MARKETO QUICKSTART GUIDE Assembled by LeadMD

Transcription

1 Introducing the MARKETO QUICKSTART GUIDE Assembled by LeadMD

2 The successful utilization of Marketo is a journey. It s a marathon, not a sprint. Marketo is a powerful tool used to scale your marketing messaging and accelerate customer acquisition. But it s not a flip of a switch. The #1 determinate of success with any MarTech is investment in proper process. This guide was assembled from the learnings and mindshare of over 2,900 Marketo implementations. Success with marketing automation hinges on coupling the latest in modern marketing strategy with truly scalable tactics and then managing the system for success. The secret behind achieving two, three or ever four times returns on your Marketo investment is iteration based on analytic insights. The reality is this: marketing automation is bigger than CRM and higher on the proverbial food chain of data. Too many people are treating marketing automation as a tool or a simplistic platform. Once you shift your mind set and treat Marketo for what it is: A foundational platform for the success of the whole company, it will become precisely that. What do I need to succeed with Marketo? Success with Marketo is determined by three critical ingredients: Your Strategy & Process Your Data, Assets & Intelligence Your People 2

3 Strategy & Process When rolling out a fresh Marketo instance, you can t just automate your old (probably broken) processes. New technology requires new ways of doing things. When it comes to automating marketing, the most important thing to understand is the role of the marketer is also amplified. Here are three integral processes that your company should examine as it considers a marketing automation rollout: Sales & Marketing Alignment Measurement & Metrics Efficient Lead flow Do your teams agree on the definiton of an MQL? What KPIs will you use to measure pipeline velocity? Can you deliver the right message, at the right time, to the right people? 3

4 Sales & Marketing Alignment Marketing automation can drive the most results when a company uses it as an opportunity to realign the entire revenue engine around the modern customer s new buying cycle. Marketo s Revenue Cycle Model allows you to determine how leads are converting through your funnel. Your ultimate goal is to be able to report on this entire model. Both Sales & Marketing should be in agreement upon: What defines a sales-ready lead? How does your lead qualification team prioritize their time? How will you implement lead nurturing for leads that are not yet ready? How will you recycle sales leads that don t move forward? What service level agreements (SLAs) will you have for lead follow-up? 4

5 Efficient Lead Flow Some companies have too many leads and must score them before forking over only the highest quality, sales-ready leads. Other companies, especially new and small businesses, don t have enough leads. Marketo helps leads flow through the funnel more efficiently. When done right, it can nurture leads to make them sales-ready. But if you have nothing coming into the top of your funnel, you ll have nothing to nurture. If you don t have enough sales leads, put a plan in place to get more. Do anything that will help to get prospects into the top of your funnel, such as: Content Social Media Tradeshows Partnerships Promotions 5

6 Measurement & Metrics With marketing automation, you can look beyond traditional vanity metrics like clicks and opens. Instead, the focus can be placed on measuring (and forecasting) what executives really care about: current and future pipeline, revenue and profits. Ask yourself these questions and build reports around their outputs: What key metrics do you report on a weekly, monthly and quarterly basis? What key performance indicators (KPIs) will you use to determine if your revenue processes are on track? How do you measure campaign ROI? Do you know the true cost of your event or content efforts and how they impact bottom line revenue? See Marketo s Program Analyzer to determine what the ROI is around your marketing initiatives. 6

7 A journey with you & your buyer Today s buyers control their journey through the buying cycle more than vendors control the selling cycle. So before automating any processes, we must first understand the buyer s journey, then map needs and key actions for each step. Welcome to Lead Land population 50K Anonymous RIP RIP RIP Graveyard Awareness Awareness Conversion New Leads AQL (Automation Qualified Lead/Account) MAL (Marketing Accepted Lead/Account) TASK MQL (Marketing Qualified) TASK Where leads turn to contacts Plan to Close Early Stage Opportunities SQL (Sales Qualified Leads/Account) SAL (Sales accepted) TASK Moment of Purchase WARNING!!! Don't ignore your current customers! Instead, focus on their success and turn them into raving fans and a referral source. Client Way Account Onboarding 90 Days in Account Loyalty & Renewal WINNER Advocacy 7

8 SOCIAL EVENTS SEO REFFERALS CONTENT BLOG MARKETO QUICK START GUIDE These days, the funnel is more of an hour glass. WEB LISTS Despite the hype, the sales funnel isn t dead. It just looks different than it used to. Revenue opportunity doesn t stop at the moment of purchase and neither should your funnel. MOMENT OF PURCHASE PROSPECT (anonymous to awareness to new leads ) QUALIFY (AQL to MQL) ENGAGE (SQL to SAL) OPPORTUNITY (Early stage negotiations) PLAN TO CLOSE (Pipeline) (Closed Won) ACQUISITION Here are the tactics & channels to keep your leads/accounts flowing like sand through the hour glass: PROSPECT Blog Content List Purchase & Rental Offline & Online Advertising Press/Word of Mouth Referral Roadshow Sales Generated Conference/Seminar QUALIFY TO ENGAGE Blog Content Send Lead Lifecycle Nurture Campaign Offline & Online Advertising Press/Word of Mouth Referral Roadshow Sales Generated SEO Social Media Sponsored Event Telemarketing Tradeshow Web Direct Web Referral Webinar Website Resource Conference/Seminar SEO Social Media Sponsored Event Telemarketing Tradeshow Web Direct Web Referral Webinar Website Resource NEW ACQUISITION SUPPORT & ON-BOARDING 90 DAYS IN EXPAND LOYALTY ADVOCACY RETENTION OPPORTUNITY, CLOSING, SUPPORT & ON-BOARDING Blog SEO Content Social Media Send Sponsored Event Lead Lifecycle Web Direct Nurture Campaign Webinar Conference/Seminar Website Resource Sales Offers 90 DAYS IN, EXPAND, LOYALTY & ADVOCACY Blog Sales Offer Content Social Media Conference/Seminar Sponsored Event Send Tradeshow Loyalty Programs Web Direct Nurture Campaign Webinar Referral Website Resource 8

9 Progressing through the hour glass Let s zoom in a bit. Here s what the best practice progression & success steps look like for our list of comprehensive marketing channels. Channel Progression Statuses Progression Step Success? Blog Engaged 20 Subscribed 30 Content Member 10 Engaged 20 Direct Mail Converted 20 Sent 10 Opened 20 Send Clicked 30 Converted 40 Unsubscribed 50 Lead Lifecycle Follows your Mkting- Sales Process Varies Varies List Purchase Member 10 Engaged 20 List Rentals Member 10 Engaged 20 Member 10 Engaged 20 Nurture Campaign Filled Out Form 30 Passed to Sales 40 Unsubscribed 50 Offline Advertising Converted 20 Online Advertising Converted 20 Operational Member 10 Press/WOM Converted 20 Referral Referred 10 Engaged 20 Invited 10 Roadshow Registered 20 Attended 30 Engaged 40 Channel Progression Statuses Progression Step Success? Sales Generated Member 10 Engaged 20 Invited 10 Conference/Seminar Registered 20 Attended 30 Engaged 40 SEO Converted 20 Social Media Converted 20 Invited 10 Sponsored Event Registered 20 Attended 30 Engaged 40 Telemarketing Member 10 Engaged 20 Invited 10 Tradeshow Attended 20 Visited Booth 30 Engaged 40 Web Direct Converted 20 Web Referral Converted 20 Invited 10 Pending Approval 20 Rejected 30 Wait Listed 30 Webinar Registered 40 No Show 50 Downloaded 60 Attended 70 Attended On-demand 75 Website Resource Converted 20 To get channels done right: add the applicable marketing channels and their details listed above to Tags in the admin area of Marketo. 9

10 Data, Assets & Intelligence If Marketo is the rocket, then data and content assets are the fuel. Can you fill your tank and blast off to discover new galaxies of buyers? For modern marketers, attention is everything. Your ability to attract and capitalize on your buyer s attention is synonymous with driving qualified demand. So if you re catching people s attention, you ve got to make sure they re the right people. Identify Your Best Buyers Create Caliber Content Ensure the Quality of Your Data Finding the right people Getting your assets in line Keeping your data clean The critical dimensions of messaging are who and when. By organizing content around these three dimensions we can evaluate the quality, quantity and purpose of marketing content. At the same time, you ll reveal the gaps within your content library that need to be filled. PRO-TIP Ensure you involve sales leadership and any other critical stakeholders in this process. Their buy-in will be essential for establishing sales and marketing alignment. 10

11 Identify your best Buyers Once you ve begun to optimize your processes and orient them to more closely match the buyer s journey, you can begin the work of developing buyer personas. What s a buyer persona? A buyer persona is a detailed profile of your ideal buyers based on market research and real data about your actual customers. Personas are often based on customer demographics and behavior, along with your own understanding of their motivations and challenges. The more detailed your personas are, the more results they ll yield. Benefits of building personas Sidenote: This seems A LOT of work, but the benefits far exceed any roadblocks you may encounter. Buyer personas will help you: Determine what kind of content you need for each phase of the buyer s journey Tailor your content to prospect pain points Assign leads/contacts to account reps that resonate with that type of buyer Create unique content that addresses the real concerns, needs, interests, likes and dislikes of your buyers. How to get the ball rollin. To get all of the details you need, interview & survey customers, prospects, and members of your marketing, sales and customer success teams, this is what we call inhead data. Combine this in-head with behavioral (Marketo) and demographic (Salesforce) to get the most detailed profiles for your buyers. 11

12 Ready set go...(build some personas!) To create buyer personas that faithfully represent your customer base, get as granular as possible around who these personas are and what they care about. Then you can build messaging that actually converts. To get started, gather your team and answer the questions on this persona worksheet. PERSONA OVERVIEW PERSONA S NAME ( i.e. Go Getter Grace ) PERSONA S JOB TITLE/ROLE Create a 100 to 200 word overview describing this person. Include responsibilities, personal preferences, age, gender, experience & daily activities - anything that will help you understand your buyer s brain! ( i.e. CMO or VP of Marketing) ROLE IN THE BUYING COMMITTEE Decision maker Executive sponsor Influencer NEED/MOTIVATION Low High PAIN POINTS List all the challenges and concerns that commonly affect this person. FYI: We phrased these like user stories! This will help you get into the agile marketing framework. Here s an example: As a Marketing Director, I wish my team was more skilled in Marketo, so that they can run automated campaigns. Now it s your turn! Give it a go: As a I m concerned As a I don t have As a I worry about As a I wish KEY DRIVERS, MOTIVATORS & GOALS 12 As a I want to As a I need to As a I must

13 Keep on building those personas! INQUIRE LEARN EVALUATE JUSTIFY SELECT PERSONA S MOTIVATION What interests me? What do I want to know? What do I think? Is this right? What else is needed? Am I ready to buy? Questions: Questions: Questions: Questions: Questions: WHAT S HE/SHE ASKING ABOUT? Messages: Messages: Messages: Messages: Messages: KEY MESSAGES & VALUE PROPOSITIONS Offers Offers Offers Offers Offers OFFERS HE/ SHE MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN RISK OF LOSS What ways have you come across that could cause you to lose a deal or not retain them as a customer? 13

14 Create High Caliber Content Having enough content is by far the biggest challenge that we see for companies attempting successful use of Marketo. In today s marketing environment where the buyer is in charge, content is a must-have for consistent lead generation and nurturing. In fact, Google s ZMOT research found that on average, prospects consume over 10 pieces of content before the time they discover your content. 1 Ideally, these efforts are based on a solid understanding of the buyer journey & buyer personas so that your content and messages connect with your audience. Without this, even the most finely crafted Marketo programs will fail to deliver results. You may want to ask yourself a few questions in the process of getting your assets in order. Here s a checklist, just so you have all those questions in one place. If you can t put a confident check on each of these boxes, focus your team on those improvement areas or risk limiting your long-term marketing automation success. Content planning checklist Do you have a defined content calendar? Can you translate your product/service into an ROI message for the buyer? Do you know what the entire buying committee looks like? Do you have content for each stage of the buying process by persona? Do you know the buyer s decision making process? Have you spoken directly to examples of your product s best customers? 1. Source: 14

15 Ensure the Quality of Your Data Data: it s the one thing everyone agrees upon. It s often dirty, incomplete and can cripple your marketing efforts. Some organizations struggle with too many leads, some with not enough leads. But everyone struggles to keep data clean. For example, how can you send that to everyone in California if you have cities in the state field and four different values: California, CA, Cali, Calfornia? A data quality and hygiene strategy is a pillar that you can t afford to miss if you want success with Marketo. Everything from lead generation, to nurturing, to customer lifecycle management hinges on this critical element. 1 A good data strategy starts with the database you currently have. 2 3 Define the key elements of your ideal customer profile and ensure you have coverage across those points. Next, ensure your lead intake points support capture of critical data and that you establish a data waterfall to append, cleanse and maintain database integrity overtime. Form strategy and progressive profiling are key elements in a best-in-class data management process. Why? Because as you build trust with your buyer, you re able to capture additional points that allow for hyper-personalization. 15

16 Does your team have the skills to pay the bills? Your internal employees as well as partners with expert service providers are the most critical aspects of success with your marketing platform. Some important skills for success are: BUSINESS PROCESS DESIGN & IMPLEMENTATION Can your team envision demand generation and lead-lifecycle processes that align to the modern buyer? Can they work cross-functionally to implement across the organization? ANALYTICS Do you have someone who can absorb, visualize and discuss large amounts of data and complex concepts? Can they make decisions to solve problems based on available information? TECHNICAL APTITUDE Marketing is increasingly becoming a technical profession that includes proficiency with technology solutions as a key skillset. This represents a huge shift in the job description of a marketer, which previously required little-to-no technical abilities. Although today s marketing automation platforms are much easier to use than previous systems, users still need to be comfortable using technology. Basic levels of technical acumen are a must; having a marketing technologist on staff is even better. PRO-TIP You ll need to evaluate the skills of your team. If you don t have the right skills on-staff, consider augmenting your current staff with training, partners or additional hires. 16

17 In Summary All of the factors discussed here are critical for marketing automation success. But don t let not having all of them keep you from getting started. The best marketing automation implementations adhere to the adage, think big, start small, move quickly. If you think big, you ll position yourself to achieve the grand, albeit, finely articulated vision of what you want success to resemble. Depending on your organization, this end goal may take the form of a full RCM transformation. It might also be more modest. If you start small, you won t get stuck in analysis paralysis, or feel the need to wait until all of your content is created. You won t need to map out every single campaign or get your website perfect. Slow and steady wins the race. If you move quickly to win small victories, you ll show results in a way that your organization values whether it s a new lead generation campaign or a basic system for lead scoring. These small wins will cultivate stakeholder buy-in across your organization, and increase your chances for success over the short and long term. Overall, be realistic about what resources you ll require to achieve your objectives. But don t let the perfect be the enemy of good. Get started. See value. Then, evolve. 17

18 Who is LeadMD is a different kind of full service digital marketing agency. As the ultimate extension of your team, we help you optimize and launch full-scale marketing campaigns and initiatives. Our pack of Marketo Certified Experts is chock full of Salesforce ninjas, Marketo gurus, design superstars, social and content specialists, web developers and more. We are proud to be Marketo s first Strategic Services Partner. With over 2,900 Marketo instances serviced, LeadMD is well-equipped to help you reach this year s marketing goals and beyond. Continue the learning In addition to the services we offer, LeadMD invites you to learn Marketo, CRM and marketing best practices with our on-demand learning series, leadmd.com/marketplace