Build marketing operations infrastructure in 60 days

Introduction

You don't need six months to build marketing operations. You don't need an £80K MOPs hire. And you don't need expensive consultants telling you what you already suspect.

What you need is two months of focused effort and a clear roadmap.

This guide provides the exact month-by-month plan to transform marketing operations from chaos to predictable, measurable systems. No theory. Just specific actions to take each month, in order, with measurable outcomes.

Let's begin.

Pre-work: The 2-hour marketing ops audit

Before starting your two-month sprint, spend two hours documenting the current state. This creates your baseline for measuring improvement.

The current state snapshot takes 30 minutes. How many people are on your marketing team? What's the annual marketing budget? How many campaigns per quarter? How many leads monthly? What's the conversion rate from lead to customer?

Martech stack inventory takes 30 minutes. List every tool with name, monthly cost, last login date, and who actually uses it. This reveals where you're wasting money.

Data quality check takes 30 minutes. Export 100 random leads from your CRM. Calculate completeness (percentage with all fields filled), duplicates (how many duplicate records), and accuracy (spot-check 20 records—are they current?). Most companies start at 40-60% completeness with 15-20% duplicates.

The reporting audit takes 30 minutes. How long does campaign reporting take in hours? When was the last report created? Who uses reports? What decisions resulted from reports? Document the pain points.

Month 1: Build foundation (attribution, scoring, and martech)

Month goal: Establish core infrastructure—attribution tracking, lead scoring, and optimised martech stack.

Time required: 40-50 hours across the month

What you'll achieve: Attribution model tracking revenue sources. Lead scoring and routing to sales. Martech stack optimised and integrated. Clear baseline for measuring marketing effectiveness.

Build attribution foundation

Your first priority is knowing which marketing channels actually drive leads and revenue. Start by cleaning up lead sources. Audit existing lead source values by exporting all leads and counting by source. You'll likely find inconsistent tracking, random values, typos, and generic "Other" everywhere.

Standardise naming conventions immediately. Paid becomes "Google Ads - [Campaign]" or "LinkedIn Ads - [Campaign]" not just "paid". Organic becomes "Organic - Blog" or "Organic - SEO" not generic "website". Events become "Event - [Event Name]" not "offline". Referrals become "Referral - [Partner]" not "word of mouth".

Bulk update historical data. Takes 2-3 hours of grunt work but essential for accurate reporting. Document your standard for future campaigns so everyone follows the same system going forward.

Implement UTM parameter strategy next. Build consistent structure: utm_source identifies channel (google, linkedin, email), utm_medium specifies type (cpc, organic, social), utm_campaign names specific campaign, utm_content tracks variant (ad-a, ad-b, email-1). Set up tracking so marketing automation captures UTMs automatically and stores them in lead source fields.

Create cost-per-lead dashboard tracking by channel. Include total spend (ad spend plus tool costs plus allocated salary), leads generated, MQLs generated, and SQLs generated. Calculate cost per lead, cost per MQL, cost per SQL for each channel. Build in HubSpot or Google Data Studio with daily auto-updates. Share with the entire team for transparency.

Implement lead scoring and routing

Stop sending rubbish leads to sales. Build lead scoring model combining demographic fit and behaviour. Demographics (maximum 40 points): job title matches ICP adds 20 points, company size in range adds 15 points, target industry adds 5 points.

Behaviour (maximum 60 points): downloaded resource adds 10 points per download (maximum 20), attended webinar adds 20 points, visited pricing page adds 25 points, requested demo adds 60 points instantly qualifying as SQL, email engagement adds 5 points per open (maximum 15).

Define thresholds clearly. 0-30 points stay in nurture within marketing automation. 31-60 points become MQLs needing further qualification. 61+ points route to sales immediately as SQLs. Configure in your marketing automation platform using workflows, scoring rules, or automation rules.

Set up automatic lead routing. When lead score reaches 61+, automatically assign to sales rep via round-robin or territory, create a task stating "Contact within 4 hours", send Slack notification, and send alert email if not contacted in six hours. Test with dummy leads before enabling real prospects.

Document marketing-sales SLA. Marketing commits to routing only 61+ score leads, providing context explaining qualification, and routing within five minutes. Sales commits to contacting leads within four hours, updating disposition within 24 hours, and providing feedback weekly. Get both teams to sign it. Pin in Slack. Review monthly.

Optimise martech stack

Eliminate tool bloat. For each tool assess who uses it (if nobody, cancel), what it does (if overlaps, consolidate), integration status (if broken, fix or remove), and ROI (does value exceed cost?).

Common redundancies to eliminate: email in three places consolidates to marketing automation. Analytics in five places keeps only Google Analytics plus marketing automation. Landing pages in two places uses marketing automation. Multiple form tools consolidate marketing automation. Be ruthless about cancelling unused tools.

Fix critical integrations. Priority one: marketing automation syncs bidirectionally with CRM. Priority two: ad platforms feed lead source data to marketing automation. Priority three: website forms and tracking connect to marketing automation. Priority four: sales tools sync activity back for scoring.

Test each integration by creating test leads and verifying correct flow. Check data mapping to ensure fields sync properly. Monitor for one week and fix any breaks immediately.

Document martech stack in central location. Include tool name, purpose, owner, login credentials, monthly cost. Create an integration map showing visually how tools connect. Build a decision tree explaining when to use each tool. Write troubleshooting guide for common issues.

Month 2: Build visibility (dashboards, attribution, and processes)

Month goal: Replace manual reporting with automated dashboards. Implement multi-touch attribution. Document processes for repeatability.

Time required: 35-45 hours across the month

What you'll achieve: Three core dashboards auto-updating in real-time. Multi-touch attribution connecting marketing to revenue. Marketing operations playbook ensuring consistency.

Build automated reporting dashboards

Replace manual reporting with three automated dashboards updating in real-time. No more manual exports. No more spreadsheet gymnastics. Just data everyone can access instantly.

Dashboard 1: Channel performance tracks spend by channel (ad spend pulled automatically from platforms), leads by channel (from lead source field), MQLs by channel (scored leads), SQLs by channel (accepted by sales), cost per lead/MQL/SQL by channel, and conversion rates (visitor to lead to MQL to SQL). Auto-update daily. Share with the entire marketing team and sales leadership.

Dashboard 2: Campaign ROI tracks for each campaign: campaign name, total spend (ads plus tools plus allocated time), leads generated, MQLs generated, SQLs generated, pipeline influenced (deals with campaign touchpoint), closed revenue (deals that closed with campaign touchpoint), and ROI calculation (revenue divided by spend). Auto-update weekly. Share with marketing leadership, CFO, and CEO.

Dashboard 3: Content and engagement tracks top blog posts (traffic, time on page, conversions), top resources (downloads, conversion rate), email performance (open rate, click rate by campaign), webinar performance (registrations, attendance, replay views), and engagement score (who's most engaged with content). Auto-update weekly. Share with content team and demand generation team.

Build these in HubSpot or Google Data Studio. Takes 12-15 hours total but eliminates 16+ hours monthly of manual reporting. Pin dashboard links in Slack for easy access.

Implement multi-touch attribution

Connect marketing activities to actual revenue, not just lead creation. Choose position-based attribution model (40-20-40) for B2B scale-ups. Give 40% credit to first touch (brought them in), 20% credit to lead creation touch (converted to lead), 40% credit to opportunity creation touch (moved to sales pipeline). This balances top-of-funnel awareness with bottom-of-funnel conversion contributions.

Configure attribution tracking in your marketing automation platform. Store all campaign and content touchpoints on contact record. When contact converts to lead, log the campaign that converted them. When contact moves to opportunity, log the campaign that influenced them. When opportunity closes, calculate marketing influence.

Marketing influence formula: if contact had marketing touchpoints at first touch, lead creation, or opportunity creation, then marketing influenced this deal. Sum all opportunities where marketing had influence to get influenced pipeline value.

Build closed-loop reporting showing weekly: new opportunities created (total value), marketing-influenced opportunities (value and percentage), marketing-sourced opportunities (value and percentage), closed-won revenue (total), marketing-influenced revenue (value and percentage), and marketing ROI (influenced revenue divided by marketing spend).

Review with sales weekly. Which campaigns are driving the pipeline? Which is not working? Where should you reallocate the budget? Make decisions based on actual revenue impact, not vanity metrics like traffic or impressions.

Document processes and train team

Create a marketing operations playbook ensuring consistency across all campaigns and team members. Make processes repeatable so they don't live in one person's head.

Page one: Lead management process covers lead capture to scoring to routing to sales handoff. Include visual workflow diagram, scoring criteria fully documented, and SLA between marketing and sales.

Page two: Campaign workflow includes campaign brief template, approval process, launch checklist (UTMs, tracking, forms), and post-campaign reporting template.

Page three: Martech stack guide explains tools we use and why, integration map, when to use each tool, and troubleshooting guide for common issues.

Page four: Reporting and dashboards shows which dashboards exist, how to access them, what each metric means, and how to use data for decisions.

Store playbooks in a shared location accessible to the entire team. Update quarterly as processes evolve. Reference during onboarding and training.

Run a 60-minute team training session covering attribution model (10 minutes), lead scoring (10 minutes), dashboard walkthrough (15 minutes), process overview (15 minutes), and Q&A (10 minutes). Send recordings to everyone. Share playbook in follow-up email. Schedule 30-minute one-on-ones with each team member for questions. Monitor adoption over next two weeks and address confusion immediately.

The 60-day results you can expect

Attribution and ROI: Before shows "we think paid ads work but can't prove it". After two months shows "LinkedIn Ads drove a £250K pipeline at £80 cost per SQL".

Lead quality: Before shows sales reject 60% of marketing leads. After two months shows sales accepts 75%+ of marketing leads because scoring works.

Reporting efficiency: Before shows campaign reports take 16+ hours and stay outdated. After two months shows real-time dashboards with answers in seconds.

Tool efficiency: Before shows 12 tools at £6,000 monthly spend with only five actually used. After two months shows six tools at £3,500 monthly, all integrated properly.

Marketing-sales alignment: Before shows weekly arguments about lead quality. After two months shows SLA in place and debates disappear.

What to tackle next (months 3-4)

After your two-month foundation, month three priorities include advanced attribution (time-decay models, custom weighting), ABM implementation if targeting enterprise accounts, predictive lead scoring using AI and machine learning, and content performance optimisation based on conversion data.

Month four priorities include campaign velocity metrics measuring speed to results, competitive intelligence dashboards, marketing resource management systems, and headcount planning with capacity modelling.

These advanced capabilities build on your foundation. Don't attempt them before completing the two-month basics. Solid foundation matters more than advanced features.

When to get help

Consider expert help if you're stuck after two months because the team isn't adopting or you're facing technical challenges beyond your expertise. If you need specialised knowledge in advanced attribution, ABM platforms, or AI implementation. If DIY takes more than 20 hours weekly and opportunity cost exceeds consultant cost. If you're ready to hire a MOPs manager and need a stronger foundation first.

External expertise accelerates implementation significantly. Consultants have done this 50 times. You're doing it once. They know the pitfalls. They have templates and frameworks. They can implement in 30 days what takes you 60 days independently.

The bottom line

You don't need perfection. You need progress.

This two-month roadmap works. It's been tested with dozens of B2B companies from £5M to £50M ARR. Some implement exactly as written. Others adapt to their specific situation and constraints. Either approach works as long as you start.

Pick one thing from Month 1. Do it this week. Build momentum. By day 60, you'll have transformed marketing operations from chaos to predictable, measurable systems that prove ROI and earn budget increases.