The State of

the Marketing
Operations
Professional
2023 Edition

Brought to you by:

INTRODUCTION
As the digital landscape continues to evolve, marketing
operations professionals will remain at the forefront of
“Marketing operations plays a critical role
optimizing marketing strategies for maximum impact and
in the planning process. As organizations
efficiency. They are the organizational nexus for data-driven
become more data driven with
decision making, leveraging the martech stack, integrating
increasingly sophisticated martech stacks,
and using data to deliver better customer experiences,
marketing operations is uniquely
seamlessly integrating omni-channel touchpoints, and
positioned to weave all those data points
measuring all of these things to attribute outcomes to
into a strategy.”
efforts. As one study participant shared, “Marketing
Operations is way beyond just tools and tech. It has the Jim Williams
potential to make companies win deals. It can ultimately be CMO at Uptempo
the major difference between competitors.”

This 2023 edition of the State of the Marketing Operations

Professional will help our members fight for the right skills,
measurements, and performance metrics of how to be
measured as a successful professional in this space. It
provides data to enable them to benchmark themselves
against their peers, not just against salary, but also
certifications and other relevant markers. For corporations
and executives, this research will help them invest in
retaining and educating their marketing operations talent.

2
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
SECTION 01 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Key Findings

SECTION 02 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 8
The Marketing Operations Professional

SECTION 03 ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 30
Marketing Operations Teams

SECTION 04 ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 44
Marketing Tools + Technology

SECTION 05 ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 53
What’s Next For Marketing Operations

SECTION 06 ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 59
Conclusion

SECTION 07 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 61
Methodology

4
SECTION 01 / KEY FINDINGS

Key Finding #1 Key Finding #2

88% of organizations with over $10 million in annual
revenue have a dedicated Marketing Operations team
or individual.
Even for smaller organizations, with less than $10
million in annual revenue, the rate is 64%.
This year’s study participants bring
more experience to the table.
57% of study participants have
worked in a marketing operations
role for six or more years. Less than
half (49%) of last study participants
had this same level of experience.

Key Finding #3
Teams are getting smaller year-to-year.

Almost one-third (31%) of study participants are a solo

team, compared to about 25% last year. This increase in
solo teams may carry over from 2022 layoffs and
shifting budgets, stretching teams and individuals in
2023 to do more with less. This trend is more evident in
the technology/software sector, the single largest
segment in the study, with 34% of participants coming
from a one-person team.

5
Key Finding #4
21% of the marketing operations professionals in this
study feel they are not compensated fairly for their level
of experience.

A compensation gender gap exists with females (25%)

reporting higher levels of unfair compensation than
males (17%).
Key Finding #6
The largest number of study participants
(42%) are part of the at-large marketing team,
Key Finding #5 unchanged from last year.

Just over half (51%) of the organizations in this In smaller organizations, those with $100

study use a centralized team structure.
Hybrid structures (23%) were the second most
common org structure and decentralized
(10%) the least common.
million or less in annual revenue, it’s more
likely for marketing operations professionals
to be on the Demand Generation or Revenue
Operations teams.
This report details the results and insights
from the analysis of the study data. For more
detail on the survey and its participants,
please refer to the Methodology.

6
 SECTION 02

THE MARKETING
OPERATIONS
PROFESSIONAL
SECTION 02 / THE MARKETING
OPERATIONS PROFESSIONAL
This section of the report will detail the marketing
operations professional: describing the role, how it’s
changing, how those in the role feel about their work, the
experience they have and their level of compensation.

A basic persona of the marketing operations professional in

this year’s study is: female (53%) manager/senior manager
(57%) between the ages of 31 to 40 (49%) who works in the
technology sector (60%).

This year’s study reveals marketing operations professionals

are increasingly involved in the planning and budget
management process. The most important responsibility for
less experienced marketing operations professionals is
reporting and analytics, while the most important
responsibility for more experienced professionals is
revenue cycle definition and process. The majority of
marketing operations professionals have some type of
certification.

The marketing operations professional 8

SECTION SUMMARY
● The majority of study participants have six or more years of experience.

● Over half are employed in the technology/software industry.

● Morale and engagement has declined slightly year-over-year.

● Data analysis, synthesis, and reporting is now the primary marketing operations
responsibility.

● 70% of marketing operations professionals serve as administrators of their

organization's marketing automation platforms.

● The top reasons for taking on side projects or clients are to make additional
income and to learn or apply new skills.

● The largest number of study participants aspire to move into a management

role.

● The highest compensation bands in the study show slight increases year-over-
year.

● Just 16% of study participants report no involvement in the marketing team's

planning and budget management process.

● Marketing operations professionals with 5 years of experience or less view

reporting and analytics as their most important responsibility. Those with 6 or
more years see the revenue cycle definition and process as their top
responsibility.

The marketing operations professional 9

Organizations are fielding more
experienced Marketing Operations teams
As a key finding shares, study participants are
reporting more experience in the profession this
year than last year. 57% have six or more years in
a marketing operations role.

There’s a slight experience gap between smaller

and larger organizations using annual revenue to
gauge size. For organizations with more than $500
million in annual revenue, 62% of their teams have
six or more years in the role and no one with less
than one year. For organizations with $500 million
or less in revenue, 55% report this same level of
time in the role, while 5% have less than a year.

The marketing operations professional 10

The Technology/Software industry segment
remains a marketing operations stronghold
Over half of this year’s study participants (60%) are employed in the technology/software industry,
mirroring last year’s study results. All other industry segments had single-digit percentage responses,
with marketing agencies coming in a distant second (6%).

The marketing operations professional 11

Employee engagement levels for marketing
operations professionals has declined year-to-year
This study uses three scales to measure morale and
engagement among marketing operations professionals.
Each scale ranged from 1 to 7 with 7 being the highest or
most favorable rating on the scale. All three show a slight
year-to-year decline:
● Do you feel compensated fairly for your level of
experience? Down 4%.
● Do you feel your organization understands your role?
Down 7%.
● Do you feel valued by your organization?
Down 4%
No appreciable differences existed between study
participants that identified as male or female and the
sample size for non-binary and non-disclosed genders was
too small to draw valid conclusions.
Interesting differences in the compensation and being
understood metrics appear when viewed through the lens
of experience, as the table below shows.
These metrics were similar across organization sizes, using
annual revenue as the gauge, except for the largest
segment: more than $500 million. Ratings were lower for
this segment as the table below shows. This data suggests
that those who seek more rewarding work environments
should look to smaller organizations.
The marketing operations professional 12
Do you feel compensated fairly
for your level of experience?

Respondents by Less than 1 5

1 to 5 years 6+ years
Experience year Very satisfied
Compensated fairly 3.90 4.60 4.90 4 More than satisfied
Understood 3.30 4.60 4.70
3 Satisfied
Valued 5.00 4.90 5.00
Partly satisfied
2
Not at all satisfied
Do you feel valued by your organization? 1

Respondents by Org More than $500

$500 million or less
Size million

Compensated fairly 4.80 4.60

Understood 4.60 4.20

Valued 5.00 4.60

Do you feel compensated fairly

for your level of experience?

All Respondents 2022 2023

Compensated fairly 4.90 4.70

Understood 4.93 4.60

Valued 5.00 5.00

The marketing operations professional 13

Manager or senior manager is the
most common level of seniority
57% of the professionals in this
year’s study align with the
authority level of manager or
senior manager. 12% are at the VP
or executive level, while 15% work
at the more junior specialist,
associate, or coordinator level.

The most common job titles for

these professionals are manager,
marketing operations (37%) or
director, marketing operations
(18%).

“One of the toughest jumps is senior manager to

director, because the jump doesn't require technical
skills, it requires business and leadership skills.”

Darrell Alfonso
Director of Marketing Strategy
and OperationsIndeed.com

The marketing operations professional 14

Data has eclipsed software and
systems as the primary responsibility
Data analysis, synthesis, and reporting has leapfrogged The top responsibility based on annual revenue and team
three other core responsibilities to become the primary size reveals slightly different responsibilities as the tables
marketing operations responsibility in 2023. Almost 70% of below share.
this year’s study participants put these data tasks at the top
of their list. Last year, these tasks ranked fourth overall with The “Other” response option to the survey question that

just 47% identifying them as a responsibility. The top gathered this data reveals the astonishing breadth of

responsibility in 2022 was developing and implementing responsibilities the marketing operations professional is

software or system integrations/management, which ranks tasked with. Some of these write-in responses include:

fourth in the current study. ● Brand strategy

● Email marketing

● MQL nurturing

● BDR team management

“One of the toughest jumps is senior manager to
director, because the jump doesn't require technical ● Social media
skills, it requires business and leadership skills.” ● Copy writing
Darrell Alfonso ● Marketing campaign ideation
Director of Marketing Strategy
and OperationsIndeed.com

The marketing operations professional 15

Leading BDRs With Marketing Ops Skills
It may seem surprising to see “BDR team management” show up in the list of marketing ops responsibilities. Naomi Liu, director of
marketing operations at EFI, shared that her leadership team was excited to have her involved as a leader of the BDR function. Why?
Because of her skills as a Marketing Operations professional. Since taking on the responsibility, she's been able to troubleshoot issues,
find process inefficiencies and make incremental improvements each week, month, and quarter.

Responsibility More than $500

$500 million or less
by Org Size million

Data analysis /
Team Size Top Responsibility First synthesis / reporting
(71%)
1 Data analysis / synthesis / reporting (79%)
Designing,
implementing, and
Designing, implementing, and optimizing Second optimizing operational
2 - 10 operational policiesм and procedures (70%) policies and
procedures (64%)
Designing, implementing, and optimizing
11 - 25 operational policies and procedures (68%)
Evaluation of and
Third needs-identification
Evaluation of and needs-identification for tech-stack (60%)
26+ for tech-stack (50%)
Designing,
implementing, and
optimizing operational
policies and
procedures (75%)
Evaluation of and
needs-identification
for tech-stack (73%)
Data analysis /
synthesis / reporting
(63%)

The marketing operations professional 16

Top Five Job Responsibilities Overall 2022 Rank 2023 Rank

Data analysis / synthesis / reporting 4 1

Designing, implementing, and

optimizing operational policies and 2 2
procedures

Data analysis / synthesis / reporting 4 1

Developing and implementing

software or system integrations / 1 4
systems

Data analysis / synthesis / reporting 4 1

The marketing operations professional 17

Most marketing operations pros administer the MAP
70% of the marketing operations professionals in this study
serve as administrators of their organization’s marketing
automation platforms, unchanged from last year’s study
findings. An additional 16% serve as developers or primary
users, making them key enablers of getting value out of
these systems.

The marketing operations professional 18

Fewer marketing ops pros have a side hustle
Last year, 60% of the study participants reported having no sought-after due to the digital transformation of marketing.
side projects or clients. This year, that figure creeps up to The shortage of professionals with these skills presents
65%. This shift is good for their primary employers who opportunities for those entering the field. AI, a very real part
command greater attention from their marketing of the evolving marketing operations landscape, may
operations employees as a result. provide firms of all sizes a welcome, timely resource to
bolster their efforts.
Perhaps fewer of these professionals need to freelance
given the demand for their talent. According to the The top reasons for taking on side projects or clients remain
ChiefMarTec.com blog, despite recent layoffs across the to make additional income (50%, compared to 47% in 2022)
tech industry, major companies are still hiring for senior or to learn or apply new skills (24%, down from 40% in
marketing technology roles. An analysis of LinkedIn profiles 2022).
shows around 150,000 people listing "marketing
technology" and around 680,000 listing "marketing
operations" in their profiles. While these numbers
demonstrate the growth of these professions, demand for
these professionals exceeds the supply. With approximately
333 million businesses worldwide, there are fewer than one
marketing technology or operations professional for every
400 companies. Furthermore, some large companies
employ dozens of these professionals, leaving smaller firms
to struggle hiring this talent. Despite the economic
uncertainty, marketing technology and operations skills are

The marketing operations professional 19

The marketing operations professional 20
The most desired next
career step is into a
management role
Identical to last year’s study, the largest number of
study participants (33%) aspire to move into a
management role and build a team that reports to
them.

The marketing operations professional 21

Manager or director
are the most common
levels of seniority
Almost three-fourths of study participants report
having a title of manager (24%), senior manager
(23%), director (19%), or senior director (8%). Those
in the executive ranks (7%) hold steady from last
year.

The marketing operations professional 22

Compensation is edging up year-over-year
The highest compensation bands in the study show slight
increases year-over-year. 5% of study participants fall in the
$250K+ annual compensation range, compared to 3% last
year. 26% are in the $151K to $250K salary range, versus
23% in 2022. The lowest end of the compensation range,
$50K or less, remained unchanged at 9%.
According to Darrell Alfonso, Director of Marketing Strategy
and Operations at Indeed.com, marketing operations is
generally a well-compensated profession. If you compare
marketing operations to the average income of other
professions, marketing operations is a well-compensated
profession.
Looking at compensation by seniority, there is very little
difference between the executive/VP level and the senior
director/director level, as the table below shows. Instead,
the study data suggests that employers are paying for
experience and that compensation is best in companies
with a total workforce of between 101 and 10,000.
The marketing operations professional 23
 $101K to Prefer not to
Seniority Level $50K or less $51K to $100K $151K+
$150K say

Executive/VP 12% 14% 22% 46% 18%

Sr. Director/Director 7% 6% 27% 56% 4%

Sr. Manager/Manager 8% 6% 27% 56% 3%

Specialist/Associate/ 14% 60% 24% 2% 0%
Coordinator

$101K to Prefer not to

Tenure $50K or less $51K to $100K $151K+
$150K say

Less than 3 years 24% 45% 21% 4% 6%

3 to 5 years 10% 26% 43% 17% 4%

6 to 9 years 4% 17% 40% 36% 3%

10+ years 4% 9% 24% 57% 6%

$101K to Prefer not to

Company Size $50K or less $51K to $100K $151K+
$150K say

100 or less employees 16% 21% 33% 24% 6%

101 to 1,000 7% 22% 31% 37% 3%

1,001 to 10,000 3% 21% 41% 32% 3%

Over 10,000 11% 26% 21% 32% 10%

The marketing operations professional 24

As experience increases so does involvement with
budget planning and management
Overall, just 16% of study participants report no
involvement in the marketing team’s planning and budget
“Budget aligns with resource management. As
management process. The degree of heavy budget
marketing operations teams gain more experience,
involvement varies significantly, from 13% for study
they realize that great business management is
participants with less than 3 years of experience, to 54% for
really the decision-making about where scarce
those with 10 or more years of experience.
resources go, including financial resources.”

The table below summarizes this involvement based on Darrell Alfonso

tenure. Director of Marketing Strategy
and OperationsIndeed.com

Heavily Somewhat
involved: involved: Management
Tenure Not at all Planning only
planning & planning & only
management management

Less than 3 years 13% 32% 22% 32% 1%

3 to 5 years 26% 36% 17% 16% 3%

6 to 9 years 32% 40% 14% 11% 0%

10+ years 54% 30% 5% 10% 0%

The marketing operations professional 25

The marketing operations professional 26
The view of which marketing ops responsibility
is most important changes with experience
Less experienced marketing operations professionals
(5 years or less) in this study view reporting and analytics as
their most important responsibility. Those with 6 or more
years see the revenue cycle definition and process as their
top responsibility.

The table below summarizes views of the most important

responsibility based on tenure.

Revenue
Strategic
Reporting & cycle Work & project None of
Tenure planning &
analytics definition & management these
budgeting process

Less than 3 29% 21% 22% 22% 6%

years

3 to 5 years 30% 18% 26% 19% 7%

6 to 9 years 20% 22% 30% 22% 6%

10+ yearsv 25% 25% 29% 18% 3%

The marketing operations professional 27

Most Marketing Operations
professionals have relevant certifications
Two-thirds (67%) of those in this study report
having some type of certification that lends
credibility and equips them better for work.

The least experienced (less than 3 years) and most

experienced (10+ years) segment of study
participants had the highest percentage of no
certifications at 45% and 40% respectively.

The marketing operations professional 28

 SECTION 03

MARKETING
OPERATIONS TEAMS
SECTION 03 / MARKETING OPERATIONS TEAMS
The top priority for teams in this year’s study is supporting
revenue operations and/or optimization. The second
priority is to improve campaign efficiency. The largest
companies in the study have slightly different top priorities:
improving campaign efficiency and improving/updating tech
stack integrations. Marketing operations teams are
increasingly being embedded within the data and analytics
team. They are playing an increasingly important role in
organizations, as evidenced by their close work with the
sales, sales operations, and C-suite teams.

Summary
● 81% of companies in the study have a dedicated marketing operations team.

● The majority of teams consist of 2 to 10 people.

● The most common KPIs used to evaluate team success are pipeline, revenue objectives, velocity
tracking, ROI, and conversions.

● Over two-thirds (69%) of teams in this study report to a person in a marketing leadership role.

● Just under half (42%) of marketing operations professionals are part of the broader marketing
team.

● About 70% of marketing operations teams work closely with the sales or sales operations teams.

● As an organization's annual revenues grow, the likelihood of marketing operations teams

working closely with the IT team increases.

Marketing operations teams 30

80%+ of companies have a dedicated
marketing operations team.
81% of companies in the study report having a dedicated
marketing operations team, no change from the previous
year’s study.

86% of study participants in the technology/software

industry, the largest segment in the study, have dedicated
teams in place.

The highest concentration of dedicated teams (95%) is

found in firms having $100.1 million to $500 million in
annual revenue. Smaller firms, those with $10 million or less
in annual revenue, are far less likely to have a dedicated
team (64%).

$10.1 $100.1 More

Dedicated $10 million to million to than
Marketing Ops million or $100 $500 $500
Team? less million million million

Yes 64% 85% 95% 88%

No 33% 15% 5% 12%

Not sure 3% 0% 0% 0%

Marketing operations teams 31

Centralized Marketing Ops teams are the norm.
Just over half (51%) of the teams in this study are part of a centralized team,
with hybrid centralized/decentralized team structure the second most
common (23%).

The marketing automation platform in use seems to influence team

structure. Pardot users are most likely to have a centralized team structure
(59%) then in decreasing order Marketo users (56%), Eloqua users (52%),
HubSpot users (47%), then Salesforce Marketing Cloud users (33%).

Marketing operations teams 32

Supporting revenue operations
is the top priority for 2023.
Marketing operations team priorities are virtually
identical year-over-year. One-third of teams set
supporting revenue operations and/or optimization
as top priority. Second priority for 20% of the teams is
improving campaign efficiency, an increase from last
year.

The largest companies in the study, those with over

$500 million in annual revenue, have different top
priorities: improving campaign efficiency and
improving/updating tech stack integrations. The table
below reveals how priorities shift based on company
size.

$10 million or less $10.1 million to $100 $100.1 million to $500

Main 2023 priority More than $500 million
million million
Supporting revenue ops Supporting revenue ops Supporting revenue ops Improving campaign
1st (36%) (39%) (36%) efficiency (23%)
Improving campaign Improving campaign Creating lifecycle Improving/ updating tech
2nd efficiency (22%) efficiency (15%) programs (18%) stack integrations (18%)
Data cleansing & hygiene Data cleansing & hygiene Improving campaign Supporting revenue ops
3rd (12%) (14%) efficiency (15%) (18%)

Marketing operations teams 33

Teams of 2 to 10 people are the
norm no matter the company size.
More teams consist of just one person this year
(31%) compared to last year. What’s most common
is for teams to consist of between 2 and 10
marketing operations professionals, regardless of
the company’s annual revenue. The table below
shows the breakdown of this data.

58% of study participants in the technology/

software industry have teams of 2 to 10 people. This
data suggests that it is difficult to justify growing
marketing operations teams larger than 10 people
unless there is consistently a high volume of
requests and campaigns coming from the
organization the team serves.

Marketing operations teams 34

 $10 million or $10.1 million to $100.1 million More than $500
Marketing Ops Team Size less $100 million to $500 million million

1 44% 42% 18% 6%

2 to 10 46% 53% 73% 51%

11 to 25 2% 1% 3% 26%

26 to 50 3% 2% 5% 4%

51 to 100 0% 0% 0% 8%

More than 100 1% 1% 0% 0%

Marketing operations teams 35

Pipeline remains the primary KPI for
evaluating marketing operations success.
The ranking of KPIs in use to evaluate the success of marketing
operations teams remains largely unchanged from last year:

1. Pipeline (Influenced, Sourced, and Last Touch to Opportunity): 6%

2. Revenue Objectives: 21%
3. Velocity Tracking between lifecycle stages: 14%
4. ROI: 12%
5. Conversions: 10%

This ranking of KPIs was the same for all teams of 25 or fewer
people. For teams of more than 25 people, a change in these
KPIs rankings occurred:

ROI 25%
Pipeline 25%
Integration & System Errors 21%
Revenue Objectives 17%

Marketing operations teams 36

Regardless of size, most teams report
to someone with a marketing title.
Over two-thirds (69%) of study participants’ marketing
operations teams report to a person who is in a
marketing leadership role: CMO, VP of marketing, or
director of marketing.

Regardless of team size, a majority of them report to a

person in the organization with a marketing title. While
over one-third (38%) of teams in firms having $10
million or less in annual revenue report to a C-level
executive, as annual revenues increase, it becomes
less likely for teams to report to a C-level executive as
the table below shows.

Marketing operations teams 37

 Marketing Ops $10 million or $10.1 million to $100.1 million $500+ million
Team Reports to: less $100 million to $500 million

CMO 24% 26% 33% 53%

VP of Marketing 17% 25% 22% 18%

Director of Marketing 10% 17% 24% 15%

CEO 14% 5% 3% 3%

COO 11% 5% 3% 4%

CTO 5% 3% 0% 3%

CFO 3% 5% 3% 0%

CRO 5% 10% 6% 0%

Marketing operations teams 38

Marketing Ops is most likely to live
within the broader marketing team.
Just under half (42%) of the professionals in this study
report being part of the broader marketing team, without a
specific concentration. As company annual revenues
increase, it is more likely for marketing ops to simply be part
of the broader marketing team. The largest v have the
highest incidence of embedding marketing ops within the
data and analytics team, as the table below shows.

Marketing Ops $10 million or $10.1 million to $100.1 million $500+ million
Team Reports to: less $100 million to $500 million

Demand Generation 21% 21% 18% 12%

Revenue Operation 22% 25% 16% 4%

BizOps 7% 3% 2% 4%

IT 1% 1% 0% 3%

Data & Analytics 3% 3% 5% 12%

Broadly Marketing 37% 39% 49% 47%

N/A 9% 8% 11% 18%

Marketing operations teams 39

Marketing operations teams 40
Almost half of Marketing Ops teams
work closely with the C-suite.
It’s no surprise to see that about 70% of the teams in this
study work closely with the sales or sales operations teams.
The fact that almost half (49%) also work with the C-suite or
leadership teams points to the importance and influence of
Marketing Operations in these organizations.

As an organization’s annual revenues grow from less than

$10 million to more than $500 million, the likelihood of
Marketing Operations working closely with the IT team
almost doubles, from 32% to 63%, as the table below
shows.

Marketing operations teams 41

 $10.1 million to $100.1 million to
Works closely with $10 million or less $500+ million
$100 million $500 million

Sales 69% 80% 76% 60%

Sales Operations 55% 80% 81% 69%

Revenue Operations 52% 67% 60% 34%

IT 32% 39% 56% 63%

Support 22% 16% 10% 7%

Client Success 38% 35% 25% 17%

C-Suite/Leadership 52% 51% 54% 43%

None 1% 0% 2% 1%

Other 10% 21% 19% 23%

Marketing operations teams 42

 SECTION 04

MARKETING TOOLS
+ TECHNOLOGY
SECTION 04 / MARKETING TOOLS + TECHNOLOGY
The use of spreadsheets is declining slightly in favor of more
specialized marketing operations tools. Marketo and
HubSpot are the leading marketing automation platforms
for small and medium-sized businesses, while Salesforce is
the leading CRM platform for large organizations. The ability
to integrate new technology with existing technology is
becoming increasingly important to marketing operations
teams. While ease-of-use is still important, it is not as
important as integration ability and meeting technical
compliance standards. Data enrichment and intent tools are
becoming increasingly important as teams focus on more
personalized and targeted marketing campaigns. AI and
analytics tools are also increasing in importance as teams
use data in more sophisticated ways.

Summary
● Spreadsheets remain the most used tool for marketing operations work, but usage
has decreased year-over-year from 57% to 47%.

● Marketo and Hubspot are the most popular marketing automation platforms, with
a combined market share among study participants of over 70%.

● Salesforce is the most popular CRM platform and has an adoption rate over 80%
for organizations with over $10 million in annual revenue.

● The ability to integrate new with existing technology is the most important
evaluation criterion for marketing operations tools and technology.

● Ease of use is also important, but becomes less important as organizations get bigger.

● Over half of the study participants plan to invest in data enrichment and intent tools in the
next 12 to 18 months, with AI and analytics tools also popular investment areas.

44
Spreadsheets remain the go-to
tool for Marketing Operations.
Spreadsheets are still the most used tool for doing
marketing operations work, but usage has dropped
from 57% in 2022 to 47% in the current year. Other
tools, such as Asana and JIRA hold steady in usage year
over year. Tied for third in usage with JIRA is the “Other
tools” category, generating 187 responses. Analysis of
other tools reveal that Monday.com is the most
frequently mentioned write-in response for 9% of
participants.

Marketing tools + Technology 45

95% of study participants use
marketing automation software.
Marketo and Hubspot command over a 70% share of the
marketing automation software in use by study participants.
Hubspot is the leader in firms that report $100 million or
less in annual revenue, as the table below shows. Only 5%
of study participants report not using marketing automation
software.

$10.1 $100.1
Marketing $10 million to million to $500+
Automation million or $100 $500 million
Platform less million million

Marketo 22% 37% 51% 51%

Hubspot 52% 39% 18% 10%

Pardot 5% 11% 16% 11%

Eloqua 3% 1% 5% 12%
Salesforce 1% 5% 5% 7%
Marketing Cloud

Marketing tools + Technology 46

Satisfaction with the Marketing
Automation platform holds steady.
The segment of study participants that is very satisfied with their
primary marketing automation platform remains steady year-to-year at
41%. Study participants who have used their platform for less than a
year have the lowest “very satisfied” rating percentage, at 39%. The
highest “very satisfied” rating percentage of 48% comes from those
who have used their platform between one and two years.

The largest companies in the study, those with more than $500 million
in annual revenue, recorded the highest “not at all satisfied” rating with
their platform at 9%, compared to 3% for the full sample.

Satisfaction varies significantly based on the platform in use, as the

table below shows.

Marketing Automation Platform % Very Satisfied

Marketo 43%
Hubspot 54%
Pardot 22%
Eloqua 21%
Salesforce Marketing Cloud 18%

Marketing tools + Technology 47

Marketing Automation platforms have staying power.
Almost three-fourths (74%) of study participants have used
their current Marketing Automation platform for three or
more years. Larger organizations correlate to longer
continuous usage. 84% of the largest organizations, those
with more than $500 million in annual revenue report using
the same platform for three or more years.

Marketing tools + Technology 48

Salesforce is the dominant CRM platform.
Salesforce continues to serve as the CRM platform of
choice. For the organizations with $10 million or less in
annual revenue, HubSpot (39%) rivals Salesforce (46%)
in adoption. Above $10 million in annual revenue, the
Salesforce share of CRM adoption exceeds 80%.

Marketing tools + Technology 49

Ability to integrate new technology with existing
is the most important evaluation criterion.
The ability to integrate new technology with existing technology
is the highest ranking evaluation criterion, with 80% ranking at
the top evaluation criterion compared to 69% last year.

Ease of use is equally important across all organizations

regardless of size. As organizations get bigger, the ability to
integrate and meet technical compliance standards also
increases. Price, on the other hand, becomes less important in
the evaluation.

$10.1 $100.1
$10 million to million to $500+
Evaluation Criteria million or $100 $500 million
less million million
Ability to integrate 75% 78% 91% 89%

Price 55% 51% 44% 35%

Product scalability 38% 53% 57% 43%

Ease of use 36% 39% 40% 37%

Meet compliance 25% 30% 32% 53%
standards

Marketing tools + Technology 50

Data enrichment and intent tools
will get the greatest investment.
Over half (53%) of study participants will likely
invest in data enrichment and intent tools in the
next 12 to 18 months. Also high on the list for
investment are AI (generative text, generative
video, translation, etc. at 44%) and analytics
(43%) tools.

This order of technology investment is the same

for companies up to $500 million in annual
revenue. Companies over $500 million in annual
revenue rank ABM tools as the second biggest
technology investment, with AI and analytics
tools tied for third.

Marketing tools + Technology 51

 SECTION 05

WHAT’S NEXT FOR

MARKETING
OPERATIONS?
SECTION 05 / WHAT’S NEXT FOR
MARKETING OPERATIONS?
The top thing companies can do to better support
marketing operations is to improve alignment between
teams. The desire for better alignment between teams is
universal, regardless of experience level or company size.
The digital maturity of marketing operations teams has
regressed since last year’s study. However, organizations
with dedicated marketing operations teams are more likely
to be at a higher level of digital maturity. The certifications
that marketing operations professionals have influence the
digital maturity of the organizations they work for.

Summary
● 15% of study participants report better alignment between teams is the
top thing companies can do to better support marketing operations.

● The percentage of organizations operating at the lowest levels of digital

maturity (Levels 1 and 2) has increased from 32% to 52%.

● The percentage of marketing operations professionals with no

certifications has decreased from 49% to 20% as the digital maturity of
their organizations has increased.

● Almost all (91%) of organizations at Level 4 have a dedicated marketing

operations team, compared to 58% of organizations at Level 1.

What’s next for marketing operations? 53

Marketing Operations professionals desire greater
alignment between teams.
Last year, study participants identified job clarity around a more defined, dedicated role as the biggest thing companies
could do to better support marketing operations. That desire ranks 7th in this year’s study.

This year better alignment between teams is the top thing companies can do to better support marketing operations,
according to 15% of study participants. The votes were fairly evenly distributed across the suggestions, indicating wide
variance of opinion about what would best help. This year’s rankings are:

Better alignment between teams 15%

More headcount 11%
Take the time to understand marketing operations 10%
More budget/resources 9%
Valuing marketing operations 9%
Clear objectives 9%
A dedicated role, more defined roles, job clarity 7%

Better alignment between teams is the top, universal desire for

all levels of experience and all sizes of company except for
companies of $100 million or less, where it ranks a close second.

What’s next for marketing operations? 54

What’s next for marketing operations? 55
Digital maturity has taken a step back in 2023.
Digital maturity has regressed year-over-year, with 52% operating at Levels 1 and 2,
compared to 32% at this level last year. Some of this variation is probably due to the
high percentage of “not sure” responses last year (29%) compared to this year (2%).

The digital maturity rating scale this survey uses is 2022 2023

Primarily using email for “point-in-time” campaigns 7% 13%

Automated 2-4 channels but they are not integrated; 25% 39%
doing some nurturing campaigns
Integration automation for multiple channels; 24% 31%
doing advanced segmentation, personalization and nurturing
Fully integrated communications channels within campaigns; 8% 9%
doing full life-cycle nurturing with personalized content
Varies significantly across the organization 7% 6%

Not sure 29% 2%

Digital maturity of study participants did not vary based on company size.

What’s next for marketing operations? 56

 Level % of participants having no certifications

1. 49%

2. 32%

3. 28%

4. 20%

The certifications study participants have influence the

digital maturity of the organizations they work for:

Almost all (91%) of Level 4 study participants have a

dedicated Marketing Operations team, compared to
58% of Level 1 participants.

What’s next for marketing operations? 57

 SECTION 06

CONCLUSION
SECTION 06 / CONCLUSION
Today’s technology landscape continues to expand and
offer better, more powerful tools and capabilities. In this
mix are marketing operations professionals, serving in key
roles to help their organizations unlock the full value to the
technology trends sweeping through industry, including:

● Death of the cookie

● Privacy and compliance management (GDPR)

● Product-led growth

● The consumerization of B2B Data*

● Warehouse native technologies

● AI and ML across the tech stack to automate

marketing and sales tasks once done manually

These trends will shape the marketing operations workplace

for years to come, ensuring that marketing operations
talent remains in high demand.

* Watch our discussion on this emerging trend at:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRrTOobqEho

59
 SECTION 07

METHODOLOGY
SECTION 07 / METHODOLOGY
This 2023 State of the Marketing Operations Professional
survey was administered online from May 17, 2023 until
August 22, 2023. During this period, 750 responses were
collected, and 553 were qualified and complete enough for
inclusion in the analysis. Only valid or correlated findings
are shared in this report.
The representativeness of this study’s results depends on
the similarity of the sample to environments in which this
survey data is used for comparison or guidance.
Summarized below is the basic categorization data collected
about respondents to enable filtering and analysis of the
data:
61
Methodology 62
Methodology 63