Guidelines for linking existing Marketo and Microsoft CRM databases

[Anonymous]

We have an existing Marketo database and an existing hosted Microsoft CRM 2015 instance.  Both have data (8K for Marketo, 4K contacts and 1K leads for CRM)  There are definitely duplicates between the CRM and Marketo database.

I would like to setup syncing between the two systems, but am not sure the best path forward.  I could:

1. Export a CSV file from Marketo with all records.  I could then import into CRM as leads and setup duplicate detection rules to only bring in leads that don't already exist as leads/contacts in CRM.
2. Simply turn on syncing and let Marketo sync data for existing leads/contacts and add the new leads/contacts in the CRM database.

Is there a document somewhere that talks about best practices in this case?

Are there any problems/gotcha's that should steer me in one direction or the other?

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks...

Rich

[Josh_Hill13]

See https://docs.marketo.com/display/public/DOCS/Sync+Setup

[Dan_Stevens_]

The best advice I can give you at this stage is to ensure your data is as clean and accurate as possible.  You never want to start with dirty data.

Also, in our environment (Marketo/MSD CRM), leads aren't synced to CRM until they are actually marketing-qualified. That being said, it will be important that you have clearly defined processes/SLAs in place between marketing and sales.  For example, we found some sales execs entering their contact data as leads - all they had was the name and company (and entered "N/A" for the email addresses).  Since this all synced back to Marketo, it caused many issues.  So make sure that alignment exists between sales and marketing.