With fewer resources to invest, marketing groups are now feeling the pressure to get the job done. Yes, centralization can help streamline marketing spend and drive down costs, but does a centralized structure enable marketers to deliver the customized products and services offerings demanded by their information-savvy customers?

The constant pull from internal economists and customers leaves marketing executives asking, "How much staff is enough, and what is the necessary, yet appropriate, budget for our marketing group?"

To help executives and managers answer these questions, benchmarking leader Best Practices, LLC has compiled staffing and budget metrics for the marketing function, including marketing strategy, marketing operations and communication and market research, in The Marketing Function: Staffing & Resource Metrics.


Best Practices, LLC compiled benchmarking data from more than 30 companies across multiple industries providing the following metrics:

- Sales Revenue per Functional FTE

- $ Investment per Function per FTE

- Human Capital Invested per Function per Company FTE

- Functional Budget as a Percentage of Total Sales Revenue

Sample findings from these studies include:

- 41% of recently benchmarked marketing organizations employ a

centralized structure; 26% employ a hybrid structure, which includes a

centralized group and decentralized resources from different business

units, product categories or geographic regions.

- On average, one Marketing Strategy and Planning FTE supports 1,478

Total Company FTEs.

- The majority of benchmarked Marketing Operations and Communications

groups allocate 1-25% of their budget to outsourced work.

The benchmarking data allows executives and managers to review their current staffing compliments, not only in relation to the broader market as a whole, but also, in relation to companies with similar sales revenues.

Other business functions examined in this staffing and budget benchmarking study include Corporate & Executive Communication and E-Business.

This study and other financial services research is available by accessing the Best Practice Database:. View a complimentary 24-page slide presentation highlighting Best Practices, LLC recent research studies.


ABOUT BEST PRACTICES, LLC

Best Practices, LLC, a pharmaceutical research and consulting firm, conducts work based on the principle that organizations can chart a course to superior economic performance by studying the best business practices, operating tactics and winning strategies of world-class organizations.

Release link: 

Related:  Resources - Marketing - Feeling - Pressure