Migrating to Marketo – A Quick Guide to Assure Smooth Sailing

Any marketer who has or who is considering migrating from their marketing platform will know that migrating from one automation platform to another is not just a daunting task but involves more than a well-planned strategy. One small mistake can break your automation wireframe. Losing important data, partial sync, and integration between platforms are some of the few nightmares that keep a marketer awake at night.

Think of ESP migration as a house-shifting process. First, you set your heart on a particular property then you analyze your budget and decide whether you want this long term investment or not. Then once you settle in on that, the actual shifting process happens. From decluttering and packing up fragile items carefully, you have to be extra vigilant while you are preparing for your big move.

This blog will be your guide to a seamless integration and migration to Marketo.

Things to consider before Migrating

Purpose

There are steps involved in this process. The first one is the goal you want to achieve out of this migration. So ask yourself and your marketing team- Why do we need Marketo?

The second step is to make sure you have indeed outgrown your existing platform. So you need to ask yourself this simple question- What is wrong with the current automation?

The last question in this step is to process and plan out your usage and your expectations out of Marketo as a marketing platform. And therefore ask yourself- How will Marketo improve our performance?

Budget

Investing in a new ESP itself is a big investment and if you are scaling up, you need to be sure of your commitment, make the most of the platform and have a plan to churn out ROI goals.

Timing

Migration is best advised when you are having a slow business period; that way it wouldn’t affect your active campaigns or be a hindrance in delivering to your customers. If you have a big project in hand or an upcoming one then it is probably not the right time to migrate.

How migrating to Marketo can help you achieve your goals:

• Marketo helps you expand your marketing automation performance.

Marketo is a great platform for businesses that are looking forward to scale up and expand their prowl. With features that allow large teams to coordinate and work using a common interface, Marketo beats the rest with simplicity and advanced functionality, which gives marketers a head start.

• Marketo allows you to have accountability.

If you are a small business and are using automation that you hardly make the most of, there is no point in investing in something that holds your other spending. With Marketo, you spend only how much you want to spend. With various plans and schemes based on your size of organization and client lists, you can choose what suits your organization the best.

• Marketo is user-friendly.

Marketo is the best when it comes to accessibility and working without actual technical support. The simplicity of the software saves a lot of time for marketers as your work is not held back because of technical issues or your marketing automation platform is not in tune with your product needs.

• Marketo provides a centralized marketing platform across your organization.

If you are merging with an organization under the same parent corporation or want to have a centralized platform across various teams, Marketo is the right platform for you. This will not only make the inter-departmental workflows hassle-free but also make the teams accessible for all and accountable.

7 steps to seamless migration to Marketo

Stock your inventory

The first and the most important aspect of migration is to back up. Start with inventorying your creative assets like your images, documents, forms, landing pages, and email templates. As you do this, you will get familiar with the platform, and how smart lists and flows work. After this, you will be moving your operational programs like data management campaigns and leads.

KonMari your present marketing platform

Marie Kondo is a Japanese consultant who has mastered a formula to declutter and deep cleanse households; it’s called the KonMari method. Her technique is simple. If an item sparks joy when you see or touch it, you can keep it. If not, you have to say ‘thank you’ and move on.

Applying it in this context, you need to audit your data and leave behind or archive unnecessary junk. Ask yourself – do we really need the Easter email sent in 2017? If the answer is no, say thanks, and move on. Migrating to a new marketing platform is the best time to prioritize and de-clutter.

Follow the naming convention

Name every folder, file, project, and campaign as you move to Marketo. This will not only make it easy to access them after you migrate but also help you adapt to the new platform easily. As simple as it sounds, there are chances you might never find the time or chance to re-do this process once you start using your new platform.

Redirect to ensure a good experience

Imagine a bunch of your landing pages taking your customers to the notorious ‘404 Error’ page. This is a huge loss on your credibility and in the worst cases, you might lose your leads. While migrating from one marketing platform to another, always redirect your active landing pages and assure efficient performance. Maintaining a list of pages that need to be migrated before shifting to Marketo would really help.

Test everything

Testing is a marketer’s best friend. And it is no exception when migrating to Marketo. The testing process here should begin way before actually shifting. Depending on the amount of assets and programs you need to migrate, this process might take a lot of time, planning, execution, and dedication. Leave no asset untested- landing pages, links, email templates, and so on. This process will help you in the auditing and data collection process.

Unbox Marketo

Once you migrate to Marketo, the journey doesn’t end here. However simple a platform may be, it will take time and research into exploring a completely new platform. Be it training your teams to be accustomed to Marketo or overcoming hurdles and delivering efficiently, this onboarding process takes endurance. Seek help and ask questions to get as familiar as possible with Marketo or hire a Marketo Certified Expert if needed.

Wrap Up

We hope this helps you prepare and execute your migration to Marketo seamlessly. Follow these guidelines and let us know how your experience with migration was. If you need further assistance with Marketo or migration and integration of ESP, get in touch with our expert teams.