Why Your Small Business Marketing Team Is Not Working and How to Fix It

Marketing Branch
Jan 20
4 min read

How to structure a marketing team in a small business without wasting time or money

If you have ever found yourself searching things like why is our marketing not working or how to organise marketing in a small business, you are not alone.

This is one of the most common conversations I have with SME founders. They know marketing matters. They know something feels off. But staffing it feels confusing, expensive, and risky.

I see this regularly at Marketing Branch. Good businesses with solid offers and capable teams, yet marketing feels messy, inconsistent, or disconnected from growth. Often it is not because people are underperforming.

It is because the marketing team structure is wrong.

So I want to share what I see most often, why small business marketing teams struggle, and what actually works in practice.

The most common mistakes I see in small business marketing teams

These problems tend to show up again and again. Sometimes on their own. Often all at once.

Hiring before a marketing plan exists

A very common search is who should I hire for marketing first or first marketing hire for a growing business.

It is tempting to believe that hiring someone will bring clarity. That once a marketer is in place, the strategy will naturally follow.

In reality, it usually works the other way round.

Without a clear marketing plan, it is impossible to know whether you need a marketing manager, a specialist, or leadership support. Roles become vague. Expectations shift. Performance becomes hard to judge. You do not need a complicated strategy document. But you do need clarity on goals, priority channels, and what success looks like. Plan first. Hire second.

When the founder becomes the marketing lead

Many business owners search should a founder run marketing or when should I stop doing my own marketing.

In the early days, founder led marketing makes sense. You know the business best. You understand the offer and the audience.

The problem comes when the business grows.

Sales, operations, people management, and finance all demand attention. Marketing slips down the list. It becomes reactive. Inconsistent. Something you will come back to when there is more time.

Marketing is also often placed under sales or operations. Usually with good intentions. But those roles have other priorities, and marketing ends up paused or half done.

Growth slows, not because marketing is bad, but because it is no longer properly led.

Expecting one marketer to do everything

Another common frustration is why is my marketing manager overwhelmed or can one marketer do everything. Marketing is not one role. It includes strategy, planning, copywriting, design, data, ads, email, and reporting. Even experienced marketers specialise.

When a junior marketer is expected to cover everything without guidance or specialist support, marketing either becomes random activity with no clear direction, or it grinds to a halt altogether. This is not a people problem. It is a structure problem.

Why marketing often feels unclear in SMEs

At the heart of this is uncertainty around marketing value. Most business leaders understand sales. They know what good sales performance looks like. They know how to measure it.

Marketing feels less concrete. Business owners often search how do I measure marketing ROI or what does good marketing actually look like. Without clarity, decisions are made based on cost rather than value. Roles blur. Expectations are unclear. Marketing becomes underpowered.

A marketing team structure that works for most SMEs

Across many small and growing businesses, the most effective structure is usually simple.

You need marketing leadership to translate business goals into a clear strategy. You need someone managing day to day execution. And you need access to specialist skills when required.

This might be in house, fractional, freelance, or agency based. The key is clarity of responsibility, not job titles.

Why marketing leadership matters

Searches like do I need a marketing director or marketing manager vs marketing director usually appear when growth starts to stall. Marketing leadership is about direction, focus, and accountability. This role is responsible for setting priorities, choosing the right tools, aligning marketing with business goals, and reviewing what is and is not working.

It is not something that can sit at the end of an already full to do list. Someone needs the experience and the time to lead marketing properly.

Marketing managers versus specialists

A helpful way to think about roles is to separate managers and specialists.

Marketing managers focus on delivery. They keep plans moving, manage suppliers, and ensure work is completed to a good standard. Specialists focus on execution. Copywriting, design, ads, SEO, email, data.

Problems arise when managers are expected to be specialists or specialists are expected to manage everything. This is why many business owners search marketing generalist vs specialist or in house marketing vs agency support.

Clarity here makes hiring and outsourcing far easier.

Building the marketing team your business actually needs

Marketing team structure is a make or break decision.

When the right people are in the right roles, marketing becomes calmer, more focused, and easier to measure. Growth feels intentional rather than reactive.

This is the work I do every day with businesses through Marketing Branch. Helping owners step back, assess what is really needed, and build a marketing setup that fits their stage, budget, and ambitions.

There is no one size fits all solution. But there is a right structure for where your business is now. And finding it often changes everything.