Processes are the backbone of every function in business. How well they work impacts your effectiveness and efficiency. When processes run smoothly they are invisible. When they break down, they cause havoc and chaos. Processes and systems are what makes it possible to ensure no customer commitment is missed. Ryan Holmes, CEO of Hootsuite reminds us that there are good systems and there are bad systems. “Good systems make things easier. Bad systems do exactly the opposite. They make everyone’s lives harder.” It is a disservice to your organization to perpetuate bad process. “Bad processes institutionalize inefficiency. They ensure that things will be done the wrong way, over and over again.

It’s a good practice to revisit your process maps.

Process maps visually illustrate the flow of work. They show the relationship between the steps and inputs. Marketing like any function runs on processes. These are at the heart of operational excellence. They fall within the domain of the Marketing Ops function.

If you haven’t mapped your processes make this one of your priorities. Process mapping takes some experience and expertise so reach out if this isn’t one of your capabilities. In the meantime, if you don’t do anything else this year to improve the operational aspect of your Marketing, at least do these five things:

a. Use SMART. Work from specific, realistic, measurable objectives that are written down. It it’s not written down, it’s not there. Have a plan, work your plan.

Marketing ops improves your operational excellence, process — Improve operational excellence with Marketing Ops.

b. Target. Precisely identify your highest potential market segments. Establish key opportunity and accessibility criteria so you can compare market segments on an apples-to-apples basis. Check out the Avantage Target Tool to help.

c. Customer-Centric: Map your potential customers buying and journey process. You should be able to identify the sequence of decisions a typical prospect goes through to decide whether to buy your product or service. This process should be based on observable behaviors and serve as the basis for your marketing and sales activities. This step requires strong data and analytical muscle and being able to translate data into actionable customer insights.

d. Focus on Value. Best-in-Class marketers are value creators. Move away from being a service provider and momentum for serving as a value creator. Track and report on how long it takes and how much it costs to create a customer.

e. Manage Performance. Develop an actionable dashboard of marketing measures that are tied to managements expectations about marketing. Ensure Marketing is aligned with the company’s business outcomes and strategies. Process is the foundation for alignment—and one of the critical complaints with marketing is that it lacks alignment with sales, finance, R&D and the business. Your marketing ops serves as the depot for defining and establishing processes that facilitate alignment. A marketing operations function should ensure that the right processes are in place to support performance management and measurement.

The role of Marketing Operations in terms of process, systems, and tools is to develop and manage an integrated process that includes setting performance goals, modeling, planning, and reporting. Your Marketing Operations function is the engine for enabling Marketing to be more transparent, efficient, and accountable.

FAQ:

Q1: Why are business processes foundational to organizational effectiveness?
A: Processes ensure work flows smoothly and commitments to customers are consistently met. When processes fail, they create inefficiencies and operational chaos, undermining performance and customer satisfaction.

Q2: What distinguishes good processes from bad ones?
A: Good processes simplify work, enhance efficiency, and support consistent outcomes. Bad processes institutionalize inefficiency by perpetuating errors and making tasks harder for employees and customers alike.

Q3: What is process mapping and why is it important for Marketing?
A: Process maps visually depict the flow of work, showing steps, inputs, and relationships. For Marketing, process mapping is essential to operational excellence, enabling clarity, alignment, and continuous improvement.

Q4: What five foundational actions can improve Marketing operational excellence?
A:
a. Use SMART objectives: Define Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound goals that are documented and actionable.
b. Target precisely: Identify highest-potential market segments using objective criteria for comparison.
c. Be customer-centric: Map the customer buying journey based on observable behaviors to guide marketing and sales activities.
d. Focus on value creation: Transition from service provision to value creation, tracking cost and time to acquire customers.
e. Manage performance: Develop dashboards tied to business outcomes, ensuring Marketing alignment with sales, finance, R&D, and corporate strategy.

Q5: What is the role of Marketing Operations in process and performance management?
A: Marketing Operations integrates processes, systems, and tools to set performance goals, support planning, enable modeling, and facilitate transparent reporting. It drives Marketing’s efficiency, accountability, and alignment with business objectives.

Q6: How can organizations get support for process mapping and Marketing Operations?
A: VisionEdge Marketing offers expertise in process mapping, Marketing Operations setup, and performance management frameworks to help organizations optimize Marketing’s operational effectiveness.