Re: Featured Discussion: 3 Things Executives Need to Know When Switching to Marketo

Anonymous
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Featured Discussion: 3 Things Executives Need to Know When Switching to Marketo

Upon encountering several sub-optimal Marketo implementations, I’d like to share considerations that Senior Management should review prior to adding Marketo to the arsenal of marketing tools. 
 
1.     
Marketing Talent. Advanced email, lead management and automation capabilities will cause learning curve on your marketing team and some employees may not be receptive to a shift in their day-to-day responsibilities.

2.     
Technology Implications. Marketo touches many parts of the organization, exposes any existing inefficiencies and data issues, and creates additional requirements for your systems’ architecture.

3.     
Change Management. Invest time to ensure success of your implementation and learn what automation can do for business in terms of reporting and advanced capabilities. Don’t overpay for something you underuse.
 
I found that ignoring these puts an organization at risk of incurring extra cost, poor reporting and organizational design / collaboration issues. Would you share pointers of what you thought made Marketo implementation successful? Are there any specific tips or tricks you would suggest?

 
This discussion is part of the Marketo Community Featured Discussion program. If you are interested in submitting a topic for a future Featured Discussion, or if you would like to lead a future Featured Discussion, please email community@marketo.com.
2 REPLIES 2
Anonymous
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Re: Featured Discussion: 3 Things Executives Need to Know When Switching to Marketo

Well said!

I'd add in an additional, perhaps overriding theme as well - the organization needs to be committed to marketing automation philosophy - the tehcnology (even great ones like Marketo) are an aide - you have to embrace the notion of scoring, nurturing, and leveraging digital body language. The organization also needs to be ready to live the data and leverage it for optimization so they can improve their return on marketing efforts - if this isn't a desire, you might ask if they are ready for MA?
Anonymous
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Re: Featured Discussion: 3 Things Executives Need to Know When Switching to Marketo

All are very good advice! What I don't think gets paid enough attention is change management. For many organizations, marketing automation and the core disciplines that make it work - personas, content, etc - are fundamentally very different than the company may be used to operating. Such change is not easy and certainly does not happen overnight. In addition to all the aspects mentioned above, planning for and managing the training, briefs, collaborations and changes in mindset over an extended period of time will aid in the liklihood of a successful implementation.