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maggiebutler
by: HubSpot Moderator
HubSpot Moderator

[Resource] How to create a marketing operations strategy

This post originally appeared on HubSpot's Marketing Blog; written by Kayla Carmichael.

 

How to create a marketing operations strategy

To understand what a marketing operations strategy is, we'll start with an example: Let's say a marketing ops team wanted to make email marketing a more valuable process for both parties involved (customers and marketers).

 

1. Identify what you want your operations strategy to accomplish for stakeholders.

The first step in defining a marketing ops strategy is outlining major goals. For instance, your marketing ops team might decide sending email marketing messages, enabling sales to source quality leads, and identifying key marketers to execute that process are three goals they have for quarter one.

 

When you identify those major goals, make sure you also determine which stakeholders you are targeting. You might be targeting one group or many, but being positive about who you're planning for will make sure your plan is actionable and valuable.

 

2. Determine actionable steps in your plan that will help you reach your goals.

Then, the team would look at how these tasks would help them complete their goals. For instance, the team would ask themselves, "How will enabling teams to effectively send email marketing help us reach our goals?" and estimate with an answer such as, "We should see a decrease in email churn rate."

 

Determining these steps will help your marketing ops team stay organized as they work through their tasks. Additionally, by outlining these steps, your team can figure out what needs to be done and the resources needed to see success.

 

3. Figure out a measurable metric to determine the success of your strategy.

After identifying the tasks and the benefits for their challenge, the next step in strategizing would be to identify how the team would measure the success of the project. In this example, the team might conclude, "We will calculate churn by dividing the number of contacts who unsubscribed from emails in a month by the number of unique email recipients in a month."

 

When you figure out a measurable metric, you'll be able to keep track of the strategy's success as your team works through the plan. The metric will remind your team of the goal you want to accomplish, and what stakeholders want to see as a result of your plan.

 

4. If needed, communicate how colleagues can take part in refining your strategy.

With the goal and measuring method identified, next, the team would outline what this change would mean for affected colleagues, for instance, the team members who create and distribute email marketing messages.

 

The team might conclude that, "Marketers can expect an easier email guideline process, a more effective format and to receive a form to offer input about how to make that happen."

When you include relevant colleagues in the creation of your plan, you can have reassurance that your strategy will end up providing the most effective solution.

 

5. Assign team members to specific tasks that will contribute to the completion of your goals.

Having that set in place, what's next for the marketing ops team is to assign team members certain tasks to help them achieve their goal. For instance, one team member might be in charge of redefining email marketing contact lists. Another might be in charge of auditing the current workflows in place for email marketing.

 

As team members complete these tasks, they would check them off in a centralized space so the entire team can stay updated on the status of the project.

 

This is how a marketing operations strategy would lead to solving for one of the most important parts of a business: the customer.

 

How will your marketing ops strategy empower the most important parts of your company?

 

Marketing operations teams are equally as effective with their strategies and management capabilities as Summer's character in "School of Rock." With her system of processes, the group was able to obtain their own rehearsal space and offer music classes. They are able to come up with ways to increase customer satisfaction and ease the job of marketers. Their strategies make marketing activities and duties accessible to all, and because of that, are an essential part of a business.