The Core Competencies Of The MARKETINGOPERATIONSLEADERThe overnight transformation from marketing automation specialist to marketing operations architectIntro: The Rise Of Marketing Operations.p. 3Part I: Setting Up The Marketing search channels (paid and organic) like Google and Bing; email; PPC/display networks like the Google Display Network; inuencers; and more.However, this entire marketing and sales technology core is not a one-way street. Marketers must use data from each of the technologies to make the others better. One example, as shown in the framework above is that data from web analytics can be used to improve marketing channel eciency. This can happen a couple of ways: 1) by dropping a tracking cookie on website visitors and using that data to build retargeting lists for retargeting ad networks (e.g. AdRoll), and 2) using website visitor data to target your marketing channels by persona.Data Process:Many of these channels include proprietary data tracking and analytics for their respective channels. Generally, they track things like impressions, clicks, and if you choose to implement their conversion pixel on your website, they can track conversions (a specic user behavior on your website, typically a form ll).Marketing channels will also, with a few exceptions, pass referral data to your website and ensuing analytics. Referral data includes what website the user was on before they came to your website, which allows marketers to know which channels are sending them web trac and how much.Key Question To Answer:Are your marketing channels eectively pushing the right people to your website?WEBSITE / WEB ANALYTICSThis part of the data core is pretty self-explanatory. It comprises your website, including all the content on your blog, landing pages, and downloads (e.g. ebooks and whitepapers). The information included in your website should be the draw, the oer, that you use in your marketing channels.Websites are typically built in a content management system (CMS). This could be something like WordPress or built into a multi-solution system like Hubspot.Data Process:Web analytics tracks user behavior on your website. Starting with referral data, as mentioned previously, web analytics tracks where your visitors came from, what pages they interacted with, and for how long. Using this data, particularly the website conversion data, website marketers can see which pages and what oers are eciently engaging and converting visitors and which arent.Key Question To Answer:Is your website eectively engaging visitors?Lead Nurturing / AutomationYoure already the expert here. But to quickly summarize, this is the stage in the foundation where visitors become leads through lling out a form on a content oer or requesting a demo. Its the rst time contact information is recorded and it is the stage in the process where email becomes increasingly powerful.Data Process:From a data perspective, marketing automation technologies are seen as a key marketing data warehouse because it is the rst time specic lead data (name, email, company, etc.) is recorded. Combined with website data, marketers can put leads into the proper lead nurturing email sequence.Key Question To Answer:Is your website eectively converting visitors into leads? Then, are your emails being opened, clicked on, and are the recipients re-engaging and moving further down the funnel?ATTRIBUTIONAttribution is the ultimate measurer and connector of the marketing and sales technology core. The primary function of attribution is to connect all marketing eorts to their downstream impact on revenue.More than just connecting data, though, through attribution modeling, an attribution solution will determine each marketing channels impact on revenue. And because the attribution is done through a centralized system, theres no double-counting of revenue credit. This allows marketers to calculate true ROI for every marketing eort at any level of granularity, from channel to campaign to keyword.Data Process:Through API integration and/or UTM parameters, the attribution solution connects all marketing data to sales data in the CRM, eectively turning sales data into marketing data. Key Question To Answer:Are each of your marketing eorts marketing channels, website, and lead nurturing resulting in new customers and revenue? How much revenue is each eort contributing to?CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENTThe last piece of the marketing and sales technology core is the customer relationship management (CRM) solution. This is the primary data warehouse for the sales team and sales data. Its the go-to place for customer information, and helps the sales team understand opportunity and customer data.Traditionally, the CRM was for the sales team only, but as more marketers are being held responsible for revenue, the CRM is increasingly becoming part of the marketing domain. This is possible through attribution.Data Process:While some information, like data in form submissions, is pushed to the CRM through platform integrations, much of the CRM data is inputted by the sales team. This includes account information, notes about particular accounts, potential revenue, and more.Key Question To Answer:Are your opportunities being converted into customers? Are customers churning or upgrading?PART I:Setting Up The Marketing search channels (paid and organic) like Google and Bing; email; PPC/display networks like the Google Display Network; inuencers; and more.However, this entire marketing and sales technology core is not a one-way street. Marketers must use data from each of the technologies to make the others better. One example, as shown in the framework above is that data from web analytics can be used to improve marketing channel eciency. This can happen a couple of ways: 1) by dropping a tracking cookie on website visitors and using that data to build retargeting lists for retargeting ad networks (e.g. AdRoll), and 2) using website visitor data to target your marketing channels by persona.Data Process:Many of these channels include proprietary data tracking and analytics for their respective channels. Generally, they track things like impressions, clicks, and if you choose to implement their conversion pixel on your website, they can track conversions (a specic user behavior on your website, typically a form ll).Marketing channels will also, with a few exceptions, pass referral data to your website and ensuing analytics. Referral data includes what website the user was on before they came to your website, which allows marketers to know which channels are sending them web trac and how much.Key Question To Answer:Are your marketing channels eectively pushing the right people to your website?WEBSITE / WEB ANALYTICSThis part of the data core is pretty self-explanatory. It comprises your website, including all the content on your blog, landing pages, and downloads (e.g. ebooks and whitepapers). The information included in your website should be the draw, the oer, that you use in your marketing channels.Websites are typically built in a content management system (CMS). This could be something like WordPress or built into a multi-solution system like Hubspot.Data Process:Web analytics tracks user behavior on your website. Starting with referral data, as mentioned previously, web analytics tracks where your visitors came from, what pages they interacted with, and for how long. Using this data, particularly the website conversion data, website marketers can see which pages and what oers are eciently engaging and converting visitors and which arent.Key Question To Answer:Is your website eectively engaging visitors?Lead Nurturing / AutomationYoure already the expert here. But to quickly summarize, this is the stage in the foundation where visitors become leads through lling out a form on a content oer or requesting a demo. Its the rst time contact information is recorded and it is the stage in the process where email becomes increasingly powerful.Data Process:From a data perspective, marketing automation technologies are seen as a key marketing data warehouse because it is the rst time specic lead data (name, email, company, etc.) is recorded. Combined with website data, marketers can put leads into the proper lead nurturing email sequence.Key Question To Answer:Is your website eectively converting visitors into leads? Then, are your emails being opened, clicked on, and are the recipients re-engaging and moving further down the funnel?ATTRIBUTIONAttribution is the ultimate measurer and connector of the marketing and sales technology core. The primary function of attribution is to connect all marketing eorts to their downstream impact on revenue.More than just connecting data, though, through attribution modeling, an attribution solution will determine each marketing channels impact on revenue. And because the attribution is done through a centralized system, theres no double-counting of revenue credit. This allows marketers to calculate true ROI for every marketing eort at any level of granularity, from channel to campaign to keyword.Data Process:Through API integration and/or UTM parameters, the attribution solution connects all marketing data to sales data in the CRM, eectively turning sales data into marketing data. Key Question To Answer:Are each of your marketing eorts marketing channels, website, and lead nurturing resulting in new customers and revenue? How much revenue is each eort contributing to?CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENTThe last piece of the marketing and sales technology core is the customer relationship management (CRM) solution. This is the primary data warehouse for the sales team and sales data. Its the go-to place for customer information, and helps the sales team understand opportunity and customer data.Traditionally, the CRM was for the sales team only, but as more marketers are being held responsible for revenue, the CRM is increasingly becoming part of the marketing domain. This is possible through attribution.Data Process:While some information, like data in form submissions, is pushed to the CRM through platform integrations, much of the CRM data is inputted by the sales team. This includes account information, notes about particular accounts, potential revenue, and more.Key Question To Answer:Are your opportunities being converted into customers? Are customers churning or upgrading?If you are a marketing automation specialists, you are an expert when it comes to, you guessed it, the marketing automation platform. To become the architect the go-to person for marketing operations, however, a wider scope of expertise is needed. Marketing is tasked with taking on more data and more of the customer journey, and the marketing operations architect needs to be properly equipped to take it on.First, this means that you must have a strong understanding of the entire marketing and sales technology core. The core includes marketing channels (and B2B Marketing house marketing dataCentrally house customer data, understand opps and customersSend trac to websiteRe-engage with retargetingConvert visitors to leadsNurture, re-engage with new contentConvert to sales opps, customersAnonymous VisitLead Creation, Lead QualicationOpportunity Conversion, Closed-Won/CustomerSocial, Search, Ad Networks, Traditional MediaWebsite, blog, landing pages, web analyticsMarketing automation Marketing attribution CRMPaid media marketer, email marketer, SEO marketer, social marketerContent marketer, web marketer, conversion marketer, SEO marketerConversion marketer, email marketer, marketing automation specialistDemand gen marketer, marketing analyst, marketing operations Sales team, customer success, customer marketerChannel analytics Web analyticsMarketing automation analyticsAttributionMarketing channel dataWebsite dataMarketing automation data+ Customer DataAre marketing channels eectively pushing the right people to the website?Is our website eectively convincing visitors to submit lead forms?Are our emails being opened, clicked on, and are the recipients re-engaging and moving further down the funnel?Are each of the marketing eorts in the previous three phases resulting in new customers/revenue?Are our opportunities being converted into customers? Are customers churning or upgrading?DATARESOURCESCUSTOMERPURPOSE(Click here to enlarge)The Core Competencies of the Marketing Operations Leader 6accompanying analytics), your website (and accompanying web analytics), lead nurturing/automation, attribution, and the CRM.With that in mind, here is a framework to help you understand the marketing and sales technology core:These are the fundamental technologies that every B2B marketing organization requires at the most basic level. Its the foundational system that takes buyers down the funnel, from rst-time visitor to customer, and the captures the data from the customer journey to ensure that the system is running smoothly.Now were not saying that these are the only technologies that an organization needs far from that this is just the base which enables the marketing operations team to eectively evaluate additional technologies and build out the rest of the martech stack (which well cover in Part 2).MARKETING CHANNELS / CHANNEL ANALYTICSMarketing channels are how companies generate awareness and attract people to their website. These include social channels like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter; search channels (paid and organic) like Google and Bing; email; PPC/display networks like the Google Display Network; inuencers; and more.However, this entire marketing and sales technology core is not a one-way street. Marketers must use data from each of the technologies to make the others better. One example, as shown in the framework above is that data from web analytics can be used to improve marketing channel eciency. This can happen a couple of ways: 1) by dropping a tracking cookie on website visitors and using that data to build retargeting lists for retargeting ad networks (e.g. AdRoll), and 2) using website visitor data to target your marketing channels by persona.Data Process:Many of these channels include proprietary data tracking and analytics for their respective channels. Generally, they track things like impressions, clicks, and if you choose to implement their conversion pixel on your website, they can track conversions (a specic user behavior on your website, typically a form ll).Marketing channels will also, with a few exceptions, pass referral data to your website and ensuing analytics. Referral data includes what website the user was on before they came to your website, which allows marketers to know which channels are sending them web trac and how much.Key Question To Answer:Are your marketing channels eectively pushing the right people to your website?WEBSITE / WEB ANALYTICSThis part of the da