Digital Marketing Team · Structure proposal

How should we split the work on every client?

A DMC who owns the thinking, and a Paid Media Buyer who owns the making. Let's build it up together in three steps.

Step 1Here's every taskIs anything missing? Step 2Here's the time involvedWhere do you see more hours going? Step 3Here's how I'd split itAnd how many clients each role can carry
Step 1 · The tasks

This is everything involved in handling a client

Every recurring task I can identify, grouped by type. No hours or owners yet, just the list.

Question for the teamIs there anything missing?

Worth adding?

Tasks that often get forgotten. Tap one to add it to the list (it flows through to the hours and the split). The first three are implied by the new structure, so they're on by default.

Step 2 · The time

Now here's the time involved

Hours per client, per month. Every number is editable, so we can change them live as the team pushes back.

Question for the teamWhich tasks do you see more hours being spent on?
Total per client
0

hours a month, all roles combined

Where the time goes
Step 3 · The split

Here's how I'd segment it between DMCs and Media Buyers

The DMC owns the thinking and the client. The Media Buyer owns the making and the accounts. Clear lanes, one owner per task.

Account manager

DMC

Owns strategy, decisions and the client relationship. Builds the motivator table, directs creative and landing pages, edits copy. Reviews performance every two weeks.

Owns

    Directs & signs off

      Per client, per month0h
      Paid media

      Media Buyer

      Owns execution. Builds the ads, creatives, landing pages and all copy. Runs the accounts and optimises every three days.

      Owns

        Per client, per month0h
        Disagree with a lane? Switch the owner of any task here
        Optimisation rhythm

        Every 3 days for the buyer, every 2 weeks for the DMC

        Buyer pulse · every 3 daysBudget pacing, spend vs target, broken or rejected ads, CPL/CPA guardrails, pause losers, rotate in approved creative.
        Buyer weekly note · FridaysThree lines in ClickUp: what changed, what we're seeing, what's next. This is what the DMC reads.
        DMC review · fortnightlyIs the strategy working? Angles, offers, audiences, budget split, next creative brief. Feeds the WIP.
        So what does that mean for capacity?

        Clients each person can handle

        Each DMC
        0
        Each Media Buyer
        0
        Suggested pod
        Buyer can just do it

        No sign-off needed

        • Pause underperforming ads or ad sets
        • Shift budget up to ±20% between campaigns, within the client's total
        • Launch new creative and copy within angles the DMC has approved
        • Fix tracking, rejected ads, and account issues
        • Small landing page tweaks (copy, images, form fields)
        Needs the DMC

        DMC decides

        • New offer, angle, audience or motivator
        • Any change to the client's total budget
        • New landing page or a structural change to one
        • Pausing a whole campaign or platform
        • Anything that goes in front of the client
        Suggestions

        A few things that would make this work better

        On top of the structure itself. Worth discussing before we lock anything in.

        01

        The buyer is the bottleneck

        The buyer carries roughly 1.5× the hours of the DMC per client, so they cap out first. Every hour we take off creative and landing pages is more clients per buyer. That's where AI tools and templates pay off most.

        02

        A pulse is a check, not a change

        Meta's learning phase resets when you edit too often. The 3-day pulse should be mostly watching guardrails. Only act when a threshold is hit, and log why.

        03

        The motivator table is the brief

        DMC turns it into a one-page creative and landing page brief. Buyer builds from it. Copy gets one round of DMC edits, not endless ping-pong.

        04

        Buyer joins the monthly WIP

        The DMC stays client-facing, but having the buyer on one call a month gives them context and gives the client confidence in who's running the ads.

        05

        Tracking QA gate before launch

        Integrations and tracking are onboarding work. Nothing goes live until a tracking checklist is ticked (pixel, CAPI, CRM sync, test lead). Use the campaign-data-tracking skill.

        06

        Clear handoffs and turnarounds

        ClickUp statuses for Brief → Build → DMC review → Live. DMC reviews within 24 hours so the buyer is never blocked waiting.

        07

        Use our AI skills to cut build time

        ad-copy-meta for copy variations and client-video-ad-creator for UGC and product videos. Cut creative from 5h to 3h and each buyer picks up about one more client.

        08

        Specialise buyers later

        Once we have three or more buyers, consider Meta and Google specialists. Deeper skills, faster setup, and easier cover for leave.

        09

        Track real time for four weeks

        These hours are estimates. Log actual time per task for a month, then re-run the numbers on this page before we set client loads.