One of the most overlooked dynamics within SaaS marketing (and by extension, design) departments is their relationship with engineering.
In a nutshell, SaaS marketing departments need integrated and aligned design and development teams, depending on the business stage the company is in (each stage is briefly highlighted below).
As a company progresses through each stage, the need for its marketing, design, and development teams to be aligned and in sync increases dramatically, especially if you're in SaaS.
Development stage: The decision to start a new SaaS business has been made. A plan is put in place to help guide and prepare entrepreneurs for the inevitable twists and turns that come with starting, and growing, a new business.
Startup stage: Sales are low but slowly and steadily increasing. Businesses in this stage focus on marketing to their target consumer segments by advertising advantages and value propositions.
Growth stage: Companies experience rapid sales growth. As sales increase rapidly, cash flow becomes positive, and businesses start seeing profit.
Mature stage: Sales begin to decrease slowly and profit margins get smaller while cash flow stays relatively stagnant. As companies approach maturity, major capital spending is largely behind the business.
Let’s briefly go over the four relationship types—inspired by The Harvard Business Review's marketing-sales relationships structure—starting with the simplest type (the Undefined relationship), and how each can be mapped to one of the business stages:
Development stage > the Undefined relationship
Startup stage > the Defined relationship
Startup and Growth stages > the Aligned relationship
Growth and Mature stages > the Integrated relationship
Naturally, as companies grow and progress through their life cycles (from development, to startup, to growth, to mature), so do operational complexities, gradually increasing the need for cross-functional marketing teams with integrated engineers.
Let's dive into each relationship.
Whether they need funding, a set of goals and timelines, a detailed customer profile, or all the above, in the development stage, transforming a website into a growth machine isn't a top objective.
If a website is deemed necessary, the most efficient solution is to hire out inexpensive freelance work—typically just a part-time designer with access to a basic CMS—without paying much attention to developing speedy and scalable content production processes.
When the relationship between teams is undefined, the groups grow independently. Each is preoccupied largely with its tasks and agendas and doesn’t know much about what the other is up to—until a conflict arises.
Meetings between each function, typically ad hoc, are likely to be devoted to conflict resolution rather than proactive cooperation.
Conflicts are evident between the marketing, design, and development teams
Marketing website project tasks are falling through the cracks
The teams begin to compete for resources or funding
During the startup stage, the viability of big ideas is tested as well as the effectiveness of the company’s capabilities. This stage can represent a series of make-or-break moments for many small business owners. If things aren’t progressing the way they want or need, it’s okay to reassess and pivot. Flexibility is key and allows leaders to figure out what changes need to be made to build a healthier, more resilient business. Now is the time to define relationships.
In defined relationships, the marketing, design, and development teams set up processes and rules to prevent disputes. There’s a “good fences make good neighbors” orientation and the teams start to build a common language in potentially contentious areas and begin to ask questions such as “How do we define success?”
Meetings become more reflective; people raise questions like “What do we expect of one another?” The groups work together on large events like conferences and trade shows.
A marketing-owned UX designer, front-end, and back-end developer.
An SLA defines the roles and responsibilities of the marketing, design, and development teams.
Consistent, shared marketing, design, and development team updates with monthly retrospective meetings to tighten processes.
Even with a careful definition of roles, marketing website project tasks are still falling through the cracks or taking too long to deploy.
Products are continuously being developed, prototyped, iterated, or extensively customized.
Product life cycles are shortening and technology turnover is accelerating.
An increased number of stakeholders demand more marketing website resources.
There's shared commitment to iterative website improvement and CRO.
The growth potential is an exciting prospect, but knowing how to make it happen can be a strategic balancing act. Matching the pace of increased cash flow and client base without losing sight of core tenets is a struggle that many successful companies at this stage have had to navigate. In addition to taking time to review and recalibrate the business plans, wise leaders upgrade existing processes to match the new reality.
When the marketing, design, and development teams are aligned, clear boundaries between the three exist, but they operate flexibly. The teams engage in joint planning and training.
Designers and engineers confer early on website projects to eliminate project failure, making this relationship perfect for handling the needs of quick and effective iterative website improvement. Shared languages are developed and implemented between content editors, designers, and developers, translating to a seamless website editing experience and faster project deployment speeds.
Note: Marketing, design, and development teams at high-functioning SaaS startups can benefit greatly from an aligned relationship—and in many cases, should upgrade.
A dedicated marketing website product team with an SLA.
Consistent, shared marketing, design, and development team updates with monthly retrospective meetings to tighten processes.
Integration of an efficient content model.
Implementation of an atomic design system—see how we helped Workgrid build a website-focused design system with the atomic approach.
A common process can be documented for managing and measuring success.
Market competition is high and go-to-market speed and website operations scalability are important management objectives.
In the mature stage, it’s time for businesses to extend their lifecycle by reinventing themselves and investing in new technologies and emerging markets. This allows companies to reposition themselves in their dynamic industries and refresh their growth in the marketplace.
When marketing, design, and development teams are fully integrated, boundaries become blurred. All teams redesign the relationship to share structures, systems, and rewards.
Along with the marketing team, designers (and to a lesser degree, developers) begin to focus on strategic, forward-thinking types of website projects. Engineers are deeply embedded in the management of key accounts and the three teams develop and implement shared metrics.
Budgeting becomes more flexible and less contentious. A “rise or fall together” culture develops.
Note: Again, teams at high-growth, high-functioning SaaS startups can benefit greatly from an integrated relationship—and in many cases, should upgrade.
A dedicated website product team with an SLA.
Consistent, shared marketing, design, and development team updates with monthly retrospective meetings to tighten processes.
Integration of a headless CMS and development of an efficient content model.
Implementation of an atomic design system—see how we did it for the #1 SaaS scheduling platform Calendly.
An SEO/CRO specialist.
Infusion of agile methodology.
If you’re a fast-growing technology or SaaS company, in most situations it simply makes sense to implement either an aligned or integrated relationship between your marketing, design and development teams.
When implemented correctly, these relationships always result in higher team productivity and morale, faster time to market, better quality, and lower risk than traditional approaches can achieve.
To get a pulse on your team’s current situation, we created an assessment that analyzes how aligned and integrated your design and development teams are and helps highlight weak points that can be optimized.