You’ve probably heard of Marketo. It’s one of the more popular email marketing tools, enabling users to plan and send out email campaigns with little to no technical knowledge. The product is extremely easy to use, and has a familiar and accessible design.
But what is Marketo, and how can it be used to send out email campaigns? Keep reading for more information.
Features
The good news is that Marketo offers a lot more than just email marketing features. In fact, the product is designed to be a one-stop-shop for all of your marketing needs. It has all the basic functionalities that you’d expect from a CRM (customer relationship management) tool, and then some. You can use Marketo for inbound marketing, social media marketing, and even offline marketing (such as yard signs and pop-up leaflets).
These functionalities make Marketo a versatile product, and also indicate that the team at HubSpot had serious marketing forethought when building the product. They were probably thinking about the fact that most companies don’t have a single marketing department, but rather individual experts that are spread across different departments. In today’s world, having a tool that enables all of these functionalities is both beneficial and necessary.
Getting Started
One of the things that makes Marketo so appealing is that it’s literally just one click to get started. The platform has a familiar and clean look, making it easy for non-technical users to get up and running. The layout of the product itself is also conducive to data entry, as each field is clearly marked and there’s plenty of white space to fit in your contact details.
This ease of use is crucial when trying to gain user trust, as people want to be able to get the most out of the platform as quickly as possible. Having a short training video that introduces you to the tool and its various features goes a long way towards showing how willing and capable you are of using the product effectively.
Best For
When considering what marketing tool to invest in, it’s important to think about your needs. Do you need an easy-to-use tool for yourself, or are you looking for something that’s more versatile and can be used by others in your organization as well?
The fact that Marketo is so accessible and user-friendly is a testament to the fact that the product was built with everyday users in mind. If you have marketing responsibilities, but also have a team of individuals that need help managing their various tasks, then this might be the tool for you.
On the other hand, if you’re the sort of person who needs a personal Gmail account with which to send out emails, then look elsewhere. You won’t find a tool that offers the same level of simplicity and functionality here.
E-commerce Features
One of the unique selling points of Marketo is that it comes with e-commerce features. This feature makes it possible to create fully functioning online stores, and even take orders right within the platform. To create an online store, all you need to do is enter a website URL and click the ‘Create an online store’ button.
This feature isn’t limited to e-commerce either. You can use it to create an online store for your product or service from the very beginning, whether you’re an entrepreneur or an in-house marketer. All of the e-commerce features are accessible from the dashboard.
An online store that’s integrated with Marketo is much more than an online store. It’s a fully functioning marketing department, and it enables you to track the performance of your online store along with other marketing activities, such as social media marketing. You can also use the e-commerce features to create a Shopify store, WooCommerce store, BigCommerce store, and more.
The e-commerce features aren’t the only notable part of the Marketo tool either. The product also offers detailed analytics so that you can track the performance of your campaigns, identify the most effective tactics, and repeat them. For example, you can track the open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates for each of your landing pages, as well as the overall performance of each piece of content – all within the tool’s interface.
How Does It Work?
Now that you have an idea of the kind of tool that Marketo is, it’s time to dig into how it works. If you’re completely unfamiliar with how email marketing campaigns work, then we recommend taking a look at this How Email Marketing Works guide from the Email Marketing Council. It’ll give you a basic understanding of how to create an email marketing campaign, and how to track its performance.
Email marketing is a type of digital marketing that depends on your target audience to get in contact with you. Essentially, you’re creating content that people need in order to satisfy their own curiosity about your product or service, or to convince them to buy said product or service. Your objective is to gain their interest in your content (whether that’s a landing page, email, or social media post), and make them engaged in some way with what you have to say. Once they’re engaged, they’re much more likely to take the action you need them to take.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at how Marketo works.
Marketing Material
We mentioned above that Marketo has all the basic functionalities that you’d expect from a CRM tool. One of those functionalities is the ability to create and send out email campaigns. When you first log in to the tool, you have the option of which content to use for your campaigns. Typically, you’ll have a landing page, which is a webpage that you’ll use to introduce a product or service. You can also use the pages that you create within the platform to engage with potential customers, or to just inform them about your product or service. The great thing about having a variety of content is that it allows you to choose the right email campaign template that suits your needs. If you have a landing page for your e-commerce store, then you can use the tool to craft an email promo for your webstore. If you have a blog, then you can use the tool to create blog posts and schedule them to go out at certain times. With Marketo, the possibilities are endless!
Landing Pages
One of the first things that you’ll want to do when creating an email campaign in Marketo is to choose a landing page. A landing page is a webpage that you’ll use to welcome visitors, and it is frequently the first page that they see when they visit your website. Having a landing page that is tied to a specific email campaign is a great way to track the success of your campaign, as you can use the analytics within Marketo to see how many people have visited the page, and from what location.
The landing page doesn’t have to be enormous. In fact, you can use the tool to create mini-landing pages, much like our own Credo Analytics mini-landing page (which you can find in our Case Study section below). What you want to avoid is having a long, bloated landing page that is difficult to navigate. Keep it short and sweet, and keep the focus on getting to the point.
Email Content
Once you’ve selected a landing page, you’ll have the option of what to use as the basis for your email content. From this point forward, it’s a matter of choosing a template that suits your needs, and populating it with the appropriate content.
There are 17 different templates to choose from, ranging from a simple email greeting to an entire sales pitch. Not only that, but Marketo also has pre-made graphics that you can use to create professional-looking emails without having to invest in expensive design templates. When it comes to picking an appropriate email content template, keep in mind that your target audience is sitting at the other end of the line, and the last thing that you want to do is send them information that is difficult to digest.
Build a Sentiment
A tactic that often worked well for us was to create different emails with a positive and a negative sentiment. The reason for this is that studies have shown that emails that are negative in tone perform better than those that are positive. If you’re looking to create a more personal connection with your audience, then utilizing negation might just help you find the sweet spot.
For example, if you run a hotel business, and you want to send out a promo for a special package that combines a hotel stay with dinner at a popular restaurant, you might craft an email like this: