Marketo and Salesforce Sync

[Anonymous]

Hi !

Two parts:

This may be quite a beginner question (as I have previously never worked with the marketo and syncing process) but how exactly does the syncing process work between Marketo and Salesforce? I was reading this "Understanding the Salesforce Sync - Marketo Docs - Product Docs " but it didn't really explain much to me.

My 2nd question now resides with -  say I have a Marketo email that sends to a database and has a register now button. The register button now sends the user to an external form (not hosted by Marketo). The user fills in their details and we now have their data. Is there a way to ensure that it automatically flows to SDFC or is that automatically covered through the syncing process as enquired with question 1.

Once again - it is quite a beginner question but I am just getting my head around all of this because in the past, I was mainly just working on building the emails and never had to touch the syncing / salesforce process.

Thanks all!

[SanfordWhiteman · Accepted solution]

an external form (not hosted by Marketo). The user fills in their details and we now have their data.

Unless you mean "a Marketo form embedded on an external site" (by far the recommended setup) then your form data has no inherent relationship to Marketo at all. You'd have to get the data into Marketo or SFDC in the first place.

Leads that originate in Marketo are only synced to SFDC if (a) they're processed by a Smart Campaign Sync to SFDC flow step or (b) they're added to a Marketo program that's synced to an SFDC campaign.

[Anonymous]

Hi Sanford

Thanks for clarifying the first question. So does that mean unless I create the form with Marketo - I won't be able to sync the programs to SFDC?

[SanfordWhiteman]

You can use a custom form and submit the form using the Marketo Forms API (in essence, a hidden Marketo form used only to post data). There are several threads here about this technique. But unless you have some technical reason to be using a 3rd-party form, I would use a (visible) Marketo form from the start.

Of course, as with most things Marketo there are multiple ways to accomplish the same result, but they vary in reliability and complexity. Heck, you could have a form that posts to SFDC and let the sync process bring the lead in to Marketo. But this requires an adequate API license and, all told, has zero advantages.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the quick answer!

Yeah unfortunately we are using an external party to manage all registrations so they decided to use their platform...

Thanks anyways for the clarification and answers

[SanfordWhiteman]

So how do you get the lead info? A text file?

[Anonymous]

Yeah we will most likely we will be geting daily updates and I will have to upload the users manually into Salesforce.

I will be making sure that everything goes through a marketo form in future reference to make everyones lives easier haha!