Congrats, Marketing Operations: You’ve Won Your Executive Seat

The Gist

• Strategic shift needed. Marketing operations must move beyond basic data tasks to strategic innovation or risk losing relevance.

• Avoid commoditization risks. Mature marketing operations teams face stagnation without proactive efforts to redefine their value and impact.

• Redefining success metrics. KPIs like revenue and conversion rates should replace task-based metrics to highlight marketing ops’ strategic contributions.

Congratulations, marketing operations professionals — we’ve won! We’ve earned a seat at the executive table, are well on our way to mastering data analytics, and have become an indispensable part of modern business operations.

In fact, according to the “2024 State of the Marketing Operations Professional” survey, 37% of marketing operations leaders say they now have direct input into executive decision-making, and data analytics has become the cornerstone of the marketing ops function.

Not only that, but they’re also being rewarded for their success. Compensation has increased steadily over the last three years, and most marketing ops leaders now have a dedicated team for support.

But the uncomfortable truth is that success can be a trap. Now is not the time to rest on your laurels. We must keep pushing forward or risk being commoditized.

The Paradox of Maturity

As marketing operations has matured into a standard business function, the warning signs of stagnation are starting to appear. 

According to the “2024 State of the Marketing Operations Professional” report, employee engagement is declining, and many marketing ops practitioners report feeling less valued than before. The commoditization of their expertise does validate their importance, but it also threatens to turn marketing operations from a strategic driver into just another cost center.

It’s no wonder so many marketing ops practitioners are feeling like Sisyphus, pushing that boulder up the hill, only to have it run them over as it rolls back down.

This isn’t just growing pains; it’s a predictable outcome. We’ve reached the plateau of productivity, which means it’s time to spark the next innovation trigger. 

Breaking Free From the Data Comfort Zone

The problem becomes clearer when we examine the current success metrics. In the 2024 report, fewer than 15% of respondents rank conversion rates and campaign ROI as primary KPIs for evaluating their success, while pipeline remains the most common KPI. Meanwhile, nearly 45% say on-time project delivery is the most important factor driving visibility for marketing ops’ impact on the business. 

Think about that. We’re completing our tasks on time (which seems like a pretty low bar) and filling the pipeline. So what? Did it increase revenue and sales? 

Making Strategy a Core Priority in Marketing Operations

How can marketing operations professionals push beyond this plateau and continue proving their value and revenue even as the market becomes saturated?

Marketing ops professionals too often get caught up in a whirlwind of daily activity that devours all the time and energy they have for strategic thinking and execution. This is a mistake. If they don’t make time for exploring new innovations and strategy, it never happens. They must learn to make it a priority.

Pushing Past the Plateau

The first wave of marketing ops digitization has been transformational in establishing the function and proving its worth. That battle is won. Now, we face a more nuanced challenge, which is preventing the commoditization of our expertise while pushing the boundaries of what marketing operations can deliver for the organization.

This requires a fundamental shift in how we approach the role. Instead of waiting for organizational recognition or additional training, successful marketing operations leaders must proactively define their strategic value and chart a new course, just like we’ve done before.

Driving Innovation in Marketing Operations 

The marketing operations function has reached a critical maturity point. We can either accept commoditization and diminishing strategic relevance or embrace this moment as an opportunity to redefine our role once again.

Will you be content with maintaining the status quo, or will you be part of defining marketing operations’ next transformation?

The tools, data and the seat at the table we fought so hard to earn are not the destination. They’re the launching pad for what’s next.

Core Questions Around Marketing Operations

Editor’s note: Here are two important questions to ask about marketing ops strategies. 

What challenges are marketing operations professionals facing?

They face the paradox of maturity, where their expertise is valued but at risk of being commoditized. Key challenges include declining employee engagement, reliance on low-bar success metrics and limited time for strategic innovation. Addressing these issues requires redefining the role to prioritize innovation and strategic value.

How can marketing ops avoid stagnation and drive innovation?

To avoid stagnation, marketing ops professionals must move beyond operational tasks and low-bar KPIs. They should embrace strategic thinking, focus on revenue-impacting metrics and use their data analytics expertise to create cross-functional innovations that reinforce their value as strategic leaders.