What's the best way to flesh out Marketo best practices?

[Anonymous]

I'm sure some of you have some strong opinions about this.

What's the best way you've found to flesh out deeper best practice use for Marketo?

So far, this discussion portal, to me, has seemed to help the most. But wondering what your opinions are, and if any of you wouldn't mind sharing some good content that has helped you along in your understanding.

I've found docs.marketo.com to be terribly dry, and lacking any detailed use cases. The Foundation webinar week was nice, but now it's over. And the videos at University are kind of basic. I've tried a third party consulting program (Hoosh), but while some of their content is decent, they have been totally devoid of any real feedback, and don't cover admin & reporting features much. I get good insights from one-to-one consulting sessions, but there are only so many of those you can pay for.

What do you guys think? I'm very interested in your answers.

Thanks!

Trent

[Anonymous]

I check the discussion boards every day that I can and bookmark ones that I know I'm going to run into later on, especially as I'm implementing right now. I also check out ideas because a lot of the set ups that people run into problems with and want a fix for are ones that I might be interested in later.

I try to read things that Josh Hill, Sanford Whiteman and Gregoire Michel comment on because they seem like the discussion leaders. At this point when I'm in a bind I tag them in things, they're INCREDIBLY helpful and knowledgeable. I'm this far away I--I from following them outright just to see their comments because it's so helpful.

My user group doesn't seem too active, but I have friends from previous jobs who I remained close with and we discuss our set ups. They've been invaluable.

Summit is a great place to see a TON of great content. If you haven't registered, go immediately to your boss with your points about why you need to go. There's no better place to see best practices and set up of different systems.

I have a list of industry blogs or sites that I try to visit once a week to keep up with industry practices and a few have Marketo-specific posts. If you like Twitter (I'm not a big fan) there are a few options to follow that might help. Here's a few of the blogs I follow:

Marketing Central

Champions: The Marketo Elite

Marketo Whisperer: Implementation Tips

Revenue Marketing™ Thought Leadership Blog  (there's a tab at the top where you can specify Marketo-related posts)

Marketo and Demand Generation Consulting - Marketing Rockstar Guides  <---- This one is AMAZING. Read it. Love it.

http://resources.elixiter.com/h/c/225042-how-to  <---this section is called "Marketo How To". Enough said. There's also a Marketo Insights section. Lovely: http://resources.elixiter.com/h/c/225069-insights​

Best of luck!

[Grégoire_Miche2]

Thx Christina

IMHO, add Dory Viscogliosi​, Kenny Elkington​, Edward Unthank​, John Clark, Courtney Grimes and Dan Stevens​ to the people to follow, as well as a couple of PM's, especially Justin Cooperman​

-Greg

[Anonymous]

Thx much, Christina. Already registered for Summit (first one!). And, I'll start following those resources you mentioned. Good stuff.

[Grégoire_Miche2]

Also add Josh Hill's tremendous encyclopedia : Free Tools - Marketing Rockstar Guides

-Greg

[Dan_Stevens_]

Trent, to really guide you appropriately, it would be helpful to better understand your environment. For example, your needs will differ if your organization is a SMB and run a single workspace/single lead partition; vs. a global enterprise with multiple workspaces/partitions (we're in the latter).  Stick around - lots of folks are here to provide you with those tips, best practices and answers to many challenges you might face. 

Thanks for the shout-out, Grégoire Michel!

[Josh_Hill13]

Thanks everyone.

There is not a complete manual on best practices, partially because, as Dan pointed out, it depends a bit on your situation and systems.

I am working on a new Guide that will address these best practice issues. I usually provide them as part of engagements and they are customized for the situation.

[Anonymous]

Hi Josh - I can only imagine the ROI on the Guides for client. So glad a copy is online.  Thanks again.

Eric