Smart Campaigns vs Programs - Examples?

[Anonymous]

I've been searching Marketo for examples of when to use Smart campaigns vs when to use Programs. We are in the process of creating Programs and switching certain things over, but we need to create some sort of standard going forward for everyone to abide by.  Do you have any examples of when you would use smart campaigns vs programs?

[Michelle_Tizian]

Hi @Michelle M

I actually have a use case that I recently did where I just used a smart campaign vs. a program.  I had to create 2 outgoing emails in one campaign, but the leads for the recipients of the emails are in 4 different programs in Marketo. To avoid having to create 4 different emails in each program, I just created the 2 emails in Design Studio so I can easily access it.    I created 2 smart lists referencing the leads from the 4 programs in the leads database, but the naming convention for the smart lists, campaign and emails are consistent so I can easily find them.   

It would have been easier for me to just create a new program and have all of the assets in one place, but my boss didn't want it that way.  

[Anonymous]

Another reason to use a program rather than a smart campaign is when you want the results to be synched to a Salesforce campaign.

[Anonymous]

Agree with both above - unless it's a blast to tne entire database, we create everything inside a program. Just gives better structure, reporting and trackability. 

[Michelle_Tizian]

Just like Michelle above, we create all of our assets and smart campaigns inside a program.  It's just a better system for us. 

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

We have all our Marketo Users create programs so that it keeps all assets & smart campaigns organized under one umbrella and it's easy to track all sucessful members. The only time we create smart campaigns without a program is for one off system changes such as updating the revenue stage.....anything that doesn't require us to go back and track their program success.

Hope this helps!