You Don’t Need a Full Marketing Department… Yet.

Lately I’ve noticed a wave of posts discussing that hiring one person to “do all your marketing” is unrealistic.

The argument usually goes something like this: modern marketing includes strategy, content, creative direction, paid media, lifecycle, analytics, optimization, copywriting, and more. Each of those is a distinct discipline. Expecting one person to perform all of them at a high level, especially on a small budget, is not realistic.

In theory, that’s absolutely correct.

Marketing has evolved. The workload is broader, there’s a vast array of skillsets needed to complete the job. The expectations are higher. In large, established companies, these responsibilities are distributed across teams of specialists for a reason.

But here’s the part that often gets lost in the conversation:
Most businesses are not large, established companies.

If you’re running a small to mid-sized business, you’re not operating with the resources of a Fortune 100 company. You’re balancing payroll, cash flow, hiring decisions, and growth targets - all at the same time. Adding five specialized marketing salaries simply isn’t realistic. And in many cases, it isn’t necessary.

The structure of your marketing team should reflect the stage of your business, not the org chart of a global enterprise.

At earlier stages, what a company truly needs isn’t layered specialization. It needs momentum. It needs clear positioning, messaging that resonates, consistent visibility, and activities that directly drive revenue. That often requires someone with range - a marketer who understands the bigger picture and can execute across multiple channels competently, even if they aren’t a senior-level expert in every single one.

Now hear me out…I am in NO WAY advocating for expecting one person to deliver enterprise-level output for a bargain salary. When I say that you need to hire someone with range, I mean hiring for breadth and judgment. A strong generalist who can identify what matters most, focus on the highest-leverage opportunities, and bring in specialized support when necessary.

Because that’s another part of the reality: you don’t have to choose between one overwhelmed employee and a seven-person internal team. There’s a middle ground. Contractors, fractional specialists, and agencies exist precisely because growing businesses need access to multiple skill sets without carrying multiple full-time salaries.

As revenue increases and complexity grows, the structure can evolve. A generalist may shift into a more strategic leadership role. One or two key specialists may be added in the areas that drive the most impact. Over time, as scale justifies it, deeper specialization becomes not just helpful but essential.

But building that kind of department is a result of growth, not a prerequisite for it.

If you’re reading posts about needing a fully specialized marketing team and feeling behind, under-resourced, or even subtly criticized, it’s worth reframing the situation. Identify what your business needs right now to move forward and go from there.

Don’t build infrastructure for a company you haven’t become yet.
Build the structure that supports your current stage and then you expand it as you grow.

Marketing absolutely contains multiple disciplines. At scale, those disciplines deserve dedicated ownership. But early and mid-stage businesses are built on leverage, adaptability, and smart allocation of limited resources.