You're looking to get promoted in Marketing Operations. What hard skills should you be developing?

To secure a promotion, it's essential to continuously track and demonstrate how your initiatives contribute to sales and margin growth. By consistently monitoring and reporting on revenue-related key performance indicators (KPIs) and showcasing the concrete benefits your efforts bring to the table, you'll catch the attention of the leadership team. Becoming proficient in reporting is key!

To excel in Marketing Operations and secure a promotion, focus on honing hard skills like data analysis, proficiency in marketing automation tools, and knowledge of digital analytics platforms to effectively optimize marketing strategies and campaigns.

To secure a promotion in Marketing Operations, focus on developing hard skills such as proficiency in marketing automation platforms (e.g., Marketo, HubSpot), data analysis and visualization (using tools like Google Analytics, Tableau), project management (with certifications like PMP), proficiency in CRM systems (e.g., Salesforce), proficiency in HTML/CSS for email and landing page design, and expertise in digital advertising platforms (e.g., Google Ads, Facebook Ads Manager). Additionally, mastering spreadsheet software (e.g., Excel) for data manipulation and reporting, and learning coding languages like Python for automation and data analysis can greatly enhance your capabilities in Marketing Operations.

Data analysis is not the foundation of marketing operations! It's definitely important though - certainly impossible to be promoted or lead a team without a good understanding of the importance of clean data, inputs, reporting, which metrics to care about, etc.

To excel in Marketing Operations and pave the way for a promotion, focusing on a few key hard skills is crucial. Mastery in analytics platforms like GA4 and Google Tag Manager is really important and undervalued especially with the shift to server-side tracking. Get framilar with CDPs like Segment and the new concepts of composable CDPs like Hightouch. Lastly, learn some of the basics of SQL, JavaScript, and basic concepts of REST APIs. These are things that set you apart and make you more valuable.

Don’t just know how to use it but how to improve it. What tools can you add to better the processes. What are the tricks people use to get more out of the tool then the standard default. Spend time with other industry experts and see what they are doing. Get to know tools out there that can build on top of the platforms. The more you understand how to push and bend the basics the more powerful of a user you will be.

The ROI on investing time and energy into becoming an expert on a particular platform is not nearly as valuable as investing that same time and energy into critical thinking and framework design. The 'how' changes at the speed of IT, the 'why' is harder to understand but doesn't change nearly as fast.

Project management is indeed a crucial hard skill to develop for advancing in Marketing Operations. It involves the ability to plan, execute, and oversee marketing campaigns and initiatives effectively. Effective project management involves communication, collaboration, and problem-solving, all of which are essential skills in Marketing Operations. By honing your PM skills, you demonstrate your ability to lead cross-functional teams, manage multiple projects simultaneously, and drive results. Overall, developing strong PM skills enhances your effectiveness as a Marketing Operations professional and increases your value to your organization. It also opens up opportunities for career advancement and leadership roles within the field.

Stakeholder buy-in is crucial for the successful implementation and utilization of project management tools in marketing operations. Even the most effective tools won’t yield desired results if there isn’t commitment and engagement from the stakeholders who will be using them. Getting buy-in involves not only introducing the benefits of the tools but also addressing concerns, providing training, and demonstrating how the tools align with organizational goals and improve efficiency. Ultimately, the effectiveness of project management tools hinges on the people using them and their willingness to embrace them as part of their workflow.

Advancing Marketing Operations professionals never had such an opportunity to radically accelerate their career trajectory - driven by the AI-hype cycle - the biggest inflection point in technology in decades (if not ever). CMO and executive #marketing leaders will elevate MOPs leads that have the soft skills to help them design and story tell their AI-strategy, amplify their innovation roadmap around new #digitalmarketing-led revenue streams, and drive real-time ROI analytics optimization for marketing budgets. The opportunity is to be the AI strategic advisor for the CMO. Skills developed should focus on impacting executive influence (vision, strategic frameworks, alignment to LOB partners and innovation).

Critical listening skills is one of the most important skills you can develop in this role. Learning to tease out subtext from requests helps you collaborate with the requestor from the beginning.

It really depends to which role you want to be promoted to. If it's to director or head of MOps roles, you might also want to improve your presentation skills. You will still benefit from analytical and technical knowledge but your role will be much less hands on and much more strategic and high level. You will need to build, train and coach a team. Work closely with c-level and present much more than an IC would. You will need to influence others and have excellent collaboration skills.

While I'm uncertain about the classification of creativity as a soft or hard skill, its significance in marketing cannot be overstated. Without creativity, your marketing endeavors will be forever lost in empty halls of mediocrity. What's intriguing about creativity is its elusive nature—it's something innate rather than taught. You either possess it or you don't. Creativity in marketing goes beyond mere proficiency in tools and techniques; it's about the ability to think outside the box, to innovate, and to connect with audiences on a deeper, emotional level. It means knowing the unknown and going after it! ???

Looking at your next NEXT role is key. What skills will you need to help the ladder 2 rungs up? Help the people above and around you unlock their potential. Anyone can learn technical skills, automation, data analysis to a competent degree, but to elevate, you need to understand how the people around you make the business thrive. Solve big problems. Earn bigger titles.

Check out Forbes' list of some of the top 5 hard skills that are in-demand for MarOps professionals. They are seeing an uptick in the need/desire for professionals to have: process optimization and workflow management; data analysis experience; technical proficiency in multiple automation tools, data visualization software, CRMs; and project management skills! Though this is more of a soft skill, customer-centric focused jobs are on the rise and this skill is just as important as some of the 'back-end' technical experience you may have.

Here are 3 key hard skills to boost your Marketing Ops promotion potential: 1. Data Ninja: Master data analysis & visualization tools (Tableau, Power BI) to interpret campaign performance, identify trends, and present insights with impact. 2. Automation Ace: Become proficient in marketing automation platforms (HubSpot, Marketo) to streamline campaigns, personalize experiences, and boost efficiency. 3. Tech-Savvy Superhero: Gain comfort with coding basics (HTML, CSS) and APIs to build landing pages, integrate tools, and unlock automation possibilities. Bonus: Project management & technical writing skills are also highly valued!