The future direction of Marketing Operations – admin or adding value?

At the end of last month I had a really interesting conversation with the very impressive head of marketing operations for a Danish audio tech brand. For them Marketing Operations comes under the banner of Marketing Excellence. We agreed that the objective of Marketing Operations is to ensure marketing resource and spend is applied efficiently and effectively. However, the real question for any organisation is what resource are they prepared to allocate to achieve that end?

As part of this research theSPC are currently surveying senior marketers to get an understanding of the role Marketing Operations plays in your life. We would love to know what you think. To join in the conversation use the following link, click here for survey. Now back to the article:

The Role of Marketing Operations

Many of the organisations and brands I have worked with have a marketing operations function within the marketing department. Often it is more administrative and project management focused rather than strategic or analytic. I think part of the reason for this is that the main responsibility given to Marketing Operations is managing marketing systems and automation, for example project management, CRM, email automation and asset management. While automation is an important part of any process, it isn’t an end in itself. I have witnessed too many instances of poor processes being automated before solving the underlying issue. An automated poor process is still a poor process.

To work well the Marketing Operations role should be recognised as being as important as the role of the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) or head of marketing. In smaller organisations the responsibilities will probably be combined and for a marketing department to work efficiently and effectively they should be equally valued.

Marketing Operations defined

So what is Marketing Operations? I thought I would jump on the AI band wagon and see what ChatGPT had to say on the subject. I asked two questions:

1.??????What are the academic definitions of marketing operations?

2.??????Tell me the main problems marketers have with marketing operations.

The answers I got back were interesting and thought provoking. I have summarised the key points from the answers below (do try it at home because ChatGPT is great way to summarise data if you ask the right questions and apply some critical thinking to the answers).

1.??????What are the academic definitions of marketing operations?

“Marketing operations refers to the processes, systems, and technologies that support marketing activities and enable marketing teams to operate efficiently and effectively.”

What is missing from this definition is responsibility for resource and budgets and strategic planning and evaluation. I think that reflects the common misconception that marketing operations is only for process and technology. What is interesting is the emphasis on efficiency and effectiveness comes out strongly as the objective for marketing operations, which I couldn’t agree with more. The three ‘academic’ definitions are similarly aligned:

1. "Marketing operations is a set of processes, systems, and metrics that enable organizations to efficiently execute marketing activities, optimize marketing performance, and drive business growth." (Source: Gartner)

2."Marketing operations refers to the planning, execution, and measurement of marketing activities that enable marketing teams to work efficiently, streamline workflows, and demonstrate the impact of marketing on business goals." (Source: Forrester)

3."Marketing operations is the function responsible for streamlining marketing processes, enabling collaboration and alignment among stakeholders, and leveraging technology and data to optimize marketing performance and achieve business objectives." (Source: The Marketing Operations Leadership Council)

The two polling organisations who assess how technology relates to business - Gartner and Forrester are process and measurement driven, reflecting the system and automation bias. Although The Marketing Operations Leadership Council definition is also technology focused they do put process streamlining and stakeholder collaboration and alignment before automation. For me, this should always be the first step.

If these are the ‘academic’ definitions that ChatGPT managed to scrape from the net then then there is undoubtedly more definitional development and research required in the field of Marketing Operations. A greater focus is needed on the people in organisations and how their actions effect and influence the process.

In answer to the second question the answers were significantly more human and telling

2.??????Tell me the main problems marketers have with marketing operations.

“Marketers often face several challenges in their marketing operations. Here are some of the main problems that they may encounter:

1.???Lack of Data: One of the primary challenges that marketers face in marketing operations is the lack of accurate and reliable data. This can make it challenging to analyze customer behavior, track marketing campaigns' performance, and make informed decisions.

2.???Poor Communication: Marketing operations require coordination and collaboration between various teams, such as marketing, sales, and IT. If there is a lack of communication and alignment among these teams, it can lead to inefficiencies, errors, and missed opportunities.

3.???Limited Resources: Many organizations face budget and resource constraints that can limit their ability to execute their marketing operations effectively. This can result in suboptimal campaigns, missed opportunities, and ineffective use of marketing tools and technology.

4.???Time Constraints: Marketers often face tight deadlines and competing priorities that can make it challenging to prioritize tasks and execute campaigns effectively. This can result in rushed campaigns, errors, and missed opportunities.

5.???Keeping up with New Technologies: With the rapid pace of technological innovation, marketers need to stay up to date with the latest marketing tools and technologies. This can be challenging, as new technologies are constantly emerging, and keeping up with them can require significant time and effort.

Overall, marketers must address these challenges to ensure that their marketing operations are efficient, effective, and provide a positive return on investment.”

Again, there is agreement on the objective of Marketing Operations i.e. to be efficient and effective in order to provide a measurable return on marketing investment (ROMI). The main problems however are not primarily solved with process automation and marketing technology. These challenges are human – resource (people and budget), communication and collaboration (between departments), time and data (to analyse and make informed decisions). Even the technology challenge is human – which one to use.

Barriers to efficient and effective marketing operations

In all my conversations to date with CMOs and my practical experience as interim Head of Marketing Operations for a high street retailer the 7 common Marketing Operations challenges are:

1.??????Time (lack of it)

2.??????Resource allocation (people and budget)

3.??????Collaboration with partners (internal or outsourced)

4.??????Process (simplification and automation)

5.??????Measurement

6.??????Analysis

7.??????Continuous improvement

For me if an organisation wants to take marketing operations seriously and make sure the ROMI is maximised, then these challenges form the foundations on which a successful operational marketing strategy is built. As opposed to the more common perception that Marketing Operations is all about implementation and administration of marketing technology.

The future of marketing operations – your view

Which brings me to the point of this article, we want to know what you think.

theSPC are interviewing senior marketers to get an understanding of the role of Marketing Operations in your world currently and in the future.

If you can make the time for a 30-minute interview please get in touch with myself or my colleague Steve Baynes

Mike?????LinkedIn??07958 678 849 ?[email protected].

Steve???LinkedIn??07884 490654 ?[email protected]

For those who don’t have the time for an interview we have created a much shorter survey that can be accessed here.

We will share the ‘Future of Marketing Operations Data and Insight report’ with those who participate, hopefully giving ChatGPT and other AI some more informed and nuanced data to reference in future.

About theSPC

theSPC supercharge marketing operations and supply management to make them seamless, cost effective and sustainable. We enable marketers to spend their time and effort on marketing, not operations, in order to maximise the return on marketing investment.

Our focus is on enhancing people, processes, systems and supply chains to ensure they operate as efficiently and effectively as they can.?