Building a Full Marketo Instance from Scratch

The Problem

Abbott's EP division lacked a unified marketing automation platform. Lead routing was manual, campaign tracking was inconsistent, and there was no structured nurture or lead scoring. The website (AEM) and CRM (Salesforce) were not integrated.

The Goal

Stand up a Marketo instance with full lifecycle management, integrate with Salesforce and AEM, establish naming conventions and program templates, and launch the first automated nurture streams.

Strategy

Led a cross-functional implementation: data model design, field mapping, lead lifecycle stages, scoring model (demographic + behavioral), and a library of reusable program templates. Built integration with Salesforce for bi-directional sync and AEM for form capture. Documented all processes in a central playbook.

Execution

Configured Marketo workspace, built 6 lead lifecycle stages, created 14 smart campaigns for routing and scoring, integrated Salesforce with custom field mappings, launched 3 nurture streams (awareness, consideration, decision), and trained a team of 8 marketers on best practices.

Results

Lead routing time reduced from 48 hours to under 5 minutes. Campaign attribution visibility increased to 100% of digital touchpoints. First nurture stream achieved 22% open rate and 4.1% CTR in month one. Sales accepted 35% more leads due to improved scoring accuracy.

What I'd Do Next

Roll out ABM program templates, integrate webinar platforms (ON24), build advanced segmentation for persona-based nurtures, implement progressive profiling on forms, and create executive dashboards in Tableau with Marketo API data.