Marketing Operations

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Marketing has a significant opportunity to demonstrate its accountability and play a more influential role at the enterprise strategy table. In order to do so, we need to align our priorities with the enterprise strategic agenda.

Marketing accountability involves methodologies such as messaging alignment, building shared purpose and vision and marketing governance aimed at helping the organization “live the brand.” With these methodologies, we can play a vital role in linking strategy to execution. Perhaps most importantly, through education and socialization to achieve buy-in for new Marketing initiatives, we can catalyze change both in and outside Marketing to overcome employee ambivalence, confusion, resistance and passive-aggressive behavior that can be unintentionally or consciously transferred to customers, partners, press, analysts and other target audiences. In short, Marketing Operations (MO) can raise the stature of Marketing from a perceived cost center and a resource drain to a valued strategic partner.

The following are some examples of how MO 2.0 can have impact in delivering the enterprise strategic agenda and help demonstrate marketing accountability:

Drive Innovation and Messaging Alignment

Many companies suffer because their sales teams cannot articulate product and service value propositions efficiently and “with one clear voice.” Often C-Level executives have conflicting perspectives on positioning strategy and the sales model. Through MO 2.0, Marketing can be accountable, taking the lead in planning business strategies, formulating action plans and facilitating collaboration to create value and a unified messaging platform for communicating that value.

Develop Visioning as a Tool for Results

Many companies fail to advance their objectives because key fundamentals, such as mission, vision and values, are either poorly defined or articulated, or they are imposed on the team by a CEO or other authority figure without the opportunity for real buy-in. MO 2.0 can help build a shared purpose and vision by ensuring there is input from and ownership by the key players who are instrumental in making a vision a reality.

Bring Discipline to Marketing Governance

Mindshare through public relations, marketing communications and other vehicles is an attractive asset that builds reputation, goodwill, buying power, brand equity and market leadership. Hewlett-Packard has estimated that approximately 40 percent of its value is a result of its brand – more than any other factor, even financials. Yet many companies either neglect developing mindshare or communicate an image that doesn’t resonate when one experiences the company firsthand. MO 2.0 can enable PR and Marcom to not just be buzz generators but actual reflectors of what the company authentically represents, which is critical in this age of corporate transparency. Companies that walk the talk can sustain their mindshare assets over time.

Win Buy-In for a New MO Initiative

As we touched on before, Marketing Operations is a relatively new discipline. It’s generally not well understood by most marketers, let alone colleagues in other departments.   Different companies define it differently. Bringing MO 2.0 to your organization is literally a change in modus operandi; so deploying it requires education and socialization in order to gain widespread understanding and acceptance. Stakeholders need to understand why it’s important, what to expect, what’s in it for them and how they will need to support it to make it successful.

Some or all of the content contained in this white paper was contributed by Gary M. Katz, CEO of Marketing Operations Partners (www.mopartners.com)

Maria Pergolino, Senior Director of Marketing