Kate Cindric Federhar

What marketing automation platform are you using and how long has it been a part of your tech stack?

We use Marketo. We have used it for the past seven years and have it embedded into quite a few systems. We have consolidated multiple other MAPs into our Marketo instance due to M/A activity.  We consider our tech stack to have three key pillars: Marketo as our MAP, Salesforce as our CRM and B360, which is our database of record (homegrown Oracle relational database). We then plug everything into one of these three pillars. Marketo houses all of our martech and adtech partners to get it incorporated into the triangle. When we evaluate new systems/software that is a critical question, so we don’t have any islands in our landscape.

What are the key features you utilize and find critical on a daily basis? Why?

All of them. That is not a flippant answer, we have Marketo embedded into just about everything. So, if it is lead scoring, email sending or data receiving, it is all happening every day.

Do you believe that you are maximizing the use of your MAP? Why or why not?

No, there is always more we can do to continue to push the envelope. We don’t stop because we feel like there is always something else that we can start doing. We want to get better with ABM, get more cohesive with all of our outgoing messaging and start to get more inclusion from all of our systems into the platform. There is always something more you can do!

What are the challenges limiting your abilities to leverage the full functionality of your chosen MAP?

Time and people. We can always do more, but there are only so many hours in the day, and we have to get out the day-to-day operations out the door.

What are the features/functionalities you are looking for your MAP to incorporate in 2019 to improve performance? Why?

More data transferring ability. Data is king, and we always want to be able to send and receive as much information to other platforms as we can. We export all our activity into our data lake and then report out of the data lake. We are exporting millions of pieces of activity history and want more information. We want literally everything we can get to make the reporting better, and by extension the campaigns.

What is your New Year’s resolution for marketing automation?

Our resolution is to continue to innovate. This is something that we challenge ourselves to do, and we want to make sure that we stay on the cutting edge.