An elastic marketing team is becoming an attractive solution for marketing leaders worldwide. Marketing professionals have a lot on their shoulders. Slimmed-down budgets and a burnt-out workforce make it difficult to reach strategic goals.
A December 2024 study by RRD revealed that 48% of marketers feel like they can’t keep up with the ultra-fast pace of today’s marketing. The same research shows that almost 70% feel that manpower is a serious issue.
An elastic marketing team is a specialist-driven marketing team model. Leaders can scale marketing resources up and down as needs shift. In this article, we’ll explore three signs that it’s time to adopt elastic marketing.
TL;DR: 3 Signs It’s Time to Build an Elastic Marketing Team
- Budget pressure: You’re being asked to do more with less, and fixed headcount no longer makes financial sense.
- Campaign or seasonal spikes: Your team can’t scale quickly enough to meet high-demand pushes without burning out.
- Widening skill gaps: You’re missing specialized expertise (SEO, video, analytics, etc.) and can’t hire for every need.
Sign #1: Mounting Budget Pressure
Budget constraints make it hard for static teams to scale. According to McKinsey, marketing budgets fell to just 7.7% of company revenue in 2024 and 2025. This is down from 11.2% in 2018.
How Budget Strains Limit Traditional Teams
Frankly, a low budget will have far-reaching negative implications for all marketing teams, such as:
- Team downsizing
- Sluggish content production over
- Overloaded staff
- A lack of innovation in campaigns
- Out-of-the-box thinking is often replaced with reactive execution
When teams are stretched thin, burnout and turnover quickly follow. When specialized roles like SEO, content creation, and data analytics are cut, campaigns suffer.
A Mid-Size Brand That Shifted to Elastic for Campaign ROI
By year three of running East & Eve Creative Co., founder and creative director Madeline Taylor hit a breaking point.
Her branding projects had grown, her calendar was full, but her solo capacity had maxed out. Committing to steady payroll and fixed monthly costs for full-time staff felt too risky.
So she took a different route: Building what she now calls a “flex team.” This flex (or elastic) team is a rotating group of contractors brought in for each project’s needs. These strategic, trusted contractors have a stake in E&E’s success and leave strategy in Madeline’s capable hands.
This shift allowed her to take on more complex client work, like illustration-heavy identities and advanced development builds.
It also reignited her passion for creative direction, mentoring, and collaboration. Her clients noticed the upgrade too: Better creative direction, faster timelines, and a higher standard of execution across the board.
Madeline’s elastic approach gave her the freedom to scale sustainably, ethically, and joyfully.
Tactical Tip: Track Cost per Output to Spot Inefficiencies Early
To determine whether budget pressure is affecting your team, start tracking cost per output. For example, track the cost of each video edit, email sequence, and blog post. If the numbers start rising without an increase in results, your team may need additional support.
Sign #2: Seasonal or Campaign-Based Spikes
The reality is that marketing demands aren’t static. Launches, rebrands, and peak season promotions require a push of content, strategy, and execution.
The Challenge of Seasonal Peaks for Static Teams
A few factors will change how marketers approach future seasonal pushes. Budget and team constraints, for one, but changing consumer behavior will also affect it.
A September 2025 episode of the McKinsey on Consumer & Retail podcast highlights that inflation and affordability are pushing consumers to shop for the holidays earlier. In turn, this means that teams will need to mobilize holiday campaign planning earlier.
A fixed headcount and a small budget limit how quickly a marketing team can stretch. During these pushes, capacity is rerouted from long-term initiatives. Team members may find themselves performing tasks that aren’t necessarily their specialty. Burnout rises.
A flexible marketing workforce removes the pressure. When leaders “turn on the tap” during big campaigns, core team members can focus on their zone of genius.
Example: Retail or Ecommerce Brands Leveraging Elastic Teams During Holidays
Let’s explore an example of how an elastic marketing team model increases engagement and production.
The holiday season approaches, and a mid-size DTC brand selling home organization products is facing a common bottleneck. They have an increased demand for short-form video content, but no in-house video team.
Hiring full-time staff isn’t in the cards. Onboarding can take a while, and they need swift execution.
Instead, they adopt an elastic team model. Ultimately, they onboard a freelance video editor and engage a handful of UGC creators. The work is done quickly and professionally.
The result is higher engagement, faster production timelines, and increased ROI during a key campaign without stretching their budget.
Tactical Tip: Use Forecasting to Plan Elastic Expansions
Planning for these pushes is essential. Stay ahead of busy periods. Audit your calendar to identify known spikes like product launches and seasonal campaigns. Source your flex team four to six weeks ahead of time to build the relationship and work out any kinks before ramping up.
Sign #3: Growing Skill Gaps
Budget pressure and campaign surges are strong indicators of significant impact, but skill gaps are a quieter bottleneck.
The AMA reported that the top marketing skill gaps are in data analytics, marketing effectiveness and strategy, and measuring ROI. Marketing is undergoing rapid development; most in-house teams no longer provide the required level of specialization. If your team can’t keep up, it’s time to leverage a dynamic marketing team.
Skill Gaps That Slow Growth and Innovation
This isn’t to say that in-house teams don’t have talent and skill. A generalist or even a team of specialists can only stretch so far on an unfamiliar task before stalling out.
Skill gaps, especially in measuring ROI and strategy, lead to missed opportunities and outdated campaigns. Over time, this can create a “content debt”—a backlog of unfinished tasks, underperforming assets, and strategic blind spots.
Elastic marketing teams plug those gaps by giving you access to specialists on demand. When demand rises, you can turn on your flexible marketing machine without worrying about long onboarding cycles.
Example: Specialization Without Commitment
Fractional CMO Mallory Musante has extensive experience matching talent to need.
“You’re hiring someone who has a really specific skill,” she explains. “If we’re thinking about this in copywriting or content, there are some copywriters who are highly skilled at writing sales emails, whereas others are great at SEO blog content. You can really tailor who you’re bringing on to your specific needs at that point.”
This method helps Mallory avoid long onboarding cycles or potential poor-fit employees. It improves marketing team scalability. “You can do a trial project…and you’re not necessarily bringing on an employee, taking on that salary, and any of those additional pieces that you would need for an employee.”
Tactical Tip: Conduct Quarterly Skills Audits to Identify Gaps
Once a quarter, cross-reference your team’s capabilities with the demands of upcoming campaigns. Evaluate the skills you’re borrowing or skipping. If those gaps are slowing you down, it’s time to plug them in with elastic support.
Why an Elastic Marketing Team Is the Smart Move in 2026
The foundation of a scalable marketing strategy is its flexibility. If your team is experiencing a tight budget, campaign surges, or widening skill gaps, it’s time to consider elastic marketing.
It isn’t simply a short-term solution or hiring another freelancer. Elastic marketing keeps creative and strategic control in your hands while you build the ideal flex team. It’s a smarter way to scale.
Marketing is only getting more complex. An elastic approach helps you stay agile, competitive, and focused on what actually moves the needle.
About the Author
Katie Major is a versatile marketing professional with a passion for content creation and strategic storytelling, and she leads creative initiatives as Founder at Major Marketing. To learn more about Katie — and to have her write for your brand — be sure to check out her nDash profile page.