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When I first entered the world of marketing, I thought I had all the answers. I was confident, eager to prove my worth and determined to be transformative. Marketing was where the magic happened — get the right message to the right person at the right time, and the results would follow. But when I stepped into a completely different role as a franchisee in the restaurant industry, everything I thought I knew about marketing was put to the test.
I poured my energy into building innovative marketing campaigns, convinced that strategic execution would be my competitive advantage. I invested in advertising, digital outreach, promotions and partnerships. I handed out flyers, talked to local businesses and did everything I could to get our name out there. But despite my best efforts, sales weren’t where they should have been and my marketing wasn’t translating into real business impact.
That’s when it hit me: Marketing doesn’t work without operations. The real driver of my business wasn’t my advertising strategy, email marketing, or promotional offers — it was my customer experience. The people I hired, how I trained them, the cleanliness of my stores, the speed and quality of service and the consistency of our operations — these factors dictated success. The more I focused on refining these elements, the more effective my marketing became.
Marketing is only as strong as its foundation. When operations are robust, marketing amplifies that strength. But if the experience is broken, no amount of advertising can fix it. Marketing doesn’t build a great business — it exposes the one you already have. That realization changed everything about how I approached marketing from that point forward.
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Translating operations insights to marketing leadership
With this shift in perspective, I began applying the principles of operations to how I built and led my marketing teams — and I found my competitive edge in the process. Great operations leaders have maniacal attention to detail, are always focused on measurement and are obsessed with line-level accountability — fundamentals I now use every day in marketing.
But there was even more I culled as I refined my approach to marketing leadership, such as:
- Role Clarity and Accountability:
In operations, roles are clear and each person is accountable to the whole. I applied this same clarity to marketing by creating specialized teams — brand, content, performance, CX and product — each with specific areas of focus but always in close collaboration. We established accountability to numbers just like operations. Everyone knew their metrics, and we reviewed them constantly. - Agility and Sprints:
Operations teams excel at agile project management, which involves sprints of intense work with regular check-ins. I brought this into marketing by setting short, focused cycles for campaigns. This allowed us to stay on track, measure success quickly and adjust when necessary. It also helped prevent burnout, as the team could dive into tasks with clear goals for a limited period of time, ensuring focus without fatigue. - Customer-Centric Thinking:
One of the first things I learned in operations is that the best teams see everything through the lens of the customer. I started thinking about marketing the same way—how every campaign, every message, every piece of content impacts the customer experience. Our marketing had to be an extension of the operational excellence we were already delivering. - Continuous Improvement:
Just like in operations, I applied a culture of constant testing and learning in marketing. We didn’t fear failure; we saw it as a learning opportunity. We quickly piloted new ideas, adjusted based on real-time feedback and refined our strategies continuously.
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When operational thinking solves marketing challenges
A pivotal example of how I applied this operations mindset was when I was working with The Joint Chiropractic. Despite significant investments in marketing, we saw stagnant new patient acquisition. Our digital campaigns were generating leads, but they weren’t converting into memberships.
Instead of spending more money on marketing, we took a step back and mapped out the patient journey from the first touchpoint to the clinic visit. Through this root-cause analysis, we discovered that the issue wasn’t marketing but operational inefficiencies at the unit level. Leads weren’t converting because response times were too slow, and follow-ups were inconsistent.
We solved this problem by working with the operations team to create a standardized follow-up process. We reduced response time from hours to under 15 minutes, integrated CRM tools and set up automated reminders for clinic staff. Within three months, conversion rates jumped by 15% and our marketing ROI soared. This was a direct result of aligning marketing with the operations team. When these two disciplines work together, the impact is unstoppable.
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A new way to build marketing teams
So, how do we rebuild marketing from the ground up with an operations-driven mindset? Here’s how:
- Clear Roles and Accountability:
Define roles clearly within your marketing team. Each function should have specific expertise, whether it’s brand, performance, content, or customer experience. At the same time, cross-functional collaboration must be ensured to maintain alignment. - Real-Time Data and Metrics:
Operations teams thrive on real-time data and performance metrics. Marketing teams should do the same. Integrate performance dashboards and measure marketing success not just by vanity metrics but by the real business impact — like conversion rates, customer retention and profitability. - Customer Experience at the Heart of Marketing:
Always align marketing with the customer experience. Your marketing should reflect what you actually deliver to customers. If operations are subpar, your marketing will be inauthentic. - Agile Mindset and Continuous Improvement:
Apply agile principles to marketing — short cycles, regular check-ins and quick iterations. This allows teams to adapt quickly, innovate and learn from failure without getting bogged down in process or protocol.
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Looking back on my journey, I can say with certainty that marketing is enabled by operations. The most successful marketing teams are those that integrate operational principles — accountability, focus and a deep commitment to delivering meaningful customer value — into everything they do. By bringing these precepts to the forefront, marketing can evolve into a more strategic and aligned discipline that unlocks real business value.
The future of marketing leadership isn’t about flashy campaigns or trend-chasing — it’s about discipline, execution and structuring marketing to drive sustained, measurable success. The best marketing leaders think like operators. They don’t just market products — they build businesses.
