Scotty Smith
What is Marketing Operations? Marketing Operations covers the marketing technology and platforms that allow an organization to communicate directly to its prospective customers.
Marketing Operations / Technology Management is the oversight of these technologies, and involves managing the resources to research, implement, and improve upon marketing technologies so that marketing efficiencies and resources may be maximized.
Wow, that was a mouthful. The last decade has seen enormous fast-paced changes with marketing technology. We can communicate with our customers in ways that were just hinted at a decade ago, and recent new technologies allow us to communicate with customers in ways many companies aren’t even aware of yet.
Rapid Marketing Technology Growth
In the past two decades we’ve watched CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software move from a software only solution installed and managed by an IT department into a robust SaaS (Software as a Service). There was a time when a single company really drove CRM in this space — now it is full of competition.
Technology in the marketing space is growing at a crazy fast rate. The image below from Scott Brinker of chiefmartec.com charts nearly 8,000 marketing technology solutions. It is less expensive than ever to acquire the online tools to market and start your own business. What used to require an IT infrastructure can all be run in the cloud now. This cost savings is a huge boon to businesses of all sizes. The challenge is that to properly implement the correct marketing technology solution for your business entails dealing with a host of questions:
- What is the right technology for your marketing department/your business?
- How does it integrate with other platforms you are currently using?
- How does it integrate with platforms you would like to migrate to?
Marketing Operations / Technology Management
A few years back, I served as the head of marketing for a smaller-sized organization, that was also a leader in its industry. As a small organization with limited resources it was important to stay on top of marketing technologies that would give us a competitive advantage while allowing us to maximize the efficiencies of a small marketing department. To do so required:
- Selecting the right vendors with the right technology
- Managing implementation of those platforms
- Training internal employees to be power users on those platforms
- Learning how to maximize the technology to reap the most benefits
All of this is an ongoing balancing act. You want to move fast enough that this technology gives you an edge on the competition or makes you competitive in the market, but not so fast that your internal staff is not able to capitalize on the technology or uses only a limited function of it.
CycleWerx provides Digital Marketing Services and Solutions to fit your needs
Marketing Technologist are Key
In the past, software tools and technology were the domain of the IT department, or perhaps the CTO in larger organizations. But small- to mid-size organizations need someone who understands the challenges that marketing departments face in today’s fast-paced environment and can determine the technology needed to solve these challenges.
Today’s marketing agencies are on the front lines of marketing campaigns and have a vested interest in finding ways of reaching customers more efficiently. An experienced marketing technologist is now requisite for solving these marketing operations challenges, and as your organization grows its now more important than ever to have an agency partner or an internal marketing technologist focused on overseeing your marketing operations and technology platforms.
Who handles marketing technology and operations for your business? CycleWerx Marketing is built on a strong marketing technology background. Need help integrating your various technologies, or a marketing technology audit? Or just want to find ways to maximize and gain efficiencies from your current marketing technology investment? Contact CycleWerx today to get started.
