9 min. reading
Author: Kuba
❧ Creating an Effective Marketing Department – Where to Start?
Running a SaaS company is no easy feat, especially when it comes to marketing. The biggest obstacle? Lack of time. So, what’s the solution? Hiring a marketing specialist might be exactly what you need.
Being an entrepreneur can sometimes feel like an extreme sport. The key, however, is to focus on what’s important rather than just what’s urgent. Delegating tasks is crucial, even though it can be challenging—especially when it’s not your area of expertise. But don’t worry!
By the end of this article, you’ll know exactly how to hire a marketing specialist—without wasting time, without reading 15 books, just practical steps you can apply right away!
❧ Why Should You Hire a Marketing Specialist?
Are you a business owner? If so, your time is both limited and incredibly valuable. It should be spent on core activities—developing your product, forming partnerships, nurturing key clients, and driving innovation.
You know your company needs marketing, but you don’t have the time to handle it yourself?
Hiring a marketing specialist allows you to focus on what truly drives business growth. Think about the Eisenhower Matrix, which divides tasks into four categories:
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Tasks to do immediately
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Tasks to schedule for later
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Tasks to delegate
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Tasks to eliminate
The highest priority should always be important but non-urgent tasks. Unfortunately, urgent matters often consume our time, while critical growth strategies get postponed. A professional marketer can help you break this cycle and focus on what truly matters!
Of course, you can manage marketing yourself. But without experience, it will take months—if not years—to see results. While being involved in the process is valuable, there are only 24 hours in a day. It’s often smarter to hand over marketing to an expert who can dedicate their full attention to it and accelerate your company’s growth.
❧ The Benefits of Building an In-House Marketing Department
A marketing specialist brings a fresh perspective to your company. They will ask questions you and your team might never have considered, helping you break out of your internal bubble and discover new ways to promote your product.
Still wondering whether an in-house marketing team is worth it? It’s not just about better organization—it’s an investment that can significantly impact your business’s growth.
❧ Key Benefits of Hiring a Marketing Expert
By delegating marketing to professionals, you eliminate years of trial and error. Experts already know what works—they understand the tools, processes, and sales funnels. They are fluent in concepts that might seem like a foreign language to you.
Additionally, an experienced marketer will seamlessly connect promotional efforts with sales processes, leading to a faster return on investment. Instead of costly experiments, you get proven strategies that deliver results.
❧ Better Budget Allocation
Marketing campaigns can be expensive, and poorly managed advertising budgets often result in wasted money.
A professional marketing team knows how to allocate resources efficiently. Instead of burning cash on ineffective ads, you’ll see measurable results—more customers and increased revenue. A well-executed campaign can yield returns multiple times greater than the initial investment!
❧ Consistent Brand Communication Strategy
Marketing isn’t just about creating content—it’s about knowing who you’re targeting and how to communicate effectively. A skilled marketer understands market segmentation, buyer personas, and the power of persuasive messaging. Every word they craft serves a purpose and leads to a clear call to action (CTA).
Beyond messaging, an expert marketer ensures that your brand maintains visual and strategic consistency. Their role is to build your company’s credibility and establish a brand identity that sticks in people’s minds.
❧ How to Find the Right Person for the Job?
Hiring a marketer isn’t just about finding someone to post on social media a few times a week. Digital marketing also includes content marketing, Meta and Google Ads, email marketing, and much more. You need someone who can build a comprehensive customer acquisition strategy—not just check tasks off a list. So how do you find someone who will truly push your SaaS company forward?
❧ Define Your Business Needs
Before you start searching, clearly define what your company actually needs. Hiring someone to “post twice a week” isn’t a goal—it’s a task. You need a specialist who will develop a marketing strategy and transform it into a scalable customer acquisition engine.
Focus on results, not just activities. What’s more important to you—more Instagram posts or more customers?
❧ Look for Industry-Specific Experience
Operating in the SaaS industry? Then find a candidate with experience in SaaS marketing. This ensures they understand the market’s nuances, recognize your customers’ pain points, and can attract the right audience effectively.
❧ Prioritize Analytical Skills
Marketing isn’t just about creativity—it’s about numbers. An experienced marketer knows how to track performance, optimize campaigns, and drive tangible business results. Look for someone who not only launches campaigns but also knows how to analyze and refine them based on data.
❧ Conduct a Structured Hiring Process
Hiring the right marketer requires precision. This person will play a key role in scaling your SaaS business, expanding your reach, and validating new features. That’s why each recruitment stage should be carefully designed. Here’s how to do it:
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Craft a Clear Job Description
Outline the responsibilities, required technical skills (e.g., Google Analytics, marketing automation tools), and essential soft skills (e.g., teamwork, strategic thinking).
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Prepare Interview Questions & Discussion Topics
Well-structured questions will help guide the interview technical questions should cover campaign management, SEO optimization, and SaaS-specific marketing integrations. Soft skill questions, on the other hand, should assess teamwork, handling feedback, time management, and problem-solving.
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Conduct Interviews & Evaluate Candidates Objectively
Use a structured evaluation system—an Excel sheet or Notion board works well—to rate candidates based on set criteria. This ensures a fair and data-driven hiring decision.
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Include a Practical Task
Theoretical knowledge is one thing, but execution is another. Assign a real-world marketing challenge, such as developing three customer acquisition funnel ideas, analyzing past ad campaign data, proposing a fresh marketing strategy for your SaaS. This step helps filter out candidates who talk the talk but can’t walk the walk.
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Live Working Session
For shortlisted candidates, organize a live strategy session. Send them a brief about your SaaS product and ask them to prepare a marketing approach. During the meeting, have them present their action plan and strategic insights. This will test their ability to think critically and work under pressure.
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Respect Their Time – Pay for the Test Task
Great marketers won’t work for free. If you assign them a task that requires effort, offer fair compensation. This not only shows professionalism but also helps attract top-tier candidates.
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Feedback for Every Candidate
The final but equally important step is providing feedback to all candidates—even those you don't select. Clear and constructive feedback helps them understand what they did well and where they can improve. For you, this is an opportunity to build a positive employer brand and maintain good relationships with potential candidates for the future.
❧ Onboarding Your New Marketer – A Smooth Integration
Finding the right marketing specialist is just the beginning. To maximize their impact, you need to ensure a proper onboarding process and help them quickly adapt to your company’s specifics. How do you set them up for success from day one? Here are some key steps.
❧ Introducing Them to Your Product and Company
Start with the fundamentals—understanding your business. Your new marketing lead must grasp what you offer, how your product works, and what problems it solves for customers. This knowledge is the foundation of any successful marketing strategy.
A marketer needs to translate this understanding into effective customer communication. If you've already done your homework—defined market segments, target groups, their pain points, challenges, and the unique value of your product—that's great! If not, now is the perfect time to collaborate with your new hire and create these documents together.
This will help fine-tune campaign targeting and craft more compelling marketing messages.
❧ Understanding Marketing Processes
If your company already runs marketing initiatives, your new marketer should get familiar with all the existing processes—from campaign management and collaboration with external agencies to content creation and performance analysis.
If you're still in the development phase, this is an excellent opportunity to set clear goals for your marketing department, establish processes, and plan key activities together.
❧ Aligning with the Sales Process
One of the key responsibilities of your marketer will be supporting the sales team. Sales and marketing should work hand in hand to complement each other. It’s crucial to discuss how marketing efforts can contribute to lead generation, post-sale support, and campaign tracking to drive revenue growth.
❧ Setting Goals, Metrics, and Reporting
Without clear goals and measurable KPIs, it's difficult to track success. Align with your marketer on what objectives they need to achieve, which key performance indicators (KPIs) matter most, and how frequently you'll review progress. Regular monitoring allows for quick adjustments and strategic refinements.
❧ Regular Check-ins and Feedback
Successful onboarding requires ongoing communication. Schedule regular meetings to discuss progress, results, and challenges. We recommend short 15-minute daily stand-ups to keep everyone aligned and weekly check-ins to review tasks in more depth.
Providing continuous feedback ensures that your marketer stays on track and fully understands your expectations.
❧ Building a Marketing Team – A Growth Lever for Your Business
Is marketing a new function in your company? If so, relying solely on internal resources may limit its potential. Expanding your team’s responsibilities or hiring a dedicated expert are the two main options.
Ask yourself: Does your team have the capacity and time to take on additional marketing tasks? If yes, you can try handling things internally—but it will take significantly longer.
However, if you have the budget but lack the time, hiring a specialist is the best move! It’s an investment that can bring substantial benefits to a SaaS business—saving time, ensuring professional execution, and allowing you to focus on product development. Remember, in the competitive SaaS landscape, effective marketing is the key to success.