Marketing Operations in Large Companies

In August last year, the firm Marketing Operations Partners completed a landmark study that took a close look at how the marketing operations discipline was implemented in major corporations, particularly in the technology industry. Their findings provide a benchmark to which other companies can compare and improve on their own marketing operations.

The "Journey to Marketing Operations Maturity" study found that the marketing operations function is still constantly evolving and is implemented in vastly different ways from company to company, with significant differences in how companies define the implementation and scope of marketing operations.

The study identified nine key challenges that organizations face in marketing operations and identified the top three as follows:

- measuring return on investment and demonstrating value

- creating a balance between strategies and tactics

- Linking marketing success to the objectives of other departments

Moreover, to ensure constant improvement and maturity of marketing operations, the study identified the key factor as "increased accountability." Other factors that contribute to marketing operations success are clarity of marketing objectives, executive support and the development and implementation of effective marketing processes.

On the other hand, the study identified the common factors that lead to unsuccessful marketing operations as lack of support within the company, lack of effective follow through, a culture that frowns upon risk-taking, and ineffective delegation.

Companies that participated in the study said that, when it comes to marketing operations, the Best Practice Firms are those that have instituted a formal marketing operations function with a clearly defined scope and strategies. These Best Practice Firms are typically large and mature corporations with robust financial performance whose marketing divisions are headed by executives who have been with the company for more than 26.8 months