Adobe Marketo Engage

Now having refined our system infrastructure and base processes - in itself a huge job - I can quickly build processes for just about any initiative our marketing team can dream up. Marketo gives you the building blocks, and its up to you to know what you want to make with them, and how. This freedom is something I wouldn't trade out despite the extra learning it requires - it doesn't confine you like other tools where everything is pre-formatted. Moreover, its truly fit for enterprise-level needs. The amount of data that gets processed through Marketo daily would slow other tools down. I like that I can give my teams granular permissions to allow them to be independent when needed, without putting us at risk of messing up something important. The fact that you can build your email and landing templates in a much more customized way than just the design - actually changing the way the module selectors themselves function - is also huge. We've created templates with every element adjustable in minor ways with additional controls in the editor, instead of creating 10 versions of every module.

Marketo's near-instant sync with our our crm instance makes life easier when adding/removing folks from campaigns and reports. We are also using it for email marketing, and I love that the report building is similar to our current crm.

1) Robust Lead Management & Nurturing: The sophistication it offers for automated lead scoring and nurturing is best-in-class. It ensures we, and our clients, engage the right prospects with the right message at the right time, significantly improving lead quality. 2) Deep Integration Capabilities: Marketo Engage often serves as the central hub of the marketing technology stack. Its ability to integrate with major CRMs and its strong API to connect with other platforms is vital for data consistency and true sales and marketing alignment - a factor we prioritize in all implementations. 3) Powerful Analytics and Reporting: The platform provides comprehensive analytics that allow us to track campaign performance in detail, measure marketing's impact on revenue effectively, and make data-driven decisions. Especially now with the new addition of Advanced BI Analytics. This is critical for demonstrating value both for our own efforts and for our customers.

There are feature requests that have been circulating the Adobe community for years now which would greatly improve the functionality of some features, but they are never addressed. This is not a game-changer, but marketo is not a product that actively implements feedback or rolls out new updates regularly. What you get now is probably what you'll have for the forseeable future. Additionally, reporting, to any level beyond the basics, is not really feasible with marketo. Though the tool can capture every dimension of data you could wish, from all systems connected to it, forget about visualizing this data or making advanced reports. You will need separate tools for that. Also, like I said, you will need marketing ops/revops oversight for most things beyond building templateized programs.

While Marketo does great with the syncing, it seriously lacks in the user interface. It's very antiquated in it's feel. Also, the email building can be very buggy at times, slowing us down significantly.

1) Initial Learning Curve: Marketo's power means a steep learning curve. While we've developed expertise, we've also seen firsthand that new users need to dedicate time to become proficient. Newly shipped features like Journey Builder UI and Agents certainly chip away at this already. 2) Premium Pricing Structure: Marketo Engage represents a considerable investment. While the ROI is clear for many, including us, the pricing can be a hurdle for smaller businesses or those with less complex needs. 3) User Interface Modernization: While highly functional and something we're very familiar with, certain areas of the UI could be modernized to enhance intuitiveness, potentially reducing the initial learning curve for new teams. As mentioned above, this is a point that already gets addressed by the Adobe team.