When a B2B marketing professional mentions marketing operations to someone, they often think differently. They often see it as “project management”, when in reality it is more than that. Unlike the responsibilities of a project manager that focuses on a single goal at a certain time, marketing operations is a consistent and ongoing function that focuses on a more comprehensive goal of the business.
Marketing operations is an example of a profession that is often overlooked as a project management role. When in fact, marketing operations is another layer for marketing that empowers and leverages data, technology, and processes that proactively drive revenue growth in an organization.
According to Simon Daniels, Marketing Operations Consultant at Percassity Associates, 93% of B2B marketers tell that marketing operations is key to driving digital transformation.
You might think why so? To give you a clearer picture, let’s dive into the functions of Marketing Operations. Marketing operations is split into three main functions:
Modern marketing lives and breathes technology. We believe any marketer can attest to it. There are limitless tools available that organizations can invest in to generate awareness and capture leads to support their sales efforts.
Marketing Operations spurred onto the scene because of technology’s fast-paced innovation—making technology the heart of marketing operations. It’s also what started the role, delivering planning, governance, and support to activities that provide value to your marketing efforts. Today, we see marketing operations as a function that has grown to include evaluating, implementing, and managing marketing automation, attribution, and more. Instead of guessing what will work, marketing technologies help make organizations more knowledgeable and efficient in a way that they can automate processes that support the patterns and purchasing decisions of their audience.
Data has come a long way in the last decade. Traditional data no longer work in silos, rather it is picked and utilized carefully to make informed insights that lead to organizational growth, profitability, and efficiency.
In marketing operations, data is related to the consumption and understanding of the data that technology produces. Marketing operations oversees the marketing data strategy that focuses on end-to-end optimization of each stage of your marketing efforts—from analytics checking, reporting, dashboard creation, and more.
For example, in marketing operations, aligning your marketing automation data should properly be gathered and configured in other systems such as a CRM.
Alignment
Marketing operations is all about alignment. Alignment is related to how marketing is utilizing data and technology by members of the team.
Alignment also comes into the picture when marketing and sales intersect. A common problem that B2B enterprises run into is the lack of coordination and alignment between sales and marketing. Both departments often work separately to drive revenue, but they fail to see where their goals and work intersect.
For example, in lead management, proper planning and execution are essential to ensure that leads move through each phase of the funnel smoothly. Marketing operations is the function responsible for making this move happen—both at a tactical and strategic level.
We can say that marketing operations are not your typical marketers. Their skills often come from analytical or process-oriented roles, which are often difficult to find. As we continue to see the value of marketing operations, more responsibility would arise.
Businesses that embrace the beauty of marketing operations early on stay ahead of the competition. Leverage the advantage of hiring your team, get a free marketing audit to find out how you could ramp up your marketing operations.
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