The Marketing Operations Strategist - Introducing my Marketing Operations course + my Marketing Operations Maturity Model: Where does your team stand?

Hey! 👋

If you’re in the US, I hope you had a great long weekend.

This week I am unveiling my first draft of my Marketing Operations Maturity Model! Inspired by Ben and Nick’s amazing Revenue Operations Maturity Model, I’ve taken a stab at representing how I determine an org’s maturity.

Let me tell you more about it after a quick mention from our wonderful sponsors 💖

Oh wait, the sponsor is…me. 😅

Have leftover professional development budget from work and looking to invest in your marketing operations career? I’m releasing just a handful of spots in my Marketing Operations Master Playbook course — sign up before they’re all sold out! ✨ As a token of thanks to the early supporters, 3 random, lucky students will get a 1:1 career coaching session with me for free, an offer exclusive for this first batch of students. ✨

Alright, alright…back to the main content here, the Marketing Operations Maturity Model. 🙂 

Think of this infographic as a roadmap for scaling MOPs from scrappy and reactive to a finely-tuned strategic powerhouse. Whether you’re just getting started or already running a well-oiled machine, understanding your current stage can unlock new opportunities to grow.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the 5 Maturity Levels:

Level 1: Reactive (Initial)

At this stage, MOPs is in survival mode. Processes are manual, campaigns are inconsistent, and tools are limited to spreadsheets and a basic email system. Reporting is sporadic at best, and marketing ops might even be someone’s side job.

What to focus on:

• Establish foundational processes for lead tracking and campaign management.

• Invest in a marketing automation platform if you don’t already have one.

Level 2: Developing (Foundational)

You’ve started laying the groundwork: CRM and marketing automation tools are in place, and the team has moved beyond ad hoc work to supporting repeatable campaigns. But reporting and strategy alignment are still evolving.

What to focus on:

• Define clear workflows for campaign execution and lead scoring.

• Build a single source of truth for key marketing metrics.

Level 3: Standardized (Operational)

Your team has repeatable workflows and your martech stack is integrated and running At this point your reporting is reliable and you’re starting to align with leadership to drive decisions. An experienced MOPs leader is likely steering the ship.

What to focus on:

• Improve attribution models to prove marketing’s impact.

• Optimize your tech stack to minimize manual work.

Level 4: Predictive (Scalable)

At this stage, MOPs drives significant strategic value. Predictive insights and data-driven recommendations guide campaigns, and workflows are fully automated. You’re using advanced tools like AI to personalize campaigns at scale.

What to focus on:

• Explore predictive analytics to refine campaign targeting.

• Ensure documentation and governance are designed for scalability.

Level 5: Transformational (Optimized)

Marketing operations is widely accepted as a strategic partner, aligning directly with executive goals and driving visible impact across the business. Campaigns are optimized, your martech stack is lean and efficient, and data-driven insights power quicker decision-making.

What to focus on:

• Foster innovation by testing emerging technology

• Lead cross-functional initiatives to elevate marketing’s influence company-wide.

So, where does your team fit in?

This maturity model isn’t just a framework — it’s a mirror. It helps us reflect on what we’ve built and where we can level up. Share this with your team to start a conversation about where you are today and where you want to be tomorrow.

As with most of my templates, I will continue to iterate on this and I can’t wait to see what others come up with/the feedback you all give me — let’s make this a helpful resource we can share all around the MOPs community! 🙂 I also plan on creating more in-depth content and guides based on the Maturity Model as it…well, as it matures. 😛 

Learning resource of the week:

Helpful AI tool of the week 🤖

In their own words: “Qloo combines an extensive catalog of global cultural entities with a deep understanding of consumers’ interests across those notable people, places, things, and lifestyle interests. Our predictive algorithms use this dual knowledge to deliver highly curated recommendations that enhance customer loyalty and drive revenue.”

I just think it’s really cool — especially because it’s a way to personalize content while also honoring privacy.

What I’m up to/what I’m studying

Lately, I’ve been focusing on the holidays and planning my ongoing education for 2025. I spent some holiday time in Charleston, SC — where I lived for 10+ years, before San Diego. Have you ever been — and if you have, have you had Poogan’s Porch (restaurant)? Their fried chicken is to DIE FOR. 😍🐔

Dear Sara ✍️

New to marketing operations? On a team of one at your company? Shy/introverted? Wish you could ask a question to an experienced marketing operations professional, without them knowing who you are? Here’s your chance! Submit an anonymous question to me here and I’ll answer a new question in every issue.

Here’s my answer to a question from last week:

This could probably be a whole edition in itself, wow….but let me at least start to answer this at a high level.

For data privacy, it’s really important to be sensitive with people’s PII (personally identifiable information).

There are different laws in different areas, so your situation may vary…but the overall key here is to respect people’s personal data. Whether it’s GDPR, CCPA, CASL, CAN-SPAM…get familiar with what these terms mean and how some folks implement them into their systems. For me, I typically like to have a master consent field, as well as auditable fields like “Explicit consent date” and maybe even “Explicit consent system” (which system the consent initially came from). Reply and let me know if you want me to expand upon this….it can get rather dry, but it’s also something hard to find marketing-specific content about.

When it comes to the martech stack as a whole, the goal is to keep consent up to date across all systems. Some orgs approach this by using a CDP like Segment to hold the master value. Some orgs use Snowflake and custom apps their data engineering teams have set up. Some huge orgs use specific privacy software like OneTrust. Don’t feel bad if you can’t afford that tool — it’s designed for larger orgs with larger budgets. Just look at your data and systems and figure out 1) where people can submit or take-back marketing consent, and 2) how to keep their latest preference as up to date as possible.

Finally, I tend to lean a little more conservative when it comes to sharing data around between vendors and import lists. A few things to keep in mind here:

1. When evaluating a data enrichment vendor, and passing a test file for them to enrich, have them sign a DPA (data processing agreement). This helps protect the PII you’re sharing, so a vendor can’t take it and spam those people or sell their information to someone else.

2. Share data with the least amount of people as possible, or on a need-to-know basis. Not everyone should be able to see every record in Salesforce…because, more likely than not, they don’t need to. Keeping data viewing permissions as narrow as possible (while allowing people to do their day to day jobs) protects your customers’ PII as well.

As more and more data enrichment is sold all around, I do become more and more concerned about data privacy and consent. Work with your internal legal counsel to understand your company’s terms and conditions and other important paperwork (ex. NDA) that helps determine how you can share and use customer data.

Tl;dr: I like whichever architecture allows me to keep consent and data privacy as real-time and auditable as possible, and I’ll work with whatever I’ve got. I don’t think there’s any one way to do it, and I think it’s important to work with your marketers and legal/compliance team to find a happy medium with data privacy laws…where marketers can market to folks, but consent and privacy is consistently respected.

What else do you want to hear about from me?

I have a bunch of content lined up, but I want to hear from you — did you enjoy this issue? Is there anything specific you’d like to hear my take on? Please do reply to this email with any and all feedback! 😄

Til next time,

❤️ Sara