What do you do if your Marketing Operations team needs to stay ahead with emerging strategies and tactics?

To keep the Marketing Operations team ahead with emerging strategies and tactics, I implement a proactive approach. This involves continuous monitoring of industry trends, competitor analysis, and leveraging data analytics. Regular training sessions and workshops are conducted to upskill the team. Collaborating with other departments and industry experts fosters a culture of innovation. Experimentation with new tools and technologies is encouraged, with a focus on measuring ROI. Additionally, fostering a culture of adaptability and agility helps the team stay responsive to market changes.

Assessing the maturity level of your Marketing Operations (MOPS) function is crucial for gauging the necessary time and effort to assemble your team effectively. When evaluating the function, consider both functional capabilities and skill sets. For instance, if your martech stack appears outdated, it may require significant attention. Skill-wise, analyze whether your channels align with current content and visual trends. It's essential for leaders to conduct thorough research on emerging trends before conducting this analysis. This ensures informed decision-making and effective team building to meet evolving market demands.

Before implementing a slew of improvements that may or may not enhance your marketing operations team's performance, it's important to define your current strategy, determine your current performance, and assess how you would like to improve the former two. If you don't know where you are right now, it's difficult to set and successfully follow a new direction. Measure your most important metrics and quantify the improvements you'd like to see.

One thing that all the technology that has come in recent years is that they have made most metrics very easy to find and also understand. One thing worth mentioning is that they have also made them idiot-proof so that pretty much anyone can use them to analyze performance. Use the available tools, make use of the AI revelation, and start by assessing where you are and take it from there.

To stay ahead with emerging strategies and tactics, your Marketing Operations team should continually invest in learning and development, attend industry conferences and webinars, engage with professional networks and forums, follow thought leaders and publications in marketing, and experiment with new tools and technologies. Keeping a pulse on industry trends and innovations is key to maintaining a competitive edge.

Continuous Learning and Training: Encourage team members to participate in ongoing learning and professional development opportunities. This could include attending industry conferences, webinars, workshops, and training programs focused on emerging trends and best practices in Marketing Operations. Stay Informed About Industry Trends: Allocate time for team members to stay informed about the latest trends, innovations, and technologies in marketing operations. This could involve subscribing to industry newsletters, following thought leaders and influencers on social media, and regularly reading relevant blogs, articles, and research reports.

Stay ahead by learning from industry leaders and innovators. Regularly engage with case studies, attend conferences, and follow thought leaders in marketing operations. Leverage insights from successful campaigns and strategies to inform your team's approach. Adopt a mindset of continuous learning, encouraging your team to stay curious and adapt to the ever-changing marketing landscape. By staying informed, you position your team to integrate the latest and most effective strategies into your operations.

First, acceptance is key. Accept that your ways are not always the best; This then makes you more open-minded and you start to look at things in a different perspective. Learn the market trend, see what competition is doing, look at the things you haven’t done and ofcourse do not be afraid to take chances, take that calculated risk.

In MOps experimenting is super important. Tools constantly change and new tools disrupt the technology landscape. Best practices evolve and so do your customers wants and needs. Hence experimentation, iteration and improvement should be embedded in your strategy. Analyzing results during and after the experiment are also paramount for higher ROI (it will allow you to tweak fast what does not work, iterate snd improve results).

Mantenerse actualizado en el ámbito del marketing requiere una mentalidad abierta y un enfoque proactivo hacia la experimentación. Las tácticas emergentes ofrecen una gran oportunidad para innovar, pero su implementación debe ser metódica. La clave está en adoptar un enfoque ágil, permitiendo una rápida iteración y aprendizaje de cada campa?a. Es fundamental recoger y analizar datos en tiempo real para comprender el impacto de nuestras acciones. Esto facilita la personalización y optimización en futuras estrategias. Fomentar una cultura de curiosidad y aprendizaje continuo dentro del equipo puede ser transformador, incentivando a cada miembro a contribuir con ideas frescas y soluciones innovadoras.

The special areas that I want to highlight are Neuromarketing and Behavioural Economics. Both fields have exploded in popularity in some countries and I am truly amazed how some countries are still far behind. You can get people to change behaviours with Behaviour change marketing.

Embrace a culture of experimentation within your Marketing Operations team. Encourage team members to explore and test emerging tactics and technologies. Develop a safe environment for trial and error, allowing for valuable learning from both successes and failures. By fostering a culture of innovation, your team becomes more agile and responsive, ready to implement strategies that align with emerging trends. This proactive approach ensures that your marketing operations remain dynamic and adaptable in the face of evolving market dynamics.

Encourage a culture of experimentation and innovation within the team. Allocate time and resources for experimenting with new strategies, tactics, and tools. Foster an environment where team members feel empowered to take calculated risks and try out innovative ideas.

Collaboration between sales and marketing, or "smarketing," significantly boosts a company's growth and revenue potential. Based on my leadership roles in both fields, I've seen how this partnership yields substantial benefits. Cultivating a collaborative culture enhances business performance, team morale, and satisfaction. It dismantles silos, fosters mutual objectives, and utilizes each team's strengths for collective success. In our fast-paced, customer-driven market, a cohesive sales and marketing strategy is not just advantageous—it's crucial.

Effective collaboration is the cornerstone of successful marketing operations. Foster open communication and idea sharing within your team. Encourage cross-functional collaboration to leverage diverse perspectives and skills. Actively involve team members in decision-making processes, ensuring a sense of ownership and commitment. By building a collaborative culture, your team can collectively tackle challenges, ideate on innovative solutions, and stay ahead of emerging trends in a unified and agile manner.

Talk. To. Customers!!! When we run plays to identify what customers are actively thinking and planning about 1-2 years ahead, we *always* ask customers. But, this is segmented across SMB, Mid-Market, and Enterprise customers, then focused on two personas: C-Suite and Director. This gives us really clear insight into strategic behaviors and tactical behaviors to understand what changes to anticipate. The second is to closely align in the social channels (social media and events in particular) to validate trending topics that are forecasted for the future.

The role of marketing ops in more important then ever before as we are now bombarded with so many communications on daily basis. It's important to plan for the future as what strategies are currently working might not work 6 months down the line. Due to every changing technology and segmentation communications one must always have a trail / pilot campaigns running in background to try various new combinations and permutation.

Two of my favorite plays: 1. Build a circle of peers - both ops leaders and VCs. VCs have a really close pulse on emerging technologies and players. Operating Peers have a close pulse on what’s actually working and can be implemented to stay ahead. 2. Executive Customer Advisors - these are your most strategic and forward-thinking customer execs that can give you insights into where they and their peers are headed and planning over the next 2-5 years. These insights are *invaluable* for your overall marketing ops plan and forecasts.

Desde mi experiencia, puedo recomendar: 1. Enfatizar la importancia de la educación continua; fomenta la asistencia a webinars, cursos y conferencias. 2. Implementar sesiones regulares de brainstorming para explorar ideas innovadoras, estimulando la creatividad y la colaboración. 3. Tener una mentalidad ágil en la ejecución de proyectos, permitiendo adaptaciones rápidas a cambios del mercado. 4. Incentivar la experimentación controlada, permitiendo a tu equipo testear nuevas estrategias sin temor al fracaso. 5. Establecer KPIs que reflejen no solo resultados, sino también la innovación y el aprendizaje.

To keep your Marketing Operations ahead, foster a culture of continuous learning, cross-functional collaboration, and experimentation. Emphasize data-driven decisions, stay updated with industry trends, encourage creativity, and promote networking. Adopt agile methodologies for quick adaptation. This approach ensures your team remains innovative in the dynamic marketing landscape.