Marketo program/campaign support

Overview

The Marketing Operations team provides the Integrated Marketing team with advice around execution strategy and systems set-up. In addition, this function currently supports the Field Marketing and Events teams by creating email marketing and landing page set-up, as well as other tasks in Marketo.

Working with us

Marketo campaign/program creation and support is a function of Marketing Operations, so follow the same guidelines to request assistance. Be sure to add the ~MktgOps-Support label to the issue.

Team Members

Name	Title	Details
Esmira Khalilova	Associate Marketing Operations Manager	Primary execution, process questions
Bryce Weatherford	Marketing Operations Manager	Process questions, back-up execution
Jenny Tiemann	Staff Marketing Operations Manager	Issue triage, complex set-ups, process questions, back-up execution

Process documentation shortcuts

• Sales Nominated Invitations
• Marketo Program + Salesforce Campaigns
• Workshop Landing Page and Marketo Setup

Project Management

In an effort to avoid manually adding the issues we are working on, Regional Marketing will be utilizing labels and boards to manage the work we are working on with MktgOps. All commentary should be done via comments directly within the GitLab issues.

Additional labels that can be used on issues to track the status of the issue can be found on the Marketing Operations page.

Process

• FMM completes copy. Do not complete the next steps until copy is complete.
• FMM completes the “Write Copy” issue and updates the appropriate labels as defined below in the Landing Page and Email 1 tasks.
• Please be sure to stay in line with SLAs and we do not send invite or follow-up emails on Thursday.
• Communicate via comments with Lifecycle and MOps.

Shortcut list views

• Issue Board
• Lifecycle Marketing Review board

SLAs

MktgOps

Please note there is a 7 business day SLA with MktgOps, so please plan ahead accordingly. The SLA begins on the day after the issue is put into ~~CampaignOps::01: Ready to work. For example, if the issue goes to Ready to Work, day 1 is Wednesday, day 7 is the following Thursday. Day 7 is the earliest deployment/live date available. Please allow for US holidays and Family & Friends days as well. Using the same example, if day 4 is a US holiday, this will push day 7 to Friday.

Anything outside of the standard set-up does not fall under the 7 business day SLA. The most common example of this is the creation of custom forms. For more information about when custom forms are required and the timeline for this work, visit the Marketo HB page.

If you are planning a program that requires anything outside of the standard set-up, bring MOps in early during your planning process. We can help guide you on the best way to use our available technology to reach your goals and keep your program timeline on track.

Regional Marketing

Please see Regional Marketing SLAs pertaining to this process here.

Triage Steps

Note that all mentions of Lifecycle email review apply to emails only, specifically Invites and Follow-up emails. If the request is for a Workshop using standard copy, any reminder email, or a landing page, Lifecycle review is not required.

1. Regional Marketing Marketo asset issues are created by DAP during the Plan to WIP [link to plan to wip documentation] process in the Regional Marketing project. The FMC will confirm that the ~CampaignOps::00: Blocked, ~MktgOps-Support were added to all MOps related issues (landing page, target list request, all emails). This allows for the issues to be opened in advance and to be available while copy is being finalized. The FMC will also confirm that the ~Lifecycle:: 00 Not ready for review label was properly associated to any invite or follow-up email. This label is not required for Workshop emails using standard copy or any reminder emails. This allows for the issues to be opened in advance and to be available while copy is being finalized. If you must manually create additional issues, use the appropriate templates (email / landing page) in the Regional Marketing project. When opening issues via the appropriate templates, the ~CampaignOps::00: Blocked, ~MktgOps-Support, and ~Lifecycle:: 00 Not ready for review labels will automatically be associated with the issues. You can remove the Lifecycle label on Workshops using standard copy or reminder emails.
2. Regional Marketing If the copy references analyst reports, the FMM must open the Analyst Citation Review issue and associate it as a linked issue to the MOps email request. You do not need to complete the entire issue, but you must link the email issue and the copy doc with your proposed copy. To expedite email approval, you can use the content found here as it is most likely to be approved quickly. We do not have previously approved landing page copy.
3. Regional Marketing Once copy is ready for each asset, the FMM will then move the label in the appropriate asset issue from ~CampaignOps::00: Blocked to ~CampaignOps::01: Ready to work and if the issue is for an invite/follow-up email, move the ~Lifecycle:: 00 Not ready for review label to ~Lifecycle:: 01 Needs Copy Review. For example, if the FMM has completed the LP and Invite 1 copy in the copy doc, they will then change the appropriate labels in both the LP issue and in the Invite 1 issue.
   • At this time, all details must be provided and final (including copy reviewed by relevant stakeholders, and all hyperlinks double-checked and confirmed). DO NOT move copy to ~CampaignOps::01: Ready to work before it is complete. This causes unnecessary review and build cycles for MOps and Lifecycle, which slows down other builds for the rest of the Regional Marketing team.
   • The requested send date is the due date of the issue. If the requested send date is less than 7 Business Days from the date it is passed to Mktg Ops, the date of the issue may be scheduled 7 business days out to abide by SLAs. This is at the discretion of Mktg Ops/Lifecycle based on other work in progress and upcoming. Please note that we do not send invites or follow-up emails on Thursdays as our nurture emails are sent on Thursdays.
   • If Mktg Ops triage manager finds that all details are not included in the issue, then they will add the labels ~CampaignOps::00: Blocked and ~Lifecycle:: 00 Not ready for review and will also comment to the requesting team member what is missing. Once the team member addresses the missing pieces, they then add the ~CampaignOps::01: Ready to work and ~Lifecycle:: 00 Not ready for review label again to start the review process over.
4. MktgOps: Assign the issue to the appropriate MOps and Lifecycle DRIs and assign a milestone for the work. For email invitations and email follow-ups, confirm appropriate addition of ~Lifecycle 01 Needs Copy Review label to signal to Lifecycle team the email copy is ready for review.
5. MktgOps: Confirm the ~email-calendar and appropriate region labels (~AMER-emails, ~APAC-emails, ~EMEA-emails) have been applied and that the due date is listed in the issue sidebar under Due.
6. Lifecycle: Reviews the email copy and once final and approved, add the ~Lifecycle 02 Copy Approved label. Confirm the ~email-calendar and appropriate region labels (~AMER-emails, ~APAC-emails, ~EMEA-emails) have been applied and that the due date is listed in the issue sidebar under Due.
7. MktgOps: DRI completes the setup in Marketo, and for email, completes all steps on the Technical Email QA checklist.
8. MktgOps: DRI sends a test email to the “Reviewers/Approvers” listed in the issue. We do not post a screenshot at this time as full QA by approvers is required.
9. MktgOps: DRI comments into the issue tagging the reviewers/approvers and documenting that the test email was sent to their inbox and changes status label to ~CampaignOps::03: DRI review and ~Lifecycle:: 03 Email Layout Needs Approval.
10. Lifecycle Marketing: Reviews email layout. If approved, change label to ~Lifecycle:: 04 Email Layout Approved. This is the last step in the Lifecycle approval process.
11. Regional Marketing: The issue approver must be listed in the issue and complete all steps in the Business Owner Email QA checklist approve email (or provide corrections) via comment in the issue
    • SLA: 24 hours *from when the test email is sent and comment added to issue). Feedback and approval in a timely manner is critical.
12. MktgOps: DRI makes any necessary corrections. If no corrections needed and approval provided by reviewer, DRI sets the email to send (time for send to be determined in issue description/comments or use standard times) and adds the ~CampaignOps::07: Scheduled to send label.
13. MktgOps: DRI checks that email was sent, confirms in comments (tagging issue requester), adds the ~CampaignOps::08: Complete and closes out the issue.
14. Regional Marketing Post event reporting. To Request a full Marketo Recap reporting, please request in the Follow Up email issue.
15. MktgOps Once a report is complete please tag the requesting FMM with the details in the Follow-up issue and they will add the info where it is required.

Corporate Events

Corporate Events primarily requests assistance from MOps for Program Tracking and automation. Lifecycle Marketing handles customer-facing event promotions for Corporate Events.

1. Corporate Events: Program Tracking and Marketo asset issues are created by DAP using the prompt here [link to prompt].
2. Corporate Events: The Corp Events Manager will complete all details requested in the Program Tracking issue. Once this is complete, move the label from ~CampaignOps::00: Blocked to ~CampaignOps::01: Ready to work and confirm that ~MktgOps-Support is on the Program Tracking and Automation request issues.
3. Corporate Events: Confirm that all required information is complete and the due date of the request is on the sidebar of the issue, under “DUE”. MOps has a 5 day SLA.
   • If Mktg Ops triage manager finds that all details are not included in the issue, then they will add the label ~CampaignOps::00: Blocked and will comment to the requesting team member what is missing. Once the team member addresses the missing pieces, they then add the ~CampaignOps::01: Ready to work to start the review process over.
4. MktgOps: Create all Marketo & SFDC campaigns for Program Tracking. Add the details to the Epic and close the issue. Tag the requestor and let them know program tracking is complete.
5. MktgOps: Automation issues are handled case-by-case.

Responsibilities of email requesters

• Issue (email) requesters are responsible for submitting all details, including final approved copy, reviewed by all stakeholders, PRIOR to moving the task.
• Issue (email) requesters are responsible for timely feedback and answers.
• Issue (email) requesters are responsible for FINAL QA (including spelling, grammar, readability, and checking that all links direct to the proper URLs and contain proper tracking parameters). Refer to the QA checklist.

Review Process

Unless otherwise stated, only ONE of the people listed as “Reviewer/Approver” and a Lifecycle Marketing Manager need to approve in order for the email to be set.

As stated in “responsibilities of email requesters” section above, the reviewer is responsible for final QA of all copy, grammar, readability, LINKS, tracking, and formatting.

Detailed email QA instructions can be found on the email and nurture handbook page. This checklist should be followed for each email being QAed.

Questions

Note that if questions arise, ask in the #mktgops Slack channel.

Email Send Times

Due to nurture protocols, we do not send non-operational emails (invites, follow-ups) on Thursdays.

If the Regional Marketer/Event Manager does not provide a specific time, then emails will send at the following times:

• AMER label: 9 AM ET
• EMEA label: 10 AM CET
• APAC label: 11am AEST

Should a requested send time be missed, MktgOps can schedule the email within 8 hours of the original ask, or the following day if other email sends will reduce the list size of the email. If the send time must go beyond 24 hours of the original send time, MktgOps will discuss options with the FMM in the issue.

Technical set-up - email

• Specialized email headers (not the standard header used in templates) - Typically used for large events such as Commit or DevSecOps World Tour.
  • The images will be requested either by Lifecycle Marketing or the event DRI
  • Image dimensions can be found on the email marketing page.
  • The requested image must be transparent. We cannot use a solid image as it will not render properly in all clients.
  • In the email code (under “Edit Code”), you should use a solid email background (the color will change depending on the design for the event). Example code from the B - Advanced modular template - light mode template (aka Advanced Webcast Template). The variables to edit are bgcolor=#xxxxxx and border-bottom: 4px solid #xxxxxx <tr class="mktoModule" id="bgImagewText4990312b-fd20-449c-a184-d0500cdcc1aa" mktoname="Background Image with CTA"> <td background="${heroBackgroundImage}" bgcolor="#171321" valign="middle" style="max-width: 600px; width: 100%; text-align: center; height: 200px; background-repeat:no-repeat ;background-position: 100% !important; background-size: cover !important; border-bottom: 4px solid #171321;" width="100%" height="auto">
    • After saving the edits in the code, you can then click on the existing header, and the Variable sidebar will appear. Add the new transparent image to the Hero Background Image section, and confirm the link and button Copy
    • All emails using specialized images must be sent to Litmus for previewing various clients. Refer to the Litmus page for details on what to check.
• When using the URL in emails or other uses with utm values, Marketo page URLs (starting with page.gitlab.com) should not have a / at the end of the page URL before the ?. This will likely cause the page to redirect. (Correct example: https://page.gitlab.com/webcast-example?{{my.utm}}).
• When using the URL in emails or other uses with utm values, about.gitlab.com page URLs (starting with about.gitlab.com) must have a / at the end of the page URL before the ?. Omitting the / can cause the form not to display on the page. (Correct example: https://about.gitlab.com/webcast-example/?{{my.utm}}).
• For localized emails, be sure to use the Localized Email Snippet
• Prior to sending to the business owner review, the email creator must complete all steps in the Technical email QA checklist

Technical set-up - landing pages