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Broaden your marketing ops talent perspective

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Broaden your marketing ops talent perspective

Recently Demandbase and marketing operations (MOPs) training provider Highway Education released their “The State of Marketing Operations: 2022” report.  It includes insights from various marketing operations luminaries like Darrell Alfsono and Sara McNamara who are certainly aware of the challenges facing professionals in this field.  One of the report’s important takeaways is that marketing operations practitioners are in high demand, and there’s a real need for more formal training opportunities.

As I see it, one way that companies looking for marketing operations talent can better find suitable people to fill operations roles is to broaden their perspective of potential candidates – especially during the tight labor market caused by the “Great Resignation.”  Many people have what I consider a narrow view of who to recruit, and that’s to their detriment.

Marketing automation’s prominence

It is not surprising that many equate marketing operations with marketing automation; marketing automation platforms offer a lot of what marketing departments need in the digital space.  Such platforms are valuable in many situations throughout B2B, B2C, and D2C contexts, and all sorts of teams throughout marketing, sales, and other departments certainly have a need for marketing automation. 

Further, since marketing automation platforms are core tech stack components that integrate with many other systems, it seems logical that marketing automation teams would serve as a core and foundational component of any marketing department’s operations.  In fact, as robust and powerful platforms, they could certainly serve as a backbone system for smaller organizations for most – if not all – marketing initiatives.   

Beyond marketing automation

However, there are plenty of practitioners throughout marketing who develop both the requisite technical skills and business acumen to serve as competent operational practitioners.  I agree with Knak Co-Founder and CEO Pierce Ujjainwalla, who was quoted in the report as saying: “We all have found our way into MOps some random way.” 

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So, why is the field so focused on people who have marketing automation experience?

Fixating on marketing automation causes blind spots for the marketing operations field.  I’ve argued that marketing operations teams should pay more attention to websites.  The web channel offers many opportunities for marketing departments, and the acumen needed for operating marketing automation platforms, analytic tools, and related systems actually translates well over to content management systems (CMSs).

Further, by looking beyond email, texts, and messaging to the web channel, operations folks could have a better view of other channels.  With a more consistent focus on a broader perspective, operations folks can more holistically see possibilities to orchestrate multi-channel campaigns.  Wouldn’t that impress marketing leadership and the C-suite?


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Desirable skills come from several backgrounds

Ashley Blanchard, manager, marketing automation and product management at Adobe, is an example of a marketing operations and technology practitioner who came from a web background instead of a marketing automation one.   When I asked Blanchard if I could mention her, she replied: “I think we need more web developers to convert to marketing technology and operations!”

I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but I am also one of those people who doesn’t have a significant background mainly performing in a marketing automation role.  

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Blanchard spent a lot of her time developing and maintaining integrations and data flows as a web developer.  I was more of a website administrator who also worked closely with software developers to build custom software ranging from CMS extensions to building systems from scratch.  We – like automation specialists – have learned and operated with project management, fought many figurative fires, negotiated with legal and security, had to comply with a regulatory morass tapestry, managed systems users, configured user permission sets, modified functionality, worked with account teams, and collaborated plenty with IT, creative, and other marketing and sales stakeholders. 

CMSs integrate with many other systems just like automation platforms.  Websites are similarly dependent upon analytics as emails, messaging, paid search, and social media with comparable opportunities for testing and fine tuning.  CMSs and web tactics certainly evolve as much as marketing automation does.  Thus, there are plenty of ways to develop marketing operations and technology acumen.

Further, Blanchard told me that she feels that system ownership (of any type of platform) requires one to develop and use creative problem solving skills.  She adds that this “is the critical skill set anyone in marketing tech needs: how to make a software platform work in an ecosystem to solve complex problems. And there are lots of software platforms being used creatively out there by good candidates.”

As more and more of marketing and sales initiatives grow more digital and technical, specialists from beyond marketing automation develop and use skills that are not only applicable but essential to operations.  Thus, marketing leadership, hiring managers, and recruiters should look beyond automation folks for operations roles.  I argue that people with websites, paid search, social media, and analytics backgrounds offer just as much potential and, perhaps most importantly, a different perspective than automation specialists.

Read next: Marketing operations talent is suffering burnout and turnover

Cast a wide net

Don’t get me wrong.  Marketing automation specialists are a wonderful group of people.  They have certainly earned their growing reputation of serving essential marketing functions, but they’re not the only ones capable of fulfilling the demands placed upon marketing operations teams.  

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One way to address the implications of the current tight marketing operations jobs market like top-heavy teams leaving senior practitioners in the weeds, burned out professionals, long hiring processes, and too much turnover is to cast a broader net when recruiting – just keep the compensation packages growing and improving.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily MarTech. Staff authors are listed here.


About The Author

Whos a marketer anyway Whos a marketer anyway
Steve Petersen is a marketing technology manager at Zuora. He spent nearly 8.5 years at Western Governors University, holding many martech related roles with the last being marketing technology manager. Prior to WGU, he worked as a strategist at the Washington, DC digital shop The Brick Factory, where he worked closely with trade associations, non-profits, major brands, and advocacy campaigns. Petersen holds a Master of Information Management from the University of Maryland and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from Brigham Young University. He’s also a Certified ScrumMaster. Petersen lives in the Salt Lake City, UT area. Petersen represents his own views, not those of his current or former employers.

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How To Combine PR and Content Marketing Superpowers To Achieve Business Goals

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A figure pulls open a dress shirt to reveal the term PR on a Superman-like costume, reflecting the superpower resulting from combining content and PR.

A transformative shift is happening, and it’s not AI.

The aisle between public relations and content marketing is rapidly narrowing. If you’re smart about the convergence, you can forever enhance your brand’s storytelling.

The goals and roles of content marketing and PR overlap more and more. The job descriptions look awfully similar. Shrinking budgets and a shrewd eye for efficiency mean you and your PR pals could face the chopping block if you don’t streamline operations and deliver on the company’s goals (because marketing communications is always first to be axed, right?).

Yikes. Let’s take a big, deep breath. This is not a threat. It’s an opportunity.

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Reach across the aisle to PR and streamline content creation, improve distribution strategies, and get back to the heart of what you both are meant to do: Build strong relationships and tell impactful stories.

So, before you panic-post that open-to-work banner on LinkedIn, consider these tips from content marketing, PR, and journalism pros who’ve figured out how to thrive in an increasingly narrowing content ecosystem.

1. See journalists as your audience

Savvy pros know the ability to tell an impactful story — and support it with publish-ready collateral — grounds successful media relationships. And as a content marketer, your skills in storytelling and connecting with audiences, including journalists, naturally support your PR pals’ media outreach.

Strategic storytelling creates content focused on what the audience needs and wants. Sharing content on your blog or social media builds relationships with journalists who source those channels for story ideas, event updates, and subject matter experts.

“Embedding PR strategies in your content marketing pieces informs your audience and can easily be picked up by media,” says Alex Sanchez, chief experience officer at BeWell, New Mexico’s Health Insurance Marketplace. “We have seen reporters do this many times, pulling stories from our blogs and putting them in the nightly news — most of the time without even reaching out to us.”

Acacia James, weekend producer/morning associate producer at WTOP radio in Washington, D.C., says blogs and social media posts are helpful to her work. “If I see a story idea, and I see that they’re willing to share information, it’s easier to contact them — and we can also backlink their content. It’s huge for us to be able to use every avenue.” 

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Kirby Winn, manager of PR at ImpactLife, says reporters and assignment editors are key consumers of their content. “And I don’t mean a news release that just hit their inbox. They’re going to our blog and consuming our stories, just like any other audience member,” he says. “Our organization has put more focus into content marketing in the past few years — it supports a media pitch so well and highlights the stories we have to tell.”

Storytelling attracts earned media that might not pick up the generic news topic. “It’s one thing to pitch a general story about how we help consumers sign up for low-cost health insurance,” Alex says. “Now, imagine a single mom who just got a plan after years of thinking it was too expensive. She had a terrible car accident, and the $60,000 ER bill that would have ruined her financially was covered. Now that’s a story journalists will want to cover, and that will be relatable to their audience and ours.” 

2. Learn the media outlet’s audience

Seventy-three percent of reporters say one-fourth or less of the stories pitched are relevant to their audiences, according to Cision’s 2023 State of the Media Report (registration required).

PR pros are known for building relationships with journalists, while content marketers thrive in building communities around content. Merge these best practices to build desirable content that works for your target audience and the media’s audiences simultaneously.

WTOP’s Acacia James says sources who show they’re ready to share helpful, relevant content often win pitches for coverage. “In radio, we do a lot of research on who is listening to us, and we’re focused on a prototype called ‘Mike and Jen’ — normal, everyday people in Generation X … So when we get press releases and pitches, we ask, ‘How interested will Mike and Jen be in this story?’” 

3. Deliver the full content package (and make journalists’ jobs easier)

Cranking out content to their media outlet’s standards has never been tougher for journalists. Newsrooms are significantly understaffed, and anything you can do to make their lives easier will be appreciated and potentially rewarded with coverage. Content marketers are built to think about all the elements to tell the story through multiple mediums and channels.

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“Today’s content marketing pretty much provides a package to the media outlet,” says So Young Pak, director of media relations at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. “PR is doing a lot of storytelling work in advance of media publication. We (and content marketing) work together to provide the elements to go with each story — photos, subject matter experts, patients, videos, and data points, if needed.”   

At WTOP, the successful content package includes audio. “As a radio station, we are focused on high-quality sound,” Acacia James says. “Savvy sources know to record and send us voice memos, and then we pull cuts from the audio … You will naturally want to do someone a favor if they did you one — like providing helpful soundbites, audio, and newsworthy stories.”  

While production value matters to some media, you shouldn’t stress about it. “In the past decade, how we work with reporters has changed. Back in the day, if they couldn’t be there in person, they weren’t going to interview your expert,” says Jason Carlton, an accredited PR professional and manager of marketing and communications at Intermountain Health. “During COVID, we had to switch to virtual interviewing. Now, many journalists are OK with running a Teams or Zoom interview they’ve done with an expert on the news.”

BeWell’s Alex Sanchez agrees. “I’ve heard old school PR folks cringe at the idea of putting up a Zoom video instead of getting traditional video interviews. It doesn’t really matter to consumers. Focus on the story, on the timeliness, and the relevance. Consumers want authenticity, not super stylized, stiff content.”

4. Unite great minds to maximize efficiency

Everyone needs to set aside the debate about which team — PR or content marketing — gets credit for the resulting media coverage.

At MedStar Washington Hospital Center, So Young and colleagues adopt a collaborative mindset on multichannel stories. “We can get the interview and gather information for all the different pieces — blog, audio, video, press release, internal newsletter, or magazine. That way, we’re not trying to figure things out individually, and the subject matter experts only have to have that conversation once,” she says.

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Regular, cross-team meetings are essential to understand the best channels for reaching key audiences, including the media. A story that began life as a press release might reap SEO and earned media gold if it’s strategized as a blog, video, and media pitch.

“At Intermountain Health, we have individual teams for media relations, marketing, social media, and hospital communications. That setup works well because it allows us to bring in the people who are the given experts in those areas,” says Intermountain’s Jason Carlton. “Together, we decide if a story is best for the blog, a media pitch, or a mix of channels — that way, we avoid duplicating work and the risk of diluting the story’s impact.”

5. Measure what matters

Cutting through the noise to earn media mentions requires keen attention to metrics. Since content marketing and PR metrics overlap, synthesizing the data in your team meetings can save time while streamlining your storytelling efforts.

“For content marketers, using analytical tools such as GA4 can help measure the effectiveness of their content campaigns and landing pages to determine meaningful KPIs such as organic traffic, keyword rankings, lead generation, and conversion rates,” says John Martino, director of digital marketing for Visiting Angels. “PR teams can use media coverage and social interactions to assess user engagement and brand awareness. A unified and omnichannel approach can help both teams demonstrate their value in enhancing brand visibility, engagement, and overall business success.”

To track your shared goals, launch a shared dashboard that helps tell the combined “story of your stories” to internal and executive teams. Among the metrics to monitor:

  • Page views: Obviously, this queen of metrics continues to be important across PR and content marketing. Take your analysis to the next level by evaluating which niche audiences are contributing to these views to further hone your storytelling targets, including media outlets.
  • Earned media mentions: Through a media tracker service or good old Google Alerts, you can tally the echo of your content marketing and PR. Look at your site’s referral traffic report to identify media outlets that send traffic to your blog or other web pages.
  • Organic search queries: Dive into your analytics platform to surface organic search queries that lead to visitors. Build from those questions to develop stories that further resonate with your audience and your targeted media.
  • On-page actions: When visitors show up on your content, what are they doing? What do they click? Where do they go next? Building next-step pathways is your bread and butter in content marketing — and PR can use them as a natural pipeline for media to pick up more stories, angles, and quotes.

But perhaps the biggest metric to track is team satisfaction. Who on the collaborative team had the most fun writing blogs, producing videos, or calling the news stations? Lean into the natural skills and passions of your team members to distribute work properly, maximize the team output, and improve relationships with the media, your audience, and internal teams.

“It’s really trying to understand the problem to solve — the needle to move — and determining a plan that will help them achieve their goal,” Jason says. “If you don’t have those measurable objectives, you’re not going to know whether you made a difference.”

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Don’t fear the merger

Whether you deliberately work together or not, content marketing and public relations are tied together. ImpactLife’s Kirby Winn explains, “As soon as we begin to talk about (ourselves) to a reporter who doesn’t know us, they are certainly going to check out our stories.”

But consciously uniting PR and content marketing will ease the challenges you both face. Working together allows you to save time, eliminate duplicate work, and gain free time to tell more stories and drive them into impactful media placements.

Register to attend Content Marketing World in San Diego. Use the code BLOG100 to save $100. Can’t attend in person this year? Check out the Digital Pass for access to on-demand session recordings from the live event through the end of the year.

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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

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Trends in Content Localization – Moz

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Trends in Content Localization - Moz

Multinational fast food chains are one of the best-known examples of recognizing that product menus may sometimes have to change significantly to serve distinct audiences. The above video is just a short run-through of the same business selling smokehouse burgers, kofta, paneer, and rice bowls in an effort to appeal to people in a variety of places. I can’t personally judge the validity of these representations, but what I can see is that, in such cases, you don’t merely localize your content but the products on which your content is founded.

Sometimes, even the branding of businesses is different around the world; what we call Burger King in America is Hungry Jack’s in Australia, Lays potato chips here are Sabritas in Mexico, and DiGiorno frozen pizza is familiar in the US, but Canada knows it as Delissio.

Tales of product tailoring failures often become famous, likely because some of them may seem humorous from a distance, but cultural sensitivity should always be taken seriously. If a brand you are marketing is on its way to becoming a large global seller, the best insurance against reputation damage and revenue loss as a result of cultural insensitivity is to employ regional and cultural experts whose first-hand and lived experiences can steward the organization in acting with awareness and respect.

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How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy

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How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy

AI and startups? It just makes sense.

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