Marketing Operations: Strategy, Implementation and Optimization (2026)

Table of Contents

  1. Overview
  2. Publication details
  3. Summary
  4. Key concepts and frameworks
  5. Who it's for
  6. Edition history
  7. How this book compares
  8. Related podcast episodes
  9. FAQs
  10. Related Terms
  11. Related Books
  12. Sources

Overview

Marketing Operations: Strategy, Implementation and Optimization is a 2026 book by Greg Kihlström, published by De Gruyter Brill, that defines the Marketing Operations function, makes the business case for it, and gives a method for standing it up and improving it over time. Its central device is the Marketing Operations Maturity Model, a framework Kihlström introduces in Part 1 and returns to in every later part. The book is written for marketing leaders, MarketingOps practitioners, and project managers, whether they are formalizing the function for the first time or optimizing one that already exists. It is distinct from Kihlström’s MarketingOps 3.0 (also 2026), which assumes this function exists and redesigns it for AI agents.

See also: Marketing Operations · Revenue Operations (RevOps) · Project Management Office (PMO) · Organizational Change Management (OCM)

Back to Top

Publication details

FieldDetail
Full titleMarketing Operations: Strategy, Implementation and Optimization
AuthorGreg Kihlström
ForewordNone listed
SeriesNone listed
PublisherDe Gruyter Brill (Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston)
Publication dateMay 18, 2026 (ebook and paperback)
EditionFirst
FormatsPaperback, ebook (PDF and EPUB)
ISBN978-3-11-914515-2 (paperback); 978-3-11-221444-2 (ebook); 978-3-11-221454-1 (VitalSource/EPUB)
DOI10.1515/9783112214442
Length382 pages plus 13 pages of front matter; 21 figures, 54 tables
Where to buyDe Gruyter Brill, Agile Brand Guide product page, Amazon, Google Play, VitalSource
Back to Top

Summary

The book’s argument is that Marketing Operations should be run as a strategic discipline rather than as the team behind the intake form and the dashboard. Kihlström defines it as the function that connects goals, people, process, data, governance, and technology, and most of the book is about what that connection looks like in practice.

Part 1, Strategic Foundations, defines Marketing Operations, builds the business case, and introduces the Marketing Operations Maturity Model. Part 2, Core Responsibilities, is the functional inventory: standards and practices, team resource management, technology resource management, planning and estimation, review and analysis, project execution, optimization and improvement, implementing the maturity model, and driving innovation. Nine chapters, each describing one responsibility with examples of how to carry it out.

Part 3 covers roles and team structure. It maps the key MarketingOps roles and how they relate to each other, then devotes a chapter each to the Head of Marketing Operations, the Project Officer, the Project Specialist, and the specialist roles that round out the team. The press release also notes that the book addresses how MarketingOps differs from, and works alongside, a PMO and Revenue Operations.

Part 4 is the implementation guide, written for a team standing up the function: setting measurable goals, determining scope and structure, building the martech stack and data foundation, planning campaigns and projects, supporting governance and compliance, institutionalizing best practices, overseeing resource management, and planning for resistance to change. Part 5 closes on measurement and optimization: long-term use of the maturity model, aligning MarketingOps with strategy, and measuring the function’s success.

Every part ends with a summary and checklist. Three appendices provide the full maturity model, a root cause analysis template, and an OKR sheet. With 54 tables, it’s the most reference-heavy of Kihlström’s books.

Back to Top

Key concepts and frameworks

Marketing Operations Maturity Model. Kihlström’s framework for assessing a MarketingOps function’s current capability, prioritizing improvements, and building a long-term roadmap. Introduced in chapter 3, implemented in chapter 11, revisited for long-term use in chapter 26, and reproduced in full in Appendix 1. The model’s stages are not listed in available sources; see editorial notes.

Core responsibilities of Marketing Operations. The book’s nine-function inventory in Part 2 (standards, team resources, technology resources, planning, review, execution, optimization, maturity implementation, innovation).

MarketingOps role architecture. Part 3’s role set: Head of Marketing Operations, Project Officer, Project Specialist, and specialist roles, with their inter-relationships.

MarketingOps versus PMO versus RevOps. The book’s positioning of the function against two adjacent structures. Martechipedia covers both: PMO and RevOps.

Root cause analysis and OKRs as operating tools. Appendices 2 and 3 supply templates; see Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and OKR.

Back to Top

Who it’s for

A first Head of Marketing Operations at a company that has just created the role and has no job description to hand them. A CMO deciding whether MarketingOps should report into marketing, into a PMO, or sit beside RevOps. A project manager inside a marketing team who wants the function’s full scope rather than the slice they currently own. The maturity model and the per-part checklists are written to be used in planning sessions, not just read.

Readers who already run a mature MarketingOps function and want to redesign it for AI agents should go to MarketingOps 3.0. Readers who want the platform categories in depth should see Marketing Technology Platforms (2025); chapter 20 here covers the stack at the level MarketingOps needs.

Back to Top

Edition history

EditionYearPublisherNotes
Marketing Operations: Strategy, Implementation and Optimization2026De Gruyter BrillFirst edition.

Predecessor title, not an edition of this book:

TitleYearPublisherRelationship
The Agile Brand Guide: Marketing Operations: Building and Optimizing High-Performing Teams, Processes, and Platforms for Marketers2023The Agile BrandShort guide; out of print. Expanded into this book.

Successor, not an edition:

TitleYearPublisherRelationship
MarketingOps 3.0: Building a Hybrid Operating Model for Growth in a Machine-Mediated Market2026De Gruyter BrillBuilds on this book’s function to address agent-mediated markets.
Back to Top

How this book compares

TitleAuthorYearFocusBest suited for
Marketing Operations: Strategy, Implementation and OptimizationGreg Kihlström2026Defining, building, and maturing the MarketingOps functionLeaders establishing or formalizing MarketingOps
MarketingOps 3.0Greg Kihlström2026Hybrid human-agent operating modelLeaders past the formalization stage
Marketing Technology PlatformsGreg Kihlström2025Platform categories and stack evaluationStack owners
Agile Marketing: Implementing Scrum in a Marketing EnvironmentGreg Kihlström2025Scrum for marketing teamsTeams adopting a work method
The Marketing Operations HandbookMichael McKinnon2021Practitioner-level guide to MarketingOps tasksIndividual contributors
The Revenue Operations ManualLaura Adint and Sean Lane2024RevOps function designLeaders aligning sales, marketing, and CS
Back to Top
Back to Top

FAQs

What is the Marketing Operations Maturity Model? Kihlström’s framework for assessing a MarketingOps function’s capabilities, prioritizing improvements, and building a roadmap. It’s introduced in chapter 3, applied in chapter 11, and reproduced in Appendix 1.

How is this different from MarketingOps 3.0? This book defines and builds the function. MarketingOps 3.0 assumes the function exists and redesigns it for a market where AI agents act for customers and brands. Both were published in 2026.

Does it cover RevOps? Yes, as a comparison. The book explains how MarketingOps relates to and differs from Revenue Operations and from a PMO.

What roles does it describe? Head of Marketing Operations, Project Officer, Project Specialist, and a set of MarketingOps specialist roles, with a chapter on how they relate.

Are there templates? Three appendices: the full maturity model, a root cause analysis template, and an OKR sheet. Each of the five parts also ends with a checklist.

Does it cover AI? Yes. The publisher description lists advanced AI applications among the topics, and the book examines how AI is changing operating models and decision-making. The deeper treatment is in MarketingOps 3.0.

Who published it? De Gruyter Brill, under its own imprint. (Kihlström’s 2024–2025 titles were published through Mercury Learning and Information Systems, a De Gruyter Brill imprint.)

How long is it? 382 pages, 28 chapters in five parts, plus three appendices.

Back to Top
  1. Marketing Operations
  2. Revenue Operations (RevOps)
  3. Project Management Office (PMO)
  4. 3 Types of Project Management Offices
  5. Marketing Resource Management (MRM)
  6. Root Cause Analysis (RCA)
  7. Objectives and Key Results (OKR)
  8. Organizational Change Management (OCM)
  9. Decision Rights
  10. Marketing Operations Maturity Model
Back to Top
Back to Top

Sources

Back to Top

Tags:

Was this helpful?

Previous

Marketing Measurement and Analytics: An Introduction (2024)

Next

Marketing Technology Platforms: Strategy, Evaluation, and Implementation