Item: Adobe Marketo Engage
Rating: 10
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We are rolling the product out globally to use across all the regions. Marketo is helping us to maintain global programs, collaborate with other regions, and to understand more clearly how our marketing initiatives are impacting revenue. Using one platform enables us to streamline our processes globally (lead scoring, data management) and to "speak" the same Marketing language globally for reporting and analysis purposes. We are really looking forward to the ability to share our successes with all the teams, and to be able to replicate successes across regions where it makes sense to do so. Lastly, we hope that by using the same platform, the experts across each region can help improve processes across the globe by sharing their operational expertise (e.g data hygiene best practices, API development, design best practices, etc.).

Pros and Cons

Data management processes - appending data, assigning regions, routing leads, scoring leads for activity, assigning a lead lifecycle, etc. Those ongoing data management details can be managed very efficiently in Marketo.
CRM integration - we use Salesforce, so the out of the box integration is particularly useful! No special coding required to sync data; the data syncs continuously throughout the day after fields are mapped between the systems. The near-real time updates are so important for passing leads to sales that have requested to be contacted. AND the details of those individual records are available in Sales Insight (the Salesforce plugin that shares activity history, behavior, etc with the sales teams)
Sales Insight - I absolutely love this feature! Before implementing, our sales teams were flying a bit blind. They love the ability to see what emails have been sent (and whether opened or clicked!), web activity, event activity, etc. This is such a powerful tool when our teams are prospecting and qualifying leads for the next phase of the buying cycle.
The Marketo Community - Marketo spends a lot of time and effort to connect marketers to one another. They have put emphasis on a robust user community to help their customers become smarter and more proficient, but also to foster ideas and input for the platform as it continues to grow and expand.

Landing page editor/functionality - although, I know this is something they've been working on quite a bit to improve. It's a bit clunky and hasn't had true drag-and-drop/mobile optimization functionality.
Audit trails and/or some way to have a project management workflow of a program before launching for QA purposes. I wish there was a better way to see who has edited a program and when. To that point, and I don't know if other MAP solutions offer this, but a formal workflow/QA process would be fantastic to ensure programs go through the proper trail before being launched. Right now you can set user roles that limit functionality, but a hand-off/assignment process to users would be great!

Return on Investment

Greater visibility into lead activity for outbound qualification and prospecting
Increased speed for importing leads from events, to begin driving leads through the funnel
Global alignment on resources and branding--along with the ability to more efficiently share programs and successes
Automation of repetitive, operation process such as data management and appending activities

Number of Contacts (List Size)

1 to 5 million

Likelihood to Renew

I have always been impressed with Marketo's team - from the Customer Advocacy group to the Product team. They are always looking to expand the product and find new ways to offer top solutions for their customers. Marketo is comprised of smart marketers who understand digital marketing and the need to integrate multiple tools to serve up end-to-end data integration. As with any product, there are always areas for improvement. And Marketo gets this. Each month they roll out new features and improvements....spanning from huge transformations to impactful tweaks for improved efficiency. I am a huge fan of Marketo and the platform they are building. It's changed so much (for the better!!) in the past four years I've used it. And I get excited every time the monthly release email arrives in my inbox because I'm always curious to see how the development team is taking the platform to the next level.

Likelihood to Recommend

When considering whether or not to buy any marketing automation platform, the goals of the company in the coming 2-5 years should be closely examined. What does your inbound marketing strategy look like? Do you have a CRM? How are you marketing today? What would you like to improve? The digital marketing goals of the company can definitely help to determine which platform is right for your organization. Some key questions to ask during the selection process include:

Training and onboarding -- how does the software support you from the outset, and ongoing as your team ramps up and expands their usage?
If you're using a CRM, what does the integration look like? Is it easy to implement or will you require additional/ongoing technical resources?
How does the platform support your other digital marketing efforts -- from SEO, to paid search and social, understanding end-to-end attribution and ROI is key.
What does the roadmap look like for the platform? Digital marketing is changing rapidly, so is the platform investment accordingly going to keep up?

Using Adobe Marketo Engage for B2C or B2B marketing

B2B

Usability Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar	None

Mobile Interface Availability and Impressions

Yes, but I don't use it

Great Platform and Infrastructure for Global Alignment

Software Version

Modules Used

Overall Satisfaction with Marketo Marketing Automation