The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Operations Management for Your Business

If you’re a marketer, you know how challenging it can be to plan, execute, and measure your marketing campaigns and programs. You must deal with many moving parts, such as data, technology, people, and processes. And you have to ensure everything is aligned with your marketing goals and business objectives. That’s where marketing operations management (MOM) comes in handy.

MOM is all about making your marketing work easier and better. It helps you manage and optimize your marketing processes, from strategy to execution. It also helps you use data, analytics, tools, and best practices to scale your marketing efforts and improve your results.

Gartner defines Marketing operations management (MOM) as “the function of overseeing an organization’s marketing program, campaign planning, and annual strategic planning activities (1).

From a layman’s perspective, we can consider it a broad term that covers the people, processes, technology, and data that power a marketing team.

People - it identifies the right people and maps their skill sets to specific marketing activities
Processes - it lays down detailed processes to ensure consistency in operations
Technology - it identifies and builds the right tech stack to help people perform processes
Data - it does the job of number-crunching to form reports from which insights about marketing performance can be derived.

But who does MOM involve? Well, some different roles and responsibilities fall under the MOM umbrella. Here are some of them:

👉 Marketing strategists are the people who run the show. They lead the MOM function and plan your marketing activities' strategy, roadmap, and budget.

👉 Marketing leaders/managers: who set the direction and vision for your marketing by defining the marketing goals and objectives and also oversee how they are achieved.

👉 Marketing executives: who create and execute growth-centric marketing tasks, like email marketing, social media marketing, content marketing, SEO, etc. They also track and analyze how these functions are performing in tandem with the bugger marketing goals.

👉 Designers: Designers assist marketers and sales teams with graphics, videos, podcasts, blogs, etc. They also ensure your marketing content matches your brand style and guidelines.

👉 External vendors or partners: Agencies, vendors, suppliers, etc., who help increase the capacity of your marketing team without creating long-term commitments, as is the case with recruiting internal resources.

They might offer a range of services or let you handpick specific services, such as web development, copywriting, SEO optimization, etc. The benefit of working with external vendors or partners is that they deliver great quality work on time and within the agreed budget.

Why do businesses need marketing operations management?

Marketing operations management (MOM) is not just a nice-to-have function but a must-have one for any business that wants to succeed in the digital age. MOM is important because it provides you with three major capabilities:

Enhancing marketing efficiency and effectiveness,
Aligning Marketing and Business Objectives, and
Activating marketing tech stack

💪 Enhancing Marketing Efficiency and Effectiveness

If you are part of a marketing team, MOM would create and manage the processes that enable marketing execution. It sets the ground for planning, implementing, and evaluating the performance of marketing campaigns and programs.

Further, it also optimizes the allocation and utilization of marketing budget, resources, and performance. As a result of all these well-coordinated activities, MOM improves the marketing ROI and assists in business growth.

💪 Aligning Marketing and Business Objectives

One of the key functions of marketing operations is to help the sales team qualify sales leads and advance them through the sales funnel. If a business is doing its demand-gen correctly, there would be a heavy inflow of good and bad leads, which needs to be qualified before sales teams can start prospecting them.

MOM takes care of the process of identifying the most promising prospects and handing them over to the sales team, who can then increase sales conversion and revenue generation.

💪 Activating marketing tech stack

Today, no marketing function can operate without leveraging MarTech. MOM leverages technology and data to optimize marketing performance and demonstrate value to the business. It manages and integrates the marketing technology stack, such as marketing automation platforms, content management systems, analytics tools, etc.

It also collects, cleans, analyzes, and reports on the marketing data, such as web traffic, conversions, revenue attribution, etc. As a result, MOM activates the marketing tech stack and helps drive innovation in marketing.

What KPIs does MOM use for measuring performance?

Marketing operations management (MOM) uses various key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure its performance and impact on the marketing and business objectives. KPIs are quantifiable metrics that track and evaluate the success of a specific activity or process.

According to Gartner, the top KPIs for MOM are:

Published marketing content: This KPI measures the number of marketing materials, such as graphics, videos, podcasts, blogs, etc., that are produced and published by the marketing team. It shows how well MOM supports content development and distribution.
Traffic-to-MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead) ratio: measures the percentage of website visitors who become MQLs, prospects who have shown interest and fit for the company’s products or services. It is an indication of whether the marketing operations are attracting the right kind of audience and are fetching the expected quality and quantity of leads and conversions.
Video view counts per channel: If video marketing is a serious channel for the business, then this metric indicates how well MOM leverages video marketing to reach and influence target audiences. It helps MOM optimize video content and strategy for each channel and audience segment.
Click-through rate: This KPI measures the percentage of people who click on a link or a call-to-action in an email, a web page, an ad, etc. It shows how well MOM captures and directs attention to a desired action. It helps MOM improve the design and copy of marketing messages and offers.
Subscriber count: This KPI measures the number of people who sign up for an email list, a newsletter, a podcast, etc. It shows how well MOM builds and maintains relationships with potential and existing customers. It helps MOM grow and segment its audience base and deliver relevant, personalized content.
Conversion rate: This KPI measures the percentage of people who complete a desired action, such as filling out a form, downloading a resource, making a purchase, etc. It shows how well MOM persuades and motivates people to take action.
Traffic distribution: For a business, traffic could originate from diverse sources like organic search, paid search, social media, referral, etc.; with traffic distribution data, marketing operations can identify and optimize the most effective channels for scaling traffic and demand generation.
Marketing ROI: shows how much revenue or profit is generated by each dollar spent on marketing. It helps MOM optimize the marketing budget and demonstrate value to the business.
Churn rate: measures the percentage of customers who stop doing business with the company over a given period of time. The churn rate indicates whether the business can satisfy and retain its existing customers. For MOM, the churn rate gives the erection in taking steps to improve customer loyalty and ultimately reduce customer acquisition costs.
Pipeline contribution/revenue attribution: This KPI measures the percentage of sales pipeline or revenue influenced by marketing activities. It shows how well MOM generates and nurtures qualified leads and delivers them to the sales team. It helps MOM align marketing and sales objectives and drive business growth.

The core functions of marketing operations management

Marketing operations are made up of four core functions:

Marketing Planning and Budgeting
Campaign Management and Execution
Marketing Technology and Automation
Performance Measurement and Analytics

Marketing Planning and Budgeting

With all that you must have read so far, it is evident that MOM is crucial in facilitating strategic marketing planning and budgeting. It helps you gather and analyze data to support your marketing decisions, such as market research, customer feedback, competitor analysis, etc.

MOM also helps you allocate talent effectively and logically across marketing functions to achieve the intended results. It helps you assess your team’s capacity, skills, and performance and assign roles and responsibilities accordingly.

Further, it also establishes the process for coordinating and communicating with internal and external stakeholders, such as marketing directors, managers, specialists, creatives, vendors, partners, etc.

Campaign Management and Execution

Campaign management involves planning, implementing, tracking, and analyzing marketing campaigns that aim to achieve a specific company goal. It could be raising brand awareness, generating leads, or promoting the business offerings.

When it comes to campaign planning and management, marketing operations management takes care of the following:

✅ Identify parts of your marketing outcomes that could be improved on

✅ Determine what needs to be changed to get these results

✅ Create a plan for carrying out these changes to drive improved results in your marketing

✅ Select the best marketing channels, methods, and tools to reach and influence your target audience

✅ Manage and integrate your marketing technology stack, such as marketing automation platforms, content management systems, analytics tools, etc.

✅ Coordinate and communicate with your internal and external stakeholders, such as marketing directors, managers, specialists, creatives, vendors, partners, etc.

MOM also has a significant impact on improving campaign performance and tracking. It helps you:

🎯 Optimize your marketing budget, resources, and performance

🎯 Track your marketing ROI and demonstrate value to the business

🎯 Monitor key performance indicators (KPIs), such as web traffic, conversions, revenue attribution, etc

🎯 Evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of your marketing campaigns and programs

🎯 Make adjustments as needed based on data and feedback

Marketing Technology and Automation

Marketing operations cannot depend overly on manual processes. It requires various tools and platforms to automate and optimize marketing processes and activities and thereby help the marketing team enhance productivity and performance.

Marketing technology, or MarTech, is the umbrella term that describes the software and systems that enable and support marketing activities. MarTech aids MOM in

Managing and integrating your marketing technology stack, such as marketing automation platforms, content management systems, analytics tools, etc, to work in a unified manner
Collecting, cleaning, analyzing, and reporting your marketing data, such as web traffic, conversions, revenue attribution, etc. visually in the form of charts, dashboards, scheduled reports, etc.
Leveraging data and analytics to support your marketing decisions, such as market research, customer feedback, competitor analysis, etc
Delivering personalized and targeted content to potential and existing customers through various media channels, such as email, web, social, and text
Tracking and measuring your marketing performance and results and demonstrating value to the business

Automation is crucial for MOM because it helps you improve your marketing efficiency and effectiveness. It helps you plan, execute, and measure your marketing campaigns and programs with less hassle and more accuracy. In the process, it also delivers several benefits, such as

✅ Streamlining and simplifying your marketing processes and workflows, such as campaign planning, execution, tracking, and analysis

✅ Reducing human error and increasing accuracy and consistency in your marketing activities

✅ Saving time and resources by eliminating manual tasks and increasing speed and scalability

✅ Improving customer experience by delivering timely, relevant, and engaging content across the customer journey

✅ Enhancing productivity and performance by focusing on higher-value tasks and generating more leads, sales, and revenue

4. Performance Measurement and Analytics

MOM enables you to use data and analytics to improve your marketing efficiency and effectiveness. It helps you measure and optimize your marketing processes, activities, and outcomes.

✅ Monitor key performance indicators (KPIs), such as marketing ROI, churn rate, pipeline contribution, traffic-to-MQL ratio, etc.

✅ Evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of your marketing campaigns and programs, and make adjustments as needed based on data and feedback

✅ Understand your customer needs, preferences, behavior, and satisfaction

✅ Identify your target market, value proposition, competitive advantage, positioning, and differentiation

✅ Select the best marketing channels, methods, and tools to reach and influence your target audience

✅ Optimize your marketing budget, resources, and performance

✅ Align your marketing goals and strategies with your business objectives and customer expectations

Tech stack required for Marketing operations management

Marketing operations management (MOM) is a function that is extremely reliant on the tech stack it uses. You can imagine a tech stack as a collection of software and tools that work together to achieve a specific goal or function.

Although this is not exhaustive, the tech stack listed below is usually necessary for marketing operations:

📜Content management system (CMS)

CMS tools let you create, edit, publish, and manage your web content. Developers and marketers also use them to build web pages, landing pages, publish blogs, etc., easily and at scale. Some popular CMS tools are WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, and Wix.

👥Customer relationship management (CRM)

A CRM is software that helps you manage and improve your interactions and relationships with customers and prospects. It helps you store and organize customer data, track customer behavior, segment customers, automate communication, and measure customer satisfaction. Some popular CRM tools include HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho, and Freshsales.

🗃️Digital asset management (DAM)

A DAM software helps you store, organize, manage, and distribute digital assets, such as graphics, videos, podcasts, blogs, etc. It helps you create high-quality, engaging marketing content matching your brand identity and voice. It also helps you optimize your content for different channels and audiences.

When it is time for your marketing operations to invest in a DAM system, ensure that you pick a cloud-based DAM system. It helps you store, organize, and manage all your digital assets centrally on the cloud without creating any data or org silos.

📊Reports and statistics

Reports and statistics are software that helps you create and share reports and dashboards that summarize and communicate your marketing data and insights. It helps you monitor your key performance indicators (KPIs), such as marketing ROI, churn rate, pipeline contribution, etc. It also helps you demonstrate value to the business and stakeholders. Some popular reports and statistics tools are Databox, Klipfolio, Grow, and Chartio.

Ways to Optimize Marketing operations management

Marketing operations management (MOM) can be optimized by following best practices and tips. In this section, we will discuss some ways to optimize MOM and explain the benefits of each way.

Some ways to optimize MOM are:

👉 Invest in the right marketing tech stack

A marketing tech stack is a collection of software and tools that work together to achieve a specific goal or function. Investing in the right marketing tech stack can help you automate and streamline your marketing processes, collect and analyze your marketing data, deliver personalized and engaging content, and measure and optimize your marketing performance and results. Choosing cloud-based tools that are scalable, secure, reliable, and easy to integrate is important.

👉 Conduct regular audits to identify gaps

A marketing audit is a comprehensive and systematic evaluation of your marketing activities, processes, and outcomes. Conducting regular audits can help you identify gaps, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in your marketing operations. It can also help you assess your marketing performance against your goals and benchmarks and provide recommendations for improvement.

👉 Redesign processes and workflows

A process is a series of steps or actions that lead to a specific outcome. A workflow is a sequence of tasks or activities that are performed by people or systems to complete a process. Redesigning processes and workflows can help you simplify and standardize your marketing operations, eliminate waste and inefficiency, reduce errors and risks, and increase speed and quality.

👉 Rely on data for decision-making

Data is the information you collect, analyze, and use to make decisions. Relying on data for decision-making can help you make informed, objective, and evidence-based choices that support your marketing goals and strategies. It can also help you test and validate your assumptions, hypotheses, and ideas and measure the impact of your actions.

MOM can be optimized by investing in the right marketing tech stack, conducting regular audits to identify gaps, redesigning processes and workflows, and relying on data for decision-making. These ways can help you improve your marketing efficiency and effectiveness, align your marketing objectives with your business goals and customer needs, and demonstrate value to the business.

Marketing Operations Management and Digital Assets: An interdependent relationship

Marketing operations management (MOM) and digital assets have an interdependent relationship. We know digital assets are any type of media files, such as images, videos, podcasts, blogs, etc., that provide value to the company and support its marketing goals and strategies.

MOM heavily uses these digital assets to create high-quality, engaging marketing content that matches your brand guidelines and identity.

However, managing digital assets can be challenging, especially with a growing library of images and videos of great volume and variety. Therefore, MOM must make digital assets accessible, shareable, and consumable to smoothen the creative workflow. This can be done by:

Storing, organizing, managing, and distributing brand assets in a centralized and secure system, such as a digital asset management (DAM) tool
Adding metadata and tags to digital assets to facilitate searching, filtering, sorting, and grouping
Optimizing digital assets for different channels and audiences, such as optimizing images for web performance and SEO
Setting permissions and file access levels for different users and roles to control who can view, edit, or share digital assets
Integrating digital assets with other marketing tools and platforms, such as cloud storage servers, PIM, content management systems (CMS), analytics tools, etc.

Bringing it all together

If you are running your marketing at scale, you will definitely have to invest in marketing operations management. It requires the right tech stack and also personnel to ensure that all marketing functions are working with clockwork precision.

It is also evident from the above discussion that you need to organize and manage your digital assets efficiently to get the most out of MOM. What you need is an efficient Digital Asset Management system for that.

Try ImageKit. ImageKit is a cloud-based DAM system. If you already have a tech stack for cloud storage, CMS, PIM, etc. ImageKit can easily integrate with it and bring all your operations in one place. Plus, it also offers image and video optimization and transformation capabilities.