Misaligned marketing and sales teams can feel like a constant tug-of-war. Leads slip through the cracks without timely follow-up, and sales teams struggle to close deals without the right support.
The result? Frustrated teams, missed revenue, and stalled business growth.
The good news is that aligning your marketing and sales team structure can flip the script. When done correctly, you can turn those headaches into growth opportunities. In this guide, you’ll find practical team structures that foster alignment and efficiency, plus actionable strategies to build a marketing and sales department that’s not just functional, but future-proof.
What is a marketing and sales department structure?
A marketing and sales department structure is simply how these two teams are set up to work together. It involves organizing their processes and how they collaborate to reach shared goals. Marketing brings in leads and builds brand awareness, while sales turns those leads into customers.
Together, they help your business grow.
For this to work well, there needs to be clear communication. Marketing should pass leads to sales using an agreed process, and sales can share feedback about lead quality or customer needs. When both teams align, everyone’s moving in the same direction, avoiding wasted effort and confusion.
Why does marketing and sales department structure matter?
When marketing and sales operate in silos, things fall apart: inefficiencies creep in, opportunities slip away, and strategies clash. A clear structure eliminates this chaos. Marketing knows its job—delivering top-notch leads—and sales can focus on closing deals.
Beyond efficiency, a well-structured marketing and sales setup also scales with your business. Whether you’re launching a new product or bracing for seasonal demand, a solid framework can adjust to your needs without falling apart.
What should your structure look like?
If you’re running a B2B business, you might set up your marketing team with roles like account-based marketers (ABM) and content specialists. As for the best sales organization structure, you could divide the team into account executives, business development reps, and customer success managers. This setup allows you to nurture long sales cycles and high-value accounts.
Alternatively, if you’re working with product marketing, the focus shifts to messaging, positioning, and go-to-market strategies. You'll need a product marketer who acts as a bridge between product development, marketing, and sales structure. They make sure everyone has the insights they need to do their jobs well. Even if you don’t have a dedicated product marketing team, having someone in this role can help keep your efforts aligned.
How to build an effective marketing and sales department
No, this isn't a one-size-fits-all task. You need a marketing and sales team that meets your unique business needs while remaining flexible enough to adapt as you grow.
Here's how to create an effective sales and marketing department for your business:
Step 1: Assess your business needs
First things first, evalulate your business’s size, growth stage, and campaign complexity to understand what roles you need. For instance:
- A startup may prioritize versatile roles like a content marketer who can also handle social media.
- A mid-sized business focused on scaling might need dedicated data analysts and sales managers.
- An enterprise likely requires specialized roles like account-based marketers or operations specialists to manage sophisticated workflows.
Your assessment should also include an analysis of your current pain points. Are you losing leads due to slow follow-ups? Is your marketing team overwhelmed by content demands? Identifying these gaps will clarify which roles are essential for your team’s success.
Step 2: Decide between in-house and on-demand talent
When building your team, think about balancing full-time hires with on-demand talent. Full-time employees are best for roles that require deep knowledge of your business, like overseeing your marketing strategy or managing long-term client relationships.
On the other hand, on-demand talent is perfect for specialized, project-based work. Need a PPC expert for a holiday campaign or a sales strategist for a product launch? Outsourcing gives you access to top-tier skills without the hassle of a long-term commitment. It’s a practical way to save time, reduce costs, and ensure your projects are in expert hands.
💡Pro Tip: MarketerHire makes outsourcing simple. You can connect with vetted professionals ready and start hiring for marketing roles immediately—no drawn-out hiring process or endless interviews required.
When should you outsource?
Here are a few situations where you can consider on-demand talent:
- Seasonal campaigns: During busy periods like holidays or end-of-quarter sales, you need quick, specialized help. Quartix used MarketerHire to improve PPC performance, boosting ROAS and sales-qualified leads during a critical season.
- Scaling fast: If your business is growing rapidly, your in-house team may struggle to keep up with increasing demands. Storybook Marketing solved this by hiring a paid social expert through MarketerHire, saving 10 hours a week and focusing on strategic growth.
- Special projects: Big initiatives like product launches or rebranding often need specific skills. Springboard hired an in-house design assistant via MarketerHire, cutting costs by 70% and doubling campaign refreshes, which improved their profit margins.
Step 3: Identify core team roles
Next, you need to identify the key roles you need. Each role plays a unique part in driving your strategy, connecting with customers, and achieving your business goals.
Consider these key roles:
- Marketing Strategist/CMO: Aligns marketing efforts with overall business goals, setting the vision and strategy.
- Sales Manager/Director: Manages sales workflows, drives conversions, and ensures collaboration with marketing.
- Content Marketer: Develops engaging, customer-centric content to fuel campaigns and sales enablement.
- Data Analyst: Tracks performance metrics, identifies trends, and drives data-informed optimizations.
- Operations Specialist: Ensures tools, automation, and workflows run smoothly, acting as the glue between marketing and sales.
Step 4: Structure your workflow
An effective workflow is the backbone of a well-structured marketing and sales department.
Start by defining the lead handoff process. Set clear criteria—like lead scores or specific behaviors—so marketing hands over only qualified leads. And keep communication regular. Schedule weekly or bi-weekly check-ins to review campaign performance, lead quality, and pipeline updates. Use a shared CRM to track leads and ensure both teams stay on the same page.
We also recommend making reporting a team effort. Think: marketing shares lead generation metrics, while sales provides feedback on conversion rates and customer insights. This back-and-forth helps both teams stay aligned and continuously improve.
Key marketing and sales team structures (with examples)
Small business/startup structure
For startups and small businesses, simplicity wins. When budgets and resources are tight, you need a team that’s lean, versatile, and efficient. Everyone wears multiple hats to cover critical functions like strategy, execution, and sales.
- Tier 1 (Leadership): CEO/Founder oversees both marketing and sales functions. This person ensures alignment with business goals while setting high-level priorities.
- Tier 2 (Hybrid roles):
- Marketing Strategist and Campaign Manager: Combines strategy development with campaign execution.
- Sales Manager: Manages the sales pipeline and handles customer acquisition.
- Tier 3 (Execution):
- Content Marketer: Creates customer-focused messaging and materials.
- Sales Reps: Engages leads and closes deals.
Notice how this structure is all about efficiency. Hybrid roles save costs without cutting corners, and tight collaboration between marketing and sales enables quick iterations and fast results.
Scaling company structure
As your company grows, so do your marketing and sales needs. At this stage, specialization becomes crucial to handle larger campaigns, more data, and increasing complexity. Scalability is the focus here, with dedicated professionals managing each critical area.
- Tier 1 (Leadership): In house or fractional CMO or CEO oversees the strategic direction of both marketing and sales.
- Tier 2 (Strategy):
- Marketing Strategist: Develops marketing campaigns aligned with business goals and collaborates with sales on lead generation strategies.
- Sales Manager: Manages the sales team, oversees the pipeline, and ensures goals are met.
- Data Analyst: Provides actionable insights by tracking campaign performance and customer behaviors.
- Tier 3 (Execution):
- Content Marketer: Crafts messaging and content for campaigns.
- Campaign Manager: Executes campaigns across multiple platforms.
- Sales Representatives/Business Development Representatives: Nurtures leads and builds customer relationships.
- Automation Specialist: Manages tools and processes for scaling efforts.
Specialized roles allow the team to tackle higher campaign volumes and complex workflows. Adding a data analyst and automation specialist ensures decisions are data-driven and workflows stay efficient.
Enterprise-level structure
At the enterprise level, you’re dealing with high-volume, complex operations. This calls for a fully specialized team with clear workflows and distinct departments to maintain efficiency and collaboration across marketing and sales.
Tier 1 (Executive Leadership)
- CMO: Oversees all marketing initiatives.
- Sales Director: Manages the entire sales department.
Tier 2 (Department Heads):
- Marketing Strategist: Leads the strategic planning for campaigns.
- Content Marketer/Manager: Oversees content strategy and execution.
- Digital Marketing Lead/Paid Search Marketer: Manages paid media and digital channels.
- Sales Manager: Directly oversees sales team activities.
- Customer Success Manager: Focuses on post-sale client satisfaction and retention.
Tier 3 (Specialists and Execution):
- Marketing: Brand Manager, SEO Specialist, PPC Specialist, Copywriter, Social Media Manager, Automation Specialist, Data Analyst.
- Sales: Account Executives, Business Development Representatives, Customer Support Specialists.
With defined workflows and clear role hierarchies, this structure ensures no area is overlooked. Each department excels in its focus area, ensuring no aspect of the business is overlooked, while collaborating seamlessly on shared goals.
Adapting your sales and marketing team to fit business context
Your business is unique, and so are your sales and marketing requirements. To build a team that truly aligns with your business context, consider the following factors:
Company size and growth stage
- Startups: You need a lean, agile team. Combine roles like marketing strategist and campaign manager to cover multiple bases, and outsource specialized tasks like SEO or PPC to keep things flexible without breaking the bank.
- Scaling companies: As complexity grows, bring in specialists like data analysts to track performance and automation experts to streamline workflows. These roles help scale campaigns and make operations more efficient.
- Enterprises: Fully specialized departments with clear hierarchies are key. They enable you to manage high-volume campaigns and tackle diverse markets with precision.
Industry demands
- Healthcare: Roles like marketing compliance officers or medical sales liaisons are crucial for staying compliant and patient-focused.
- Tech: Product marketing managers and sales engineers bridge the gap between innovation and customer needs.
- Retail and ecommerce: Specialists in digital advertising and CRO keep up with fast-moving customer behaviors and high campaign volumes.
Budget constraints
- Tight budgets: As a startup, you should hire generalists who wear multiple hats.
- Growing businesses: A hybrid model works well here. Think: core in-house specialists + outsourced talent to balance costs and expertise.
- Large budgets: If you're an enterprise, you can afford fully specialized teams. However, keep your focus on roles and tools that drive growth and efficiency.
Implementation guide for marketing and sales success
Building a high-performing marketing and sales team is only half the battle—the real challenge lies in implementation.
Here's how to proceed:
Step 1: Define Needs and Resources
Start by pinpointing exactly what your team needs and how to use resources wisely. Look at your current lineup: where do they shine, and where are the gaps? For instance, if converting leads into sales is a weak spot, you might need a content strategist or a marketing automation pro. Tight budget? Go for versatile team members—think a generalist who can handle campaigns and analytics.
Focus on what moves the needle most. Struggling with lead generation? A marketing strategist or outsourced PPC expert could deliver fast, impactful results. You can use MarketerHire to tap into top talent without locking into full-time commitments—perfect for filling gaps without breaking the bank.
Step 2: Establish workflows
Seamless workflows are the foundation of alignment between marketing and sales. So, you need to figure out how leads will move between teams.
A shared lead-scoring system helps—think of it like a filter ensuring sales gets only the prospects worth pursuing. For example, if someone who downloads a whitepaper, joins a webinar, and clicks on a follow-up email, they're sales-ready.
Next, get the right tools in place. A shared CRM like HubSpot or Salesforce keeps all the data in one spot, giving both teams the visibility they need. But tools alone won’t cut it. Team members should be in constant communication with weekly syncs to talk campaign performance, lead quality, and pipeline progress.
And don’t forget to align early. Before rolling out that next product promo, get marketing and sales on the same page about messaging, target audiences, and follow-up plans.
Step 3: Determine quality control processes and metrics
Quality control ensures your efforts meet standards and deliver results. Here’s how to maintain high performance:
Set clear benchmarks and standards
Create content guidelines, brand voice documentation, and campaign checklists to ensure your marketing and sales teams are on the same page. Sales teams should additionally use standardized playbooks for outreach and follow-ups to mirror marketing’s messaging and tone.
Track Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Forget vanity stats. Track the KPIs that give you real insights into performance, such as:
- Lead-to-Deal Conversion Rate: How efficiently are you moving leads from interest to action?
- MQLs to SQLs: Are you qualifying leads effectively, or is there a disconnect?
- Campaign ROI: What’s working, and what’s wasting time and money?
Continuous feedback loops
Marketing and sales should exchange insights regularly to stay agile.
- Sales feedback: Share what you’re hearing from customers—what works and what doesn’t.
- Marketing adjustments: Use that feedback to tweak targeting, messaging, or marketing strategies.
For example, if sales sees a pattern where a specific segment drops off after initial outreach, marketing can refine the messaging or adjust the targeting to re-engage those leads.
Why MarketerHire is the best place to build your marketing and sales department
Aligning your marketing and sales teams doesn’t have to be complicated. It starts with defining clear roles, choosing flexible team structures, and scaling resources smartly. But achieving that alignment often requires the right expertise.
MarketerHire connects you with top-tier on-demand talent, from marketing strategists to sales enablement pros. Whether you need versatile generalists for a startup or niche experts for a large-scale operation, you’ll find the professionals who deliver results, fast.
Here's how the platform works:
Imagine building a sales and marketing team that flexes to your needs. Need a content specialist for a seasonal push? Or a data analyst to sharpen your lead scoring? With MarketerHire, you can fill the gaps without long-term commitments, keeping your marketing and sales in sync while optimizing performance and driving real growth.
Why wait? Schedule a consultation with MarketerHire and start building an organizational structure that works for you.