Marketing agency org charts: boxes, reporting lines and new layers

What does a marketing agency org chart look like?

It looks like the owner at the top with three boxes under it: winning the work, running the work and making the work. Each box holds the people, or the outside help, who do that part.

Here's a starting chart for a small agency:

• Owner
  • Winning the work: sales calls, client care and renewals
  • Running the work: scheduling, deadlines, checks before work goes out
  • Making the work: development, content, support tasks and design

At first, the owner's name may sit in all three boxes. That's normal. The chart still helps, because it shows which boxes you could hand to someone else.

In one owner's view, technical and support jobs are the first to pass on, and strategy, copy, sales and client care stay with the owner early on. In chart terms, the making box fills up first, while the winning box stays with you.

Draw it on one page. Use names, not job titles, so you can see when one person holds too many boxes.

When does a digital agency org chart need a new layer?

A chart needs a new layer when too many people report straight to the owner, or when work keeps waiting on one person to move. The new layer takes some of those lines off the owner.

Signs it's time:

• Everyone brings every question to the owner.
• Jobs sit in the "running the work" box because the owner hasn't had time to look.
• The owner is checking every piece of work before it goes out.
• Client care slips when the owner is busy making the work.
• People aren't sure who to ask about a job.

A project lead is one example of a new layer: someone who runs the work day to day. The makers report to that person, and that person reports to the owner. Other layers, such as a lead for one skill, come later.

Your hours show whether the team is full, which is another sign. For the number that says you're full, see the agency utilization rate.

Who reports to whom on an ad agency org chart?

Each box reports to one person, and outside help sits on the chart as one box with one contact. That way nobody gets orders from two bosses, and you always know who to ask.

• Makers report to the project lead, or to the owner if there's no project lead yet.
• The project lead reports to the owner.
• Outside help reports through one named contact, who reports to whoever runs the work.

Outside help can be a person or a whole team. Office-Based Insourcing with DeskTeam360 is one example, and it's DeskTeam360's name for its own service. On your chart it's one box with one contact, even though a full team sits behind it. Its plans run 1 task at a time on Entrepreneur at $1,497 a month, 2 tasks at a time on Marketer at $2,994 and 3 tasks at a time on Agency at $4,491. Every plan gives you a North American account manager, backed by a team leader. Behind them sit 2 developers, 2 designers and 2 technical Virtual Assistants. The founder also runs 2 weekly group calls. They work as the same team, in one office.

There are other ways to add help, each with its own cost. To compare them, see Which way to add hands fits my agency, and what does each cost?

Charisma Ink shows how outside help can fill a box. It's an agency that serves accounting and fintech firms with PR, ghostwriting, book publishing, influencer marketing and digital marketing. It once relied on a series of contractors. Now a project manager at DeskTeam360 keeps track of its jobs, and the team handles the Amazon filing for its book publishing, along with much of its design work. Its owner now feels sure enough to take on new jobs.

Once the chart is drawn, the next job is filling each person's week. For the weekly resource plan, see weekly resource management.