3 Strategic Tips for Marketo Integration

Did you know that on average, 49% of companies are adopting marketing automation?

Recently at Niteco, we’ve integrated Marketo as a fundamental part of our engagement strategy. There are many powerful tools out there, but we opted for Marketo because of its cost and functionality.

Throughout the integration process, we continued to emphasize one key learning: Nothing can compensate for a sound strategy from the onset. Without setting your strategy first, technology will not advance your business -- no matter how impressive the available tools are for marketing or sales.

These are our top 3 strategic tips for the best integration with Marketo (or any marketing automation program):

1. Clarify your marketing goals

Before you even consider any type of automation tool, clarify your marketing and sales goals. Often times, it’s easy to overlook goals in lieu of new technology. But without knowing your goals, it would be like throwing a dagger blind.

Have you accurately defined your target segments? What are the lead stages that reflect your customer’s buying process? The ultimate goal of using Marketo is, of course, to convert visitors to leads. However, it’s impractical for you to expect an immediate result. Nurturing your relationships take time. Be patient, and stick to your strategy.

But learn from your data! The best thing about marketing automation is that you can gather data on your customer’s behavior. Once you get more accurate data, you can adjust thorough strategies to deliver the right content to the right people. And don’t forget that A/B Testing is a marketer’s secret weapon to test conversion rates for different designs, headlines, and content. Each piece of data will help you refine your strategy.

2. Make sure your processes are in place

Once you’ve clearly articulated your goals, you’re still not ready to select the tool. You must then create the lead nurturing program that will help you accomplish your goals. Are your processes and workflows in place?

Remember that your campaigns and customer engagement drives automation, not the other way around

It won’t happen overnight. Your to-do list gets longer and you have to make sure that your team members understand their roles and responsibilities: Who will be in charge of scrutinizing the database? Who will produce content? Who will manage Marketo?  

To keep everyone on the same page, a centralized communication channel is a requisite. Slack is our preferred communication channel: Its designated channels help us organize topics and campaigns.

Another important factor is to craft a detailed plan, while remaining flexible for last minute changes. Your content should always be up-to-date, even as you plan in advance. The more work you put into outlining your workflows, the more helpful marketing automation will be.

3. Know what you want in your package

Marketo is perhaps the best-known tool for marketing automation. But even within Marketo, there are multiple packages, including different add-ons, for various marketing purposes. This is where your clearly defined goals come in. Many companies commit to a package without confirming if their goals are supported by the tools.

Strategy in hand, your team can now research the different add-ons that are available.

Once you’ve completed all of these steps, you’re now ready to integrate Marketo and marketing automation into the way you do business. Your relationship with your customers is the most important investment.

Remember that your campaigns and customer engagement drives automation, not the other way around. If you set your strategy and Marketo do its magic, you’ll see why so many businesses have take advantage of marketing automation.