Is Marketo the Right Fit for My Business?

A lot of businesses choose Marketo, one of the best-known platforms in the industry. But does that mean it’s also right for your company? By taking an in-depth look at the advantages and disadvantages of Marketo, you can clearly determine whether it’ll work for you.

Keep reading to learn more, and give us a call at 888-601-5359 to learn more about automating your marketing strategy.

Marketo background

Marketo is mostly used for B2B sales, meaning it’s less helpful to ecommerce companies and other businesses that want to sell straight to consumers. It’s focused on attracting and engaging leads and moving them through the sales funnel so B2B companies can grow.

Marketo is also designed to allow high-level user customization. Its overall product is split into four distinct parts, and there are different plans and payment options for each one.

If either of those factors sound like they’d be bad fits for your business, then Marketo probably isn’t right for you.

But if everything sounds good so far, let’s look at some of the advantages Marketo offers.

Marketo advantages

Using Marketo comes with some major advantages for your business, some of which you can’t find anywhere else.

1. Modular design

To start, Marketo offers services through a modular system that features four main parts.

• Marketing automation
• Consumer engagement marketing
• Real-time personalization
• Marketing management

These individual parts give you the chance to customize your use of Marketo, so you can get a unique, tailored solution to your needs. If you want, you can purchase all four modules for a unified approach to your marketing strategy.

2. Pricing diversity

Marketo has diverse pricing options that can fit into a lot of different companies’ budgets. Their individual products each have multiple plans, so you can find one that works best for your needs. You can mix and match them as much as you want, too.

3. Customization

Marketo specializes in offering custom solutions to their clients, which means you can set up exactly what you want for a tailored approach to your marketing strategy. That means you only see what you want (and when you want it) so you don’t have to deal with unwanted stats.

4. Integration

In terms of structure, Marketo was built off of the same platform as Salesforce, which means the two integrate seamlessly together. So if you’re already using Salesforce — or if you’re switching to Marketo — you can keep the same data. The same goes for integrating Microsoft Dynamics and System Administrative Program (SAP) software.

5. Analytics

Marketo’s analytics provide you with the ability to track campaigns and pull reports to access data from any point. In general, it provides you with strategic insights that you can use to make your company better.

For example, the Success Path Analyzer tracks the relationship between your marketing strategies and changes in revenue. You can also access customer relationship management (CRM) data and information on the firmographics of your website’s visitors.

Now that you know how Marketo can help, let’s take a look at some of the issues that come with it.

Marketo disadvantages

Part of fully researching a product before you purchase it is looking at the problems that it has. In Marketo’s case, there are a few major issues that could turn potential customers away.

1. Complicated pricing

First, the complex pricing of Marketo’s tools can easily cause a headache for businesses that want a simple marketing solution. Most companies offer one product with different packaging options, but Marketo has four — and with different payment plans for each item, you have dozens of potential combinations that you could buy.

However, regardless of the choices you make, Marketo is easily one of — if not the — most expensive options out there. So if you’re going to use it, be sure you’ll get your money’s worth before you make the investment. Otherwise, it can be a huge drain on your finances. In general, when you pay for marketing automation, it’s critical that you generate a high ROI.

2. Complicated setup

Marketo’s emphasis on custom solutions is good for people with strong software or analytics backgrounds, but for those who don’t, it can be a headache. All of their customization options require a lot of knowledge and time to make them work properly, and it’s possible you could need an IT or marketing automation specialist just to get everything set up. Overall, that’s a lot of downtime and specialized know-how for something that should make marketing easier.

3. Poor customer service

It’s also important that you look at every possible payment plan for mentions of customer support. Marketo has grown rapidly since its creation, and while that’s great for the company, it can also mean a lot of growing pains. In this case, Marketo has earned a reputation for spotty and inconsistent customer service.

WebFX does affordable marketing automation

At WebFX, we know that Marketo isn’t right for everyone. The high cost of participation, complicated pricing model, and tech-heavy setup are enough to turn people away, and it’s made worse by the company’s rough (though improving) reputation for customer support.

That’s why we created MarketingCloudFX, our own answer to marketing automation that we offer exclusively to our clients. With MarketingCloudFX, you can track site visits, emails, phone calls, firmograhpics, and so much more with one convenient program. We developed it ourselves to help our clients grow — and it can easily do the same for you.

In addition, when you partner with WebFX, you get a dedicated Internet marketer who can help you achieve all of your company’s goals (and then some!). Our team has the knowledge, talent, and experience to help you generate more revenue for your business, and we’ve established a reputation for excellence that we take to heart. When you want the best software and service for your business, WebFX is your solution!

Contact us today to talk about your company’s goals, and we’ll lay out a strategy that’s right for you!