![]() We all love to use the phrase " shiny new object" disparagingly when talking about technology, but how many of us have a tech roadmap for 2017 that calls for pruning the tech tree, rather than adding to it? I spoke with one practitioner recently and that's his plan for the year ahead- nothing new, only decommissions. What are some of the pitfalls you frequently see marketing ops practitioners falling into? "Marketing Operations" as a title for the function is certainly still relevant, but it's up to us as a community to raise its stature on the marketing team and beyond. It's really about a shift in attitude and presence, away from the tactical order-taker and into the consultative, trusted advisor. What’s next for Marketing Ops? (and/or) Is Marketing Ops the right title based on your vision of the role?įor many marketing operations leaders what's next is to evolve into that Chief of Staff role, even if that's not their formal title. So again, it's a balance of a couple of traits and from a hiring perspective this is easily overlooked, as recruiters usually focus on one or the other. This means drawing from their experience to not just suggest, but champion, alternative ways of doing things. While this has bred a strong customer-service attitude, the highest performing marketing operations leaders also layer in a change agent approach. With that, many marketing operations professionals have been conditioned to see themselves simply as order-takers. Historically, marketing operations has been in danger of being the Island of Misfit Toys, where oddball projects and tasks tend to get dumped. The most under-valued skill I see is the ability to balance a customer-service orientation with leadership. What’s the most under-valued skill of a good ops pro? What trait do many hiring managers neglect to look for? The same is true here- the most effective marketing operations professionals that I know are able to wear the strategic hat of a Chief of Staff, but then also understand the very real operational and technical implications behind business-driven initiatives. I grew up in the IT space, and the most valuable people there were always those that could speak both technical jargon and the language of the business. In a large enough marketing operations team, you may have specialists for each of those disciplines, but the real value comes from stitching the concepts together. The essential competency is actually becoming a bridge across all those things. Which of the following is most essential for Marketing Ops pros to master: business strategy, data and analytics, or technology? The beauty of marketing operations is that it spans the entire marketing team, so it needs to seize the opportunity to identify and correct inefficiencies across the whole marketing ecosystem. Sometimes that means serving up the information they need in an easy-to-digest format, sometimes it's smoothing out a process so that it can run more efficiently, and sometimes it's recognizing connections across teams that others may not see from their individual silo. John: The overarching theme is making it easy for the rest of marketing to do their job. Scott: What’s the most important role that Marketing Ops plays in today’s customer-centric, data-driven marketing world? We caught up with John to get his scoop on the past, present and future of Marketing Ops – a profession that has progressed from the “island of misfit toys” and an informal function to today being a trusted counselor to the CMO. He is one of the six judges for the Marketing Ops Game Changers program which is recognizing the top 33 Marketing Ops leaders in B2B for breakthrough work. ![]() He works with Marketing Ops pros and teams every day. John Donlon is Research Director for Marketing Operations Strategies at Sirius Decisions.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |