Marketing Operations Strategy Case Study

Note: This is a simplified version of an existing case study to enable faster skimming of content. For a full narrative, please read the original here.

Executive Summary

Led the strategic redesign of Elekta’s marketing operations ecosystem to remove execution bottlenecks, unify data and attribution across channels, and enable scalable, insight-driven GTM execution in a global, regulated environment. The work transformed marketing from a fragmented execution function into a reliable, system-enabled growth engine.

Context

Company: Elekta
Industry: Global Medical Devices
Role Scope: Head of Digital Marketing

Elekta had all the core components of a modern marketing organization, including automation, CRM, analytics, enablement platforms, and content. However, performance was constrained by fragmentation. Marketing strategy existed, but execution lagged due to disconnected systems, inconsistent data, and limited visibility into long, complex sales cycles.

Strategic Problem

This was not a campaign or channel problem. It was a marketing systems problem.

Key constraints included:

  • Disparate tools operating independently

  • Inconsistent tracking and attribution across channels

  • Limited insight into customer behavior across long sales cycles

  • Marketing effectiveness diluted by operational friction

How do we redesign marketing operations so strategy can execute consistently, scale globally, and inform the business with confidence?

Strategic Mandate

I was responsible for:

  • Diagnosing systemic constraints in marketing execution

  • Designing a cohesive marketing operations strategy

  • Aligning tools, data, and processes to support GTM objectives

  • Improving effectiveness without increasing operational complexity

Strategic Actions

1. Unified the Marketing Operations Ecosystem

  • Connected marketing automation, CRM, analytics, webinars, events, and enablement platforms into a coherent operating model

  • Replaced siloed web forms with automation-native forms routed directly into the marketing automation system

  • Standardized UTM structures and attribution logic across all channels

2. Designed for Insight Across Long Sales Cycles

  • Improved visibility into customer engagement across extended buying journeys

  • Enabled more accurate lead scoring and behavioral tracking

  • Provided sales teams with higher-quality, better-contextualized leads

3. Built Scalable Enablement and Execution Infrastructure

  • Implemented a new webinar platform with improved engagement tracking

  • Built lightweight systems to track trade show and event influence

  • Rebuilt content taxonomy within the sales enablement platform to improve usability

  • Aligned social and PR execution to ensure consistent messaging and measurable impact

Results

Significantly improved marketing effectiveness and channel efficiency

  • Increased lead quality and behavioral insight across global markets

  • Generated marketing output at a pace that exceeded downstream sales review capacity

  • Exposed the need for formal Sales Operations functions due to marketing efficiency gains

Marketing became too effective too quickly, forcing organizational change downstream.

Strategic Impact

  • Marketing operations no longer constrained strategy

  • Leadership gained confidence in marketing data and insights

  • GTM execution became more predictable and scalable

  • Marketing’s role shifted from execution partner to strategic contributor

Executive Lessons Learned

  • Strategy fails when systems are not designed to support it

  • Operational excellence creates downstream organizational obligations

  • Marketing efficiency must be matched with sales and ops readiness

  • Sustainable growth requires systems thinking, not channel optimization

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