When a company needs its own marketing department

In the early stages, marketing often falls on the shoulders of the owner. They launch advertising campaigns, manage social media accounts, negotiate with contractors — and this can work as long as the volume of tasks is small. But as the business grows, a different reality emerges: sales increase, the brand strives for recognition, and competitors strengthen their positions. 

At this point, the question of “how to create a marketing department” becomes inevitable.

For young companies, the format “marketing for startups“ is critically important, because at the start, the main thing is to quickly test hypotheses, find your customer, and understand which channels work. This allows you to avoid wasting your budget and gradually build a minimal but effective marketing system.

For businesses that are already operating and have regular sales, systematicity and scalability become key. The best format here is the outsourced marketing department, because it provides a team with expertise, ready-made processes, and analytics, allowing you to get results instead of forming your own internal team.

Preparation for the creation of a department

Creating a marketing department is a strategic move that requires a clear understanding of goals. Before moving on to team building, a business must answer the following questions:

  1. What tasks should the department perform?
  2. How do they relate to the company’s strategy?
  3. What resources are available to launch and maintain it?

At the outset, it is important to set key goals for the year, ranging from the number of new customers to entering new markets or increasing brand awareness. Only then should you plan the team structure, taking into account the budget.

It is also advisable to conduct an audit: which promotion channels are already working, how effective they are, and what needs to be strengthened. This will help you understand which specialists you need to engage first. 

In practice, companies have two main options: creating an internal department or hiring an external team. Both approaches have their own characteristics, and the choice depends on the stage of business development and its priorities.

Criterion Internal department Outsourced team
Startup speed The entire cycle of searching, hiring, and onboarding takes 3–6 months. Launching is usually faster (2–6 weeks) because the team is already assembled.
Competencies The team is formed for specific needs, but is limited by the experience of the people hired. Immediate access to a wider range of skills (advertising, content, SEO, analytics).
Budget Salaries, taxes, vacation and sick leave pay, recruitment and training costs. Payment for a package of services or hours of cooperation.
Values Full control, the ability to train the team “according to the company’s DNA.” You need to look for a team that shares similar values. Already established structures and processes that work.
Scaling Limited by company resources and hiring speed. Easier to scale — connect or disconnect directions depending on your needs.
Owner’s hour It takes a lot of time to build and manage a team. Less time required: processes are managed by external management.
Tools Purchased and implemented gradually, depending on the budget. Often already configured and tested on other projects.
Stability Depending on personnel policy, the dismissal of specialists can have a significant impact on results. High stability due to the guarantee of replacing specialists and the guarantee of training them independently.

Thus, an internal department is better suited to companies that have the resources for long-term investment and are conservative about creating processes “in-house.” An external team may be appropriate when speed of launch is important, access to ready-made expertise is needed, or the owner does not have enough time to search for and manage additional specialists. 

Setting goals

Every company has different priorities. For some, the main thing is to ensure a steady flow of new leads and reduce their cost. For others, the focus is on brand awareness and building trust in the market, achieving leadership positions. For companies planning to scale up or enter foreign markets, the key goal is to quickly reach new audiences and adapt communications to these markets.

At the same time, the tasks of marketing department organization always converge to a single denominator — it must create conditions for stable and predictable business growth.

Command structure

The structure of a marketing department always depends on the scale of the business, its goals, and financial capabilities. There is no single “right” model: what works for a corporation will be excessive for a startup, and vice versa.

Small business

At the start, it is often enough to have one universal specialist or a team of 2-3 specialists. In the first case, one person combines the roles of a marketer, copywriter, and partially a designer. In the second case, the roles of the team are combined — the SMM can be responsible for all of the company’s content, and the targeting specialist can manage all paid traffic sources. 

This format allows you to quickly complete basic tasks, but it has limited potential — one person cannot physically manage all channels and scale marketing effectively, nor can they be a professional in several areas of marketing at the same time. 

Medium-sized businesses

The optimal team consists of 4–8 specialists:

  • Project coordinator or PM 
  • Marketing specialist,
  • PPC specialist,
  • Targetologist,
  • SMM manager,
  • Copywriter,
  • Web developer,
  • Project coordinator 
  • Designer.

This is already a systemic structure, where roles are distributed, it is possible to test new channels, scale successful campaigns, and build comprehensive communication.

Medium+ business

In medium-sized and large companies, marketing is becoming a multi-level system integrated with sales, HR, and product teams. Basic roles are supplemented by PR managers, SEO specialists, analysts, email marketers, video production teams, and other specialized positions.

An important nuance

A key mistake is copying competitors. If a neighboring company has hired fifteen specialists, this does not mean that you need the same structure. Some focus on quick performance and advertising, others on SEO or brand development. Therefore, the department model should be built individually: according to goals, stage of development, and available budget.

Positions and competencies

The classic department has a marketing manager who supervises a digital marketer, SMM, PPC, SEO, designer, and copywriter.

As the company grows, the team is supplemented with new roles: analyst, email marketer, or content manager.

If you find it difficult to decide where to start, sign up for a consultation with a marketing specialist. They will help you develop the best plan for your team and advise you on which specialists you need first.

Salaries and budget of the marketing department

In 2025, the average monthly salaries (before taxes) in Ukraine will be approximately as follows:

Position Monthly salary, $
Head/Director of Marketing ≈ $2 520
PPC specialist ≈ $1,080 – $1,840
Digital marketer ≈ $1,000
SEO specialist ≈ $1 170
SMM manager ≈ $1,000
Copywriter ≈ $830
Designer ≈ $1,000

Cost of the marketing department (6 people) ≈ $7,600

*Approximately for entry-level specialists. 

This means that even a small marketing department will cost around $7,600/month, not including taxes, social benefits, software costs, and training. In addition, it is worth adding the cost of HR and recruitment support to the calculation, as specialists may resign or be dismissed.

Because of this, many businesses carefully consider whether it is worth hiring staff right away or working with outsourced contractors first — this allows them to quickly gain access to more experienced specialists without large initial costs.

Tools and software

Without high-quality software, even the strongest team will work inefficiently. In modern business, it is impossible to organize a marketing department without integrating key tools, because they ensure speed, accuracy, and control over results. 

1. Task managers

ClickUp, Notion, Trello — tools for managing tasks, deadlines, and priorities. They allow the team to synchronize their work, avoid chaos, and ensure transparency in the execution of processes.

2. Analytics and research

Google Analytics 4, Serpstat, Power BI, Looker Studio — systems for collecting and visualizing data, forecasting, finding growth points, and competitive analysis. Thanks to them, marketing is moving from intuitive decisions to data-driven ones. 

3. Creativity and design

Figma and Adobe Creative Cloud are tools that are essential for creating high-quality visuals. From advertising creatives to brand identity and presentations, this is where the “face” of the company is formed in the eyes of customers.

💰 Average tool costs ≈ $500–1500 per month (depending on team size and number of licenses). This investment pays off through increased conversions, better budget management, and reduced cost per lead.

Search and hire

Hiring someone for your marketing team is like putting together a band: even if everyone plays technically correct, without a shared rhythm and chemistry, the music won’t sound right.

That is why HR looks deeper: whether the specialist will fit into the company’s culture, whether they share its values, whether they know how to work “for results” and not just “according to instructions”.

Not only are hard skills important here — knowledge of Google Ads, SEO, or SMM — but also soft skills: how the candidate responds to criticism, whether they can explain an idea, how quickly they find a solution when plan A doesn’t work. This is often what determines whether a person will drive the team forward or create chaos.

The test tasks demonstrate technical proficiency, creativity, and the ability to think outside the box.

And one more thing: finding a marketing specialist today can take months. Job openings are posted on Djinni, LinkedIn, Work.ua, in professional chat rooms and communities, but finding the right person is much more difficult than launching a new advertising campaign.

Process optimization

For the marketing department to work as a unified system, well-established processes are needed. To achieve this, task management services (Asana, Trello, ClickUp) are used, where the team can see the deadlines, responsible persons, and status of each project.

The work is structured as follows: 

  • weekly planning (operational tasks), 
  • daily short meetings (synchronization)
  • quarterly strategic sessions. 

This allows you to combine speed with a long-term vision.

It is important that each remote marketing team uses its own tools and automation. Solve Marketing uses G.A.L.Y., a system that can coordinate teamwork in real time. The system allows you to always see the progress of processes and results, helps to generate reports, and quickly check key indicators. It was created within the team in response to a clear request for how a modern marketing department should work. 

KPIs and motivation

The success of a marketing department cannot be assessed without clear KPIs. They are what translate activities from “impressions” into measurable results.

Key performance indicators:

  • Number and quality of leads 
  • CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) 
  • Website traffic 
  • Brand queries
  • Conversion at each stage of the funnel

The team’s motivation system is built on the basis of these metrics. This could be:

  • fixed bonus for achieving specific goals (e.g., 20% traffic growth),
  • bonus for sales growth or lead plan fulfillment 
  • A combined model, where there is a base salary + bonuses for achieving KPIs.

This system motivates the team to achieve business results.

Integration with other departments

Effective marketing works as part of a larger company ecosystem, and it is integration with other departments that determines the final result.

Sales – This is where the closest connection occurs. Marketing generates leads and builds a funnel, while the sales department provides feedback on the quality of applications. This creates a closed loop: marketing better understands which channels bring in “live” customers, and sales receive an increasingly relevant flow.

At the same time, marketing interacts with other departments: HR helps build the employer brand, product teams provide user experience data, finance controls budgets and ROI, and support shares insights about customer pain points. But it is the combination of “marketing + sales” that remains the key to the effectiveness of the entire system.

Scaling

As the business grows, the structure of the marketing department also changes. The team expands, and new roles are added: data analysts, PR specialists, email marketers, and content producers. At the same time, the marketing department’s budget grows — more spending on salaries, tools, and testing new channels.

Scaling often means entering new markets. This requires adapting content and SEO strategies to other languages and cultures, as well as selecting local advertising channels.

Outsourcing or hybrid model

Outsourcing is a quick way to set up a marketing department without lengthy searches and unexpected costs. You get a ready-made team that can start working immediately. 

The hybrid model combines an internal marketing manager and external contractors. This means that strategy and control remain within the company, while some tasks are outsourced (e.g., PPC or SEO). This format allows you to get the most expertise for your budget.

How much does it cost to maintain an in-house marketing department?

For a small team of 6 specialists:

Salaries $7,000 + Tools and software $1,000 + Office expenses $500.

Which amounts to $8,500/month without an advertising budget. 

Checklists and templates

Systematic marketing begins where there are standardized processes. Checklists and templates become “work instructions” that eliminate subjectivity and minimize errors. This allows the team to work in a coordinated manner, even when people or projects change.

Examples of checklists

  • Launching an advertising campaign: setting goals (KPIs, expected results), forming a budget, creating creatives and texts, setting up tracking (UTM, CRM integration).
  • Onboarding a new employee: granting access to CRM, task manager, and advertising accounts, initial tasks with mentoring, expected KPIs for the first month.

Examples of templates

  • Content plan — a table with columns: date, format, channel, topic, person responsible, status.
  • Campaign report — structure: goal → budget → reach → clicks → CPL → conversion → ROI → recommendations.

The use of such tools makes the marketing department manageable and predictable. Instead of “improvisation,” each process goes through standardization → implementation → analysis → optimization.

Additional materials

Creating a marketing department is not just about people or tools. It’s about systematicity, clear KPIs, and integration with business goals. A properly built team transforms marketing from an “expense item” into a powerful engine of growth.

And right now, the main question for businesses is not “do we need marketing?” but “which format will give us the best results?”

We will help you:

  • audit your current channels,
  • determine the optimal team structure,
  • calculate the budget and KPIs,
  • choose the best format for cooperation (internal department, outsourcing, or hybrid).

Sign up for a free consultation and together we will build a marketing department that delivers results.