What Is Marketing Ops and What Are They Responsible For?

Ever wonder who’s behind the curtain of the marketing department, making sure things are running smoothly and in alignment with the company’s strategic goals? Look no further than the marketing operations team, the often-unsung heroes that keep the gears turning.

But what does this team do on a daily basis, and how do they affect sales performance? Let’s dive into how this group works.

What is Marketing Operations?

Marketing operations, often referred to as "marketing ops," is the operational hub of a marketing team, providing the structure, processes, and systems that allow the team to run efficiently and effectively.

Marketing ops professionals tend to work behind the scenes, handling planning, governance, and support functions, and ensuring that the marketing team has the resources, tools, and direction it needs to succeed. They also play a crucial role in aligning marketing with other departments, fostering cross-functional collaboration and ensuring that marketing activities are in sync with the company's overall objectives.

In essence, marketing ops is the connective tissue that powers a company's marketing efforts. It's the force that enables the marketing team to deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time.

The Evolution of Marketing Operations

Marketing ops has evolved significantly over the years, moving from a purely tactical role to a strategic one. In the past, these professionals were often seen as the "doers" in the marketing department, responsible for executing campaigns and managing technology. However, as the business landscape has become more complex and data-driven, the role of marketing ops has expanded.

Today, marketing ops professionals are responsible for aligning marketing with the overall business strategy, managing marketing technology, and leveraging data to drive decision-making. They're also increasingly involved in customer experience, product development, and sales operations.

The rise of the product-led growth (PLG) model has further transformed the role of marketing operations. In a PLG model, the product itself is the primary driver of customer acquisition, conversion, and expansion. This shift has significant implications for marketing operations—marketing ops professionals need to be more data-driven, agile, and customer-focused than ever before. They play a crucial role in managing and analyzing the vast amounts of data generated in a PLG model, tracking product usage data, website behavior data, and other key metrics. This data informs marketing strategies and ensures alignment and coordination with product, sales, and customer success teams.

The emergence of PLG has also forced marketing ops leaders to redefine sales-ready leads and accounts, and to prioritize leads to support multiple sales teams. They've had to adjust their tech stack to meet the operational requirements of a PLG motion, dealing with high volumes of product data and changing tech needs. The rise of modern data stacks and the explosion of PLG have expanded the scope of the marketing ops role from supporting marketing and sales to operationalizing data across the entire go-to-market organization.

Ultimately, as companies shift towards a more product-led approach, marketing ops professionals are adapting, leveraging new tools and strategies to drive efficiency, agility, and growth.

Marketing Ops: What They’re Responsible For

So, what exactly does a marketing ops professional do? While the specifics can vary depending on the company and the individual, some of their key responsibilities include:

Selecting and Managing Relevant Technology

In today's digital age, marketing teams rely on a wide range of tools and platforms, from CRM systems to email marketing software to analytics tools. Marketing operations professionals are often the ones who select, implement, and manage these technologies, ensuring that they're integrated seamlessly and used effectively.

Data Analysis

Another critical aspect of marketing operations is data analysis. Marketing ops professionals collect and analyze data from a variety of sources, using this information to drive decision-making and strategy. They track key performance indicators (KPIs), monitor campaign performance, and provide insights that help the marketing team optimize its efforts.

Planning and Developing a Strategic Framework

Marketing ops is fundamentally about strategic planning and creating a framework that propels marketing campaigns forward. This involves setting clear objectives aligned with your business goals, identifying KPIs, and developing efficient processes. Strategic planning also includes forecasting and budgeting to ensure you have the necessary resources for effective campaign execution.

Beyond planning and process development, marketing ops fosters a culture of continuous improvement. This means regularly reviewing and refining your strategies based on data and feedback. The goal is to ensure your marketing team is not only doing things right but is also focused on the right things.

Getting Aligned with Other Departments

Marketing ops professionals play a crucial role in aligning marketing with other departments, such as sales, product, and customer success. This includes partnering with these teams, aligning on goals and strategies, and ensuring that marketing activities support the company's overall objectives.

These high-level responsibilities are critical to the success of any marketing operations team. By overseeing these areas, marketing ops professionals can ensure that their teams are well-equipped to drive efficiency, productivity, and success in their marketing efforts.

How MadKudu Enhances Marketing Operations

Marketing operations may be a complex field, but with the right tools, it can become a well-oiled machine. One such tool is MadKudu, a predictive analytics platform that uses artificial intelligence to analyze sales, marketing, and product data, predicting both conversions and the best revenue opportunities.

MadKudu offers several key benefits that can significantly enhance marketing operations:

1. AI-based Predictions: MadKudu uses advanced AI and machine learning algorithms to analyze vast amounts of data and forecast future behavior. This predictive power offers a proactive approach to lead management, allowing marketing and sales to engage with leads at the right time with the right message.

2. Multiple Scoring Models: With MadKudu, you can create multiple scoring models to support different go-to-market motions, geographies, and more. This flexibility allows you to keep up with sales feedback and the rapidly changing dynamics of your business.

3. Contextual Insights: MadKudu provides context behind your lead and account scoring by surfacing relevant details like what technologies a company is using, what roles they’re hiring for, and key behaviors in the product. These insights quickly tell sales why a lead or account is qualified, building trust and alignment between marketing and sales teams through the glass box approach focused on explainability. 

4. Support for Product-Led Growth: MadKudu processes your product data from sources like Segment or Amplitude and your data warehouse (Snowflake, Redshift, etc.) to find critical milestones in the customer journey that warrant action. This helps you understand engagement and identify true Product Qualified Leads (PQLs).

5. Ownership of Scoring Model: MadKudu empowers marketing ops professionals to own their scoring model. You can easily create model overrides, build computations and aggregations, and evaluate model performance by segment, without waiting weeks for engineering or analytics to make changes.

MadKudu doesn't replace the unique knowledge and expertise of marketing ops professionals. Instead, it augments their existing knowledge with data-driven insights, enabling them to prioritize leads more effectively and accurately. By integrating MadKudu into their operations, marketing ops professionals can transform their function into a strategic powerhouse that drives growth.

Get More Out of Your Marketing Ops With MadKudu

Marketing operations is a critical function that drives the efficiency, productivity, and success of marketing teams. Whether you're a marketing ops professional looking to enhance your skills, or a business leader seeking to understand the role of marketing ops in your organization, understanding the responsibilities and potential of this function is crucial.

Armed with the right tools and strategies, marketing operations can become a formidable catalyst for business growth. Get a demo here to see how MadKudu can turbocharge your marketing ops.