Overview

The role of Marketing Operations (MOPs) is no longer a new concept in today’s industry. Over the past decade, it has shifted from being a “nice-to-have” to a “must-have” for effective marketing and business strategy execution. During this time, the role has evolved significantly in terms of its responsibilities and scope. As technology and business strategies continue to advance, the Marketing Operations role will also continue to evolve. For now, let’s discuss what a MOPs role entails in the current business climate.

A MOPs Role is Strategic

Gone are the days of MOPs roles just being responsible for sending out emails and managing list imports. The marketing tech stack has grown significantly both in scope and complexity. With that, a MOPs representative needs to think strategically about the entire marketing technology ecosystem. Identifying not only the needs of the business but also what to eliminate is crucial. This approach helps save money and resources while also reducing tech debt, which can lead to lost time and decreased productivity. And when adding new technology into the fold, being able to quickly show the value of that technology is critical.

Strategic thinking also includes marketing tactics and best practices. Are your marketing teams utilizing best practices for email? Are they purchasing lists? What safeguards are in place for privacy and data compliance? These are often the other strategic areas a MOPs role must consider to ensure they are guiding their teams toward success and the long term health of their systems and data.

A MOPs Role is Collaborative

While marketing is in the name of Marketing Operations, that doesn’t mean a MOPs role strictly focuses on the marketing team and their needs. A MOPs role needs to collaborate with all different facets of the business including sales, customer success/service, partners and even IT. There have been debates about whether MOPs should sit under marketing or Rev Ops, but no matter where a MOPs role is reporting into, they need to make sure they are a collaborative partner throughout the business. This can sometimes be a challenge due to competing goals and interests between teams. A sales team is more prospect focused and drives business whereas a customer success team is trying to keep current clients happy. Both have different needs and goals they are trying to attain. A MOPs role will need to ensure their systems can help both sides of the business succeed..

A MOPs Role is Technical

On top of the strategic and collaborative elements within the MOPs role, there is also a technical side. Being able to set up integrations between systems, running pivot tables of data and setting up complex workflows are just some high level examples of technical knowledge one needs in a MOPs role. Being technical allows a MOPs person to be able to identify key areas of improvement within processes such as data workflows or lead routing. It can also lead to identifying areas of improvement needed in business processes such as tracking the lead lifecycle or opportunity stages. The “in the weeds” work that MOPs has always been heavily involved in remains important for uncovering issues and providing quick, scalable solutions.

The MOPs Role is Evolving

While many will say the MOPs role has evolved over the past decade, further evolution is expected in the coming years.. New technologies such as AI will impact the MOPs ecosystem and cause the role of MOPs to adapt to the new tech at their disposal. There are also other factors and technologies that we don’t even know yet that will have an impact on MOPs in the coming years. While we can’t entirely predict future changes to the MOPs ecosystem, practitioners must be willing to adapt in order to leverage the benefits of this evolving landscape.

Conclusion

As mentioned earlier, defining MOPs as merely an execution-focused role is no longer realistic in today’s environment. A strategic, collaborative, technical, and adaptable mindset is essential for success in a MOPs role. These qualities not only help individuals excel in their roles but also demonstrate their value to the broader business. This can lead to greater influence in decision-making or at least provide the opportunity to serve as a guiding partner in key business decisions.