In the fast-paced world of marketing, achieving excellence in performance requires a structured approach to operations. We call this Marketing Ops. Much like Dev Op, it increases an organization’s ability to deliver campaigns and customer experience strategies at high velocity and with greater accuracy of success.
All too often we audit a team and our biggest finding is that they don’t have a Marketing Op’s strategy in place.
Explore the 6 pillars of Marketing Ops (Link to stages blog)
Like every operating model, Marketing Ops doesn’t happen overnight and has varying staged of Maturity.
In this article we will explore the comprehensive framework designed to guide marketing organisations and lead you on a journey towards operational efficiency, strategic alignment, and innovative practices.
Okay lets jump into the key stages of this model, starting at level 1, building foundations through awareness, into leading innovation at level 5, Transformation.
Level 1: Foundation, Awareness:
At this stage you have awareness of the role marketing plays in your businesses success. Budget is Ad-hoc, and your campaigns are reactive. Projects lack a standardised process. Operating model is emerging with basic co-ordination and collaboration.
Focus on establishing a of awareness of your marketing opportunities and understanding the value of having a streamlined process. This means setting goals, auditing your state of play.
Level 2: Alignment, Consistency:
In the alignment stage, organisations begin to align budgets, project management, and the marketing operating model with strategic goals. Budgets are consolidated and allocated strategically based on performance insights and ROI analysis.
Project management practices become regular and more structured, with rituals and clear accountability starts to emerge.
The marketing operating model starts to align various teams and functions, the org structure is clear and you can start to begin fostering cross-departmental collaboration.
Campaigns begin to evolve from single to cross channel following the customers journey and personalisation starts to emerge.
Focus on establishing consistency. This means establishing clarity in communications, planning & project management rituals and cadences including allocating budgets strategically based on performance insights and ROI analysis.
Level 3: Optimisation, Efficiency:
A game changing opportunity exists at this stage, here you begin to strive for continuous improvement.
Budgets are optimised through data-driven decision-making, ensuring maximum return on investment. A critical shift towards Customer Experience (CX) insight becomes a priority.
Project management starts to follow a formal methodology, tech tools and templates start to become better adopted to enhance productivity & communication.
Focus on continuous improvement. This means making better budget decisions, building Agile project management maturity and the adoption of technology to improve speed and experience to make your marketing operations more efficient.
Level 4: Integration, Effectiveness:
Integration marks a pivotal stage where business objectives, budgets, project management, CX and the marketing operating model become seamlessly interconnected to enable agile resource allocation.
A culture of data-driven decision-making and customer-driven innovation is encouraged and critical to success.
Silos are starting to break down and cross-functional team communication and cooperation is encouraged. Across the organisation, you start to foster a holistic approach to marketing operations.
Focus on collaboration within the business and customers. This means allocating resources and efforts on initiatives that have the greatest potential to drive results and align with the organisation’s overall strategy. Cross functional and organisational alignment is critical to achieving success.
Level 5: Transformation, Innovation:
Now you are a true innovator. The transformation stage signifies a shift towards innovative practices in budgets, project management, and the marketing operating model.
Organisations adopt advanced budgeting techniques, such as zero-based budgeting or predictive modelling, to drive strategic investment decisions.
Project management embraces agile methodologies, enabling rapid adaptation and fostering a culture of innovation. Customer and Employee (EX) Experience insight is deeply aligned. The marketing operating model focuses on continuous improvement, leveraging emerging technologies, and promoting a culture of creativity and experimentation.
Focus on maintaining a culture of innovation. This means integrating sprints into your organisation, beyond technology into your people, campaigns and strategic marketing activities.
Conclusion:
The Marketing Ops Maturity Model provides a roadmap for you to elevate their marketing operations by the 6 pillars of the marketing Ops model. By progressing through the stages of foundation, alignment, optimisation, integration, and transformation, businesses can unlock the full potential of their operations. All whilst keeping their staff calm, inspired and happy.
By strategically managing budgets, implementing efficient project management practices, and fostering an integrated marketing operating model, organisations can achieve operational excellence, strategic alignment, and innovative practices. Embark on this transformative journey, and witness your marketing operations ascend to new heights of success.
To learn more about how you can implement or improve your Marketing Ops maturity let’s organise a chat HERE