Digital Maturity Stage in Marketing, Part 1: Organizational Structure

While 71% of B2B marketers say content marketing will be more critical in 2023 than in 2022, many companies need help figuring out how to position themselves for the coming year. 

The bottom line? Companies must achieve an improved maturity stage in marketing to succeed in today’s fast-paced, buyer-driven world. 

Welcome to the first blog in our three-part series on the Relequint Marketing Maturity Model. Today, we’ll be focusing on the concept of Organizational Structure.

We’ll explain what that category refers to and analyze its role in an organization's overall maturity. Finally, we’ll explain how organizations can improve their structure to become more mature. 

What is Organizational Structure?

Organizational Structure is the first of the three-part Relequint Marketing Maturity Model, which includes Organizational Structure, Marketing Technology (MarTech), and Marketing Strategy. 

Organizational Structure refers to a team's roles, responsibilities, and functions, how well they’re defined, the level of cross-functional collaboration between departments and channels, and how accountable the team is for revenue generation. 

Why Organizational Structure Matters

Think of Organizational Structure as the foundation of the house: it’s impossible to build anything else unless that foundation is strong, solid, and reliable. For modern companies, Organizational Structure can spell the difference between success and failure.

Companies with outstanding Organizational Structures are unified and adaptable to changing environments and can integrate their marketing objectives and engage qualified buyers. However, companies with sub-par organizational structures lack defined roles and responsibilities and lack cross-functional collaboration. Their marketing efforts are one-off and reactive, which fails to drive meaningful revenue.

Organizational Structure is the thing that impacts the outcome of all other marketing efforts and contributes to a better maturity stage in marketing. 

The 4 Levels of Organizational Structure

Here at Relequint, we divide companies into four tiers of Organizational Structure:

1. Reactive. Roles and responsibilities are undefined. Functions are siloed by department or channel; individuals operate with little to no cross-functional collaboration. Communication is managed per function, leading to one-off and reactive marketing efforts. 
2. Proactive. Roles, responsibilities, and functions are defined. There is some cross-functional collaboration between departments and channels. The tactics, communication, and measurement used by teams are often siloed.
3. Integrated. Roles, responsibilities, and team handoffs are operationalized. Members of the marketing team are in sync and maintain cross-functional relationships tied to strategic organizational business goals. The unit can shift to accommodate growth into new channels and manage an increase in marketing activity.  
4. Catalyzed. The marketing team operates in a unified, adaptable environment and is aligned across channels and functions. There is a significant focus on offering integrated marketing that meets organizational objectives and engages target buyers. The team is held accountable for revenue generation. 

How To Improve Your Organizational Maturity Stage in Marketing

The key to improving your company’s Organizational Structure and, thus, Organizational Maturity lies in understanding your current Organizational Structure category. 

Teams in the Reactive Stage

For teams in the Reactive stage, efforts should focus on defining responsibilities, roles, and functional responsibilities. 

Key tasks include:

• Identifying and naming all team functions and charting the relationships between them
• Organizing your team’s tech stack
• Defining (or re-defining) the various workflows and processes that drive the organization

The Reactive team should also work to understand customers better and focus on building a more diverse group of strategists, content managers, SEO specialists, and analysts to drive Organizational Maturity. Since 49% of B2B marketers struggle to align their marketing efforts between sales and marketing, this step is essential. 

Teams in the Proactive Stage

Teams in the Proactive stage must focus on developing cross-functional coordination and collaboration.

Key tasks include:

• Dismantling information silos that exist between teams and departments
• Developing account-based marketing strategies
• Investing in marketing automation
• Integrating more marketing channels
• Cleaning up and auditing CRM data

Teams in the Integrated Stage

Teams in the Integrated stage already have a solid foundation and have invested in creating the proper connections between data, groups, and strategy. Improving Organizational Maturity at this stage requires a focus on testing and learning.

Key tasks include:

• Encouraging cross-functional experimentation
• Fully integrating all platforms in the tech stack and using programs to eliminate manual processes
• Building even more trust between sales and marketing
• Aligning inbound and outbound marketing tactics
• Moving toward omnichannel marketing strategies

Teams in the Catalyzed Stage

Teams in the Catalyzed stage have the best possible Organizational Maturity, but there’s always room for improvement. These teams need to focus on continuous optimization by future-proofing the tech stack, reevaluating strategy and performance regularly, and enabling cross-functional feedback loops. 

Stay Tuned for the Next Installment

In the next blog in this series, we’ll discuss Marketing Strategy and how teams can use it to empower their campaigns and improve their overall maturity stage in marketing. Contact us to learn more.