The MOps Leap: Transitioning into Strategic Marketing Roles with Rick Collins

Text us your thoughts on the episode or the show!In today's episode,  we talk with Irwin Hipsman, founder of Repititos, to explore the often-overlooked world of customer marketing and the critical role of customer contact data. Irwin shares findings from his recent research report on the state of customer contact databases, revealing why so many organizations struggle with poor data quality and how it impacts customer communications, renewals, and crisis response.Together, they dive into:The definition of customer contact databases and why focusing on individuals—not accounts—is crucial.Key findings from Irwin's research, including an industry-average database health score of just 47%.The importance of cross-functional teams in maintaining healthy customer data.Actionable steps ops professionals can take to assess, clean, and maintain customer data health.Why better customer data translates directly into stronger customer relationships, higher retention, and better crisis management.Whether you're in marketing ops, customer marketing, or revenue operations, this conversation offers practical insights that can help transform your organization's approach to customer data management.Access the customer health score assessment here.Access Irwin's report here.Episode Brought to You By MO Pros The #1 Community for Marketing Operations ProfessionalsSupport the show

Text us your thoughts on the episode or the show!On todays episode, we talk with Rick Collins, Vice President of Demand Generation at ConnectWise, to explore his unconventional yet inspiring journey from IT to marketing operations and ultimately into executive marketing leadership. Rick shares how he transitioned from managing systems to driving demand, the pivotal career moments that shaped his path, and the leadership lessons he’s learned along the way. Whether you're early in your marketing ops career or looking to break into leadership, this conversation is packed with valuable takeaways on navigating transitions, building trust, and expanding your influence.Tune in to hear:Rick’s unique career path from IT and QA into marketing operations and eventually to a VP role in demand generation.How to leverage technical and relational skills to create career mobility within marketing.The importance of curiosity, relationship-building, and challenging assumptions—internally and externally—for leadership growth.Insights into managing through organizational change, including private equity acquisitions and team restructuring.Tips on transitioning from managing ICs to managing other managers, including the importance of communication, presentation skills, and executive alignment.Episode Brought to You By MO Pros The #1 Community for Marketing Operations ProfessionalsSupport the show

Text us your thoughts on the episode or the show!The rise of AI tools has dramatically changed the landscape of email marketing and sales outreach, creating both exciting opportunities and significant risks. As Mustafa Saeed, co-founder and CEO of Luella, explains in this eye-opening conversation, many revenue teams are now "scared shitless" about how their reps might abuse these powerful new technologies.When AI-powered automation tools are implemented without proper guardrails, organizations face serious threats to their brand reputation, domain health, and even compliance standing. The problem isn't AI itself, but rather "AI coupled with reckless automation" that floods inboxes with content that lacks genuine value. As email service providers like Google and Microsoft respond with increasingly aggressive spam filters, even legitimate messages from trusted senders are getting caught in the crossfire.The solution isn't abandoning AI but reimagining how we use it. While many AI tools promise to remove humans from the loop, Saeed argues for bringing them back in through thoughtful collaboration between humans and AI agents. This approach combines the best of both worlds—AI's ability to analyze vast datasets and humans' talent for building authentic relationships.Episode Brought to You By MO Pros The #1 Community for Marketing Operations ProfessionalsSupport the show

Text us your thoughts on the episode or the show!Ever wondered why your marketing data isn't delivering the insights you need? The answer lies in what Nicole Alvarez calls "the ugly work" – those essential but unglamorous tasks that create the foundation for beautiful marketing results.In today's episode, Nicole, a Solutions Architect at ClearPivot with a fascinating background in psychology and cognitive science, explains why field audits, permission sets, and process documentation deserve more attention. Drawing from her experience across multiple industries, she reveals how these behind-the-scenes elements enable the exciting, visible outcomes that marketing teams celebrate.We explore a powerful technique for demonstrating the value of data cleanup – building reports with bad data to show stakeholders why investment in data quality matters. When executives see inaccurate reports that don't reflect business reality, they better understand why dedicating resources to "boring" operational work is essential. Whether you're struggling to maintain clean data, communicate the value of operations work to executives, or simply looking to improve your marketing systems, this episode offers practical wisdom from seasoned professionals. Subscribe to OpsCast for more insights on the critical work that happens behind the scenes in successful marketing operations.Episode Brought to You By MO Pros The #1 Community for Marketing Operations ProfessionalsSupport the show

Text us your thoughts on the episode or the show!Join us as we welcome back Garrath Robinson and first-time guest Sebastian Hidalgo from RevXcel for a deep dive into what it really takes to execute a go-to-market (GTM) strategy effectively today. Spoiler: it’s not just about tactics or tools—it’s about speed, trust, and team unity.Garrath and Sebastian challenge the old playbook of siloed teams and rigid strategies, and instead offer practical insights into how GTM execution needs to evolve to match buyer behavior and internal team dynamics. From sales being the true face of the brand to using frameworks like STRIKE and SWAT to stay agile, this conversation is packed with hard-earned lessons and bold takes.💡 Episode HighlightsWhy connection and speed are the only competitive advantages left in a post-AI worldHow frontline execution—not just strategy—can make or break your GTM motionThe gap between marketing and sales (and why the “revenue team” mindset matters more than ever)Why “best practices” might be your biggest blocker to moving fast and being relevantHow frameworks like STRIKE and SWAT bring clarity and execution back to the people doing the work🎧 Tune in to rethink how your team shows up at every stage of the buyer journey—and why now’s the time to ditch the handoffs and play as one team.Episode Brought to You By MO Pros The #1 Community for Marketing Operations ProfessionalsSupport the show

Text us your thoughts on the episode or the show!Feeling swamped by marketing operations busy work?AI-powered automation can help you reclaim your time — but knowing what’s real versus hype isn’t easy.In this episode, Tarun Arora, a marketing tech veteran and founder of RevCrew, explains how AI goes beyond traditional rule-based automation by handling tasks that require human judgment. He shares how "agentic AI" systems act like virtual team members — making decisions, managing your tools, and only checking in when needed.You'll hear real-world examples, from inbox management and campaign optimization to audience selection, showing how AI can eliminate busy work and free you up for more strategic projects.Tarun also offers practical advice on where to start: focus on your biggest needs first, test real use cases, and remember — this is just mile one.Episode Brought to You By MO Pros The #1 Community for Marketing Operations ProfessionalsSupport the show

Text us your thoughts on the episode or the show!When your marketing team needs to produce thousands of content pieces each month, the operational challenges can become overwhelming. In this eye-opening conversation with Satej Sirur, founder and CEO of Rocketium, we explore the emerging field of Creative Operations and how it's transforming how enterprise brands manage their content production.Satej shares how his "pet project" evolved into a platform that now helps performance marketers and creative teams work more efficiently together. We unpack the fundamental tension between creative expression and performance optimization - a struggle familiar to anyone who's tried balancing brand guidelines with marketing results.The most fascinating insights come when we discuss what makes creative content perform well. While marketers claim to be data-driven, few have systematically analyzed which creative elements drive results. Should your logo be larger in awareness campaigns? Does showing a product outside its packaging perform better than inside? Most decisions rely on gut feelings rather than data. Rocketium changes this by extracting creative attributes and correlating them with performance metrics to identify winning patterns.For organizations producing high volumes of content (2,000+ pieces monthly) with substantial teams (10+ members) and significant ad spend ($5-10M minimum), Creative Ops solutions offer a way to eliminate repetitive tasks and focus on strategic decisions. Satej emphasizes that technology alone isn't enough - implementing these solutions requires a cultural shift toward data-informed decision-making while still respecting creative expertise.Episode Brought to You By MO Pros The #1 Community for Marketing Operations ProfessionalsSupport the show

Text us your thoughts on the episode or the show!What does it take to elevate marketing operations from a technical support function to a strategic business driver? AJ Driscoll reveals how understanding product marketing fundamentals transformed his career trajectory from system administrator to co-leader of an entire marketing department.The journey begins with a data-driven approach to validating and refining ideal customer profiles (ICPs). Rather than accepting conventional wisdom about target markets, AJ demonstrates how combining quantitative analysis with qualitative research creates powerful insights that sales teams can actually use. He walks us through his methodology for evaluating historical win rates, customer demographics, and industry trends to identify where businesses should focus their efforts.Most remarkably, AJ shares his unique philosophy on cross-functional collaboration. "My job is to help other people be better at their jobs," he explains, detailing how this service-oriented mindset helped him build relationships throughout his organizations. From creating automated alerts for sales teams to designing ROI tracking systems with finance, these collaborative efforts eventually earned him company-wide recognition typically reserved for top salespeople.For marketing operations professionals looking to expand their impact, AJ offers practical advice on developing business intelligence skills and becoming industry experts. He shares how new AI tools have accelerated the research process, allowing ops professionals to quickly gain domain knowledge that enhances their strategic contributions. The combination of technical expertise, product marketing understanding, and collaborative spirit creates the foundation for a marketing operations professional who can truly drive business success.Episode Brought to You By MO Pros The #1 Community for Marketing Operations ProfessionalsSupport the show

Text us your thoughts on the episode or the show!Marketing leaders face a painful dilemma: they need to prove their impact through data, but marketing data is notoriously messy compared to the cleaner, more discrete data available to sales and finance teams. This gap creates what Eric Westerkamp, CEO of CaliberMind, calls a "data dumpster fire" that marketing operations professionals must somehow transform into credible reporting.Drawing from 20 years of executive leadership experience spanning sales and entrepreneurship, Eric offers a refreshingly practical perspective on how marketing teams can build trust in their data and storytelling. Rather than attempting to fix all data quality issues before beginning reporting initiatives, he advocates starting small with specific reports that deliver meaningful insights. This approach allows teams to identify which data elements need fixing while simultaneously delivering value.The conversation explores how marketing operations teams can effectively normalize data across systems, enabling consistent reporting even as organizations migrate between platforms or evolve their naming conventions. Eric shares a striking example where analysis of 1,800 job titles revealed that 80% were unique variations of essentially the same titles—a common challenge that undermines segmentation and reporting efforts.The episode also examines how AI is revolutionizing marketing operations. While AI tools may struggle with complex calculations, they excel at transforming buyer journey data with thousands of touchpoints into credible stories. Organizations embracing these capabilities are gaining significant efficiency advantages, with SDRs able to cover 20% more accounts and marketing teams generating insights faster than competitors.Whether you're a marketing operations professional struggling to build reporting credibility or a CMO needing to better demonstrate your team's impact, this conversation provides actionable guidance for taming your data dumpster fire and transforming it into powerful, trusted insights that drive business decisions. Connect with Eric Westerkamp on LinkedIn or visit calibermind.com to learn more about building marketing data you can trust.Episode Brought to You By MO Pros The #1 Community for Marketing Operations ProfessionalsSupport the show

Text us your thoughts on the episode or the show!What happens when all your digital breadcrumbs—personal emails, professional accounts, device IDs, and physical addresses—get connected into a single identity? Jeremy Katz, SVP of Product Solutions, Identity and Data at Merkle, takes us deep into the fascinating world of identity resolution and first-party data.Starting with his unconventional path from English major to data analytics leader, Jeremy shares the pivotal moments that shaped his understanding of how organizations can build comprehensive customer views. He breaks down complex concepts like identity graphs, customer data platforms, and the technical challenges of defining seemingly simple terms like "customer." Through real-world examples from his experience implementing enterprise-wide customer data hubs, Jeremy illustrates how companies struggle with and ultimately solve the puzzle of connecting fragmented customer information.Looking toward the future, Jeremy identifies emerging trends that will reshape how organizations manage and leverage identity—from AI-driven audiences and synthetic data to retail media networks and data collaboration through clean rooms. Whether you're a marketing operations professional trying to implement a CDP or a business leader trying to understand the strategic value of your first-party data, this episode offers crucial insights into one of marketing's most foundational yet complex challenges.Episode Brought to You By MO Pros The #1 Community for Marketing Operations ProfessionalsSupport the show