Building a marketing team for a B2B SaaS company is an evolutionary process. Many companies start with a single marketer, often tasked with everything from content creation to demand generation. Over time, as the company scales, so does the marketing team, developing into a fully functional Digital Growth engine.
In this post, we’ll explore the different phases of a B2B SaaS marketing team’s growth, how each phase lays the foundation for the next, and how agencies can be leveraged at each stage to maximize efficiency and effectiveness.
Phase 1: The Solo Marketer
At the earliest stage, a B2B SaaS company typically has one person handling all marketing efforts. This individual is responsible for:
- Content marketing (blog posts, case studies, whitepapers)
- Social media and email marketing
- Basic demand generation
- Managing paid advertising (if budget allows)
- Handling marketing analytics
- Supporting sales with collateral
How an Agency Can Help:
- Organization & Productivity: An agency should help their clients do more. Your agency should consult with you on the best ways to get your work done and how they can assist.
- Content Creation: An agency can provide blog posts, case studies, and other content assets to maintain a steady flow of high-quality material.
- Paid Advertising: Agencies can help set up and manage Google Ads, LinkedIn campaigns, and paid social media.
- Brand Development: A marketing agency can develop branding guidelines, messaging, and positioning to ensure consistency from the start.
- Website Development & SEO: A well-optimized website is crucial. An agency can handle design, development, and technical SEO to establish a strong online presence.
This phase is all about prioritization and agility. The solo marketer must determine which activities yield the highest ROI while laying the groundwork for future expansion.
Phase 2: The Small but Mighty Team
As the company grows, marketing becomes too much for one person. Typically, the first hires support the most immediate needs:
- Content Marketer: Focuses on blogs, SEO, whitepapers, and case studies to fuel inbound marketing.
- Demand Generation Specialist: Handles paid ads, email campaigns, and marketing automation.
- Marketing Designer (or Freelancer): Ensures branding consistency and creates visual assets.
How an Agency Can Help:
- Scaling Content Production: Even with an in-house content marketer, an agency can supplement with additional content, including thought leadership pieces and video content. In addition, an agency can help with your content plan and editorial calendar.
- PPC & Demand Gen Strategy: An agency can manage paid campaigns more effectively while providing insights on ad performance and optimization.
- Marketing Automation & CRM Setup: Agencies can implement marketing automation tools and integrate them with CRM systems to ensure streamlined lead nurturing.
- Graphic Design & Multimedia: A creative agency can support brand consistency by delivering high-quality design assets, animations, and videos.
At this stage, marketing becomes more structured. There’s a clear distinction between content creation and demand generation, ensuring a steady flow of leads for the sales team. Using an agency ensures that quality and consistency are maintained without overburdening a small internal team.
Phase 3: The Multi-Disciplinary Team
With product-market fit established and revenue scaling, marketing expands to include more specialized roles:
- SEO/Website Specialist: Ensures the website is optimized for search and conversion.
- Marketing Operations Manager: Manages tools, automation, and reporting.
- Product Marketing Manager: Creates positioning, messaging, and sales enablement materials.
- Event or Field Marketing Manager: Organizes webinars, conferences, and in-person events.
How an Agency Can Help:
- SEO & CRO Consulting: Agencies can continue to refine on-page and off-page SEO while implementing conversion rate optimization (CRO) strategies.
- Advanced Data & Analytics: An agency can assist in setting up more sophisticated reporting tools and dashboards for better decision-making.
- Sales Enablement Support: Agencies can produce high-quality sales decks, one-pagers, and video demos to support the sales team.
- Event Collateral: Agencies specializing in events can coordinate logistics, promotion, and follow-up strategies for webinars and conferences.
At this stage, marketing is becoming data-driven, tracking performance across multiple channels, and fine-tuning its strategies based on real-time insights. Partnering with agencies allows for continued expertise in areas where the internal team may not yet be fully staffed.
Phase 4: The Fully Developed Growth Engine
As the company scales past $50M+ ARR, marketing evolves into a well-oiled machine with dedicated teams for:
- Brand & Content Marketing
- Demand Generation & Paid Media
- Product Marketing & Sales Enablement
- Marketing Operations & Analytics
- Customer Marketing & Advocacy
How an Agency Can Help:
- Strategic Consulting & Audits: Agencies can provide an outside perspective to assess and optimize the overall marketing strategy.
- Global Expansion Support: If the company is entering new markets, an agency with localization expertise can help with translation, cultural adaptation, and market entry strategies.
- Ongoing Paid Media Management: Even with an in-house team, agencies can bring advanced expertise in programmatic advertising and multi-channel attribution.
- Customer Advocacy & Community Building: Agencies specializing in advocacy can help design loyalty programs, case study pipelines, and community engagement strategies.
With these functions in place, marketing not only drives acquisition but also fuels customer retention, expansion, and advocacy. The focus shifts from merely generating leads to optimizing the full customer lifecycle. Agencies remain valuable partners for specialized projects, efficiency improvements, and industry insights.
Final Thoughts
Growing a B2B SaaS marketing team is a journey that mirrors the company’s own growth trajectory. Each phase builds upon the previous one, requiring smart investments in talent, tools, and strategy. By recognizing where your marketing team is today, you can better plan for the next phase of evolution, ensuring sustained success in the long run.
One last takeaway: Where is your marketing team in this evolution? What’s your next step?
