Why You Should Take a Strategic Approach to MOps

It’s time to reframe MOps as a product role, because GTM itself is a product. And it needs an owner. MOps isn’t just executing anymore. You’re designing the system. We’ve been the campaign troubleshooters, spreadsheet whisperers, and the CRM cleanup crew. But that job description is outdated. In the latest State of the MO Pro Report, 78% of respondents said their main responsibility is designing and optimizing operational policies. Another 74% listed data analysis and synthesis. Execution still matters—but strategy now leads. When no one in the C-suite owns the GTM stack, it creates gaps. That’s where MOps fits. But here’s the rub… We also saw a 9% decline in perceived organizational understanding of MOps in 2024. That’s a red flag. Even though MOps pros are already defining processes, leading data initiatives, and influencing planning and budget decisions, too many are still treated like tool admins instead of GTM architects. You’re already acting like a GTM Product Manager. Y ou just need the framework, the visibility, and the backing to make it official. So what’s next? 1. Start with a tech stack audit 2. Map your systems visually (Miro or Lucidchart work great) 3. Align your stakeholders around shared GTM goals The more you approach GTM as a product, the more clarity, efficiency, and impact you’ll bring to your org. I’ll keep unpacking this shift in the coming weeks—from frameworks to career paths to how we train the next generation of GTM PMs. 👉 Follow along weekly. Or better yet, join the conversation in the Marketing Ops Community. #MOps #GTM #MarketingOperations #ProductThinking #StateoftheMOPro

Too often, Marketing Operations are still mistaken for mere execution. 🤦♂️ In 2025, companies should recognize and leverage MOps for the strategic partner that it is. Just think about all the things MOps does: ✅ Martech Management: MOps pros deal with a landscape of 14,000 vendors (‼️) that are heavily intertwined and often overlap. The tech itself requires an understanding of architecture, integration, data, and business processes. ✅ Campaign Operations: Sure, MOps may send the email, but before that, they have to align with a myriad of stakeholders (fun). They own the process for campaign execution itself, too. They're often deeply involved in thinking about the audience and they also report and analyze results. ✅ Data Management: MOps are the stewards of your data. They understand it. They surface insights. They help keep things clean and from breaking down. ✅ Process Automation: MOps proactively automate activities. Not only because they enjoy it - they HAVE to! Every MOps pro I talk to is constantly short on time. It's "automate or drown". 🫠 ✅ ROI & Budget: MOps is instrumental in understanding ROI and where to spend budget. It's no surprise they often have a seat at the table when marketing budgets are discussed. ✅ Compliance & Security: As the owners of PII-containing systems, and in a profession filled with data privacy acronyms, MOps are often the ones driving compliance (and are also the first ones to take the blame, whether deserved or not...). ✅ Innovation & Growth: MOps are often looked at to innovate marketing and its stack. These days more than ever with AI. ... And these are just some of the things MOps does! With a list like that, is there still any doubt about MOps' strategic contribution? 🤔 #mops #marketingoperations

#MOPs work is under-rated. The work that most marketing organizations credit (and hire) their #MOps teams to do (the visible work) is about 10% of the true Marketing Operations job. 🎯 Campaigns getting out the door 🐎 MQLs are being delivered 📈 Pretty reports for QBR meetings If these are the only things your team has bandwidth for, they are creating a lot of activity, but little value. 💪 The work products that are unseen are the true value of #MOps, and this is often under-invested in (due to headcount constraints) 💪 📅 Data mapping and cleaning - so that segmentation, targeting, and reporting are accurate and streamlined. 🧩 Unify your technical and process operations so all of your tools are working as a harmonious system rather than a bespoke set of one-offs. 🧠 Think through and implement + maintain a lifecycle and scoring structure that accurately represents the customer journey and is truly valued by your downstream sales partners. 🤝 Align the cross-functional revenue teams (and their ops leaders) to ensure that friction between marketing, sales, and customer success is minimized. ♻️ Conduct the hard analytic work to recycle/transform data (reports) into insights that drive marketing action that make marketers smarter. These is the 90% (and the hard/valuable) work that makes the 10% (visible) work that #MOps is valued for doing look easy (but it really isn't).