To be a truly successful software as a service (SaaS) business, you need to be equipped with a high-functioning marketing team.
A SaaS marketing team is an integral cog that keeps the business running smoothly; they drive brand awareness, customer acquisition, and sustained growth and innovation.
But what makes a SaaS marketing team truly great?
This article delves into the anatomy of an effective SaaS marketing team, exploring the key SaaS marketing roles, skills, and structures that set the best apart from the rest.
Whether you're building a team from the ground up or looking to improve your existing foundation, this guide offers valuable insights to help you create the dynamic and robust team you’ve always needed.
What is SaaS marketing?
SaaS marketing refers to the strategies used to promote and generate leads for subscription-based software.
SaaS marketing typically utilizes a variety of digital marketing techniques to build brand awareness, attract and retain customers by demonstrating the value of the solution, and ultimately drive product-led growth.
Teresa Garanhel
Why is a B2B SaaS marketing team structure so important?
The SaaS marketing team structure is critical for the growth and success of the SaaS business. SaaS products often have unique selling points and require specialized strategies, and a well-structured team ensures that there are dedicated roles for the different areas of SaaS marketing, including lead generation, content creation, customer retention, and more.
A well-structured team can also adapt quickly to changes in the market and evolving customer needs, enabling a company to stay ahead of the competition.
As a company grows, the team can scale along with it, adding and adjusting roles as needed.
4 core areas of SaaS marketing
There are four core areas of SaaS marketing that businesses should be aware of. Let’s break them down:
Growth marketing
Growth marketing is a data-driven approach to increasing company revenue and driving key metrics. All marketing campaigns and strategies are devised and supported by data.
SaaS growth marketing concentrates on user engagement, acquisition, and retention. By leveraging the relevant metrics, historical data, and analytics from marketing channels, a team can gain deep insights into user behavior and identify the next steps in the growth strategy.
Growth marketing roles:
- Marketing Operations Manager
- Paid Acquisition Manager
- Head of Demand Generation
- Email Specialist
- SEO Specialist
- Inbound Marketing Manager
- Account-based Marketing Specialist
- Growth Hacker
- Performance Marketer
Product marketing
Product marketing focuses on positioning, messaging, and gaining a sound understanding of the product’s target audience to drive demand and revenue.
SaaS product marketing teams are responsible for communicating the product’s key features and overall value. They also handle in-app messaging and look for opportunities to cross-sell or upsell plans and features.
Their ultimate aim is to reduce customer churn, increase retention, and utilize user data to make key decisions.
Product marketing roles:
- Product Marketing Manager
- Product Owner
- UX Writer
- Service Marketing Manager
- Sales Enablement
- Solutions Marketing Manager
- Portfolio Marketing Manager
Teresa Garanhel
Brand marketing
Brand marketing is an umbrella term that encompasses PR, events, partnership marketing strategies, inbound organic strategies, brand storytelling, graphic design, and community engagement.
The brand marketing team coordinates with sales, product design, and customer success to develop a consistent brand identity for both products and messaging across various channels.
Brand marketing roles:
- Brand Marketing Manager
- Brand Strategist
- Brand Activation Manager
- Creative Director
- Event Planner
Content marketing
This area of marketing is all about creating valuable content to educate audiences, build trust, and generate new business leads.
Content marketing includes social media marketing, email marketing, video marketing, and creating blogs, podcasts, eBooks, etc.
Content marketing roles:
- Content Marketing Manager
- Content Marketing Strategist
- Social Media Marketing Manager
- Copywriter
- Content Writer
- PR Manager
- Video Specialist
- SEO Specialist
- Content Editor
- Creative Manager
- Designer
- Developer
How to structure a successful SaaS marketing team
How you structure your SaaS marketing team depends on the size of your business. So, let’s look at the ideal structure for a small, medium, and large-sized team:
Small SaaS marketing team
In a small team, the Head of Marketing/Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) sits at the very top. They oversee all marketing operations and have an in-depth understanding of all the roles and responsibilities of the people in their team in order to create a unified strategy.
The Head of Marketing is also responsible for:
- Devising marketing plans and strategies
- Managing hiring decisions
- Overseeing the marketing budget
- Building strong relationships with external partners
- Coordinating with other executives in the company to enhance cohesion between teams
Below the Head of Marketing, you should have a:
- Growth Marketing Manager
- Content Marketing Manager
- Product Marketing Manager
- Senior Designer
- Brand Marketing Manager
And then you should hire copywriters under the Content Marketing Manager.
Content is especially important for inbound marketing and organic growth. Copywriters are accountable for producing well-researched and exceptionally written content, and they can also help you scale the development of SEO content.
Having a Senior Designer is also important for ensuring a consistent brand image across all channels and ensuring your marketing materials are of high quality. Having a Head of Design isn’t necessary as the Senior Designer won’t be doing any strategizing.
Medium SaaS marketing team
As the SaaS company grows, the SaaS marketing team will also need to expand. The ideal structure for a medium-sized team goes as follows:
As you can see, a Marketing Operations Manager has been added to the mix, as the business now requires a bigger focus on data-driven strategies.
The marketing operations manager will collaborate with the CMO to develop and refine existing strategies. The results of marketing strategies will need to be analyzed to pinpoint successes and identify areas for improvement. As such, a dedicated Data Analyst and a Strategist will be needed.
This is also the ideal opportunity to hire specialists under the different departments.
Extend your content team to include an Editor/Proofreader and a Research Assistant to produce higher-quality content at a faster rate.
A Digital Marketer now reports to the Growth Marketing Manager. Their expertise is required to leverage various digital channels to reach and engage the target audience and convert leads into customers.
A Web Designer and Print Designer are also important additions under the Senior Designer.
The Web Designer specializes in optimizing the digital experience, and ensuring the company website is quick, responsive, and user-friendly.
The Print Designer produces physical marketing materials like brochures, business cards, conference displays, etc, ensuring a consistent brand presence to engage customers.
Large SaaS marketing team
As the SaaS business becomes a large enterprise, the marketing team becomes more monumental to its success. As a result, your departmental teams need to grow even more.
Here’s an effective way in which you can structure a large SaaS marketing team:
Under the Digital Marketing Manager, we now have a Marketing Automation Manager. The Marketing Automation Manager plays a critical role in streamlining and optimizing marketing campaigns and executing them efficiently at scale using automation tools. This increases productivity and enables more targeted, data-driven strategies.
Brand marketing extends to a Social Media Manager, Events Manager, and Community Manager, who are all invaluable for building and nurturing relationships with customers. They provide platforms for real-time engagement, brand awareness, and feedback, allowing the company to develop strong, positive relationships with its target audience.
The ultimate focus of the large SaaS marketing team is on facilitating more organized, harmonious processes with more effective communication and collaboration to avoid siloes forming between the different departments.
Conclusion
The structure of a SaaS marketing team is crucial to the success of any SaaS business. From small teams that focus on core marketing functions to large teams with more specialized roles, each structure is designed to meet the unique challenges and opportunities of the industry.
By understanding the different types of marketing roles and how they interconnect, businesses can assemble a cohesive, high-performing team that drives exceptional results and always stays one step ahead of the competition.
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