Marketing Operations Is Critical to the Success of an Organization (Here Are 3 Reasons Why)

We get it, you get it. You’re already a member of this amazing community! But the next time you need to explain it to your boss – or just need a reminder of why you’re so awesome – here are 3 reasons Marketing Operations is critical to the success of your organization.

1. Scaling the Business

One of our favorite ways to think about the different stages of Marketing Operations within an organization is elegantly described in the white paper, Rise of the Marketing Operations Function by Debbi Qaqish of The Pedowitz Group.

In it, ‘The Maturity Model for Marketing Ops’ is outlined as such:

1. Efficient – the team that owns the technology and uses it regularly
2. Effective – the team that focuses on data and best practices to improve the organization
3. Hub – the team that serves as an internal consultant, servicing the organization to improve results
4. Strategic – the group that includes demand generation and has an eye on revenue, always looking to improve both

So where does your team fall on this model? As Marketing Operations evolves, it better aligns the marketing team’s initiatives, KPIs, and goals to that of the overall company.

The need for Marketing Operations is different at every organization, but you can get a pretty good idea by asking a few simple questions:

• Does your company plan to expand the sales and marketing team?
• Does your company plan to grow beyond 5 – 10M in revenue?
• Does your company need to report on lead generation?
• Does your company want to manage and nurture a pipeline of leads?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any other above, Marketing Operations will play a critical role in making these goals possible. A big part of that is…

2. Aligning Sales & Marketing

The best Marketing Operations professionals serve as the bridge between the sales and marketing teams. For an organization to achieve revenue goals, the two need to be in alignment.

Marketing must support the sales team’s efforts to close deals and sales must act on the leads that marketing generates. This level of support and collaboration directly impacts the company’s ability to attract and convert new customers.

Research shows that companies focused on marketing and sales alignment are up to 67% better at closing deals.

The Marketing Operations professional:

• Has close ties to executive leadership which can open a clear channel of communication and help to better align KPIs and goals to that of sales
• Provides access to data and overall insights to streamline the sales and marketing process through the use of technology
• With that, can create workflows that seamlessly train and manage people and process across the organization

And since access to the right technologies is what makes this all possible…

3. Managing the Tech Stack

In 2011, Scott Brinker created the first Marketing Technology Landscape infographic to capture the roughly 150 marketing software solutions on the market. That list has been regularly monitored, updated, and available at chiefmartec.com which has since grown to 8,000 solutions as of April 2020.

The options are vast and picking the right tools that communicate seamlessly at the right budget is no easy feat.

The Marketing Operations professional exists to steward the collaboration and cooperation of technology – that is the more traditional understanding of the role.

The best Marketing Operations professionals:

• Oversee how tools and technology are integrated to automate workflows and reduce administrative workloads
• Manage how they share information to ensure a global view of all sales and marketing data in real-time
• Improve the overall efficiency of the tech stack to provide better projections, deeper insights, and increase ROI

The technology exists to help us scale our organizations. But without a clear vision and hands-on management, it tends to do a better job of weighing us down.

Here’s Why it’s Critical

The next time you’re sitting in one of those executive meetings, know what you bring to the table. And make sure the rest of the team knows it too!

Marketing Operations is a critical role that helps to scale the growth of the organization. By aligning sales and marketing, providing data-backed insights, and managing the workflows behind the people, process, and technologies of your company, you serve as the backbone of the company’s ability to generate revenue!