Rise of the
Marketing Operations Function
O
n March 21-23, 2016, I had the pleasure of
attending the MarTech Conference, a unique
event focused on the role of marketing technologies
in re-shaping the entire marketing function.
According to the founder of MarTech, Scott Brinker,
there are now over 3,500 marketing technologies
available to marketing. The marketing operations
(MO) function has exploded onto the scene because
of fast changing technology, the need for a more
transparent, efficient and accountable view of
marketing and big time pressure from the C-suite
for marketing to contribute to the bottom line. My
first exposure to a marketing operations group was
in 2008 and I thought it was so cool that marketing
had its own group to help manage technology and
improve effectiveness. Since then, the role and
function of MO has drastically changed and is one
of the fastest growing areas in marketing.
This article will delve into and describe:
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What is Driving the Rise of the Marketing
Operations Function?
What is Marketing Operations?
What is a Unicorn?
What is a Marketing Operations Maturity
Model?
5 Key Take Aways
As I reflect on the market forces empowering the rise
of the marketing operations function, I see three
critical contributors. The first is the enormous
amount of pressure CMOs are experiencing to
produce ROI from marketing investments, especially
in terms of revenue and profit. The CMO Report
(2016) reported that over 70% of CMOs are feeling
this pressure from their senior management teams
and/or boards, yet less than a third actually report
any financial metrics.
The second driving force is the customer is now in
control – Forrester calls this the Age of the Customer
– I call it the Age of the Digital Customer. We live
in a digital world where most anything a customer
or a prospect wants to know is one or two clicks
away online. According to the Custome r Executive
Board, our prospects and customers are up to 70%
through their buying journey before we even have
a clue of their interest.
The third driving force is the extraordinary growth
in the number of technologies now available to
marketers. In March 2016, Scott Brinker at the
MarTech conference unveiled his latest MarTech
count – over 3,500 technologies. Marketing is buying
this technology at a pretty good clip. Gartner
estimates that by 2017 the CMO will have a larger
IT spend than the CTO.
Taken together, this holy grail of influences - CMO
accountability, Age of the Digital Customer and the
number and spend on marketing technologies create the foundation for the dynamic growth of a
new function in marketing – marketing operations.
Strictly Marketing Magazine May/June 2016
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