The Marketing Ops Leader Newsletter: Growing Your Skills, Business, and Career
Welcome to the Marketing Operations Leader - helping you grow your impact and career as a marketing operations professional.
The Marketing Operations Leader has two meanings: one is to lead the function of executing great marketing at your organization - and the second is to lead and shape the future of this exciting profession.
Here’s what you can expect from each issue:
Practical advice to manage your marketing function
Skills and frameworks you need to drive operational excellence
New ideas and thought leadership for marketing ops success
Please reach out and let me know what you think! I aim to make each newsletter better than the last, and I can only do that with your candid feedback.
11 New Lessons in Marketing Ops Leadership
The best learning happens from a combination of studying concepts and practical application. I sat down and wrote out key lessons from the last 11 months in a marketing operations leadership role, I hope you find them insightful and actionable.
When communicating with non-technical coworkers, nothing beats a thoughtful, well-developed diagram or visual.
Before you think about fixing a platform problem, take a moment and evaluate if it’s the right piece of technology in the first place.
Good marketing ops professionals solve problems. Great marketing ops professionals drive change.
If you create a new process, ask yourself, “Would this process hold if we experience 3X or 5X the volume?” If the answer is no, then the process is not scalable.
You should already be incorporating generative AI into research, planning, problem-solving, and automation.
Success in marketing ops means delivering value for customers AND your colleagues.
When it comes to Martech, you can’t stop at simply understanding the technology. You have to understand people, too.
If you have great marketing ops people on your team, don’t solve their problems for them - empower them and remove roadblocks so they can continually solve problems in the future.
It’s fine to discuss and brainstorm. But real work won’t happen until there is a documented owner and timeline.
There may be over 20 tasks/projects on your plate now. But only 3-5 of them are actionable with your given bandwidth and timeframe. Focused progress moves the needle. Act accordingly.
If you find yourself explaining something over and over again to different stakeholders - it’s not your stakeholders who have a problem. It’s you who has a documentation and communication problem.
How to Drive Influence Without Authority in Marketing Operations
Storytime: the Netflix show “How to Get Rich” is a reality show about personal finance. The host helps people who struggle to manage their money.
Rather than yell at them, Ramit (the host), clearly outlines on paper:
how much they make,
how they are overspending, and
how this is blocking them from achieving their dream house, ideal lifestyle, or retirement.
The key? Ramit allows each person to have their own Eureka moment. They convince themselves that they should be doing something different if they want to achieve their true goals.
Marketing Ops can exercise influence without authority in the same way by laying out investment, campaign performance, and missed forecasts in a clear and visual way.
Example: “We spent 30 hours on this campaign but it only drove 10 leads. How can we better spend our time to reach our goals?” “Only 5% of leads are converting from this expensive campaign, where could we use our budget more effectively?” “Investing just a fraction of our budget into data enrichment and hygiene should increase conversions by X and pipeline by Y. We anticipate a return on investment of Z.” The key? Outline the problem as something you both will partner to solve.
Now you and your stakeholders can work together to design your “rich marketing life!”
Many Teams Buy Marketing Tools that are Doomed to Fail From the Start
Have you ever felt like your Martech tools aren't delivering the expected results? You're not alone. It's not just about having the latest and greatest in marketing technology; how you use it really counts. Some common traps can lead your Martech implementation straight into a dead-end. Imagine setting sail on a ship without a captain or a map.
It's crucial to watch out for these red flags in your Martech journey: missing leaders to steer the ship, forgetting to teach the crew how to navigate, failing to integrate with existing systems, not knowing where you're sailing, lacking the right skilled sailors to get you there, and worst of all, buying a ship just because everyone else is, without checking if it's the right fit for your journey.
Your Martech implementation is bound for FAILURE if:
There is no clear owner or executive sponsor
There is no adoption/training plan
You don't have an integration plan for existing platforms
You haven't defined what success looks like
You don't have the talent that can/wants to drive ROI with the tool
You bought the tool to "keep up with your colleagues" but didn't ensure it was the right solution for you
10 Things I Stopped Doing to Become More Effective in Marketing Ops
In the world of Martech, it's easy to be enticed by 'shiny new tools' and fall into the trap of treating every request like an urgent fire drill. But it doesn't stop there. From being overly attentive to sales teams to attempting to automate everything, including tasks that require a personal touch, the Martech landscape is littered with potential missteps. Common stumbling blocks include mistaking technical complexity for superiority, making sweeping changes without securing essential buy-in, and unquestioningly believing everything Martech vendors claim. Here are some things I stopped doing.
Getting distracted by "shiny new tools".
Treating every request as a fire drill.
Being a servant to sales.
Trying to automate things that should not be automated.
Thinking "technical and complex" means better.
Implementing large-scale changes without getting buy-in first.
Trusting everything Martech vendors say as 100% true.
Working on projects that are considered "high effort, low impact".
Being reactive when it comes to system stability and performance.
Thinking every error meant the whole system was broken.
The Best Ways to Learn and Upgrade Your Skills in Marketing Ops
Most learn marketing ops from getting hands-on and fully involved. I personally learned marketing ops from working in startups, speaking with intelligent people, having helpful one-on-one chats with experienced coworkers, getting advice from consultants I hired, and picking up helpful info from podcasts and webinars.
My biggest lesson? Understanding that asking for help is super important. Building something great isn't just about doing it alone; it's about working together. It takes a village to build great things. And it takes a network to grow and become better.
Characteristics of the Best Marketing Ops Consultants (and Practitioners too)
I’ve worked with many mops agencies and consultants over the years, and the best share some traits that may surprise you.
The best consultants:
Speak clearly: Many consultants try to impress with jargon and complexity. Great consultants make issues more clear, not less clear.
Are not biased by tech: The best consultants know that not all solutions come from platforms; many come from processes and people.
Share real stories: Effective solutions come from experience, not certifications.
Collaborate versus compete: Insecure consultants badmouth competitors and rarely work with partners. Great consultants have low ego and are dedicated to client success.
Have a personal perspective: Bad consultants regurgitate information from tech vendors. Effective consultants think outside of the box to solve problems.
Set realistic expectations: Poor consultants pitch cure-alls and “the right way” to run Martech. The best consultants understand that business problems are different, and therefore, the tooling should be different.
Are smart yet humble: A consultant who knows it all can only solve past problems. Great consultants acknowledge what they don’t know and tap the necessary resources to complete the job.
Connect with me
The Marketing Operations Leader newsletter has two purposes:
help you lead the function of executing great marketing at your organization and
inspire you to lead and shape the future of this exciting profession.
Your articles are easy to consume, thoughtful and actionable. Refreshing for people in function with limited time and busy with the occasional fire drill and endless tasks. Thanks for sharing!
Congrats for the launch!