Marketing operations (MO) is the function that aligns your marketing strategies, processes, and technologies to deliver value to your customers and stakeholders. But how can you integrate MO with other business functions, such as sales, finance, product, and customer service? Here are some tips to help you create a more cohesive and effective organization.
The first step to integrate MO with other business functions is to define your goals and metrics. What are the outcomes you want to achieve and how will you measure them? How do your goals and metrics align with the overall business objectives and the needs of your customers? How will you communicate your progress and results to other teams and stakeholders? By defining your goals and metrics, you can create a shared vision and a common language for your organization.
You don't need all metrics out there. If you have a huge set of metrics but can only draw relevant conclusions from half of them, not only have you wasted time but most likely money too. When setting our marketing 'metric system' we often tend to forget about the relevancy for other departments and/or teams. E.g. the sales teams look fondly to short term conversion metrics whereas the CFO pass judgment on marketing based on things like how well branding has helped maintain price premium. The metrics you go for should help support informed decision making based on data, help you evaluate and justify marketing investments and track creative effectiveness.
Defining goals and metrics allows to develop the roadmap of all your marketing operations. MO must be part of business conversations to understand not only the capability for execution but to forecast the capability according with the business goals and objectives. Unclear goals and objectives will limit the scope of MO leaders to the needs of stakeholders and customers. MO manages the technology stack but also the marketing aspect. The execution of the technology, metrics, and attribution is effective when MO has an understanding from start to finish of the projects. If the foundation of the goals and objectives of project is weak, the execution of MO will be weak.
A good brand strategy isn't about determining an identity as a CBO I often find myself describing business operations, marketing solutions, product development and so much more. Why? A Brand strategy is made to help you scale and gives you direction, which helps you integrate and diverges into everything you need as a business to scale So use your brand strategy as the foundation to determine the destination and the journey you need to take.
Integrating marketing operations with other business functions creates a cohesive and synchronized approach to achieving business goals. Cross-functional Collaboration & Shared KPIs. Foster regular communication between marketing and other departments, such as sales, finance, and product development. Establish shared key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with overarching business objectives. This ensures all teams are working towards common goals, streamlining efforts, optimizing resources, and enhancing overall business performance.
By having clear goals and metrics, you establish the 'why' and the 'what' that guides the integration with other business functions. It’s about ensuring that your marketing efforts are not existing in a silo but are aligned with the broader business objectives.
The next step to integrate MO with other business functions is to map your processes and workflows. How do you plan, execute, and optimize your marketing campaigns and activities? How do you collaborate and coordinate with other teams and departments? How do you manage your budget, resources, and data? How do you handle exceptions, issues, and changes? By mapping your processes and workflows, you can identify gaps, inefficiencies, and opportunities for improvement.
We call this the “butterfly effect” of marketing. You need to map out not only the MO but every function’s added value to the end customer. How is sales adding value, how is product development adding value, how is finance adding value, etc? Every function is somehow ultimately impacting the value your customer gets. By mapping out the butterfly effect of every function can you have a truly wholistic approach to your brand.
This is the blueprint phase where you lay down the 'how' of integrating MO with other business functions. Mapping out processes and workflows helps in visualising the intersections, dependencies, and synergies between marketing and other functions. It’s about creating a seamless flow of information, resources, and actions across the business. This step is crucial to identify bottlenecks, streamline operations, and ensure that different parts of the organisation are working in harmony rather than at cross purposes.
I’m a fierce advocate for integration of MO to other business functions. This is the way. This integration allows for mapping processes and workflows to and from marketing campaigns lead generation, sales, finance, operations, and customer success. It streamlines the funnel of customer acquisition from lead to paying customer. The collaboration among departments and teams helps to build integrated PNLs to keep data flow for better analyses. The collaboration, precisely, helps identify gaps, inefficiencies that lead to opportunities for improvement resulting in scaling and growth. MO is a pillar within an organization because it connects the customer (outside) with the organization (inside).
Here's something counterintuitive - sometimes, there's beauty in chaos. But in the world of MO, chaos should be the exception, not the rule. A well-oiled machine, with processes and departments synched perfectly, yields not just results but creates an atmosphere of predictability in an unpredictable market.
Against the Grain: Contrary to the popular 'jack of all trades' approach, I've found that honing in on specific, specialized roles within MO results in far superior outcomes. Think of it as casting for a movie - you need the perfect actor for each role, not one actor trying to play every part.
The third step to integrate MO with other business functions is to choose your tools and platforms. What are the software and systems you use to support your marketing operations? How do they integrate with each other and with the tools and platforms of other functions? How do they enable data collection, analysis, and reporting? How do they facilitate communication, collaboration, and automation? By choosing your tools and platforms, you can streamline your operations and enhance your capabilities.
The overall MarTech and company operational tech stack is not given enough strategic attention in my experience. The CIO role (even if a % of the CTOs or COOs role) has an ever increasing role to play to set up the business operating system for success. It is only when looking at the work-streams end to end that the organisation can choose the right tools that will integration across department and deliver value and efficiencies effectively.
Choosing the right tools and platforms is detrimental to achieve business goals and objectives. For example, a customer onboard process must be connected among MO, sales, finance/operations, customer success, and tech support. It streamlines the process for the customer seamlessly. This workflow automation streamlines the communication among all allowing a smoother collaboration and also the collection of performing data of the entire process. This data is essential to make decision for enhancing capabilities.
Remember the time when you tried to put a square peg in a round hole as a child? That's how it feels when your MO tools don’t align with the needs of other business functions. It's not just about having the best tools; it's about having the right ones.
Reality Check: Let's get real for a moment. No process, however well-integrated, is set in stone. Constant refinement is not just recommended; it's a necessity. It's akin to a gardener pruning a tree – ensuring growth in the right direction.
The fourth step to integrate MO with other business functions is to build your team and skills. Who are the people who are responsible for or involved in your marketing operations? What are their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? What are the skills, knowledge, and competencies they need to perform their tasks and achieve their goals? How do you recruit, train, and retain them? How do you foster a culture of learning and innovation? By building your team and skills, you can optimize your performance and productivity.
Don't forget to include other departments than your marketing team in training activity. Better understanding of and thereby appreciation for how marketing is planned, conducted and measured in the wider organization is an important and often overlooked part of marketing operations. Moreover, consider bringing in external industry professional to run clinics or workshops with your team. For instance, select an ad agency planner, a SEM specialist from a media agency, a creative director or a data analyst. I have found this to be a very effective and inspiring way of adding new knowledge layers within the team. As a manager this might help identifying how you can develop your team's skill set and competencies.
In a growing organization is common teams wear multiple hats. But the goal must be always be to get team members to be specialists in specific roles in MO. The positive side of wearing multiples hats at the beginnings is (1) the team member is involved in multiple aspects of MO, (2) it allows leaders to identify their strengths to make decisions that move them to more specific roles. The most important roles are those involved in analytics, tech support, customer facing, execution. These and their role responsible and expectations may vary depending on the growth stage of the organization. One of the most important skills for me when recruiting is time management, analysis and organization skills for all team members.
Contrary to popular belief, an all-rounder isn't always the best fit for a specialized role. Sure, a pinch of everything sounds good, but when you want that perfect flavor, you need that specialized herb or spice. Similarly, in MO, specialists who hone specific skills can be game changers.
Wisdom Nugget: One thing I’ve found incredibly helpful is the art of 'active listening'. Instead of just hearing what other departments say, truly listen. It’s surprising how much you can learn when you tune in.
Collaboration is the key to growth. Nothing great is built alone. Create an environment with the right people who you can work with, vibe with, trust and delegate. Work with capable people but mainly those who you can rely on emotionally and not just on their skills.
The final step to integrate MO with other business functions is to review and refine your practices. How do you monitor, evaluate, and improve your marketing operations? How do you collect feedback, insights, and best practices from other functions and external sources? How do you adapt to changing customer needs, market trends, and business challenges? How do you test, experiment, and innovate your marketing operations? By reviewing and refining your practices, you can ensure continuous improvement and growth.
In my experience, successful marketing often hinges on creating cross-functional structures and aligning meeting schedules from the get-go. When everyone agrees on these foundational aspects, it sets the stage for seamless collaboration and synergy between different teams and departments. It's all about setting those clear expectations and working cohesively to achieve marketing success.
The review and refinement of practices depends on how clear are the objectives and goals. These are the foundation to monitor, evaluate, test to collect insights, build best practices to adapt to customer needs and innovate. If the goals and objectives are unclear refining and ensuring continuous improvement and growth will always be challenging.
I once observed a company where the sales team was constantly at odds with marketing. They felt marketing just "didn't get it." But once integrated processes were introduced, it was like watching two dance partners in perfect sync. It's not just about avoiding toes; it's about enhancing the entire dance.
Eyes on the Horizon: Change is the only constant. So while we plan and execute, it's also essential to have a keen eye on market shifts and customer trends. It’s like surfing; if you’re not watching the waves, you're likely to miss the best ride.
Growth is discovered when we overcome not just external hurdles but internal ones too so start by seeing what constraints, misalignments or untapped avenues are currently lacking in your process and how you can better yourself as you grow.
Train everyone on your workflows, have constant meetings to listen and gather feedback about how processes are evolving. On the day to day operations, questions and issues will arise and even the best laid plans might fail, so keep on continuously improving, cause integration is not a one time job.
When Marketing Operations seamlessly integrates with other business functions, the organization operates like a well-tuned orchestra, delivering harmonious results that resonate with stakeholders and customers alike.
Integrating marketing operations with other business functions isn’t just a strategy; it's a symphony where each department plays its note in harmony, creating a beautiful rhythm of business growth.
In plain speak, syncing marketing ops with the rest of the business ain't just smart; it's crucial. Start with what you're aiming for and how you'll know you're hitting the mark. Then, lay out how everything gets done, spot where things get snagged, and iron those out. Tech's your friend here, so pick tools that play nice with others. Get people on your team who know their stuff and want to learn more. Keep checking if what you're doing works and be ready to tweak as you go. Bottom line: It's about connecting the dots so that the customer's journey is smooth and your business runs like a well-oiled machine.
Curiously, the categories in this article focus a lot on “you”. Define your goals… Map your processes… Choose your tools… If we want to integrate with other departments, then a rationale for doing so has probably been considered, even if it’s not fully baked. But what about other department’s goals? Why would they want to integrate with marketing operations? Because we can offer them value. Get your foot in the door by solving a problem for your target department. Then keep seeking mutual purpose, and integrate one step at a time. Otherwise (if we’re honest) we’re being self-centric on a departmental level… and even if our case is good, it’ll be perceived as “just another thing” marketing operations is asking another team to do.