Upon inheriting a Marketo instance, you need to dive in and see what changes are needed to maximize efficiency. Below are three actionable ways to optimize program build, governance, and overall marketing operations across your inherited Marketo instance.
1. Create Standardized Master Program Templates for different Channels
Review your marketing programs in Marketo. Do you have a way to quickly clone and scale your marketing programs? Are standardized naming conventions in place? Are smart campaigns consistently and correctly changing program statuses? Are standard reports built within programs for quick analysis?
One of the first elements I look for when stepping into an inherited instance is to see whether Master Program Templates (MPTs) are built for each different marketing channel. MPTs will allow Marketers to clone programs at scale and report on program success with consistent accuracy. No matter who is creating programs in your instance, you can rest assured that they’ll have the right elements in their program because they’re cloning from a pre-built MPT.
As part of your MPT, I recommend building out folders to organize the different elements of your program. Each folder should contain appropriate assets, smart campaigns, reports, etc. Within these templates, you should include the smart campaigns used to send emails and change program status, so the process remains consistent. Remember to adapt your standardized naming conventions for your MPTs so they can be easily updated when cloning them to create a new program.
Below is an example build for a Live Event. I’ve collapsed the Assets, Lists, and Reports folder, but you would ideally have consistent assets stored in each of these folders. Each time a Marketer wants to create a Live Event program, they can clone this MPT.
If you need inspiration, import best practice templates using the Marketo Program Library. This is a good place to start, adjusting the template to fit your requirements.
2. Create detailed documentation and maintain a Changelog
What is one of the primary frustrations when inheriting an instance? Not understanding why something was created, updated, or deleted. Go through your primary operational programs such as Data Management Campaigns, Lead Lifecycle, Lead Scoring, CRM Sync, Deliverability, etc. and document the current state of the programs and associated smart campaigns.
Once your key Operational Programs are identified and documented in the current state, enforce a strict governance policy requiring a “Changelog maintenance”. Any time there is an update, document what the update was and why it was needed. This will save your hours in trying to search through emails, audit trail, and activity logs.
Key elements to include in Marketo Documentation and Changelogs:
- Original Documentation: Created By, Date Created, Purpose, Link to Marketo Program
- Changelog: Updated By, Date Updated, Purpose for Update, Impact
Creating detailed documentation and maintaining a changelog is key to proper governance. These steps will save your team time and future headaches when transferring Marketo knowledge.
3. Review your use of Tokens and Snippets
Implementing tokens and snippets at top-level workspace folders and MPTs will save hours of manual updates and will maintain brand consistency.
- Token use case: Add tokens to MPTs and update them after cloning the MPT to create a new program. These can be used to populate header images, event details, etc. across multiple emails within a webinar program as opposed to updating 5+ emails manually.
- Snippet use case: Maintain control and scale updates to different geo or organizational footer and header sections.
Marketo Champion, Beth Massura, wrote a great blog post that dives much deeper into tokens and snippets.
I hope these tips help you (and future heirs) maximize efficiency across your Marketo instance.
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