Marketing Operations (MOPS) is a broad term, but its role in a marketing team’s success is both specific and crucial. It’s the engine that ensures marketing objectives are met while different teams focus on their individual goals. Yet, many organizations struggle with inefficient MOPS processes, disconnected tools, and a lack of structured training.
If you’ve ever felt like your marketing operations are more of a tangled web than a well-oiled machine, you’re not alone. Let’s talk about how to fix that.
The Complexity of Marketing Operations
A high-functioning MOPS team juggles multiple responsibilities, including:
- Process Management & Optimization: Ensuring workflows are efficient and scalable.
- Budget Management: With companies spending an average of 7.7% of annual revenue on marketing (Gartner.), MOPS ensures every dollar is accounted for across content marketing, SEO, paid ads, email marketing, social media, ABM, and more. Source: Gartner (May 2024)
- Technology Implementation: Managing the tech stack to support marketing objectives, campaign execution, and performance tracking.
- Alignment with Sales: Bridging the gap between marketing and sales to ensure shared goals and seamless collaboration.
- Reporting & Analytics: Creating reliable data processes and providing marketing teams with the insights needed to hit key metrics.
Signs of an Inefficient MOPS Team
An underperforming MOPS function doesn’t just slow down marketing—it stifles overall business growth. Here are three red flags to look for:
- Your marketing tools are disconnected, making ROI difficult to prove.
- Lack of transparency and accountability—everyone is operating in silos.
- Key marketing metrics are difficult (or impossible) to track accurately.
The good news? Training and development can bridge these gaps and transform your MOPS team into a strategic powerhouse.
How to Identify Skill Gaps in Your MOPS Team
A skills gap analysis helps pinpoint where your team needs development. Here’s how to do it:
- Create a skills matrix: List each team member alongside the skills they have and those they need. Identify mismatches. Get a free skills matrix here!
- Assess business impact: Evaluate how each skill gap affects marketing performance and overall revenue goals.
- Prioritize gaps: Rank missing skills based on urgency and their criticality to your marketing objectives.
Quote: 70% of Leaders Say Business Performance Is Suffering Because Employees Lack Necessary Competencies ( Link)
Practical Ways to Upskill Your Marketing Ops Team
Once you’ve identified skill gaps, it’s time to take action:
- Training & Development: Offer online courses, workshops, or mentorship programs tailored to the areas your team needs to strengthen.
- Cross-Training: Encourage employees to learn from teammates who excel in specific skills—this not only upskills your team but also builds stronger internal collaboration.
- Outsourcing: When gaps are too wide to bridge internally, consider bringing in outside experts to fill critical needs.
- Reassigning Roles: Adjust responsibilities to align team members with their strengths and business priorities.
Closing the Gap for Long-Term Success
Structured training and ongoing development are key to keeping your MOPS team agile and high-performing. Investing in your people today ensures that your marketing operations can scale effectively and support revenue growth.
Need help evaluating and optimizing your MOPS function? RenderTribe’s RevOps team is here to help. Let’s chat about building a future-proof marketing operations strategy. Contact us today.
