It is very tough for any company to decide whether or not to use automated marketing software. And for those who want to use this software, they are confuse and it's even harder to decide the right automation software for their requirements and needs.
Most of the businesses choose Marketo, and this is one of the famous and best-known platforms in the industry. But every business requires different targets and needs are differ from each other so it does not mean it is also right for your business. Right? By taking a deep look at the pros and cons of Marketo, you can easily determine either Marketo is best fit for your business or not.
Marketo background
Marketo is mostly used for B2B sales and promotions, it is a bit less helpful in use to ecommerce companies and other businesses that want to sell their products straight to the consumers. It is basically focused on appealing and winning leads and moving them through the sales funnel so B2B companies can grow eventually.
Marketo allows the user to do high-level customization. Marketo has divided their products into four major distinct parts each containing different payment options and plans.
So it's all depends on the needs and requirements of your business that Marketo is the best fit for your business or not. But if everything sounds good so far, let's look at some of the advantages Marketo offers.
Marketo advantages
Marketo provides a variety of features and some major advantages for your business, some of which you will not find anywhere else.
1. Modular Design
Marketo has designed a modular system to provide the services. This system has four major 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 distinctive, personalized solution to your needs. If you want and required, you can purchase all four modules for an integrated approach to your marketing plan.
2. Pricing Diversity
Marketo provides a variety of pricing options and plans that matches the companies’ marketing budgets. They are providing different options with each plan so a user can easily pickup according to their budget, needs and requirements. You can mix and match them as much as you want, too.
3. Customization
Marketo is providing a variety of custom solutions to their users, which means that a user can easily set up a personalized approach to your marketing strategy according to their needs and requirements. It means that now it's more flexible and user friendly, now you can customize your reports exactly what you want and when you want and ignoring the extra stuff that is not useful for you anyhow.
4. Integration
In terms of structure it is very simple and flexible, Marketo was built off of the same platform as the Salesforce, which means these two are integrated together. So if you're a user of Salesforce and already using it or if you have planned to switch to Marketo, you can keep the same data. And this same goes for System Administrative Program (SAP) software and integrating Microsoft Dynamics.
5. Analytics
Marketo's analytics provides you the full access to the data and you can easily track campaigns and pull any type of reports to access data from any point or position. In general terms, Marketo provides you the capability to design and plan your strategic insights to make your company and decision making better.
Most of the things go to the positive side but there are also some negative point for the Marketo that you must keep in mind before choosing and taking any decision for your company. Now take a look at some issues that come with it.
Marketo disadvantages
It is a part of fully researching a product before you plan to purchase it is looking at the problems that it has. In Marketo's case, there are a few major issues that could turn the potential customers away.
1. Complicated Pricing
First, Marketo has a bit complex pricing plans for a simple marketing solution, it has a wide range with a lot of options and their combinations. It becomes a headache for a normal user who wants a simple solution for their marketing.
Most of the companies offer one product with different packaging options, but Marketo has four package plans and each plan contains different wide options, you have a lot of possible combinations that you could buy and it becomes difficult to choose a single one.
2. Complicated Setup
Marketo is providing a best solution to alter your analytics reports and get your insights according to your needs and requirements, it is really good for a person/user who have a strong software or analytics backgrounds BUT not for those who are not aware, it will be a great headache for those persons.
All of the custom customization requires some planning and time to work in a proper manner so for all this you must be needed an IT or Marketing Automations Specialist.
3. Poor Customer Service
It is 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.
