Marketo is one of the four best-known marketing automation platforms for business clients. Here we explain what it is and what you need to know about how it integrates with WordPress. Curious about how Pardot can integrate with WordPress? Read our guide on Pardot Marketing Automation and WordPress to get all the information you need.
What is Marketo?
Marketo describes itself as “the world leader in marketing automation for businesses of all sizes”.
Marketo helps businesses get found by people searching for what they sell. With buyers now controlling much of their own journeys, lead generation is a key aspect of marketing strategy. Marketo builds landing pages and forms, which are enhanced by built-in search engine optimisation (SEO), driving more quality traffic to the site. Known visitors are recognised and customer profiles can be built. Targeting the right people with adverts is managed through an audience hub that integrates Facebook, Google, LinkedIn and other advertising platforms and all campaigns can be amplified with social media. Tailored, personalised content can be delivered according to behaviour and interests.
To nurture leads and build relationships, scalable and automated campaigns can be built and run across channels. These engage customers via email, mobile and in-app messaging and advertising.
Lead scoring allows businesses to identify their best prospects and integration with CRM packages allows sales actions to be triggered according to behaviour. Marketo has native integrations for Salesforce.com and Microsoft Dynamics CRM; integrations for Netsuite, Oracle, SAP Cloud for Sales and SugarCRM; and other CRM packages can be linked via custom configurations.
Campaign tracking means that marketing programs can be measured and analysed, so they can be optimised for improved future performance.
Pricing for Marketo is not available until you make a specific sales enquiry. However, some sources indicate prices starting from $11,950/per month, based on an annual contract.
How does Marketo integrate with WordPress?
Unlike other marketing automation providers, Marketo hasn’t built its own extension for WordPress. Instead, third-party extensions are available, three of which are listed on Marketo LaunchPoint, a resource that details integrations available from Marketo partners.
There are also some free plugins listed in the WordPress plugin library, but many of them haven’t been tested with current versions of WordPress or haven’t been maintained for a few years. Because of this, and because they don’t come from approved Marketo partners, we recommend being careful when using them. Your digital agency partner can guide you on the best way to proceed if you are in doubt.
What functionality does a Marketo/WordPress integration provide?
The three extensions showcased by Marketo each have different functionality.
WordPress Marketo Integration Connector from Grazitti Interactive
With this Marketo add-on from Grazitti Interactive, a user can:
- Automatically notify subscribers of new blog posts
- Send a summary of multiple blog posts from their WordPress site
- Pre-fill forms or limit pre-filling where dynamic fields are used
- Enable popups with preset times according to visitor interest
- Customise pages, display relevant content to known visitors based on their interests, industry and more.
The add-on has an initial setup cost and an annual fee.
MSync – Integrate Marketo Forms into WordPress from Magic Logix
The MSync plugin from Magic Logix allows forms to be easily created and embedded into WordPress.
It creates and publishes forms that allow more advanced actions to be taken with resulting lead data:
- Track leads immediately
- Modify data before automatically sending leads to Marketo
- Add fields by dragging and dropping
- Modify fields, add custom fields
- Embed forms in posts, on pages and in WordPress widgets.
Marketo WordPress Connector from LeadMD
LeadMD’s Marketo WordPress Connector allows a user to email single or multiple WordPress posts to Marketo listings.
It also integrates WordPress with Marketo tracking so that campaign effectiveness can be analysed.
It doesn’t require a user to recreate content or build complex emails, but simply works with a template, allowing users to choose the content, recipients, and scheduled send time. Featured images and metadata are added automatically, along with social media icons to reinforce content sharing.
The add-on costs £9,990 annually, which includes five hours of installation and configuration.
What is the support like?
Support for each add-on is provided by its developer and covered by the annual costs where applicable. But Marketo also has a community forum called Marketing Nation. Here, users can share information, ideas, and best practices.
Conclusion
Some other marketing automation providers provide their own add-ons – for free. While Marketo doesn’t do this, third-party add-ons at least provide a range of features, allowing users to choose what’s right for them. As with all WordPress extensions, they’re easy to configure and manage.