It’s fair to say marketing has gotten a lot more technical over the years. From print and radio to television, email, social media and display ads—the ways to reach audiences are getting more advanced and targeted with every new digital breakthrough. Yet these tools can be complicated and effectively managing them can be messy. That’s why some businesses are turning their focus to marketing operations specialists and teams. And for good reason: the Gartner Marketing Operations Survey 2020 revealed that organizations with a dedicated marketing operations leader are more effective and better utilize their investments than those without.

Marketing operations, also called MOPS, is responsible for the ins and outs of the people, processes and technologies that make marketing efforts successful. HubSpot uses this description: The people involved in marketing operations align and optimize all processes, from data reporting to strategy implementation, to build a foundation that reinforces and supports marketing efforts, and makes it easier to achieve goals by implementing systems to ensure marketers are best equipped to succeed at their jobs.

Here are a few reasons your organization may benefit from a marketing operations focus.

• Effective & Efficient Use of Technology

Since buyers today expect a seamless experience across channels, savvy marketers are running smart, coordinated campaigns to deliver relevant and consistent messaging across channels and devices. It’s no wonder omni-channel marketing typically relies on a slew of marketing platforms and automation tools to plan, manage, deliver and (hopefully) optimize campaigns. In fact, martech investments make up 26% of marketing budgets, according to Gartner.

The overwhelm of marketing technology can be hard to keep track of, with Gartner saying marketers utilize only 58% of their martech stack’s potential. Marketing teams are asking themselves: do we prioritize being effective or efficient?

According to Gartner, 81% of organizations without a MOPS leader believe they can’t fully maximize their initiatives when also striving for efficiency. But, organizations with a marketing operations leader are more likely to say they can be effective and efficient. Why? Because marketing operations teams think and work differently to get things done successfully. Gartner argues that marketing operations leaders can “alleviate trade-offs between efficiency and effectiveness, enabling the organization to maximize the impact of marketing initiatives.”

• Big Picture Vision

Yes, marketing ops teams are not only the ones keeping track of all the details, but they also have the technical know-how to optimize the martech stack. Their role gives them a vantage point to identify new growth opportunities. A recent MarTech article contends that MOPS leaders that are revenue- and growth-driven can make their way to the C-suite. With the growing importance of marketing technology, having someone who understands the technical environment and can make strategic decisions could give your business a leg up.

Marketing is evolving quickly and the technology that comes with it can prove to be a valuable asset or an expensive waste of time. Even platforms that integrate with other systems require a certain level of coordination and digital expertise. With a marketing operations specialist your organization could be in a better position to fast-track new developments and pivot marketing efforts as needed. This is especially true in our current post-pandemic climate and with the emergence of new data strategies and targeting methods like intent monitoring, programmatic advertising and identity graphs.

Whether your organization has a dedicated marketing operations team or not, you can still benefit from a marketing operations focus for improving both efficiency and effectiveness to drive revenue. Take baby steps or go all in – my advice is to just get started.

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