As technology grows increasingly important to marketers, the marketing operations function is developing rapidly within organizations. A relatively new role in the marketing world, this function is becoming essential as marketing teams adopt more tools and technologies.
No one understands this better than Tom Kahana, Senior Director of Marketing Operations at Limelight Networks. He leads a marketing operations team of six and is responsible for all marketing technology tools, lead and campaign management and reporting/analytics.
We spoke with Tom, who offered his advice on maximizing your marketing programs with marketing technologies.
1. Track everything
Track everything — not just how many leads or clicks you generate, but also which source or channel is responsible for delivering them. In order to design more efficient and effective campaigns, Tom’s team determines which persona is viewing which content in which format.
“We’re all about tracking the successes and failures that we have and getting that information in the hands of our demand gen people,” said Tom. And “our content people want to know what content is being consumed so they can see what’s working and what’s not.”
2. Experiment with different content types and qualities
“Everyone has a different appetite, and they want to consume content in a different format at a different time,” explained Tom, noting the difference between someone reading a white paper versus watching a webinar. In terms of content, the Limelight team uses a variety of formats and channels, producing reports, videos, and webinars (just to name a few) and utilizing social media.
“We’ve produced a lot of content in many different channels and avenues — social media, blog, videos,” he said. “It’s another opportunity for someone to not just learn about Limelight Networks, but to learn about the industry and the things they should know when putting together their own content delivery strategy.”
As a global company, localizing content and extending content distribution is key. Limelight runs separate webinars based on region, which has proven successful: from their webinar programs alone, Tom and his team increased pipeline contribution by 101 percent.
3. Team up with key stakeholders
Marketing operations teams have a variety of stakeholders. Specifically, Tom’s team works closely with Limelight’s sales and sales operations teams to identify which campaigns are most effective and to initiate conversations with the most relevant prospects.
“We work hard to understand [our sales team’s] struggles and areas where we can help and provide support,” said Tom. “We’ve got the data we need from them to be able to make strong, strategic decisions around who we should be attacking and which campaigns are working.”
This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: How Marketing Operations Accelerates The Effectiveness Of Marketing Programs
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