Guest Post

Why Is Marketo the Number One Choice as a Marketing Automation Platform?

Marketo is a marketing software built to automate most marketing strategies to measure engagement, automate tasks, and ensure pitch-perfect workflow. The solutions that this tool offers are numerous – and the benefits too. In this article, we will cover all the reasons why your company needs Marketo, all the pros of using it, and all the cons that no tool can ever avoid. Let’s dive in.

A Bit of History

Marketo had its humble beginnings in 2006. It started as a simpler marketing solution than the one we know today. It was used as a marketing automation tool, and it quickly evolved into software for advanced marketing analytics and management.

By 2012, Marketo was proudly recognized as the 78th fastest growing business by Inc. magazine. Today it is owned by Adobe, and it is a software that offers detailed and customized marketing solutions for all types of businesses. Simply put, Marketo is mostly useful for companies that need more than a one-size-fits-all solution. It is customizable in accordance with your needs and preferences.

Does Your Company Need Marketing Automation?

If you are genuinely interested and want to know whether your company is in need of marketing automation, please answer these questions.

  • Can your company identify buyers online?
  • Is your company able to successfully track and engage buyers online?
  • Does your company have a list of customers? And can you arrange them based on how likely they are to buy your products?
  • Is your company able to measure how much revenue does each marketing campaign bring?
  • Can you achieve all of the above without having a nervous breakdown?

Are all of your answers NO?

Well, now you have the basic idea of what it means to have a marketing automation platform; and how beneficial it can really be for your company’s success. As for which one is the best out there? Well, here is our analysis of Marketo – one of the most widely used platforms in the world.

Pros of Using Marketo

First of all, if you decide to implement Marketo as part of your marketing strategy, it is essential to know that you will have the opportunity to equip your marketers with top-notch knowledge regarding marketing. What does this mean, exactly? Well, one of the benefits that your employees will enjoy once they start using Marketo is the certification they will get. They will be globally recognized as some of the best marketers out there, plus, you will get an exclusive membership in the Marketo Group on LinkedIn.

Second, once you get into it, you will soon realize how many features this tool has; and how helpful they are. Here is a list and a short explanation to get you started.

Marketing Automation

This feature will help your marketers create campaigns that target a particular group of customers – your target audience. It saves a ton of time, and it does a perfectly splendid job. Your team can use Marketo to create landing pages, advertising materials, social media content, and they can also track customer’s behavior patterns and create different kinds of forms. All this by implementing one tool. And it doesn’t even end here. The system Marketo uses will also generate analytics that will show you how effective the campaigns are and how they affect sales numbers.

Email Campaigns

Besides on social media, Marketo can help your company present itself better and more professionally via email too. Your team won’t even need to start from scratch. Marketo offers templates that will make your email campaigns look adequate and high-profile. Once you are in, you can customize the font, text, and colors—all in accordance with your plan and needs.

Lead Nurturing

This is probably the key feature that makes Marketo the number one choice for your marketing needs. Lead nurturing is an automated process that helps your team develop a relationship with potential buyers. This goes for the entire customer journey, every step of the way. The system “listens” to the buyer’s needs and responds accordingly by presenting all the information and answers they seek.

Marketo Audit

Getting a Marketo audit is a smart way to know how things with Marketo currently stand. What Marketo audit offers is a chance to find out which campaign or strategy is doing the trick, whether anything needs to be repaired, and if there is any feature that needs to be updated. There are a few items that the audit report needs to include. First, identify which leads bring revenues, which leads generate a follow-up, and which are rejected, which activities generate traffic. Next, make sure that the setup is done correctly and learn more about lead flow, sales insight, and lead source. All in all, it is a way to discover a number of problems you wouldn’t even know your team may face daily.

Customer Behavior

Your team of marketers will be able to keep track of your customer’s behavior. From what they see, how they navigate through your site, and how long they kept looking through a page. Moreover, this feature also provides additional information about your customers – the company name and their contact details.

Integration With Other Platforms

This can be very useful for your marketing team in terms of speed and work value. Marketo is compatible with Microsoft, Facebook, Slideshare, LinkedIn, WordPress, Oracle, Magneto, and many other platforms. This option is undoubtedly a time-saver and allows for a hassle-free job.

User Friendliness

This is especially beneficial for users that do not have any previous HTML experience. They can use the drag-and-drop interface, which makes email marketing a much simpler task that can be done in no time. Marketers can also pre-define the time when emails are supposed to be sent out. The whole point of automation, right?

Lead Management

The platform allows marketers to set parameters like prospect behavior (explained above), sales reports, and product scores. All this with the goal of gathering strong leads.

Cons of Using Marketo

First and foremost, when discussing the cons and potential problems regarding Marketo, we need to mention its use. Take note – it is not the most simple software out there; it takes time to learn it – but it is surely worth the try, time, and effort. Also, have in mind that it is not the most complicated, either.

The platform comes with a bundle of features and options. They are there to help you navigate through your marketing strategies – but they will work only if your team knows how to operate the system. This is when a problem may occur. So, make sure your marketers are up to the task.

The second important thing that you need to know is that Marketo is not an automation platform that comes with a built-in workflow and product cycle. Not everything is set up beforehand. It is designed to let you use it as you see fit. You can create campaigns that fit your brand and idea perfectly.

Next comes the slightly complicated pricing. Most platforms out there offer one product, while Marketo has four. Different product options, additional features, different pricing. Once you inform yourself well, you will surely know what you are paying for. Simply pick the tools and options your company needs.

And lastly, the setup. We have mentioned multiple times that one of the most vital features that separate Marketo from the rest is its customizable nature. Again, hire employees with adequate knowledge and understanding of analytics and software – and you will certainly avoid more prominent issues.

Is Marketo Useful for Ecommerce?

There are two main reasons why Marketo is a smart and optimal marketing solution for eCommerce. First of all – smart campaigns. Smart campaigns have such a design that allows you to specifically target potential customers based on their research history, their browsing history and many other factors that you will define beforehand.

This feature is especially useful for companies that offer a great number of products or services. You don’t want to unnecessarily spam irrelevant pieces of information to leads (or customers) that are not really interested. This can drive buyers away. By implementing Smart Campaigns into your marketing strategies, you will present the right products, services, and deals to the right people.

The second reason why Marketo is recommended for the Ecommerce world is the fact that Marketo is CRM friendly. This is noticeable more if you have Salesforce. As a platform, Marketo collects a vast amount of information on leads, thus making it an incredibly helpful tool for identifying who is going to convert. It may not be 100% precise, but you will at least have an idea.


Hannah Derby is a digital marketer who is enthusiastic about trying out the newest trends and innovations in the digital marketing industry and helping businesses advance. She is also using her knowledge and expertise gained from a JTF Marketing training that raised her interest in the marketing automation industry.