As part of our series exploring different Salesforce-adjacent career paths, let’s dive into the world of Marketing Operations.

Marketing Operations

What It Is

Marketing operations is pretty much what it sounds like! It’s about using tools, systems and processes to help the marketing function at an org run efficiently and effectively.

However, the work isn’t as general as some of the other paths we’ve covered. Having done it myself – and I did love it – I’d argue the day-to-day can be super specific to the org and their particular marketing stack.

What It Can Look Like

Marketers have historically doubled as their own ops point, especially in smaller orgs. But more companies have begun to rightly recognize the importance of MOPS. Duties can include:

• Build reports & dashboards to help track campaign performance, revenue, lead acquisition, etc….
• Perform campaign analysis on various marketing sources/funnels
• Provide tech support on marketing systems, like: audience segmentation, customer journeys & automation, database maintenance, list imports, integrations, etc.
• Help the organization adhere to marketing & privacy regulations, both local and international. Super important!
• Support marketers with campaign planning, timelines & execution
• Maybe even some Quality Assurance or other testing support
  
  

How it Differs from Admin

Salesforce Administration is usually completely separate, unless 1) an org has a severe case of multiple-hats syndrome OR 2) the marketing platform happens to be a Salesforce product. But even in that case, a marketing operations person ideally works with a Salesforce Admin/team to translate marketing requirements into solutions.

Who It’s Good For

If you already have marketing or content chops, then MOPs could be your ‘in’ if you want a role that’s either in Salesforce or generally more technical.

Tips for Breaking In

Familiarize yourself with basic marketing metrics: like click-through rate (CTR), open rate, bounces, return on investment (ROI), traffic, channels and conversion rate. Since email marketing reigns supreme, you’ll also want to understand how email marketing databases generally work. Good news is that they’re much simpler than Salesforce.

Salesforce itself has two marketing platforms: 1) Marketing Cloud, a megalodon of tools and 2) Marketing Account Engagement, the littler but effective baby brother (also known as Pardot). You’ll bring yourself closest to working in Salesforce if you apply to orgs that use these products. But you can also apply to orgs that integrate other marketing platforms with their Salesforce instance.

More Resources for Marketing Operations careers

MoPros and MopsPros – two online communities geared towards marketing ops professionals. Don’t worry: I got confused too.

Women of Email – an inclusive, awesome online community of email marketing professionals. The Facebook group is a great place to network and hear about jobs.

What is Marketing Operations and How Do You Hire the Best People for the Job by McGaw.io. This comprehensive guide outlines what employers should be looking for in their marketing ops hires.