When it comes to pulling together successful marketing teams, some the most important ingredients are finding the right talent and using data intelligently, according to LinkedIn head of global marketing operations Nicolas Draca.
“Talent is the driving force of success, and talent is priority number one at LinkedIn,” Draca says.
Draca, who presented at the recent Marketing Operations Executive Summit 2015 in Carlsbad, CA, says today’s marketers need to make business decisions on what solutions to invest in, and that marketers have been experiencing the data revolution, but the communication revolution is now coming to the forefront.
“The way we communicate within marketing teams has to change,” Draca says.
Talent
Draca says that before joining the LinkedIn team, prospects go through a series of several interviews and meet their 
future colleagues before they are hired.
“We have to agree on hires. It’s super-effective. The bar for talent is really high, and we want to hire the right people. We look for passion, and if they’re not a cultural fit, we won’t hire that person,” Draca says.
Once hired, team members have the opportunity to communicate with management and colleagues on a regular basis. Each quarter, team members can present one slide and give a 60-second presentation on what they’re up to. LinkedIn employees from all over the organization are brought in to judge the presentations
“People love it and it promotes internal communication,” Draca says.
Draca’s team also participates in a monthly “Hack Day” where, for example, marketers come up with a business plan for marketing in the year 2050.
“It’s about finding the center between having fun, getting things done and dreaming big,” Draca says.
Operations
Draca says the key to success for an organization is to build best in class products and launch early, as playing catch-up can be a frustrating proposition.
“Just go and do it. Get all of the data and conduct A/B tests to maximize [marketing] efficiency,” Draca says.
Insights
Leveraging data technology and the wealth of information it provides marketing teams will be critical moving forward, but that won’t be enough to guarantee success. The key will be pulling out the critical actionable information from that data to execute on the right contact with the right offer on the right channel at the right time.
“We’re shifting from data to intelligence—we need to simplify and move to smart data, not just big data,” Draca says.
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