The Marketing Operations Strategist - How to create the best marketing operations roadmap/walking deck + end-of-year free template roundup

Hey! 👋

We’re almost at the end of the year! For that reason, I’ll keep this edition of the newsletter short and sweet…and full of free resources. 🙂 

In this edition, I’ll be sharing:

• How I recommend structuring a marketing operations roadmap/walking deck

• A new marketing operations staffing calculator I’ve created

• A marketing operations brag book template I created (that you can steal + copy!)

• What I think marketing operations will look like in 2025 and what to do to prepare

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

Have leftover professional development funds and looking to invest in your MOPs career? Check out my new course, The Marketing Operations Master Playbook and learn from yours truly! Save years of mistakes and hard lessons learned, as I share what I’ve learned through my 10+ year marketing career.

Let’s talk about these free end-of-year/beginning-of-new-year tools that you can use for planning and execution!

How I recommend structuring a marketing operations roadmap/walking deck

I tried to figure out a way to succinctly go through this deck in text form, and it was going to become a novel of an email. 😅

So, let’s try something new — click here to watch a video walk-through. 📹

The tl;dr on this is that you want to start with your company operating model, then GTM operating model, GTM planning model, and THEN lead into your team and your projects/goals. Too many folks jump right into tactical project timelines, which makes you seem more junior and is not compelling to fellow leaders, since they are focused on the big picture (not tactical execution).

By the way, even if you aren’t a leader of a function or team — it’s still important to learn how to put this together. The act of putting together the deck requires understanding the business strategy, which will help you prepare yourself for promotion/career advancement.

Here’s my new marketing operations staffing calculator

The teams at Etumos and CS2 (marketing operations consulting firms) came up with the first iterations of the marketing operations staffing calculator, and those are awesome resources…but I wanted to put my own spin on this, based on my own opinion of the key factors for marketing operations staffing.

When I posted this, someone sent me a note saying “this calculator says my team of 1 should be a team of 10 😭” — then take it and build an argument for more headcount! You won’t always get your exact headcount approved, but I hope this can be a helpful tool for negotiation, like the Marketing Operations Salary Survey Dashboard.

Here’s a marketing operations brag book template you can steal to boost your career

I've gotten so many DMs over the years about how my MOPs Salary Survey has helped people double their salary 🥲 -- this is another important piece! Collect, track, and present your hard-earned accomplishments and present them during the interview process! 🏆

Click here to go to the deck and make a copy — then pick and choose which slides you want to use and fill them in! Keep the deck handy throughout the year, so you can collect praise and accomplishments and always have them handy.

What I’m up to/what I’m studying

This week, I’m trying to wrap everything up before the holiday break — and I hope you are, too! By the way, is anyone else watching the latest season of The Ultimatum? 👀 I’ll be watching the finale a few hours after this is sent to you all. 😅 It is a very messy season, which I love!

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:

I think 2025 will be a great year for marketing operations, but also a year of a lot of change. I am still holding out hope that the job market will continue to expand — but I think we will face other pressuring factors, like VC firms focusing on implementing revenue operations within their portfolio companies.

The good news from that: revenue operations (and all operations) gets a visibility and priority boost.

The bad news from that: there will be increased competition to snag the roles within this consolidated revenue operations department (vs. marketing operations only), especially as you look up the management ladder.

So, what do you do to prepare? The same as I always recommend — keep your eyes on the market and job listings, analyze which skills are in highest demand (and that you also enjoy), and focus on building in those areas. Network while you have a job, go to events and interact with others online so you aren’t just a resume in a sea of applicant resumes. In terms of revenue operations consolidation, look into learning more about Salesforce CRM, sales technology like Salesloft and ZoomInfo, and other tools that you aren’t yet exposed to within marketing operations (but that exist in the sales/customer success worlds).

Just keep at it! And, of course, take care of yourself and be sure to exercise self care. ❤️

(Seriously!!!! We in MOPs tend to not take enough breaks, so take a break!)

Thank you so much for your support throughout 2024 — here’s to a great 2025! 🥳

Wishing you and your loved ones the happiest holidays,

❤️ Sara