You can easily create custom fields in Marketo on the person/lead object. When you start using Marketo I recommend only creating a field if you need it to identify or target a record for a campaign, need it for a form, or want to personalize an email or landing page. As you become more familiar with Marketo you can add additional fields as necessary.
Field Creation Best Practices
- Consider whether you need the field in Marketo only or also in your CRM.
- Name your field so it is easy to understand the purpose of the field. Think carefully about the naming convention and whether you want to be grouped with other fields based on the name since Marketo shows fields in alphabetical order.
- Add MKTO to end of the field name to identify that it is in Marketo only. Be careful how you name your Marketo only field if plan to merge a SFDC field into the Marketo only field. See these articles for more information: Merge a SFDC field into a Marketo only field. Merge a Marketo field into a SFDC field.
- Try to create as few fields as possible to reduce using the incorrect field. Always ask yourself what is the purpose of the field.
- Always enter a description when creating a field so you everyone knows why you created it.
- Never rename a field since the API name can’t be edited. Instead, hide the field.
- If you can’t remember what the field is for then hide it and create a new one. It is not possible for your Marketo admin to delete a field. You can add additional fields at any time.
Additional Resources
- Instructions for creating a Marketo only field
- Marketo field types
- Changing Marketo field types
- Exporting fields to obtain the API names
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