Working at a midsize company
Editor’s note: Julia Fitzgerald is the CMO of the American Lung Association and author of “Midsize: The Truths and Strategies of Marketing in Midsize Firms.”
Companies come in all shapes and sizes, from tiny mom-and-pop startups to behemoth-sized conglomerates. When it comes to finding a home as a marketing professional, the midsize business can sometimes be overlooked. However, they nevertheless deserve to gain some recognition for the collaborative, customer-centric mindset they often foster. When marketing professionals seek the best place for their talents and skills, they should carefully consider the benefits of a midsize corporation.
What defines “midsize”?
The specifics of what makes a midsize organization can vary, but most businesses considered to be midsize have between 100 and 999 employees. According to Indeed, there are roughly 200,000 midsize companies in the United States. I generally define midsize as organizations with $100 million to $800 million in revenue. These organizations may be the sweet spot for leaders who wish to foster not only their marketing chops, but also a more robust set of management skills.
Midsize companies are often firms which have grown out of their startup scaling phase and have established a company culture and way of hiring and training that has been put through its paces. They have established working processes, organizational charts and – typically – worked out any bugs that can plague smaller mom-and-pop operations. In addition, they have yet to be subject to some of the issues specific to large companies.
Too big and too small
Large companies may hold the distinction of recognizable brands, which can look impressive on a resume. Still, they come with a host of issues that can potentially squash employee productivity and cross-functional career growth. These organizations tend to be well-established, which can be impressive in terms of longevity and security, but it can also mean that they are not flexible in terms of innovation, new approaches or breaking molds.
There can be a high level of bureaucratic red tape standing in the way of getting anything new and creative accomplished at large businesses. When a company reaches a specific size, they must have well-defined processes and procedures to function correctly. This can lead to individual employee creativity and innovation being stifled in favor of sticking to a status quo that keeps the enterprise functioning consistently. Employees generally have less agency in a larger-sized business and there can be a large amount of competition for resources. That dynamic doesn’t necessarily inspire growth instead, it creates more internal facing focus.
Conversely, working with a small venture or early startup can have some drawbacks, as well. For example, small companies or early startups sometimes lack the financial resources to implement strong marketing efforts. In addition, employees can be leaned on to take on far more responsibilities than they would in a midsize or even larger company, making it hard for employees to truly specialize.
The “Goldilocks” situation
The issues with very large and very small companies create a “Goldilocks” situation, making midsize businesses a “just right” place for many marketing professionals seeking career advancement, support from their leadership and development opportunities.
Midsize companies can offer marketing professionals enough budget to build meaningful marketing programs that drive business. While large companies have bigger budgets, they can be very restrictive in marketing staff’s role definition, and smaller businesses may not be able to fund activity that would help build a marketer's skills. Because employees are given more autonomy to grow in their roles and collaborate across functional areas, there are more opportunities to develop a career path within the supportive walls of a midsize company.
In my experience, a marketer’s development can be more robust within a midsize company. Employees have less of a chance of being lost in a sea of peers or overworked to the point of exhaustion due to insufficient staff and resources. There tends to be more opportunities to learn about other functional areas (operations, finance, sales, product development) and develop general management skills through closer collaboration. Many midsize organizations can offer benefits such as tuition reimbursement, continuing education and professional organization memberships can help buoy one’s career. These offerings greatly help with retention and overall employee satisfaction.
As a marketing professional, finding a “just right” work scenario can mean finding a place where one will be most supported. For company leadership, staying within that sweet spot of midsize can help build a team of engaged employees who are secure in their positions and more likely to stick around.
Since we are still in the midst of The Great Resignation, people are thoughtfully considering what works best for them when seeking to stay with their current roles or find a new workplace. Marketing professionals can find rewarding careers in many business models and industries. What they really need to decide is what kind of environment will suit their work style. Where can they make an impact, where can they get building blocks of experience that will help them on their marketing career path or even a general management career path.
When job seeking, the size of the company can matter greatly when deciding where to spend most of one’s working life. Weighing the various pros and cons of large, small and midsize companies can allow one to make a sound decision on where to apply their marketing talents.