Marketo certified expert, Valerie Whiting, is an experienced automation manager with a demonstrated history of working in the computer software industry. She is skilled in marketing automation, marketing technologies, sales enablement, customer relationship management (CRM), Salesforce, and management. In an opportunity to interview her, we were amazed by her achievement and would truly like to address her as one of the ‘Top 20 Marketing Operations Warriors’.
About Valerie Whiting
Valerie Whiting: With over nine years of experience in marketing automation and operations, I currently work as a Marketing Operations Manager from Dallas, Texas. Though I primarily work with Marketo automation platform, I have started learning about other marketing automation tools as well.
Reasons to love marketing operations
Valerie Whiting: Over the years, I have developed a deep passion for marketing operations and love developing and improving processes to help drive the pipeline and improve the overall customer journey. I enjoy working with different teams and systems to find a solution to a problem or to improve a process. The fact that marketing operations require me to use my analytical and creative skills to find the best solution is what I like the most about it.
One thing people should innovate for marketing operations
Valerie Whiting: I want the industry to come up with a single database platform that does not require syncing between multiple systems. This means a place you can keep your database consistently clean in one place, have one place to pull reporting from, one place as the source of truth for data sources and changes, and no syncing issues between systems resulting in lost or changed data.
Familiar marketing operations tools
Valerie Whiting: I have used many tools over the years and have become most familiar with Marketo, SalesForce, and Outreach. I have also used and admired several other webinar platforms such as BrightTalk, GoToWebinar, WebEx, and On24, project management systems such as Wrike and Workfront, analytics platforms like Tableau, Bizible, and Hive9. Since there are several tools available to help solve many issues, it is important to find the right ones and not overstress your tech stack.
Most satisfying victory in marketing career
Valerie Whiting: Successfully training and motivating several junior members and employees over the years to become successful and passionate MOPs stars has been the most satisfying victory of my marketing career.
Biggest mistake as a marketing operations professional
Valerie Whiting: Along the journey, I have learned a lot that has helped me to get where I am today. But the biggest thing that I have learned is to be patient and take your time. Rushing things usually end up with many mistakes and issues. There are often many ways to do things, so finding the best and the most efficient way to do something can take time and rigorous thinking. Taking the time to build something correctly and not forcing the process is very important.
Common problems and challenges of global marketing operations teams
Valerie Whiting: There are a lot of challenges faced by marketing operation teams globally. I think many of those challenges can be solved by different technologies, but that in itself can be a major challenge. You have to be careful and build your architecture in a way that things will continue to work together. Most marketing operations teams keep building upon their structure without thinking about the bigger picture, and eventually, the architecture starts imploding on itself. It is important to build the bigger picture first and hold tightly to any operational rules you have established.
Advice to marketing operations professionals
Valerie Whiting: I wish when I first started in marketing operations, I had been told that mistakes happen and there are several ways to solve a challenge. If you make a mistake, do not spend too much time beating yourself up. Take a beat to realize what you did wrong, make sure you do not do it again, and then find another way to solve the issue.
Positive impacts with COVID
Valerie Whiting: COVID has had a major impact on many people’s lives. For me, the most positive thing that came out of COVID was forcing myself to take a step back and reevaluate what is important in my life. This has also allowed me to rebalance my life between personal and work priorities and also find time to make sure I work on my mental and emotional wellbeing.
Favorite MarTech tools
Valerie Whiting: I love many different MarTech tools because there is almost always something to take help from for every challenge I face in my job. I think my favorites include Marketo, Siftrock, Integrate, and GoToWebinar.
Favorite outfit to wear at work
Valerie Whiting: I would love to wear leggings and a cosy sweater to work every day.
Secret to achieve transformation and innovation
Valerie Whiting: Transformation and innovation is the key to keep your business moving forward, but also very hard to keep alive in any organization because it gets buried in the day to day grind. To help keep it alive in my team, I give them a project of their choice to work on every quarter that improves our systems or processes. This not only keeps them engaged, improves their skills, and balances with the daily ground but also helps in improving and innovating on our system.
Secrets of being a successful marketing operations warrior without stress
Valerie Whiting: Over the years, I realized that to continue being a Marketing Ops warrior, I have to manage my stress. I do this by finding a balance between work and my personal life. Being able to cut off from work at the end of the day is important. For me the thing that helped me achieve this the most is by working out at the gym at the end of my workday, this forces me to stop working and helps my brain disconnect from the day and look forward to the rest of the evening. Also, working out is a great stress reliever in general!
Thoughts on work-life balance
Valerie Whiting: I have learned how truly important work-life balance is, after years of prioritizing work over life. Previously, for a few years, I would have worked anywhere for 60 to 80 hours a week, and it really used to burn me out. There is always work to be done, but it is important to balance work with your personal life in order to avoid burnout. It is also important to find a good balance with things that makes you happy outside work to keep your stress levels down. Finding a company that encourages this balance is crucial to finding a balance.
Five words that best describe Valerie
Valerie Whiting: Passionate, detail-oriented, shy but talkative, organized, and funny are the five words that best describe me.
Fun activities
Valerie Whiting: I love to spend time outside, whether that is hiking, walking, or relaxing on the patio with family and friends! I also love to cook for other people.
The skillset of a successful marketing operation team
Valerie Whiting: The best marketing operations teams are filled with people who are not only technical and analytical but also creative in their problem-solving. They have to know how to analyze a problem and think of the different ways to solve the problem and then choose the best solution. Being detail-oriented and able to view the bigger picture is also very important as you not only have to get into the weeds but also drive towards the bigger goals of the team and organization. Finally, team members who are passionate about driving the overall business goals are important to make the team successful within the organization.
Thank you, Valerie, for giving us detailed insight into the life of a marketing operation professional and what should be the ideal way to approach his or her work to be successful. Your inspiring answers to our questions are really helpful and will help our readers gain an understanding of how to become a successful marketing operations professional.
