Roberto Rodriguez, a highly respected thought leader and subject matter expert in B2B and B2C digital marketing, advertising, and marketing operations, sat for an interview with MarTech Pulse. His excellent knowledge in digital ecosystem evaluation and optimization, along with experience in SEO, SMM, ASO best practices, and CRM program ideation and development has led him to become a Marketing Operations Warrior.
Here’s what he has to say about Marketing Operations –
About Roberto Rodiguez
Roberto Rodiguez: With my dynamic personality to operate well in ambiguity and a fast-paced environment, I am a proven leader with a strong strategy, product development and marketing operations background. I am also an experienced people manager who has built teams and managed the ongoing talent pool in dynamic, high-matrix, and virtual environments, besides being a strategic planner with global experience and a keen concentration on the customer.
Roberto’s reasons to love marketing operations
Roberto Rodiguez: As a marketing operations leader, I strive for moments that require complex problem solving and innovation to drive growth within the organizations I support, and marketing operations continually provide that. My passion within the marketing function revolves around the technological implementations of marketing operations as the leading source of process development & optimization, lead funnel management, sales & marketing automation, as well as for analytics & reporting.
One thing people should innovate for marketing operations
Roberto Rodiguez: The marketing industry needs a solution to drive growth and awareness within the space to help develop the role within the marketing function. Thus, I would love for someone to create a mobile application-based conversational user experience tool, leveraging machine learning and AI, that can walk marketing operation leaders and analysts down the path of process evaluation, optimization, automation, training, and development.
One thing people should forget about marketing operations
Roberto Rodiguez: I wouldn’t want people to forget anything about marketing operations at all. Every marketing operations leader should focus on driving awareness and adoption, be it in small and medium business sectors or some enterprise-level organizations.
Familiar marketing operations tools
Roberto Rodiguez: I have used a multitude of tools during my career in marketing operations spanning from marketing automation to social media management and reporting.
Currently, my toolbox consists of Eloqua, Pardot, Marketo, Salesforce, SAP, Tableau, PowerBI, Adobe Analytics, Google Data Studio, Sprinklr, SEMrush, SEOmoz, Jotform, iCapture, ON24, Brightcove, Adobe Experience Manager, and many more.
Most satisfying victory in marketing career
Roberto Rodiguez: The most satisfying experience I have had to date is my enterprise-wide initiative to develop a global back-office marketing operations team dedicated to the management of all campaign automation & execution, lead funnel management, attribution tracking, as well as reporting & analytics.
Throughout this journey, I have learned that the early adoption of marketing operations within the campaign process can increase the overall performance and ROI of any marketing campaign.
Biggest mistake as a marketing operations professional
Roberto Rodiguez: My biggest mistake in my marketing career was the assumption that resources within both the sales and marketing functions had a fundamental grasp of how marketing works as a whole and its benefits to the organization. This assumption led to significant delays in the adoption and optimization of business processes that drive revenue growth.
Recommended books or podcasts
Roberto Rodiguez: I am currently listening to a book on Audible called “ABM is B2B, Why B2B Marketing and Sales is Broken and How to Fix It” by Angram Vajre and Eric Spett.
Thoughts on outsourcing marketing operations
Roberto Rodiguez: Due to the lack of technological and data-based knowledge and insights, challenges within the marketing function typically revolve around audience identification and tactical execution. Also, the dearth of marketing IQ within most marketing functions is sadly very high as most integrated marketers these days are more focused on project management of a campaign rather than the ideation of a sound strategy. Thus, these activities can be easily outsourced to more cost-effective channels that can drive higher performance outcomes.
Common problems and challenges of global marketing operations teams
Roberto Rodiguez: The most common challenge that exists within a global marketing operations team is the awareness and adoption of processes within both the sales and marketing functions. It is due to a severe lack of technological “chops,” preventing effective sales enablement and allowing marketers to create ineffective customer journeys that do not deliver the results needed to drive growth.
Advice to marketing operations professionals
Roberto Rodiguez: Data, data, data! The data and lead intelligence that is collected throughout the customer journey, whether organic or triggered through paid efforts, is critical to the success of marketing. These insights enable the marketing operations team to make a better business decision, identify gaps and dependencies within various processes, and drive performance.
Positive impacts with COVID
Roberto Rodiguez: To be frank, COVID has not made any positive or negative impact on my business career. I have worked remotely for many years now and have been accustomed to focusing on establishing great relationships within my network. On a personal level, the impact of COVID has positively increased the amount of time I spend with my children as they are attending virtual school and are home every day.
Favorite MarTech tools
Roberto Rodiguez: I would say Eloqua, Oracle’s enterprise-level marketing automation platform, is my favorite tool as it enables marketers to track, monitor, and develop a robust level of lead intelligence and insights that can drive revenue growth.
Favorite outfit to wear at work
Roberto Rodiguez: If there were no dress codes, I would probably wear a pair of jeans and a hoodie.
Secret to achieve transformation and innovation
Roberto Rodiguez: Keeping innovation alive within an organization is critical to the motivation of the sales and marketing function as it keeps them engaged. I also take a progressive approach to my marketing operations development roadmap, making sure that I put out something new and fresh every quarter throughout the fiscal year, which subsequently drives interest and excitement.
Secrets of being a successful marketing operations warrior without stress
Roberto Rodiguez: I don’t really get stressed. I focus on the development of talent and experience within my team. Every member of the team is cross-trained and is given the opportunity to become a subject matter expert in many marketing disciplines to ensure they understand not only the strategy and execution but can also align with the organization’s business goals and objectives. This level of expertise within the team of resources prevents stress from ever even developing within me.
Thoughts on work-life balance
Roberto Rodiguez: Balance is the most important requirement for everything in life. Without it, you will lose focus and subsequently become unhappy. As global leaders, we typically fall into the category of “Work Horse” as we continually strive to build and optimize. However, without the appropriate outlets in your personal life, you will find yourself drowning in whatever activity your scale falls heavy on.
Five words that best describe Roberto
Roberto Rodiguez: Nerdy, focused, driven, coach, and expert are the five words that best describe me.
Fun activities
Roberto Rodiguez: I love doing Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai and also enjoy watching my sons play football on Friday nights.
The skillset of a successful marketing operation team
Roberto Rodiguez: Technology and automation are key to make your job more manageable and help your marketing team function more efficiently. At the same time, campaign analysis and reporting drive growth and data management, workflow process, and development are critical to decision making and resource optimization. Moreover, talent development enables scalability within the function and project management is the skill used to oversee all other tasks and functions.
Thank you, Roberto, for enlightening our readers and us on a marketing operations professionals’ personal and professional life. To be successful, one needs to continually grow his/her knowledge around the industry and also build a vast network.
