What’s your organizational strategy for marketing?

Two marketers working together on laptops

Does your company tend to churn a lot of marketing employees and partners?  

In my two decades leading a premiere marketing agency and helping organizations from Fortune 500 giants to ambitious startups improve their marketing results, I’ve learned that one question gives me great insight into a brand’s marketing staying power: “What’s your organizational strategy for marketing (OSM)?”

Oftentimes, business owners and CEOs will respond with something like, “Our marketing is more of a shared responsibility across departments,” or, “We have a recent graduate in charge of marketing, but they’re still learning.” Whether you can’t commit to a full-time CMO salary or you feel your business is too small for executive-level marketing, I get it. But I’ve also seen how misaligned OSM strategies can play out and lead to:

  • Employee burnout among teams lacking direction
  • Wasted resources on scattered tactical efforts
  • Repeated failed agency relationships without internal strategic guidance
  • Avoidable growth plateaus among promising companies

Fortunately, I’ve also learned what works and developed a three-step framework to help you avoid similar setbacks. I’ve shared it below to help you measure your own OSM.

What is an organizational strategy for marketing?

Your OSM defines how your marketing is structured organizationally, specifying who leads and executes. It should be your North Star for marketing success. Beyond reporting hierarchies, a strategic OSM establishes leadership, role definitions, and resource allocation to support your objectives. Specialized leadership overseeing your marketing and other departments makes you 3.5 times more likely to achieve your business outcomes.

However, with gaps in your structural organization, your strategy execution is more likely to fail, according to the Harvard Business Review. Teams struggle to effectively implement strategic goals without the right resources or clear job descriptions.

If individuals don’t have the resources they need and aren’t accountable in the right way, they won’t be able to work to their potential.” — Robert Simons, Harvard Business School

My assessment of a successful OSM

From years of experience, I’ve seen that the most successful OSM setups share several key traits:

  • Strategic leadership empowered at an executive level
  • Support roles that match skills and experience
  • Clear paths for growth to retain your best talent
  • Direct alignment between marketing and business goals

Conversely, the losing strategies seem to stem from these common missteps:

  • Marketing leadership delegated to non-marketing executives
  • Inflated titles without matching capabilities
  • Overreliance on inexperienced staff
  • Tactical execution without strategic oversight

How much thought and effort have you put into your OSM? Is it a result of strategic thinking or simply a byproduct of circumstance and convenience? 

A three-step framework for organizational success in marketing

Before spending another dollar on marketing tactical execution, I encourage you to take a hard look at your current OSM using the following three-step framework to address challenges associated with marketing roles, processes, and structures.

3-step framework for marketing organizational success

Step 1: Validate your OSM model

 “The best structure will not guarantee results. But the wrong structure is a guarantee of failure.” — Peter Drucker, New York University School of Management

Effective marketing requires you to start with a clear organizational structure before diving into tactics. As part of this structure, your OSM should include executive-level leadership, specialists for execution, and clear directives (business goals) approved by the CEO so you can fairly measure performance. Organizations with strong leadership are 2.3 times more likely to financially outperform their peers. 

But without this foundation, tactical investments — like hiring social media managers or running ads — are like trying to build a ship at sea.

Reflecting on your structure, leadership, and vision prevents wasted resources and missed opportunities.

Questions for self-reflection:

  • Do we have a dedicated marketing leader with the authority and resources to guide marketing?
  • Did we choose our leader because of his/her marketing expertise and relevant industry experience?
  • Is marketing aligned with business goals and a clear plan or just a random set of tactics?

Step 2: Hire the right people

With the right model and marketing plan in place, you need the right talent to execute. The most successful companies typically employ a hybrid solution, with some internal marketing roles and some outsourced.

For internal roles, I highly recommend assigning titles that reflect actual skills and experience levels. Avoid giving your first marketing hire a title like “marketing director” simply because they’re the only marketing employee. Here’s why this backfires:

  • Salary expectations increase unnecessarily.
  • Role expectations shift beyond their skillset.
  • The mismatch between title and qualifications can harm marketing outcomes.

For example, an expert in SEO can simply be called an “SEO specialist.” You can promote them as they grow — but an overblown title can be a recipe for failure. 

Then, if your marketing team lacks the strategic guidance to connect daily execution to broader goals, fractional marketing leaders can bridge the gap without the expense of a full-time CMO. These professionals offer flexible, senior-level experience to shape strategy, mentor staff, and identify talent for long-term success.

Questions for self-reflection:

  • Do I have marketing leaders who think strategically, not just tactically?
  • Am I hiring for long-term needs or immediate gaps?
  • Are we using appropriate titles and setting realistic expectations for the positions and people on our internal team?

Step 3: Execute the strategy and scale for growth

Based on findings from the Strategic Management Journal, any mismatch between strategy and organizational structure can lead to inefficiency. Successful execution requires expertise, streamlined processes, consistent implementation, cross-department coordination, and regular audits to help your OSM evolve with trends and business needs. Assess whether your capabilities and partnerships meet your strategy’s demands. 

If not, consider hiring freelance talent or marketing agencies for execution support. Agencies can bring proven people, tools, and efficiencies to fill bandwidth or skills gaps so your team can focus on other priorities. 

When you’re ready to scale to complement your execution, you’ll need to invest in tools, technology, and workflows without overwhelming staff. A fractional marketing leader can recommend the right tech stack, personnel, and scalable processes for your growth stage.

Questions for self-reflection:

  • Do we track KPIs to measure success?
  • Do we have a process to adjust strategy?
  • Is there consistent interdepartmental communication?
  • Do we periodically review and update our MOS?
  • Are we preparing for future trends and challenges?

Stop here for a quick OSM self-check

Here’s your chance to stop, visualize, and validate your current structure using the flowchart above. This simple tool provides solutions for addressing OSM gaps on the way to execution. 

Results speak louder than words

Let me illustrate the value of effective organizational strategy in marketing with a couple of Avalaunch Media success stories.

From stagnation to financial success

One of our clients, a regional financial institution, came to us stuck at a growth plateau. Their OSM and legacy agency were ineffective, and the CEO turned to us for additional expertise.

After a co-evaluation, we revamped their OSM by bringing in one of our fractional chief marketing officers (FCMOs) while our full-service agency worked alongside their internal team to fill specialized execution needs within PPC, social media, and marketing automation.

Implementing a more full-funnel strategy — including a naming rights deal, increased media opportunities, and new marketing automation technology — while aligning the right people and resources yielded dramatic improvements:

  • Lead volume increased by 163.8% 
  • Conversion rates rose 28.2%
  • Cost per lead decreased 37.6%
  • All resulting in a company record for new credit union members in 2024

But the results weren’t just in the numbers. The CEO’s reaction to the organizational lift they experienced perfectly sums up what expert-led marketing leadership feels like:

David, I feel like our marketing has gone from preschool to graduate school.” 

The best Summer Concert Series ever

Our work with Park City Performing Arts (“PCPA”) is another great example of our OSM solutions in action. PCPA came to us wanting to elevate their brand for entertainment options within the state. After a co-evaluation of their OSM, we placed an Avalaunch FCMO on their executive team and helped to hire a small number of independent contractors to bridge gaps and enhance their marketing execution capabilities. 
 
Here’s what we achieved together:

  • Strategic Planning: Led marketing sessions, guided a rebrand, and optimized budgets based on ROI.
  • Technical Expertise: Provided consulting and support for their marketing technology, helping to optimize and integrate platforms for seamless execution. 
  • Gap Filling: Supported specialized needs like digital advertising, video production, and infrastructure planning.
  • Resource Extension: Provided access to Avalaunch specialists, advised on hiring, and connected PCPA with trusted vendors.

The results exceeded their high expectations, culminating in their best-ticket-selling summer concert series ever in 2024.

The agency misconception

At this point, I’ve mentioned agencies several times as a solution for filling gaps in your OSM. Agencies can serve as temporary bridges as you work to find, train, and grow an in-house team. Or, agencies can be long-term strategic partners to supplement your OSM with specialized expertise and scalability that’s either hard or impractical to replicate in-house. 

Oftentimes, your organization may not need a full-time CMO or ad buyer. In such cases, as I mentioned earlier, many organizations find success with a long-term hybrid model that combines in-house resources with agency support at the proper levels. This approach can lead to scalable, sustainable growth.

As Utah’s only agency offering fractional marketing leadership backed by a full-service agency for execution, Avalaunch Media can support OSM models for businesses of all sizes. Our FCMOs provide executive-level leadership to guide your strategy without the C-suite price tag, while our agency experts execute specialized tasks like advertising buys and web design. We seamlessly integrate with your organization to cover blind spots and drive results.

If your OSM is holding you back, let’s chat

My challenge to you is to honestly reflect on your OSM and whether it sets you up for success. If not, it may be time to make some changes. Need help? Let’s talk. After 20 years in this industry, I’ve seen a lot of what works and what doesn’t, and I’m happy to share my insights. 

Avalaunch Media has executed hundreds of successful partnerships with outstanding results, and we’re always ready to get you started with a free consultation.