If you’re an association marketer, then you are probably well aware of how the inbound marketing methodology can help associations remain relevant to their members and grow their engagement levels. The traditional marketing methodology of “spray and pray” is no longer an ideal way to attract people to your organization. If anything, it turns them off, and that’s the last thing you want to do, right?
Let’s assume that your association is fully onboard with the concept of inbound marketing, and you’re ready to get started. Before you jump right into it, you first need to reexamine your team and consider restructuring everyone’s roles. Inbound won’t work without a strong team as your foundation. Each member on your team needs to understand their roles and how each of them has the power to be a driving force in implementing this methodology. 
Free Download: Getting Started with Inbound Marketing for Associations
If you decide to restructure your team, then consider modeling it around the marketing funnel. You have 3 stages: Top-of-the-Funnel (ToFu), Middle-of-the-Funnel (MoFu), and Bottom-of-the-Funnel (BoFu). Each stage is an integral role in attracting incoming prospects, and ultimately having them become full-fledged members of your organization.
The following is a brief excerpt from Dave Martin’s blog post “How to Build a Kick-Ass Marketing Team” on our Aptify blog.
ToFu (Top-of-the-Funnel) 
Team ToFu (Attract) is responsible for creating helpful, buyer persona-focused content that drives traffic to our web properties. Blog articles, webinars, ebooks, and SEO are her best friends. Metrics include:
- Website visits
- New contacts
- Blog subscribers
MoFu (Middle-of-the-Funnel)
MoFu (Convert) is in charge of converting and nurturing those visitors through landing pages, forms, and workflows…from visitor to customer. MoFu owns the marketing pipeline. Lead scoring and marketing automation are his friends. Learn more about conversion. Metrics include:
- Visitor-to-lead conversion %
- Lead-to-MQL conversion % (MQL = Marketing Qualified Lead)
- MQL-to-SQL conversion % (SQL = Sales Qualified Lead)
- SQL-to-Customer conversion %
BoFu (Bottom-of-the-Funnel)
BoFu (Close) is essentially product marketing and will focus on product content and sales enablement. BoFu is the bridge between product management and sales. Case studies, sales collateral, and messaging/persuasion are her best friends. Metrics include:
- SQL-to-Customer conversion %
- % sales selling various features
Role Types
Since every association marketing team is different and has team members who possess different skill sets, there are some roles that might not be suitable for your team structure. There might be other factors that prevent you from forming that “ideal” inbound team. If that’s the case, don’t be discouraged. A team structure that works for one organization may not necessarily work for yours. You can start off with some key roles, and then proceed from there. According to the State of Digital website, here are some positions that would comprise an inbound team.
- Inbound Manager
- Content Strategist
- Content Writer
- Data Scientist
- Social Media and Community Manager
Keep in mind that many associations may not have the budget to fill all these roles, and that’s okay! You and your team might find yourself wearing many hats so it’s important to be realistic in what you can accomplish. If your team doesn’t have the bandwidth to do it all, then take a step back and assess what you can handle and what should be placed on the backburner.
Is your team ready to shift to inbound? Or perhaps you already have your team, but you’re unsure what the next steps are. Download our Getting Started with Inbound Marketing for Associations eBook to learn more.
For a more indepth look into building an inbound team, check out the original post on the Inbound MarTech blog.
