Should you build your marketing operations strategy from scratch or leverage a proven framework? Starting fresh allows for a fully custom approach, targeting your goals, strategies, and level of experience. Working from a framework may feel less specialized, but it will provide you a faster route to insights and efficiency through best practices.
“Marketing operations management is the framework for how a marketing operations team runs. It describes the optimization of a marketing strategy from beginning to end.”
(hubspot)
In this blog, we’ll explore the steps to create a successful marketing operations strategy and the benefits of each approach so you can weigh the options yourself.
Steps to Creating a Marketing Operations Strategy
Whether you’re building from scratch or using a proven framework, the initial steps to creating a MOps strategy are the same.
Identify Goals
Identifying your goals will help guide future steps. What do you hope to gain from implementing the MOps strategy? Insights into customer behavior, streamlined communication, or new paths to scalability?
Determine Actionable Steps
To help your team adopt the new marketing operations strategy efficiently, identify the systems needed and train accordingly.
Define Metrics
Specific key performance indicators (KPIs) will help guide you to success. Define your KPIs, how and when you’ll measure them, and then prioritize based on which are the most valuable to success.
Communicate with Colleagues and Shareholders
Implementing a MOps strategy is time-consuming—and will likely put a strain on your team’s bandwidth. It is essential to ensure your colleagues and shareholders know what’s going on and how the company will benefit.
Assign Teams
Each member of your staff must understand the transition. Assigning teams that can tackle specific tasks will ensure everyone is on the same page.
Now let’s take a look at the difference between building a MOps strategy from scratch or working from a proven framework.
Why build a MOps strategy from scratch?
Building a MOps strategy from scratch may seem daunting, but it also offers unique benefits. Namely, customization and control from the beginning. You won’t have to rely on the limits of an agency’s services. However, you may be bound by your own team’s lack of experience and skill set. Consider the trade-offs.
Below are some of the benefits of building a MOps strategy from scratch.
Create a Mission that Unifies the Team
Unify your team by creating a singular mission statement that focuses on the importance of your MOps strategy to the company and brand identity. You can set the roles and responsibilities for your own business, and maintain tight control over each. Having hands-on control of a custom MOPs strategy can help you navigate new challenges and make appropriate changes as they arise.
Fit MOps within the Existing Team
When starting from scratch, you can find ways to fit MOps within your existing team structure for a smoother transition. Additionally, the new skills learned may open up new career opportunities for team members.
As B2BMarketing puts it, “Historically, MOPS specialists might have originally been involved with database marketing, CRM or marketing analytics. More recently, marketers with experience in digital and web can take up a broader MOPS role. Today, it’s perfectly possible to start a marketing career in MOPS, learning the technology, process design and analytics skills that form the role from scratch.”
Drive Impact with Custom End-to-End Marketing Lifecycle
Building MOps from scratch gives you custom control over the entire marketing lifecycle. Your team can leverage the specific martech necessary without investing in tech that won’t help. And you can measure performance based on KPIs that matter most to your business.
Ultimately, building from scratch requires more effort. With careful execution and dedication, it can lead to results that support the unique needs of your business.
Why leverage a framework for MOps strategy?
Partnering with an agency that uses a proven framework offers a roadmap to simplify your marketing operations efforts. Through proven marketing operations best practices, you’ll have a turnkey solution that can quickly generate the results you want. Strategic planning, system configuration, proven marketing tactics, analytics, and more are included in the package.
Starting from a proven framework can set your business off on the right foot. According to Insider Intelligence, 38% of marketers say the primary challenge to a data-driven customer experience is a lack of unification across touchpoints. A proven framework will help your company remain aligned, which can help make your business up to 72% more profitable.
Martech leaders utilize just 58% of their stack’s full capabilities.
2020 Marketing Technology Survey, Gartner
Most importantly, working from a proven framework allows you to get the most out of your business’s marketing technology investment. As Gartner puts it: “Martech leaders continue to face challenges using their stack to its full potential. Respondents utilize just 58% of their stack’s full breadth of capabilities, citing challenges with cross-functional collaboration, a sprawling array of martech solutions and a lack of a solid customer data foundation.”
Working from a proven framework provides:
- Comprehensive tracking of marketing operations data
- Strategic initiatives with trusted data
- Direct connections between marketing strategies to revenue
- Justification for marketing budget growth and distribution
Adobe Adopted Digital Pi’s Gold Standard Framework
When Adobe needed to revamp one of the oldest instances of Marketo—its own—they turned to Digital Pi’s Gold Standard proven framework for guidance. As a result of implementing the Gold Standard, Adobe realized 30% efficiencies with 1,500 campaigns produced and executed annually. Implementation of a new Global Lifecycle improved lead management processing by 25%, and overall the company increased efficiencies by standardizing Marketo processing with global support in North America, APAC and EMEA.
[Digital Pi’s] Gold Standard gave us a great framework that scales completely for all of the requirements that we have. It’s a great way to do Marketo
Paul Wilson, former Head of Marketo Platform at Adobe
Conclusion
Both marketing operations strategies—building MOps from scratch and using a proven framework—have their own benefits. Which option is right for your organization depends on business needs, your team’s experience, and your allocated investment.
Working from a proven framework simplifies the transition into marketing operations by offering guidance on effective best practices. You’ll also save time on training, achieve better results from your martech investment.
If you want to discuss your strategy and if Digital Pi’s Gold Standard Framework is right for your business, drop us a line here.