As a Marketo Consultant, I have seen too many incorrect uses of program types. Marketo offers a handful of program types, and to make it even more confusing, each type can have a different program channel. Understandably, selecting the best type of program to use for your marketing campaign may not always be the easiest decision to make, especially when your instance does not have program templates to utilize.
In many cases, I have found that the programs that do not function as intended often turn out to be the programs that should have originally used the default type. They instead were launched as either an Engagement, Event, or Email Program, causing unnecessary headache.
If you’re stuck on choosing the best program type for your marketing campaign, here are 6 reasons to go with the default type:
1. Give your content a home
Housing your email or landing page in a Default Program designed for its local asset provides many benefits, including but not limited to, program membership control, duplicate asset prevention, and centralized content reporting.
2. Easily schedule and maintain email batches
Email Programs are really only designed for one-time sends. If you are planning to send your email(s) more than once, stick to the Default Program (unless you require a complex buyer journey, then use an Engagement Program instead!).
3. Elevated system processing speed
Using Engagement Programs bogs down Marketo systems more than other program types. The stream casts and never-ending exhausted notifications can add unnecessary processing, getting in the way of other campaigns in the campaign queue. Unless you require a buyer journey with defined stages and complex stream logic (in which case you should use an Engagement Program), the Default Program is the most efficient choice. Remember to use batched campaigns instead of triggered campaigns whenever possible to avoid latency.
4. Triggered emails when you want them
Don’t tie yourself down to a daily cadence at the same time every day. Send emails exactly when you want to engage by using triggered campaigns in default type programs. Find out how the {{system.date}} token helped me to achieve this.
5. Import your lists with confidence
Looking for somewhere to import your leads? Import to a static list within a Default Program. A smart campaign within the program will allow for all of your required processing for new leads, including acquisition program and program membership. Make sure to use the List Import channel to better filter the program in RCE.
6. Customize your engagement program casts
Using a Default Program smart campaign in an engagement program stream, instead of the actual email asset, allows you to add customized criteria to the email cast (ie program membership), and as many extra flow steps as your heart desires.
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