IT BEST PRACTICESFinding the Right Marketing Solution

70% of projects faildue to user adoption

-Forrester Research

Ever rolled out a solution that no one used?

If you’re in IT, you hate wasting time and money on software that users hate, or – even worse – completely bypass.

Nothing is worse than “Shelfware”

Your marketing team wants the smartest solutions on the market, and it’s up to you to initiate a wise investment.

Today, IT isn’t the only one using technology – in the past decade, a huge number of new platforms and tools for marketers have emerged on the market.

The key to positive ROI

is user adoption

whichmeans

providing tools your marketing team will

actually use

User-embraced tools that are also sanctioned by IT means everyone’s happy! It’s a no-brainer.

Here’s how IT can help the marketing department find a solution that works for both.

FACT FINDINGWhat’s your marketing

team

looking for?

1

As you look for the right marketing solution, your first step will be information gathering.

What objectives are your marketing team trying to accomplish?

What are your marketingteam’s pain points?

Planning and budgeting

Generating more demand

Building customer relationships

Increasing sales conversions

Measuring and optimizing

Here are some common marketing objectives:

Over-contacting the database

Lack of alignment with sales

Poor visibility into team-wide

efforts

Inconclusive metrics

Difficulty demonstrating ROI

Here are some common marketing pain points:

THE RIGHT TOOLS

Find a marketing platform thathelps your team solve pain points

and meet objectives

2

Great marketing solutions aren’t just software – they’re entire platforms. Each component of your solution is built on three things: your marketing database of records, your analytics, and integrations into other tools.

On top of that platform, you build out marketing applications. Your marketing solution’s applications should help accomplish those marketing objectives you found in your fact finding.

Finally, look at the channels in which marketing uses its tools to reach prospects and customers. Look for a marketing solution that supports all channels.

If the solution you’re considering excels in all three layers, you’ve found a solution your marketing team will love.

But how does a complete marketing platform

fit into your existing infrastructure?

IT and Operations sit at the base of the platform, overseeing the platform’s integration with the other components of their architecture.

IT/Ops

Sales manages the CRM application which syncs database records with the marketing platform, while marketing utilizes the applications layer, which pulls data and analytics from the platform layer.

Sales Marketing

Finally, marketing can interact with customers and prospects throughthe channels.

Sales Customers/Prospects

Here’s how this looks when you put it all together…

Marketing Customers & Prospects Sales

IT/Ops

Channels

Applications

Platform

But user adoption

also relies on a

successful rollout. That’s where

implementation comes in.

IMPLEMENTATION

3

The key is to make sure both IT and marketing are fully prepared from concept to launch.

Your marketing solution should fully support IT and marketing through all 5 stages of a successful implementation.

The stages of a successful implementation:

SYSTEM PROVISIONING

DEVELOPMENT + TESTING

INTEGRATION

ROLLOUT

MONITORING + MAINTENANCE

Phases For IT What Marketing Needs

BEST PRACTICES

TECH CONSULTANTS

ADMIN & USER TRAINING

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

SUPPORT + MARKETING COMMUNITY

If your solution can fully support both departments through all 5 steps, you’re looking at a smooth implementation.

NEXT STEPS?1. Find your marketing team’s objectives2. Map objectives to a marketing

platform3. Plan out a successful implementation

Marketing Software Built for Marketers

Marketo provides the leading marketing software for companies of all sizes to build and sustain engaging customer relationships. Spanning today’s digital, social, mobile and offline channels, Marketo’s® customer engagement platform powers a set of breakthrough applications to help marketers tackle all aspects of digital marketing from the planning and orchestration of marketing activities to the delivery of personalized interactions that can be optimized in real-time. Marketo’s applications are known for their ease-of-use, and are complemented by the Marketing Nation™, a thriving network of more than 250 third-party solutions through our LaunchPoint™ ecosystem and over 40,000 marketers who share and learn from each other to grow their collective marketing expertise. The result for modern marketers is unprecedented agility and superior results. Headquartered in San Mateo, CA with offices in Europe, Australia and a joint-venture in Japan, Marketo serves as a strategic marketing partner to more than 3,000 large enterprises and fast-growing small companies across a wide variety of industries.