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Hire, Outsource, Or Develop: How To Acquire The Purple Unicorns Of Marketing Operations

Forbes Books

For the past twelve years, I’ve taught an MBA course at William & Mary focused on marketing operations, and I often invite industry experts to share their perspectives, experiences, and advice. Dan Brown, a marketing operations visionary and longtime Verint executive, was kind enough to be a guest speaker at one of the classes. He shared a wealth of knowledge about the meteoric rise of marketing operations, the importance of technology and data, and the transformative nature of customer-focused insights.

The class was captivated, and you could see the proverbial lightbulbs flickering within their minds as they comprehended the significance of these concepts and envisioned the possibilities for their own careers. At the end of the class, one eager student asked Dan how she could get a job in marketing operations.

“With all due respect,” he responded, “I wouldn’t hire any of you.” 

***

Sitting at the crossroads of all customer-facing functions – including marketing, sales, fulfillment, and support – marketing operations has swiftly climbed the corporate ladder in terms of strategic importance and influence. And yet, there is a dearth of skilled marketing operations professionals, creating fierce competition and driving up the price of available talent. 

In fact, marketing operations pros have become so difficult to find, acquire, and retain, we now refer to them as purple unicorns. 

These unicorns have a rare and multifaceted skill set, combining technical chops with marketing expertise and business acumen. They’re equally adept with data analytics, demand generation, and revenue modeling. They have become influential drivers of customer engagement, operational strategy, and business growth.

That’s why marketing operations professionals are in extremely high demand and alarmingly short supply. They’re unique, elusive, and often transitory. Yet they are absolutely essential in today’s customer-focused, data-driven business landscape. 

CMOs have scant few options for acquiring these purple unicorns, but they do have options:

  1. They can compete on the open market and pay a hefty price for available talent. 
  2. They can outsource or “rent” talent by working with agencies or consultants that specialize in strategic marketing operations. 
  3. They can develop the talent from within.

While CMOs can certainly pursue Option A, more are choosing Option C and supplementing it with Option B. 

Most organizations have dedicated, ongoing training programs for their salespeople, but it’s only recently that companies have started honing the marketing operations skills of their staff. Even so, it’s still quite rare. We have an 18-month training curriculum at The Pedowitz Group that covers everything from technology and certification to communications and consultancy. My friend Toby Murdock recently founded Highway Education, a public benefit corporation that is helping bridge the digital divide through marketing operations training and certification for underemployed young adults. 

Beyond that, it’s difficult to find organizations that are proactively and programmatically developing marketing operations talent. It’s surprising given the desperate need for skilled professionals and the eagerness of younger people – like those in my William & Mary class – to follow a burgeoning, prosperous career path. 

Fortunately, marketing operations consultants (Option B) are more than unicorns-for-hire. They can help build and operationalize the essential foundations for strategic, sustainable marketing operations. They can help create an engine for internal skills development and accelerate time-to-value. They can fill time, resource, or experience gaps as needed, imparting knowledge and training internal staff in the process.

After all, purple unicorns are hard to come by.

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