Marketing has changed. We’ve reinvented how we create content, leverage data, and embed AI in our daily work. But team structures? Too often, they look exactly like they did years ago. As budget season approaches, the central question is no longer just how much to spend – but how to design a team that delivers impact today and adapts tomorrow.
Traditional marketing setups haven’t kept pace with this shift
Teams are still designed around fixed roles, rigid hierarchies, and headcount planning – models that made sense when channels changed slowly and skills lasted for years.
Today, markets move faster, technology reshapes execution overnight, and customer expectations rise with every quarter.
A team built to look complete on an org chart often turns out too slow, too narrow, or too expensive once reality hits.
Three dilemmas in today’s marketing setups
Dilemma 1: No internal marketing team
Many companies want to scale their marketing but have no team in place. Recruitment is tough – especially if your company is not based in a major city and the right profiles are scarce.
The temptation is to hire the first available candidate or look for a mythical all-rounder – the “Swiss army knife” marketer who can juggle brand strategy, content creation, digital ads, lead gen, SEO, and events. But this often results in underperformance or costly turnover.
The real challenge is clear: how do you build momentum without the foundation of an internal team?
Dilemma 2: Marketing staff without leadership
Some companies do have marketers in-house – often one or two covering campaigns, content, or events. But without a CMO, priorities drift, execution becomes reactive, and no one sets the strategic direction.
The team works hard but lacks focus. Sales grows frustrated, results plateau, and marketing’s role is questioned.
The underlying issue is not effort – it’s leadership. How do you turn activity into impact without senior guidance?
Dilemma 3: A setup that no longer works
Other companies already have a full marketing structure, sometimes even a costly, full-service team. On paper it looks solid. In reality, execution slows, roles overlap, and ROI is unclear.
Agencies duplicate work, freelancers sit in silos, and ambitions get lost in coordination. What was designed to drive growth ends up draining resources.
The question becomes: how do you rethink a setup that looks complete, but fails to deliver?
The solution: Modular teams
What if you didn’t have to choose between lacking talent, lacking leadership, or living with a structure that doesn’t work?
Exploring a modular marketing team supported by fractional or interim leaders could be the answer to all three dilemmas.
A modular team blends internal leads, external specialists, and focused agency partners – each playing to their strength. A fractional CMO brings strategic oversight on a part-time or retained basis, ensuring that the whole system moves in the right direction.
This model is not about cutting corners. It’s about designing for:
- Speed: Faster decisions, quicker pivots
- Focus: Clear priorities and accountability
- Flexibility: Ability to scale or shift as goals evolve
- Cost control: Optimised spend, no bloated headcount
In fact, Gartner reports that marketing budgets remain flat at 7.7% of company revenue in 2025 – no growth from the year before. Every investment must deliver impact. A modular model stretches the budget by aligning spend with outcomes, not job titles.
Example: A B2B tech company preparing for growth
Instead of hiring a full in-house team, you could:
- Bring in a fractional/interim CMO two days a week to drive strategy, prioritisation, and leadership alignment
- Keep one or two internal marketers focused on project coordination and brand consistency
- Add freelance specialists for SEO, paid media, design, or content – depending on your core activities
- Work with a boutique agency for creative execution, campaign deployment, or website enhancements
This kind of setup delivers senior thinking, flexible resourcing, and execution capacity – without locking the business into high fixed costs. Most importantly, it allows you to scale or shift as your strategy evolves.
Designing the right team mix
The question isn’t “Should we hire or outsource?” It’s: “What mix of internal and external roles gives us the best talent – and the best flexibility?”
Here’s a model we often use:
| Function | Role | Why it matters |
| Internal hires | Own long-term direction, brand foundation, and project management | Provide continuity, cross-functional context, and guidance for freelancers and agencies |
| Freelancers/specialists | Execute deep-skill tasks (SEO, design, CRM, etc.) | Offer targeted expertise without overhead and bring fresh perspectives from working with similar organisations |
| Agencies | Deliver scale, speed, and execution power | Great for campaigns and production sprints |
| Fractional/interim CMO | Provide strategic direction and team alignment | Acts as glue between stakeholders and execution |
When set up right, this mix is not chaotic. It’s orchestrated – a marketing operating system that evolves with the business.
Learning from advising companies without full-time CMOs
At Azide, we’ve helped companies build and lead marketing setups without a full-time CMO in place. What we’ve learned is simple:
When it works, it really works.
Why? Because it forces clarity. Instead of chasing every idea or building a bloated plan, the team focuses on what matters most.
Modular setups work best when there’s strong buy-in from the CEO, active collaboration with sales, and a willingness to question old ways of working.
Final thought: Shaping your marketing team of tomorrow
Too many marketing teams are designed to look complete on an org chart – not to drive results in-market.
As you finalise next year’s budget, don’t just ask: “What roles should we hire?”
Ask: “What setup gives us the clearest path to growth and the flexibility to adjust when we need to?”
The best teams we see aren’t bigger. They’re more focused.
And increasingly, they’re modular.
