Connecting for growth: Reimagining your marketing operating model
Accelerating marketing efforts requires a holistic approach for agile transformation
In today's rapidly evolving marketing landscape, CMOs face increasing complexity, expanding responsibilities, and higher expectations—all while facing pressure to drive growth and demonstrate ROI. The key to unlocking marketing's full potential requires fundamentally reimagining your marketing operating model, not through incremental adjustments.
The Expanding Marketing Mandate
Marketing leaders now wear multiple hats, with responsibilities extending far beyond traditional marketing functions. Marketing departments increasingly own or influence product innovation, sales/e-commerce, AI strategy, pricing decisions, and more. This expanded scope creates both opportunities and challenges.
Successful CMOs recognize this evolution requires more than adding new technologies or hiring specialized talent. It demands a holistic transformation of how marketing operates—connecting teams, ways of working, and expertise to drive growth.
Three Pillars of a Future-Fit Marketing Operating Model
Organizations with robust marketing operating models outperform peers by creating clear links between marketing activities and business outcomes. To achieve this, focus on three interconnected pillars:
1. Connecting Teams Through Organizational Structure
The most common challenge facing marketing organizations is siloed structures with insufficient cross-functional collaboration.
Effective organizations address this by:
Mobilizing beyond reporting lines: Creating cross-functional teams with shared goals and end-to-end accountability
Strategic centralization: Establishing centers of excellence for key capabilities like AI/generative AI, while maintaining local flexibility for market execution
Breaking down barriers: Dismantling silos between brand teams, creative, performance marketing, analytics, and technology functions
Companies that have brought multiple functions under a unified marketing umbrella have seen improved collaboration and more coherent growth strategies.
2. Connecting Ways of Working Through Governance and Culture
Clear governance and an agile culture are essential for pivoting quickly and adapting to changing consumer landscapes.
Leading organizations focus on:
Establishing clear decision rights: Defining precise roles, responsibilities, and process flows to enable faster decision-making
Fostering agility: Creating a test-and-scale culture where teams can experiment without fear of failure
Building ownership mentality: Assigning clear growth objectives rather than predefined activities
Organizations that dedicate time to proactive planning, spend analysis, backlog management, and ideation create more efficient marketing operations.
3. Connecting Expertise to Growth Drivers Through Capabilities
Marketing leaders must invest in growth capabilities, balancing new technologies with human expertise.
Key focus areas include:
Embedding analytics and customer data: Building integrated data ecosystems for comprehensive customer views
Embracing AI and generative AI: Developing capabilities that enhance creative output, personalization, and efficiency
Developing "T-shaped" talent: Building multidisciplinary competencies across customer centricity, full-funnel marketing, measurement, and marketing technology
Creating strategic partnerships: Cultivating an ecosystem of external partners aligned with business outcomes
Building Your Connected Operating Model
To transform your marketing operating model successfully:
Define a clear North Star: Establish your marketing vision and tie it to concrete business objectives before restructuring teams
Focus on new ways of working: Prioritize cross-functional processes and capability building over rearranging org charts
Take a holistic approach: Address the entire marketing ecosystem rather than solving isolated issues
Celebrate early wins: Demonstrate value to build organizational momentum and acceptance
The Path Forward
The most successful marketing transformations combine hiring, acquisition, and upskilling—with the heaviest emphasis on upskilling existing talent. Make capability building a strategic priority, not an afterthought.
Companies leading in this space make learning journeys mandatory for all employees—including C-suite executives—signaling that digital transformation is a critical strategic initiative rather than a peripheral concern.
Conclusion
A connected marketing operating model isn't just nice to have—it's essential for competing in today's complex landscape. Organizations that successfully connect teams, ways of working, and capabilities can realize significant improvements in customer satisfaction, sales conversion, cost efficiency, and employee engagement.
The time to transform is now. As customer expectations continue to rise and the competitive landscape evolves, the organizations that reimagine their marketing operating models will be positioned to drive sustainable growth and deliver superior customer experiences.