introducing the marketo quickstart guide · tactics and then managing the system for success. the...

Introducing the

Assembled by LeadMD

L E A D M D E M P O W E R I N G M A R K E T E R S . P O W E R E D B Y T E C H N O L O G Y.

MARKETOQUICKSTARTGUIDE

Success with marketing automation hinges on coupling the latest in modern marketing strategy with truly scalable tactics and then managing the system for success.

The secret behind achieving two, three or ever four times returns on your Marketo investment is iteration based on analytic insights.

The reality is this: marketing automation is bigger than CRM and higher on the proverbial food chain of data. Too many people are treating marketing automation as a tool or a simplistic email platform.

The successful utilization of Marketo is a journey. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

M A R K E T O Q U I C K S T A R T G U I D E

Success with Marketo is determined by three critical ingredients:

Your Strategy & Process

Your Data, Assets & Intelligence

Your People

What do I need to succeed with Marketo?

Once you shift your mind set and treat Marketo for what it is:

A foundational platform for the success of the

whole company, it will become precisely that.

Marketo is a powerful tool used to scale your marketing messaging and accelerate customer acquisition. But it’s not a flip of a switch. The #1 determinate of success with any MarTech is investment in proper process. This guide was assembled from the learnings and mindshare of over 2,900 Marketo implementations.

L E A D M D E M P O W E R I N G M A R K E T E R S . P O W E R E D B Y T E C H N O L O G Y.2

Strategy & ProcessM A R K E T O Q U I C K S T A R T G U I D E

When rolling out a fresh Marketo instance, you can’t just automate your old (probably broken) processes. New technology requires new ways of doing things. When it comes to automating marketing, the most important thing to understand is the role of the marketer is also amplified.

Here are three integral processes that your company should examine as it considers a marketing automation rollout:

Sales & Marketing Alignment

Measurement & Metrics

EfficientLead flow

Do your teams agree on the definiton of an MQL?

What KPIs will you use to measure pipeline velocity?

Can you deliver the right message, at the right time, to the right people?


Marketing automation can drive the most results when a company uses it as an opportunity to realign the entire revenue engine around the modern customer’s new buying cycle.

Sales & Marketing AlignmentM A R K E T O Q U I C K S T A R T G U I D E

• What defines a sales-ready lead?

• How does your lead qualification team prioritize their time?

• How will you implement lead nurturing for leads that are not yet ready?

• How will you recycle sales leads that don’t move forward?

• What service level agreements (SLAs) will you have for lead follow-up?

Both Sales & Marketing should be in agreement upon:

Marketo’s Revenue Cycle Model allows you to determine how leads are converting through your funnel. Your ultimate goal is to be able to report on this entire model.


Some companies have too many leads and must score them before forking over only the highest quality, sales-ready leads. Other companies, especially new and small businesses, don’t have enough leads.

Efficient Lead FlowM A R K E T O Q U I C K S T A R T G U I D E

Marketo helps leads flow through the funnel more efficiently. When done right, it can nurture leads to make them sales-ready.

But if you have nothing coming into the top of your funnel, you’ll have nothing to nurture.

Content Promotions

If you don’t have enough sales leads, put a plan in place to get more. Do anything that will help to get prospects into the top of your funnel, such as:

Social Media Tradeshows Partnerships


See Marketo’s Program Analyzer to determine what the ROI is around your marketing initiatives.

With marketing automation, you can look beyond traditional vanity metrics like clicks and opens. Instead, the focus can be placed on measuring (and forecasting) what executives really care about: current and future pipeline, revenue and profits.

Measurement & MetricsM A R K E T O Q U I C K S T A R T G U I D E

• What key metrics do you report on a weekly, monthly and quarterly basis?

• What key performance indicators (KPIs) will you use to determine if your revenue processes are on track?

• How do you measure campaign ROI?

• Do you know the true cost of your event or content efforts and how they impact bottom line revenue?

Ask yourself these questions and build reports around their outputs:


A journey with you & your buyerToday’s buyers control their journey through the buying cycle more than vendors control the selling cycle. So before automating any processes, we must first understand the buyer’s journey, then map needs and key actions for each step.


Awareness

Lead LandWelcome to

population 50K

RIP

RIP

RIP

Graveyard

TASK

TASK

TASK

Where leads turn to contacts

AdvocacyWINNER

Conversion

Anonymous

Awareness

Plan to Close

Account Onboarding 90 Days in Account

Loyalty & Renewal

Moment of Purchase

New Leads AQL (Automation Qualified

Lead/Account)

MAL (Marketing Accepted

Lead/Account)

Early Stage Opportunities

SQL (Sales Qualified Leads/Account)

MQL (Marketing Qualified)

SAL (Sales accepted)

Client Way

WARNING!!!Don't ignore your current customers! Instead, focus on their success and turn them into raving fans and a referral source.


These days, the funnel is more of an hour glass.Despite the hype, the sales funnel isn’t dead. It just looks different than it used to. Revenue opportunity doesn’t stop at the moment of purchase and neither should your funnel.

Here are the tactics & channels to keep your leads/accounts flowing like sand through the hour glass:

M A R K E T O Q U I C K S T A R T G U I D EEVENTS

BLOG

SEO

LISTS

CONTENT

SOCIAL

REFFERALS

EMAIL

WEB

� Blog � Content � List Purchase & Rental � Offline & Online Advertising � Press/Word of Mouth � Referral � Roadshow � Sales Generated � Conference/Seminar

� SEO � Social Media � Sponsored Event � Telemarketing � Tradeshow � Web Direct � Web Referral � Webinar � Website Resource

� Blog � Content � Email Send � Lead Lifecycle � Nurture Campaign � Offline & Online Advertising � Press/Word of Mouth � Referral � Roadshow � Sales Generated

� Conference/Seminar � SEO � Social Media � Sponsored Event � Telemarketing � Tradeshow � Web Direct � Web Referral � Webinar � Website Resource

� Blog � Content � Conference/Seminar � Email Send � Loyalty Programs � Nurture Campaign � Referral

� Sales Offer � Social Media � Sponsored Event � Tradeshow � Web Direct � Webinar � Website Resource

� Blog � Content � Email Send � Lead Lifecycle � Nurture Campaign � Conference/Seminar � Sales Offers

� SEO � Social Media � Sponsored Event � Web Direct � Webinar � Website Resource

PROSPECTPROSPECT

QUALIFY TO ENGAGE

90 DAYS IN, EXPAND, LOYALTY & ADVOCACY

OPPORTUNITY, CLOSING, SUPPORT & ON-BOARDING

(anonymous to awareness to new leads )

(AQL to MQL)

(SQL to SAL)

(Early stage negotiations)

(Closed Won)

(Pipeline)

NEW

ACQ

UIS

ITIO

N

RETENTIO

NACQ

UISITIO

N

MOMENT OF

PURCHASE

QUALIFY

ENGAGE

OPPORTUNITY

90 DAYS IN

EXPAND

LOYALTY

ADVOCACY

PLAN TO CLOSE

SUPPORT & ON-BOARDING


Progressing through the hour glassLet’s zoom in a bit. Here’s what the best practice progression & success steps look like for our list of comprehensive marketing channels.


Channel Progression Statuses Progression Step Success?

BlogVisited 10Engaged 20

Subscribed 30

ContentMember 10Engaged 20

Direct MailVisited 10Converted 20

Email Send

Sent 10Opened 20Clicked 30Converted 40

Unsubscribed 50

Lead Lifecycle Follows your Mkting-Sales Process Varies Varies

List PurchaseMember 10Engaged 20

List RentalsMember 10Engaged 20

Nurture Campaign

Member 10Engaged 20Filled Out Form 30Passed to Sales 40

Unsubscribed 50

Offline AdvertisingVisited 10Converted 20

Online AdvertisingVisited 10Converted 20

Operational Member 10

Press/WOMVisited 10Converted 20

ReferralReferred 10Engaged 20

Roadshow

Invited 10Registered 20Attended 30

Engaged 40

Channel Progression Statuses Progression Step Success?

Sales GeneratedMember 10Engaged 20

Conference/Seminar

Invited 10Registered 20Attended 30

Engaged 40

SEOVisited 10Converted 20

Social MediaVisited 10Converted 20

Sponsored Event

Invited 10Registered 20Attended 30Engaged 40

TelemarketingMember 10Engaged 20

Tradeshow

Invited 10Attended 20Visited Booth 30Engaged 40

Web DirectVisited 10Converted 20

Web ReferralVisited 10Converted 20

Webinar

Invited 10Pending Approval 20Rejected 30Wait Listed 30Registered 40No Show 50Downloaded 60

Attended 70

Attended On-demand 75

Website ResourceVisited 10Converted 20

To get channels done right: add the applicable marketing channels and their details listed above to “Tags” in the admin area of Marketo.



Data, Assets & IntelligenceIf Marketo is the rocket, then data and content assets are the fuel. Can you fill your tank and blast off to discover new galaxies of buyers?

For modern marketers, attention is everything. Your ability to attract and capitalize on your buyer’s attention is synonymous with driving qualified demand. So if you’re catching people’s attention, you’ve got to make sure they’re the right people.

Keeping your data clean

Ensure the Quality of Your Data

Getting your assets in line

Create Caliber Content

The critical dimensions of messaging are who and when. By organizing content around these three dimensions we can evaluate the quality, quantity and purpose of marketing content. At the same time, you’ll reveal the gaps within your content library that need to be filled.

PRO-TIPEnsure you involve sales leadership and any other critical stakeholders in this process. Their buy-in will be essential for establishing sales and marketing alignment.

Finding the right people

Identify Your Best Buyers


Identify your best BuyersM A R K E T O Q U I C K S T A R T G U I D E

Once you’ve begun to optimize your processes and orient them to more closely match the buyer’s journey, you can begin the work of developing buyer personas.

What’s a buyer persona?A buyer persona is a detailed profile of your ideal buyers based on market research and real data about your actual customers. Personas are often based on customer demographics and behavior, along with your own understanding of their motivations and challenges. The more detailed your personas are, the more results they’ll yield.

Sidenote: This seems A LOT of work, but the benefits far exceed any roadblocks you may encounter. Buyer personas will help you:

Benefits of building personas

How to get the ball rollin’.

To get all of the details you need, interview & survey customers, prospects, and members of your marketing, sales and customer success teams, this is what we call “in-head data.”

Combine this in-head with behavioral (Marketo) and demographic (Salesforce) to get the most detailed profiles for your buyers.

Determine what kind of content you need for each phase of the buyer’s journey

Tailor your content to prospect pain points

Assign leads/contacts to account reps that resonate with that type of buyer

Create unique content that addresses the real concerns, needs, interests, likes and dislikes of your buyers.


PERSONA’S NAME

PERSONA’S JOB TITLE/ROLE

ROLE IN THE BUYING COMMITTEE

NEED/MOTIVATION

� Decision maker � Executive sponsor � Influencer

� As a I’m concerned � As a I don’t have � As a I worry about � As a I wish

� As a I want to � As a I need to � As a I must

Low High

( i.e. Go Getter Grace )

( i.e. CMO or VP of Marketing)

Ready set go...(build some personas!)M A R K E T O Q U I C K S T A R T G U I D E

To create buyer personas that faithfully represent your customer base, get as granular as possible around who these personas “are” and what they care about. Then you can build messaging that actually converts. To get started, gather your team and answer the questions on this persona worksheet.

Create a 100 to 200 word overview describing this person. Include responsibilities, personal preferences, age, gender, experience & daily activities - anything that will help you understand your buyer’s brain!

List all the challenges and concerns that commonly affect this person. FYI: We phrased these like user stories! This will help you get into the agile marketing framework. Here’s an example:

Now it’s your turn! Give it a go:

PERSONA OVERVIEW

PAIN POINTS

KEY DRIVERS, MOTIVATORS & GOALS

As a Marketing Director, I wish my team was more skilled in Marketo, so that they can run automated campaigns.


INQUIRE LEARN EVALUATE JUSTIFY SELECT

What interests me?

Questions:

Messages:

Offers

What do I want to know?

Questions:

Messages:

Offers

What do I think?

Questions:

Messages:

Offers

Am I ready to buy?

Questions:

Messages:

Offers

Is this right? What else is needed?

Questions:

Messages:

Offers

PERSONA’S MOTIVATION

WHAT’S HE/SHE ASKING

ABOUT?

KEY MESSAGES & VALUE

PROPOSITIONS

OFFERS HE/SHE MIGHT BE

INTERESTED IN

Keep on building those personas!M A R K E T O Q U I C K S T A R T G U I D E

What ways have you come across that could cause you to lose a deal or not retain them as a customer?

RISK OF LOSS


Having enough content is by far the biggest challenge that we see for companies attempting successful use of Marketo. In today’s marketing environment where the buyer is in charge, content is a must-have for consistent lead generation and nurturing. In fact, Google’s ZMOT research found that on average, prospects consume over 10 pieces of content before the time they discover your content.1

Ideally, these efforts are based on a solid understanding of the buyer journey & buyer personas so that your content and messages connect with your audience. Without this, even the most finely crafted Marketo programs will fail to deliver results.

Create High Caliber ContentM A R K E T O Q U I C K S T A R T G U I D E

You may want to ask yourself a few questions in the process of getting your assets in order.

Here’s a checklist, just so you have all those questions in one place.

If you can’t put a confident check on each of these boxes, focus your team on those improvement areas or risk limiting your long-term marketing automation success.

� Do you have a defined content calendar?

� Can you translate your product/service into an ROI message for the buyer?

� Do you know what the entire buying committee looks like?

� Do you have content for each stage of the buying process by persona?

� Do you know the buyer’s decision making process?

� Have you spoken directly to examples of your product’s best customers?

Content planning checklist

1. Source: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/collections/zero-moment-truth.html


Data: it’s the one thing everyone agrees upon. It’s often dirty, incomplete and can cripple your marketing efforts. Some organizations struggle with too many leads, some with not enough leads. But everyone struggles to keep data clean. For example, how can you send that email to everyone in California if you have cities in the state field and four different values: California, CA, Cali, Calfornia?

Ensure the Quality of Your DataM A R K E T O Q U I C K S T A R T G U I D E

A data quality and hygiene strategy is a pillar that you can’t afford to miss if you want success with Marketo. Everything from lead generation, to nurturing, to customer lifecycle management hinges on this critical element.

A good data strategy starts with the database you currently have.

Define the key elements of your ideal customer profile and ensure you have coverage across those points.

Next, ensure your lead intake points support capture of critical data and that you establish a data waterfall to append, cleanse and maintain database integrity overtime.

1

2

3

Form strategy and progressive profiling are key elements in a best-in-class data management process. Why? Because as you build trust with your buyer, you’re able to capture additional points that allow for hyper-personalization.


BUSINESS PROCESS DESIGN & IMPLEMENTATION

ANALYTICS

PRO-TIP

TECHNICAL APTITUDE

Does your team have the skills to pay the bills?


Your internal employees as well as partners with expert service providers are the most critical aspects of success with your marketing platform. Some important skills for success are:

Can your team envision demand generation and lead-lifecycle processes that align to the modern buyer? Can they work cross-functionally to implement across the organization?

Do you have someone who can absorb, visualize and discuss large amounts of data and complex concepts? Can they make decisions to solve problems based on available information?

Marketing is increasingly becoming a technical profession that includes proficiency with technology solutions as a key skillset. This represents a huge shift in the job description of a marketer, which previously required little-to-no technical abilities.

Although today’s marketing automation platforms are much easier to use than previous systems, users still need to be comfortable using technology. Basic levels of technical acumen are a must; having a “marketing technologist” on staff is even better.

You’ll need to evaluate the skills of your team. If you don’t have the right skills on-staff, consider augmenting your current staff with training, partners or additional hires.


If you think big, you’ll position yourself to

achieve the grand, albeit, finely articulated vision

of what you want success to resemble.

Depending on your organization, this end goal may take the form of a full

RCM transformation. It might also be more modest.

If you start small, you won’t get stuck in analysis paralysis, or feel the need to wait until all of your content is created.

You won’t need to map out every single campaign

or get your website perfect.

Slow and steady wins the race.

If you move quickly to win small victories, you’ll show results in a way that your

organization values — whether it’s a new lead

generation campaign or a basic system for lead scoring.

These small wins will cultivate stakeholder buy-in across your

organization, and increase your chances for success over

the short and long term.

Overall, be realistic about what resources you’ll require to achieve your objectives. But don’t let the “perfect be the enemy of good.”

Get started. See value. Then, evolve.

In SummaryM A R K E T O Q U I C K S T A R T G U I D E

All of the factors discussed here are critical for marketing automation success. But don’t let not having all of them keep you from getting started.

The best marketing automation implementations adhere to the adage, “think big, start small, move quickly.”


Who is

Continue the learning

L E A D M D E M P O W E R I N G M A R K E T E R S . P O W E R E D B Y T E C H N O L O G Y.

LeadMD is a different kind of full service digital marketing agency. As the ultimate extension of your team, we help you optimize and launch full-scale marketing campaigns and initiatives.

Our pack of Marketo Certified Experts is chock full of Salesforce ninjas, Marketo gurus, design superstars, social and content specialists, web developers and more.

We are proud to be Marketo’s first Strategic Services Partner. With over 2,900 Marketo instances serviced, LeadMD is well-equipped to help you reach this year’s marketing goals and beyond.

In addition to the services we offer, LeadMD invites you to learn Marketo, CRM and marketing best practices with our on-demand learning series, leadmd.com/marketplace

introducing the marketo quickstart guide · tactics and then managing the system for success. the...

Documents