Marketing operations: know what they are and why they are important for a business

[shammis606]

Marketing works with value creation. This area must generate, communicate and deliver offers/proposals that are relevant to people and that generate returns for the business. But how to organize activities to make this happen?

That's what marketing operations are for. We're talking about a set of ios database activities that organize the people, processes, technologies, and data involved in this area , so that they focus on delivering value to the organization's audiences.

In this article, we will help you better understand what marketing operations are and why these activities are so important to business success by addressing the following points:

What are marketing operations?
What are marketing operations?
What are the benefits of implementing Marketing Ops?
How to implement marketing operations?
What are marketing operations?
Marketing operations is a position or department within marketing that structures and optimizes the people, processes, technologies, and data involved in order to increase team efficiency and agility and the quality of deliveries.

It can also be called Marketing Ops (short for Marketing Operations). It is a recent and increasingly used area in corporate marketing, which implements and optimizes operational marketing .

Their role follows the line of sales operations (Sales Ops), revenue operations (RevOps), development operations (DevOps), among other areas that have recently emerged in companies. In these areas, the role of operations professionals is to optimize the execution of strategies.

In Marketing Ops, the goal is also to manage marketing strategies in the best way, so that activities meet the objectives and goals defined by the organization.

To do this, the team must align and optimize all the tasks involved. In this way, marketing can fulfill what is expected of it: creating, communicating and delivering value to audiences .

Marketing operations is dedicated to end-to-end optimization, from planning activities to execution and analyzing results, always with an eye on data to support decisions.

Throughout this process, marketing needs professionals with the skills to make the area run smoothly and fulfill its role in the organization.

What are marketing operations?
Marketing operations involve the management and optimization of activities that are important for the company's good performance in this area. The following activities are some examples of marketing operations:

collection and management of marketing data;
performance measurement, benchmarking and analysis;
strategic planning, alignment and execution monitoring;
marketing technology management;
talent needs audits;
driving marketing innovation;
market intelligence research and information;
financial planning and budget management;
optimization of governance and workflow processes;
stimulate a culture of collaboration;
campaign and lead management;
supplier and agency management.
According to the Marketing Operations Survey conducted by Gartner, these are the main activities that fall under the scope of marketing operations in companies. In 2020, the survey pointed out that data management and measurement are at the top of this list, as shown in the graphic below.

marketing operations
What are the benefits of implementing Marketing Ops?
The marketing operations area is increasingly important in a competitive and demanding market that is undergoing a digital transformation . Companies need to define operations that make their activities more efficient, effective and agile .

While still a rare position in companies, Marketing Ops can make a difference in results.

Now understand the main advantages of implementing marketing operations:

Have a complete vision of marketing
Marketers are often immersed in their activities within their specialties, such as content production or product marketing. But all of these activities are part of a single area and must be integrated.

The role of Marketing Ops is to have this holistic view of marketing and understand how all the activities fit together and how they should work together to achieve better results.

Structuring marketing processes
With this comprehensive view, marketing operations can better structure processes. The team can design more efficient, agile, and practical processes that make better use of the company's resources.

With this structuring, the business also gains more predictability of costs and marketing results .

Optimizing the use of marketing technology
There are hundreds of marketing software to fulfill the most diverse functions in the area. But the application of these tools is not always efficient or makes sense for the organization.

Marketing Ops implementation, then, aims to optimize the adoption of marketing technologies, so that the company uses only what is necessary and makes better use of the tools, in favor of business results.

Supporting decision making with data
Marketing operations is extremely data-driven . It is the basis for decisions on how to operationalize marketing to generate better results, take advantage of opportunities, and take less risk.

Increase team productivity
By aligning and optimizing activities, Marketing Ops is able to increase team productivity. Professionals adopt smarter processes and can automate a number of tasks with marketing software.

Align with sales operations
Marketing Ops looks at the marketing field. However, it does not lose alignment with other business areas, especially sales .

Thus, marketing operations, integrated with sales operations, ensure that lead delivery is efficient for salespeople and generates more business opportunities .


Focus on business results
Marketing operations always focus on the organization's goals and objectives. This means that marketing can fulfill its role in the company by directing activities toward outcomes that are important.

How to implement marketing operations?
Marketing operations involve a number of practices, which must be well planned for this area to function at its best. Now let's look at some tips and strategies to apply Marketing Ops in your company:

Mapping marketing processes
Start by mapping out your marketing processes to understand how your company is currently organized. Figuring out how your team works, what works well, and what the bottlenecks are is certainly a big step.

From the initial design, you can create optimized workflows and standardize processes, so they can guide the team in developing their activities and achieving results.

To do this, it is important to use marketing methodologies that provide a framework for the team's work.

Inbound marketing and agile marketing are two methodologies that are widely used today and can go together in Marketing Ops.

Identify and solve the main marketing problems
By mapping your processes, identifying and correcting key marketing problems is much easier.

Seeing whether the team is meeting deadlines, whether tools are being used correctly, whether goals are well defined, whether data is supporting decisions, among other perceptions, will contribute to optimization.