What a marketing team is accountable for
Marketing sets the positioning: which customers the company serves, what it promises them and how it sounds when it speaks. From there it plans campaigns across search, social media, email, print, outdoor and events, writes website and brochure content, and runs product launches with the sales team. In companies that sell through dealers and retailers, trade marketing places signboards, shelf material and schemes at the point of sale. Corporate communications handles the press, the annual report and crisis statements. Marketing analytics tracks cost per lead, conversion and the revenue that can be traced back to each channel.
Marketing team setup at 50, 500 and 5,000 employees
A 50-person company often has a single marketing executive who manages social media pages, the website and trade fair stalls, with a freelance designer and an agency for paid ads. The founder signs off every campaign. At around 500 employees, a marketing manager leads a digital marketing executive, a content writer, a graphic designer and someone for events or trade marketing, while a media agency buys ad space. The team starts reporting leads and cost per lead to the sales head every month.
A 5,000-person company usually has a CMO or marketing head with brand managers for each product line, a head of digital, a corporate communications manager, a market research lead and trade marketing managers in each zone. Creative production may sit in-house or with a retained agency. The CMO owns an annual budget negotiated with the CFO and answers to the CEO for brand health and demand generation.
Marketing, sales and product: where the handoffs happen
The sharpest interface is with sales. Both teams need a written definition of a qualified lead, a time limit for sales to call it, and a monthly review of leads that went nowhere. Product teams brief marketing before launches and share features, pricing and the customers each version is meant for. Finance releases agency payments against purchase orders and questions spends that do not show results. Legal checks ad claims, contest terms and the use of customer names or logos. HR borrows marketing's help for the careers page, job ads and employer branding when hiring volumes rise.
Who approves campaigns and spends
Executives and designers produce drafts, the marketing manager approves routine posts and small spends within the monthly plan, and the brand head or CMO approves anything that changes the brand, involves a celebrity or influencer, or goes beyond the plan. For example, a company might let the marketing manager commit up to ₹2 lakh per campaign, the CMO up to ₹25 lakh, and send larger commitments to the CEO with the CFO's view. Brand managers report to the marketing head. In sales-led companies the marketing head sometimes reports to a combined sales and marketing director rather than to the CEO.
Typical marketing team structure
Marketing designation hierarchy
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Book a free demoSee pricingFrequently asked questions
What does a marketing department do?
A marketing department builds awareness and demand for the company's products. It defines the brand and positioning, runs campaigns across digital and offline channels, creates content and sales material, manages events and public relations, and measures which spends produce leads and sales. It also feeds customer and competitor insight back to the sales and product teams.
What is the difference between a brand manager and a marketing manager?
A brand manager owns one brand or product line end to end: its positioning, pricing inputs, launches, packaging and contribution to profit. A marketing manager runs the marketing function or one channel for the whole company, such as digital or events, and manages the people and agencies who execute campaigns across brands.
Should a small company build an in-house marketing team or use an agency?
A practical setup for a small company is one in-house marketer with specialist agencies or freelancers around them. The in-house person knows the product and customers, briefs the agency, approves creative and tracks results, while the agency brings design, media buying and ad platform skills. Build a larger team only when campaigns run all year and agency fees start to exceed salaries.
Who does the marketing head report to?
The marketing head or CMO usually reports to the CEO or managing director. In companies where sales drives the business, marketing may sit under a sales and marketing director. In group companies, brand marketing may report to the business unit head, while corporate communications and group brand guidelines stay with a central team.