We build your entire marketing operation, then run it with your team
Marketing operations setup is a complete build of your marketing function: the plan, the funnel, the channels, the stack and the reporting, delivered and then operated alongside your internal team. It suits companies with people doing marketing but no senior operations layer holding it together.
What we build
Four layers, built in order
Each layer depends on the one before it. Building channels before the plan produces activity without direction, and building reporting before tracking produces dashboards nobody trusts.
Layer one
Plan
What we are selling, to whom, through which channels, at what budget.
- Positioning and messaging
- ICP definition and segmentation
- Channel mix and budget allocation
- Campaign calendar
- Success metrics agreed upfront
Layer two
Funnel
How a stranger becomes a qualified opportunity, step by step.
- Lead capture and forms
- Qualification criteria, written down
- Routing and assignment rules
- Nurture and lifecycle sequences
- Handover into sales
Layer three
Channels
The work that actually reaches the market, sequenced against the plan.
- Paid search, social and programmatic
- SEO foundations and content engine
- Organic social presence and cadence
- Email and lifecycle campaigns
- Creative production systems
Layer four
Infrastructure
The systems that make the whole thing measurable and repeatable.
- Stack selection and procurement guidance
- CRM and marketing automation configuration
- Integration between existing tools
- Tracking and attribution
- Dashboards leadership actually reads
The difference
How we work with your internal team
This is the part that separates an operations engagement from an agency retainer. We do not run a parallel marketing function alongside your business. We run it with your people, inside your tools, against your numbers.
Who we work with directly
- Sales. Qualification criteria and lead handover are agreed with the people who take the calls, not designed in isolation and handed over.
- Product. Positioning and messaging have to survive contact with what the product actually does today.
- Operations and finance. Budget, procurement and reporting cadence fit how the business already runs.
- Leadership. Success metrics are agreed at the start, in writing, and reported against every month.
What that looks like week to week
- Your team keeps executing and owns the day-to-day work.
- We hold the operating system: the plan, the sequence and the standards.
- A standing weekly working session, not a monthly status update.
- Everything we build is documented in your tools as we build it, not at the end.
- Access, accounts and data stay in your name throughout.
We do not run marketing in parallel to your team. We run it with them.
The outcome
What you are left with
A documented, running marketing operation that your team can operate without us, with Arkas on an ongoing operating retainer for as long as that is useful. Independence is the deliverable, not a risk to be managed.
A written plan
Positioning, ICP, channel mix, budget and calendar, with the reasoning recorded so a new hire can pick it up.
Working systems
A configured stack in accounts you own, integrated, with tracking that reconciles and dashboards that are actually read.
Documented process
Playbooks for the recurring work, so the operation does not depend on any single person, including us.
Applied AI
Where does AI actually fit in a marketing operation?
Underneath the work, not on top of it. AI is applied where it compounds: research, assembly, reporting and orchestration. It is never the product we are selling you, and it never publishes unreviewed.
Content pipelines
Research and source gathering, brief construction and first-draft assembly, with a person editing everything a customer will read. Generic output does not earn citations from search engines or AI assistants, so it is not worth shipping.
Research
Competitor monitoring, category and query research, and synthesis of customer conversations into positioning input.
Reporting automation
Collection, joining and refreshing of channel and CRM data, so the monthly report is assembled rather than rebuilt each time.
Workflow orchestration
Lead enrichment, routing, deduplication and follow-up sequencing, once qualification rules are written down and agreed.
The sequence we recommend, and the order to adopt it in, is set out in where should a B2B company actually start with AI.
Engagement shape
Build first, then operate
Build phase
The operation is designed and stood up: plan, funnel, channels, stack, tracking and reporting. Fixed scope, agreed in writing before anything starts, with success metrics set at the outset.
Operating retainer
We run the operation with your team on an ongoing basis: managing channels, holding the plan, reporting monthly against pipeline, and adjusting the sequence as the numbers come in.
Handover, whenever you want it
Documentation and enablement are produced during the build rather than at the end, so the option to take it fully in-house exists from the first month rather than being something you have to negotiate for.
Engagements are scoped on a call.
Questions
Common questions
How long does the build phase take?
Most builds run eight to sixteen weeks from access to a fully operating function. The range depends on how many channels are in scope and how much of the existing stack can be kept. Reporting and tracking are built first so the later work can be measured from day one.
Do we need to replace our existing tools?
Usually not. We review what you already pay for and keep whatever is configured well and being used. Replacing a tool is recommended only where the current one blocks measurement or integration, and the reasoning is written down before anything is bought.
Who owns the accounts and the data?
You do, in every case. Ad accounts, CRM, first-party data, creative assets, domains and analytics properties are yours and stay in your name. Arkas retains its own frameworks, playbooks and internal tooling, licensed to you for the term of the engagement.
What happens if we want to bring it fully in-house?
That is a supported outcome rather than a failure case. Documentation and enablement are produced during the build, so the operation can be handed over without a rebuild. We move to an advisory retainer or step out entirely.
Do you work with our existing agencies?
Yes, where they are doing good work. Part of the engagement is deciding what should be consolidated and what should stay specialist. What changes is that one party becomes accountable for the whole funnel rather than each vendor optimizing a slice of it.
Related: marketing operations consulting if you want the review before the build, and paid media management if paid acquisition is the only gap. Background reading: why marketing breaks when a B2B company crosses 20 people.
Book a strategy call
Thirty minutes, no deck. We look at what you are running now, where the operation leaks, and what it would take to fix it. Engagements are scoped on a call.