When Marketing is responsible for generating pipeline each quarter, be sure that lots of events, emails, and webinars are going to be planned. As a Marketing Automation Manager, it’s my job to make sure that all online campaigns are set up appropriately, and scheduled cohesively. This requires a lot of attention to detail, constant communication, and a full-proof process.
My process and system empowers 10+ managers to launch their campaigns on time, and allows me to spend more time testing and running personal campaigns.
Submitting a Campaign Request
I get campaign requests of all types: ebooks, emails, event pages, and webinars. Each type of campaign requires different timelines, assets and deliverables. Whenever someone asks for my help, I point them to a Wiki page. The Wiki page holds a custom JIRA link for every campaign type, and includes the appropriate checklist necessary for that campaign. This way, it’s super simple for anyone to submit a request, and ensure her/his campaign gets prioritized.
Here is what one of the custom links looks like:
I pre-populated the summary with the asset type, along with custom labels needed for reporting (more on that later), and have appended the right google doc checklist.
Planning & Implementing
Setting up a campaign in Marketo is complex, and requires a lot of attention to detail. I use two systems to ensure I don’t forget the small, important stuff (like meta-tags, alt-text, email edits from the night before…).
Google Doc Checklists
We use google docs to document all copy, image assets, and anything else needed for campaign setup. I have a template custom for each campaign type, and it acts as a large, souped-up checklist for both planning and setting up the campaign.
At any point in time, I can easily look at this doc to see all of the elements required for a campaign. Here’s an example of one of our docs. If my google doc template interests you, please contact me with any questions you have! I would love to geek out with you, it’s something that has evolved throughout the years.
Marketo Tokens
If you are a Marketo user, and you don’t use tokens for your assets, do it. You will thank me. If you need help, I recommend Etumos, a great Marketing Tech consultancy who has helped me in the past! Of course, you can always reach out to me as well!
The implementation piece is pretty easy once all of the other foundational places are there. Essentially, we have a google doc checklist to mirror each program type in Marketo. Once the google doc is filled, we simply have to transfer the values from the google doc to Marketo!
Visibility & Prioritization
All Marketing campaigns are logged in JIRA. In the past, I used Asana, and that was also effective!
We’ve structured our board by Assignee, and then have each column by stage in process.
The task stages are:
- To Do
- Assets Requested
- Needs Approval
- Ready for MA
- In Progress
- Out for Review
- Scheduled
- Complete
Marketing Calendar
Because all JIRA tickets are submitted with custom labels, I’m able to present our Marketing Calendar using a JIRA calendar widget. You can simply hover over the green button, and you can see what is scheduled for that day.
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