To navigate marketing’s intricacies, you need a polished roadmap to light the way and help you reach your goals. The addition of marketing operations, or MOps for short, to your company, is a massive step in the right direction. Still, having MOps doesn’t necessarily translate to success. Your MOps need to rest on a solid foundation, allowing you to reach your short- and long-term marketing objectives.
This article explores why having a clearly defined MOps structure is essential, what the ideal structure looks like, and the key roles of your MOps team.
A marketing operations structure is essentially the backbone of your marketing effort. It defines the responsibilities of MOps team members, clarifies the chain of command, and outlines the way your MOps will function. An effective MOps can help you generate leads and consistently increase your marketing ROI.
Additionally, having a clear MOps structure gives you a bird’s eye view of what your team members need to accomplish. It allows you to communicate your marketing mission. And it helps your MOps professionals understand their function in your organization, making it clear that they are essential to your marketing effort.
Companies are similar in many ways, but no two companies are identical. For that reason, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all structure that guarantees success. It also largely depends on a company’s size and specific needs. Small companies may only need a handful of people to run MOps. In contrast, a large company needs a small army of specialists to function effectively.
In either case, you must have a MOps team. Having a makeshift MOps team composed of marketers who already have a lot on their plates will prove ineffective in the long term. Ultimately, your MOps structure depends on your marketing strategy – it determines how you’ll choose your people, processes, and technology.
A marketing operations team comprises experts that run your MOps. These experts strategize, plan, deploy, and track your marketing efforts. They are compatible and complement each other’s skills. Each team member must understand their objectives and the overall mission set by stakeholders.
From marketing campaigns to content creation and marketing automation, MOps teams oversee the entire marketing effort of a company. A successful MOps team can:
Essentially, MOps is driven by three pillars: people, processes, and technology. Therefore, MOps teams use processes and technology to plan, create, manage, and analyze virtually all aspects of a company’s marketing.
To adequately structure your MOps, you need to define the key roles that will lead your MOps team.
While company size determines how many people are needed to run a MOps, this is what a full-fledge MOps structure looks like:
The Director of Marketing Operations is often regarded as the highest-ranking team member in the MOps structure. They work closely with marketing, sales, and IT managers to make budget decisions and evaluate gaps in the marketing effort. Directors of Marketing Operations can:
The Director of Marketing is thus less on the strategic development side and more on the execution side of the equation. They need to have a significant amount of creativity to develop new ways to grow brand awareness and plan new marketing campaigns.
Less on the creative side, Marketing Operations Managers play a technical and analytical role. Their expertise spreads far and wide, touching every part of the marketing effort. They are expected to:
Additionally, Marketing Operations Managers educate marketing teams and ensure that they work seamlessly.
In charge of setting up and integrating technology stacks, Marketing Technology Managers are responsible for improving workflows and optimizing automation. They are tasked to:
Apart from leading a team of data analysts, Data and Analytics Managers oversee the function of the analytics department.
They’re expected to put together a team of highly-skilled data specialists and also:
Content Managers lead a team of content writers and copywriters. They must build a branding identity and online presence. They’re expected to:
Digital Platform Managers are in charge of all web-related functions. They create, optimize, and manage a company’s web activity. They also:
Planning your structure is the first step to building effective MOps that will help you drive ROI and scale your business. Your MOps will succeed if you choose the right people to optimize your marketing functions.