I have been in the Marketing Cloud World for 6 years.
During that time, I have worked as a:
Marketing Cloud Email Specialist
Marketing Cloud Administrator
Marketing Cloud Engineer
Marketing Cloud Consultant
Marketing Cloud Professor
I have also taught over 500+ people how to use Marketing Cloud.
In fact...
I've invested so many hours into mastering Marketing Cloud that I created a weird system that helps people Solve any Marketing Cloud project they do.
But do you want to know a secret?
I actually use the same 5 steps every time I work on Marketing Cloud projects.
How To Solve Any Marketing Cloud Project
Step #1: Setup and Administration
This is where you set up the basics inside of Marketing Cloud.
Here's a list of settings you'll put together for a new Marketing Cloud account.
Account Settings: Physical Mailing Address, Users, Roles, Permissions, Business Units, etc.
Security Settings: Multifactor Authentication, Login IP Allowlist, Domain Allowlist, etc.
Apps: Google Analytics, AppExchange Packages, MC Connect.
The setup menu is the foundation for everything you do in Marketing Cloud.
Think of it like the setup menu in your Facebook account.
When you create a new account, you have to set your username, password, and profile picture.
You have to do the same thing for Marketing Cloud.
So that's step 1 for every Marketing Cloud project.
Step #2: Data Management
Once you get Marketing Cloud set up, the next thing is to make sure you bring the right data into the system.
Every email you send out is based on your customer data.
Here's what that process looks like:
Import Data: The first step is to import data into Marketing Cloud. You can do this manually, automatically, or in real-time with API's.
Segment Data: Create target audiences with Data Filters and SQL Queries.
Export Data: Once you have data about opens, clicks, and unsubscribes, it's time to send that data back to FileZilla, Amazon S3, for your analysts.
Quick note: Don't jump into data management without a plan.
That's a mistake.
Have a written data plan in place and make sure everyone agrees with it.
How do you get a plan in place?
The number one way to get a proper plan in place is to:
You have to ask the client a TON of questions before you craft a proper data model.
The number one mistake people make at this step is:
They try to rush through and skip this part.
Either because it's boring or they don't know how to create data models.
Make sure you work with people who know how data works.
If it's just you as an Administrator in Marketing Cloud, then you better make sure you know how database tables talk to each other.
As long as you have a team on board who knows how databases work, you're good at this step.
If you don't, you need to find a team that can help you at this step.
Data Management can take some time.
But it's the most crucial part of any Marketing Cloud project.
Get this part right, and everything will flow smoothly.
Step #3: Content Creation & Delivery
Once you have your data management plan in place, it's time to create content.
If you work with a content team (which you should), then they will send you all the:
Images
Videos
Gifs
Files
For you to use in Content Builder.
Once you have the email content, it's time to:
Create Email Templates
Customize Your Emails With:
Personalization strings
Dynamic content
Content Blocks
Use AMPscript to add custom logic to your messages.
Customize the look of your emails with Guide Template Language.
Test your messages to make sure they work the way they should.
Once you customize your emails with:
You'll have messages that work at scale.
Your main focus should be:
To make sure your content is relevant to your audience.
The email marketer that keeps their content relevant wins.
Step #4: Automation
Your ultimate goal is to:
Let Marketing Cloud do all the hard work.
Once you decide on your:
Data Model
Data Import processes
Data Segmentation processes
Data Export Processes
It's time to put that business logic into Automation Studio.
Automation Studio is where you set up your:
Data imports
Data exports
Data Filters
SQL Queries
File Transfers
It's Marketing Cloud's job to make sure all these processes run smoothly.
Take a look at the automation below to see the structure of an automation.
With Journey Builder, you can automate sending:
Email Messages
Text Messages
MobilePush Messages
Sales Cloud CRM Activities
Other activities
Use Automation Studio & Journey Builder for repetitive tasks.
Use Automation Studio for data tasks.
Use Journey Builder for email campaigns.
Keep tweaking your processes to improve over time.
Automation is key 🔑 if you want to grow the company and make more money.
Step #5: Reporting
This is the last step in any Marketing Cloud project.
Once you've run your email campaigns, it's time to see how your campaigns performed.
You need to look at the numbers to see how things are going.
Are people opting out?
Are they clicking links?
In the final step of Reporting... You will:
Look at reports to see how your campaigns are doing.
Look at custom data with data views.
Run advanced reports with MC Intelligence and Einstein Reports.
Reporting is the key to making smart decisions.
That way, you're not guessing about what decision to make next.
TL;DR
Step 1: Marketing Cloud Setup: Get your Marketing Cloud account set up.
Step 2: Data Management: Design & build your Marketing Cloud data infrastructure.
Step 3: Content Creation & Delivery: Create personalized emails, texts, and MobilePush messages.
Step 4: Automation: Automate business processes with Automation Studio & Journey Builder
Step 5: Reporting: Run reports to see how your campaigns are doing.
When you master these 5 steps, you can crush every Marketing Cloud project.
Kaelan Moss - MinuteAdmin Out ✌🏽
