9 Types of Organizational Structure Every Company Should Consider Choosing the best organizational structure for your company, division, or team is a lot like picking out a new car. At the most basic level, you're always looking for something road-worthy — something that can take you (and your passengers) from point A to point B without a hitch. But beyond that, there are a lot of options to consider. Automatic or manual? Four-wheel drive or two? Built-in GPS? Leather interior? Flux capacitor? (Only if you're going back in time, of course.) In the world of organizational structures, the options you have to choose from include things like chain of command (long or short?), span of control (wide or narrow?), and centralization (centralized or decentralized decision-making?), just to name a few. What's the point of an organizational structure? As a business leader, do you even need one? As I said, org structures help you define at least three key elements of how your business is going to run. As your company gets bigger, an organizational structure can also be helpful for new employees as they learn who manages what processes at your company. Then, if you need to pivot or shift your leadership, you can visualize how the work flows would work by adjusting your organizational structure diagrams. To put it simply, this chart is like a map that simply explains how your company works and how its roles are organized. Here's what each of those elements means to an organization:...

How to Find, Choose, & Hire the Best B2B Marketing Consultant or Agency Marketing is an umbrella term for a wide variety of methods and strategies meant to benefit your business. Your business has different needs that will require different types of marketing efforts. For instance, engaging with your audience and improving sales are related, but still separate goals, so you can’t apply the exact same strategy for both. And if your need is to connect your business and product to other businesses, it will require business-to-business (B2B) marketing. Growing and expanding your business will require a strong marketing plan. Running a business doesn’t require the exact same skillset as marketing a business. Many marketing professionals will specialize their focus on a specific sector, such as B2B marketing. These consultants or agencies utilize their specialization to help businesses improve their marketing strategies. The Benefits of Hiring a Consultant Focusing on a specialty has a lot of benefits compared to having surface-level knowledge of a general topic. Hiring a consultant will give you more time to focus on your business while they build you an effective marketing strategy. A consultant will also bring a fresh perspective and a new angle to your marketing. As well, they only have one role that they can dedicate their full time to. It’s also easier to teach one person your business needs and style versus a group. How much does B2B consulting cost? According to ZipRecruiter, the national average pay for a marketing...

HubSpot's Guide to Building a Killer Marketing Team We all know the age-old expression, "There is more than one way to skin a cat." Though I've never tried, I'm going to guess they're right about that. Likewise, there are many different ways to build a high-performing, growth-focused marketing team. However, in my experience, I have found that there are six absolute must-have positions that the majority of best-in-class B2B companies employ. Particularly if you're at a small business or startup, it's important to think about building your team with these six roles first. Let's go through how to build a marketing team, what these roles are and where to find the right people to fill them. How to Build a Marketing Team Before you can hire anyone, it's important to have a strategy in place for building your team. For instance, you should have a clear understanding of your organizations hierarchy. Think about how the Acquisition and Content teams will work together. Consider how the roles within these teams overlap. Once you have a clear understanding of your marketing department's teams, you can start to write the job descriptions and begin recruiting. You can post jobs on your website, or on job boards like Indeed. When the applications begin rolling in, you can start to interview and vet your candidates. It's important that the people you hire mesh well with your team, so don't hesitate to ask marketing friends for referrals. Additionally, pay attention to LinkedIn connections while you're...