What are the most important processes to put in place to empower your marketing team with better campaign operations?

First one would be a sound campaign planning process that starts with the outcome you are trying to achieve, who your target audience is, and an understanding of where they "live" i.e. where they spend time with their peers learning about new solutions. Second would be an airtight Q/A process that includes more than one set of eyes. The campaign planning process, if done well, should include time for the Q/A process.

First and foremost, I believe it starts with clear goal setting. The goals and desired business outcomes should help drive the processes that need to be put in place.

While it may sound simple, it is a powerful first step to document standard processes (e.g., campaign planning and tracking) and definitions. This essentially functions as your foundation for all other work. Another critical process is data and reporting. How will performance be measured? Is there buy-in across the marketing team?

These two first steps help lay the foundation for all other processes that will be put in place.

• Clear QA processes and approval processes. At Envoy we actually created a Google Form that at least one person (who didn't build the campaign/email) had to fill out to confirm that every critical QA element was covered (ex. subject line, correct links, correct targeting on emails). AND, we had a different person who was the official approver who could say the email was good to go AFTER they had seen the email QA come through.

• Realistic SLAs for (1) acknowledging requests and (2) resolving or completing tickets. For example, tier your requests 1-4, with 1 being urgent and 4 being the least important/urgent. You need to build trust with your stakeholders by acknowledging and responding to high priority items, as well as showcasing that you've captured and will address lower priority items. BUT, you can't be fighting fires all day long. You have to prioritize long term initiatives as well.

• A shared, regularly prioritized backlog. I have found that creating a shared and visible backlog of key projects helps your stakeholders understand what other asks the team has. You should aim to update and re prioritize the backlog every other week (no less frequently than monthly). AND, you should share it via email and in other key channels.

• Both async and synchronous communication channels. Campaign operations can be tedius and repetitive, but it is important to not just rely on slacks or emails to communicate what the team is working on. Using regular meetings to share priorities and challenges is important to ensure that campaign operations processes are being followed, and that folks can give feedback.

• Regular feedback loops. For example, if you roll out a new email QA process - you should set a meeting or feedback request out after 30 days, 60 days and 90 days of setting up the new process. It's really important to make sure that people trust that you will take their feedback into account and iterate on the process. If you don't do that, people will often jus