Looking for topics for upcoming KreweChats

Hey @Lauren Beth​ - always a tricky question to answer. Having seen tons of instances, and understanding different business decisions driving each use case, the one consistent truth any Marketo shop will tell you is that there is no one consistent truth! Instead, I tend to view it like dancing: to a certain extent, the "norm" doesn't matter, and it's more about how confident you feel about what you're doing.

Thankfully, with Marketing Automation, there are actually things to measure (unlike the arbitrary best guess that is- as the youths call it- swagger). So while there's no normal, at Fathom we talk about the "Marketing Automation Maturity Curve." I know, it's a super-creative name . To grossly oversimplify it, it starts with the basics of implementation, where we all batch and blasted our databases to sweet oblivion. Next, it grows on through the point where we got right with the deliverability deities of CAN-SPAM compliance and graduated on to completely integrated nurture strategies and triggered campaigns that show progress at all stages of the buying process. So while there is no normal, there aren't really rare snowflakes either if you take my meaning... the whole story of the MA Maturity Curve is consistent across many different industries and types of business, from B2B to B2C and back again.

What are some of the key indicators of a mature instance?

Oh, lawd, now you dunnit . It would definitely require a longer discussion, but here are a few non-comprehensive things that immediately come to mind:

• Is there a measurable buyer journey in play, with progression statuses and a dependency on some kind of scoring/qualification model?
  • Is Sales engaged with and on-board with that model (as in, do they believe in it?)? <- major point of order for any org doing lead scoring.
• Within that journey, how many leads are progressing down-funnel?
  • How fast? Is there a seasonal trend or some other factor driving activity? Marketing needs to know how it's involved and what's working and what's not. If you can answer that, you win
• What data currently gets reported/measured?  Please don't say just vanity metrics, please don't say just vanity metrics, please don't...
• How does nurture fit in to your overall MA strategy? (Hint: it should be the proverbial gas thrown onto the raging inferno that is the buying process)

***

You start to see how it snowballs really quickly.

Still, I think it'd be great over the next few months for us to conduct a survey with a few of those probing questions included. *cough* Summit Panel, Liz (Courter) Oseguera *cough*

Hi Lauren,

I'd be happy to set up some time this week so LeadMD can deliver you a customized benchmark for you.  We've worked with over half of the entire Marketo user base and have a TON of data to benchmark your data against.  I'll send you an email.

Brent - LeadMD

Hi @Lauren Beth

Thanks for your comment!

To help us with your topic above, could you elaborate a bit on your meaning?

Are you referring to DB size, cleanliness/marketable size, or other factors?

Hoping to provide the most value possible!

Thanks,

-Geoff

Very interested in bench-marking where instances should be amongst other Marketo users and industry peers.  It's hard to tell where we should be.