MBA Student Project Seeks to Expand MarketingOps' Business Model

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Prospective students often ask about the capstone Integrated Management Projects (IMP) course. The experience brings together teams of MBAs to work on quarter-long projects for client companies or organizations ranging from nonprofits to Fortune 50 multinationals.

Recently, I led a team of classmates on a 10-week IMP project for MarketingOps.com. The company is an early-stage, for-profit, organization dedicated to connecting marketing operations professionals and providing career-building content and programming for its community.

Our team of five also included Andrew Phung, Keerthana Hegde, Nia Beyzaie and Tiruo Yan. We focused on increasing MarketingOps’ membership growth, sustainable revenue, and profitability growth, and exploring the potential for MarketingOps to establish a marketing operations professionals certification program. The project challenged us to deliver actionable solutions while honing our consulting and leadership skills.

With multiple membership tiers ranging from free to premium, MarketingOps offers varying levels of access to its website, content, and professional network. The company has cultivated a growing network of professionals eager to share insights about their profession and expand their own educational and career development opportunities.

Project Strategy, Scope and Timeline

The original project scope was developed collaboratively by MarketingOps and the UC Davis IMP team. During our kickoff meeting, we worked closely with MarketingOps and our project’s faculty advisor, Mary Kay Vona, to refine and focus the scope into three core research pillars:

• Membership and Revenue Analysis
  • Understanding the current structures and identifying growth opportunities.
• Value Assessment
  • Conducting member surveys and interviews to gauge the perceived value of MarketingOps’ offerings.
• Certification Research
  • Exploring the requirements for MarketingOps to introduce validated certification programs.

We began by analyzing MarketingOps’ current offerings and profiling its members. To provide a comparative framework, we researched seven similar organizations—evaluating each of their revenue generation models, membership strategies, events and certification programs.

We also conducted a survey of approximately 200 members (with 88 responses) and held nine, in-depth, member interviews—to better understand the value of potential certification offerings. We also performed an analysis of other, industry-standard, certification programs that exist in other fields.

We structured the project’s timeline to ensure steady progress, setting clear milestones for research, analysis and presentation preparation. Weekly meetings kept us on track and allowed us to address challenges promptly.

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Key Findings and Recommendations

Based on our initial findings, we developed recommendations centered on four strategic pillars: events, membership tiers and offerings, awareness, and certifications.

We prioritized these recommendations based on the likely financial impact and the level of effort required to implement them.

MarketingOps will use our findings to expand offerings most likely to attract more members and build sustainable revenue growth and profitability for the organization. We also delivered a detailed set of draft recommendations that MarketingOps’ executives could reference during future planning sessions.

Lessons Learned and Leadership Growth

The project provided a great learning experience for our team.  As MBA students, we embraced this opportunity to work on a real-world business challenge that pushed us to think critically and deliver impactful results in a condensed timeframe.

Most of our team had little to no prior experience in this field, but we quickly adapted with the guidance of Mary Kay Vona and through collaborative teamwork. We brainstormed solutions together, tackled bottlenecks and supported one another throughout the project.

To ensure we delivered polished presentations, we also conducted intense practice sessions before the kickoff, interim and final meetings—providing each other with constructive feedback to improve each presentation.

As the team lead, I developed essential leadership skills that I will carry forward in my career, such as leading peers, managing stakeholders, ensuring transparent communication, balancing deadlines with commitments, and delivering meaningful results under pressure.

Delivering Impactful Results

In the end, our efforts were well-received by MarketingOps. The client appreciated the depth of our research, the practicality of our recommendations and the collaborative spirit we brought to the project. Knowing that our work will help MarketingOps expand its offerings and drive growth made the experience incredibly fulfilling.

This project allowed us to make a tangible impact while learning and growing as professionals.

The opportunity to lead this phenomenal team and contribute to a company like MarketingOps was incredibly rewarding. The IMP project reminded me why I pursued my MBA: to tackle meaningful challenges, develop as a leader, and create lasting value for organizations.

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