
@kaykas
Source: Mindjet

7.
THE “TOFU” ORG
Helpdesk & Customer Support Software
HQ: San Francisco, CA

8.
THE “TOFU” ORG
Source: Zendesk

9.
THE “TOFU” ORG
Key Features
• This is a team built to scale top-of-funnel (“ToFu”) growth, with content marketing
as the largest group, followed by advertising and product marketing.
• Tight alignment with the creative team is key – the head of the creative team
reports to the CEO, and the department straddles both marketing and product.
“I think future marketing org structures will put
a much greater emphasis on post-lead metrics
like Net Promoter Scores (NPS) as they
attempt to maximize growth, minimize churn,
and drive lifetime value.”
Bill Macaitis
Zendesk CMO
@bmacaitis
Source: Zendesk

10.
THE INBOUND ORG
B2B Marketing and Sales Software and Apps
HQ: Cambridge, MA

11.
THE INBOUND ORG
Source: HubSpot

12.
THE INBOUND ORG
Key Features
• Focused on providing a buyer-driven inbound experience.
• Adds value through content and contextual marketing (e.g., dynamic,
smart site pages and content based on a prospect’s relationship to the
company).
• Steeped in buyer personas and delivering experiences tailored to those
personas.
• Content as a dedicated function allows it to serve multiple internal
“clients” (demand generation, PR, sales enablement).
“I threw my old org chart in the trash when I joined
HubSpot and started from the beginning. We built our
entire company for the inbound era, from marketing to
sales to service, because the buyer has all the power
today and you need to realign your company for that. I
think our org chart is the future of the marketing org
because of that – we focus on an inbound experience
that the buyer drives, with us providing value along
each stage."
Mike Volpe
HubSpot CMO
@mvolpe
Source: HubSpot

13.
THE FUNNEL-FOCUSED ORG
Proprietary market research, consulting, events,
and peer-to-peer executive programs.
HQ: Cambridge, MA

14.
THE FUNNEL-FOCUSED ORG
Source: Forrester

15.
THE FUNNEL-FOCUSED ORG
Key Features
• Team 1 manages relationships with the top 50 publications and places Forrester
analysts to speak at industry events.
• Team 2 focuses primarily on demand.
• Team 3 manages product collateral for the sales team and the production of
anything that carries the Forrester brand.
“I try to rationalize this structure by saying
that team 1 is above the funnel, team 2 is top
and middle of the funnel, and team 3 creates
materials for the bottom of the funnel and
acts as a service bureau to the rest.”
Jeff Ernst
Forrester VP of Marketing
@JeffErnst
Source: Forrester

16.
THE CULTURE ORG
Hosted Git repository and social network for
programmers, allowing members to collaborate
on and monitor project development.
HQ: San Francisco, CA

17.
THE CULTURE ORG
Source: GitHub

18.
THE CULTURE ORG
Key Features
• In this flat organization, everything is based on merit. Very few titles exist –
only team names.
• The goal of marketing in this org is to transfer the culture everywhere, in the
product that’s built, the marketing assets used to drive awareness and
adoption... even internally.
• In this org, more than just defined “marketers” take part in marketing. The
entire company is expected to uphold the culture of the company, whether
through offline events, social media, or one-to-one user interactions.
“I like to think of marketing as the intentional
transfer of culture. It is an essential element
to just about everything. Building great
product is marketing. The way we talk to our
customers is marketing. With that definition, I
do see everyone participating in marketing to
various degrees.”
Brian Doll
GitHub VP of Marketing
@briandoll
Source: GitHub

19.
THE CUSTOMER ORG
Software that helps teams track,
collaborate, code, and ship products.
HQ: Sydney, Australia

20.
THE CUSTOMER ORG
Source: Atlassian

21.
THE CUSTOMER ORG
Key Features
• Built with a focus on the marketing funnel, from awareness-based branding to
lead generation and nurturing, to customer retention.
• The bottom of the funnel receives a great deal of attention, as the “Customer 4
Life” team exists specifically to nurture and retain existing customers. The team’s
goal is to improve customer success on existing products (i.e. retention) while
upselling new features.
• Marketing Ops supports the rest of the organization.
Source: Atlassian

22.
THE CREATIVE ORG
Members-only shopping site featuring some of
the most sought-after brands in fashion,
accessories, footwear, home, travel, and more.
HQ: Boston, MA

23.
THE CREATIVE ORG
Source: Rue La La

24.
THE CREATIVE ORG
Key Features
• Marketing, merchandising, and creative align to provide Rue La La members with
a fully integrated, seamless shopping experience.
• Marketing is organized by disciplines (such as acquisition, PR, or social) across
each business category (e.g. fashion, home, travel). The GM of each business
line sets the overall objective.
“The future of marketing is truly dependent on
the ability to integrate compelling content and
commerce into a seamless experience. Creating
that added value will keep customers loyal and
coming back to your brand. That’s why all teams
must be aligned and working together to deliver
the most personal and enriching experience for
our customers.”
Robin Domeniconi
Rue La La CMO
@RobindNYC
Source: Rue La La

25.
Download 37 Unique Job Descriptions
Want to borrow from the marketers in this
presentation? Go right ahead. We’ll get you
started with a job description for each role
in the slideshow.
Download Now

26.
Forward to Your CMO or CEO
Someone else responsible for building your
marketing organization? Email the 37 job
descriptions file to them instead.
Click to Forward