Marketing Operations
Marketing Operations[edit]
Marketing Operations is an operational business practice, concept and strategy that optimizes marketing, marketing people and marketing activities to improve customer experience, drive better performance, effectiveness and efficiencies in support of business goals and objectives. It serves as a means to provide the ability for marketing organizations to become more agile in response to ever-changing markets.
Marketing (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing) is the study and management of exchange relationships. It is the business process of identifying, anticipating and satisfying customers' needs and wants. Because marketing is used to attract customers, it is one of the primary components of business management and commerce[1]. A content marketing manager can direct product to other businesses (B2B marketing) or directly to consumers (B2C marketing)[2]. Marketing Operations is the back-end infrastructure that allows marketing to accomplish this at the most effective means possible while better understanding and improving the customers relationship and experience.
Concept & Need[edit]
Businesses and business executives are requiring more information in fast-paced industries to prove the effectiveness of activities and actions in an efficient fashion to make timely market decisions.[3] While business units like sales, manufacturing, R&D, logistics, accounting, IT, etc., have been practicing the concept of highly efficient (TQM, Lean, Six Sigma, etc.), marketing has typically lagged in this area. With access to better technology and more information, it has created an opportunity for marketing to now adopt more efficient means to perform at its high potential possible, including formal efficiency strategies.[citation needed]
The word ‘operations’ in the title is just as important as ‘marketing’. Marketing Operations evolved as a way to help companies be more transparent, efficient, competitive, profitable, and accountable. Early adopters of this overarching role include Cisco Systems, Symantec, and Adobe. Today, hundreds of companies across multiple industries draw their employees and recruits from backgrounds in branding, finance, technology, accounting, and sales.[2] Marketing Operations was coined by IDC in early 2005[4] but companies did not formally introduce the role into companies until 2012 or 2013 when job descriptions started appearing on job boards and company career websites.
Marketing Performance Management (MPM)[edit]
From Forrester, MPM is a formal discipline within marketing which is implemented to objectively define and increase marketing's value to the company.[5] The goal of this discipline is to make marketing activities more effective through the governance of goal setting, measuring and constant optimization and validation of marketing. The marketing ops person is responsible for implementing and managing MPM strategies and techniques to improve the performance of the marketing organization.[citation needed]
Like the COO's position, the Marketing Ops role tends to be driven by the CMO they work for due to their close working relationship. It can vary greatly within each company and dependent on marketing's mission and responsibility to strategy and revenue. The person who fills that role very much plays like the chief of staff in the marketing organization just as the COO does to the CEO.
The reason of a chief of staff role. Marketing was already a complicated and more responsibility is being required of the head of marketing. Many are expected to be technically savvy, required to be responsible for a percentage of growth revenue which defines a whole new level of commitment and responsibility.[2]
The Value of Marketing Operations[edit]
A 2017 research study by VisionEdge Marketing, a 17-year study[6] on marketing and how marketing ops impacts performance, has shown how companies with a well-built marketing operations team provides significant value to the marketing organization, well above those teams that don't. This study breaks companies into 3 categories, Value Creators, Sales Enablers and Campaign Producers. It shows that Value Creators employing marketing ops can reduce their budget to revenue ratio as compared to Sales Enablers while outperforming them and Campaign Producers[6]
Roles & Responsibilities[edit]
According to RightWave Marketing Operations study, which outlines reporting structure, areas of responsibilities, performance tactics, economic impacts, and current year challenges showing how the responsibilities have grown.[7]. They include:
· 3rd Party Tool Evaluation
· CRM/Sales Tech Integration
· Marketing Automation Admin
· Marketing KPIs/Reporting
· Lead Scoring Design
· Data Quality Management
· List Procurement
· Contact/List Management
· Campaign Testing
· Campaign Design
From other various sources and compiling information for this report, marketing operations inside companies can vary but also generally include:[8]
Process design & development
· Customer Journey Mapping
· Demand generation
· Funnel design & management
Metrics & Analytics
· Data design & strategy
· Dashboard development & management
· Predictive analytics & insights
· Benchmarking
Customer Database Development
· Go to Market strategy
· Customer Db Strategy
· Customer Db management
· Customer Db quality
· Customer Db maintenance
Marketing Administration
· Chief of Staff & Operational Management
· Governance
· Cross-functional communications & alignment
· Budget and P & L Management
· Talent & Hiring planning
· Vendor Management
Marketing Enablement
· Empowerment planning
· Structure
· Workflows
· Training/education
· Incentives
Technology & Systems Strategies
· MarTech Stack Planning & Management
· CRM
· Demand Generation
· Database management
· Digital Marketing
· SEO
· Website management
· Metrics & Analytics
· Content Management
Research and References[edit]
Laura Patterson of VisionEdge Marketing have published 17 years of research on the concept and implementation of marketing operations which has objectively demonstrated its value[1][6][9]
ClearAction Continuum has been in the study and engagement of marketing operations for over 5 years around the area of customer journey[9][10]
SiriusDecisions has been providing studies, best practices and solutions for marketing and marketing operations since its inception.[11]
Gary Katz, Marketing Lecturer at California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo, has been studying and advancing the field of marketing operations since early 2000. He continues to lecture and train others.[12]
Other research and resources include, Informatica,[3] Allocadia,[2] andForrester.[5]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 VisionEdge Marketing, “The Evolving Role of Marketing Operations“ https://visionedgemarketing.com/the-evolving-role-of-marketing-operations/
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Allocadia.com “Allocadia’s Definition of Marketing Performance Management” https://www.allocadia.com/marketing-performance-management/
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Informatica “What is Marketing Operations?” https://www.informatica.com/marketing/marketing-operations.html
- ↑ Tenfold, “What is the role of marketing operations,” https://www.tenfold.com/marketing-strategy/role-marketing-operations#:~:text=The%20term%20%E2%80%98marketing%20operations%E2%80%99%20was%20originally%20coined%20by,MO%20as%20an%20integrated%20unit%20in%20company%20culture
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Forrester https://go.forrester.com/
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 VisionEdge Marketing, 17 year study, “Cooking up the Best Marketing Performance: 2017 MPM Benchmark Study” https://visionedgemarketing.com/cooking-best-marketing-performance-mpm-study/
- ↑ RightWave, 2020 Marketing Operations Study, https://www.rightwave.com/rwi/research
- ↑ Business 2 Community Matt Goldman Feb 6, 2017, “What is the Role of Marketing Operations” https://www.business2community.com/marketing/role-marketing-operations-01767183
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 VisionEdge Marketing, “BIC Marketers Incorporate Six Key Marketing Operations Capabilities” https://visionedgemarketing.com/six-key-marketing-operations-capabilities-among-best-class-marketing-organizations/
- ↑ ClearAction, “7 Secrets of the Best Marketing Operations Teams” https://clearaction.com/7-secrets-best-marketing-operations-teams/
- ↑ Sirius Decisions’ “Marketing Operations 2020 Planning Guide” https://go.siriusdecisions.com/marketingopspg?utm_source=SDWebsite&utm_medium=SDBlog&utm_campaign=playbookig&utm_content=BlogSearchResults&utm_term=MarketingOpsPlanningAssumptions
- ↑ Gary Katz, marketingprofs.com, http://www.marketingprofs.com/5/katz1.asp
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