Many have heard the story about Eskimos having 32 words for snow, given how important it is in their lives. Similarly, technology companies have many different classification for technology workers — from CTO to CIO, and from lead web developer to database architects. Most technology companies have a very clear idea about what these jobs entail and who qualifies for them.

But many technology company executives are lost when they set out to build a marketing department. When I ask them what flavor of CMO (chief marketing officer) they need, they often freeze up. And when I start to discuss the various roles that might fall under the CMO, they get confused. In many cases they believe that the CMO handles just advertising and public relations, while the technology groups do the product development and management. These beliefs are a leading reason why many technology companies hire their marketing team just before they launch, instead of realizing that hiring the right marketers at the start of the development effort might have targeted their products more effectively at customer needs.

In the interest of clarifying the picture, here is my basic list of marketing roles. I list them roughly from the most conceptual and strategic to the most operational. One person can perform more than one role, but generally the adjacent roles on this list group best together. (For a complete selection of articles on many of these roles and their unique challenges, see Crimson Consulting’s Insight page.)

• Marketing strategy - where (customers & products) and how (distinctive competence) to compete
• Business development - key strategic alliances, and channel partners
• Product:
  • Product/service strategy - what products/services to sell to which target customers with what value proposition
  • Product design and development - what features and functionality, design, packaging, etc.
  • Product management -what prices, discounts, bundles, etc. through which channels
• Channel:
  • Channel strategy - what sales and distribution channels to use to get to market
  • Channel program design and management - how to attract and manage the desired channel partners
• Marcom (short for marketing communications):
  • Brand strategy - what the brand should mean to customers and how to build that
  • Advertising and Promotion - what messages in which media choices
  • Public Relations - how to convey the right messages through news sources, spreading the good and limiting the bad news
  • Promotions and Events - what other means to get the products and services in front of customers
• Demand generation:
  • Campaign design and management - what is the best mix of promotional and sales campaigns
  • Direct Mail/Direct Response - managing one-to-one interactions with prospects and customers
  • Web design - best design and layout of the web site(s) to attract customers; optimization of search engines
  • Operations -managing the processes and logistics of the campaigns
• Customer Service:
  • Customer service strategy and policies - determine the nature of the ongoing relationship with customers
  • Call Center - manage the (inhouse or outsourced) telephone sales reps, email responders, click-to-chat teams
• Sales
  • Direct - manage the customer-facing (inside or outside) sales reps
  • Indirect - manage the distribution channels
  • Telemarketing - manage the (inhouse or outsourced) telephone reps who make sales.
  • Administration - ensure proper processing of all the orders

Some companies put all these roles under the CMO. Others divide the CMO role into several different senior roles along the lines of strategy, business development, product, marcom, customer service, and sales. Some look for generalist CMOs to “cover the waterfront” across these roles, while others look for CMOs with particular strengths along this continuum and then support that person’s weaker areas with key hires.

Regardless of the approach and organization strategy, it helps to think broadly about the important roles within the marketing function and the best way to get the work done.