Andrea M. Tarrell

Implementing Adobe Marketo Engage is a big project. Within that project, there are key things that you absolutely *have to* get right. If those don't work properly, your entire instance is at risk. We've boiled it down to the top five most important things that you need to focus on when implementing a new instance of Marketo Engage. Quickly, they are... The sync with SFDC Program Strategy and Program Templates Technical Configuration (Munchkin, SPF/DKIM) Your Form Strategy Training and Enablement To learn more about these things and why we think they're so important, click the link in the comments 👇🏻 to read the full article.

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One of the things I love about Attributa is how we always strive to do better. Thomas Fast's most recent article is a perfect example of that. Not being satisfied with the way the standard "First Responded Date" field in SFDC resolves into Touchpoint Dates in Adobe Marketo Measure, Tom devised a solution that improves upon this functionality. The beauty of it is that it's a very simple solution that has a large impact. To read the whole article, check the link 🔗 in the comments 👇🏻

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When Hootsuite wanted to reduce years of Marketo complexity ahead of a platform consolidation, they didn’t rebuild — they reimagined. Together, our teams stripped out legacy programs, standardised automation, and optimised workflows. The result: → 90% reduction in Marketo Programs → 80% fewer total assets → 800+ fields cleaned & catalogued Proof that you don’t need a costly migration to modernise. You just need clarity, process, and the right partnership. How much of your marketing tech debt is actually self-inflicted? #Marketo #B2BMarketing #RevenueAcceleration

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Marketo’s fading. The community isn’t. MOPs showed up deep, nerdy, and generous. If this was the last #Mopzapalooza, it went out the right way. A few thoughts and takeaways from the event in Anaheim this week: Yeah I heard Mike Rizzo and team aren’t planning on doing it again in-person, which is sad because this community is unique. Adobe, HubSpot, Salesforce or someone in Martech should step in and partner with Mike to keep it going. The cameraman for my session told me he films people who speak for a living. They’re used to being on stage, used to being mic’d up, used to speaking to an audience. But not this group. The speakers were all deep practitioners. Peers sharing playbooks, opinions, and resources. With one another. Everyone was in the same shoes whether you were on stage or in a seat. It seemed like everyone was a speaker. There were tons of sessions. This had the effect of it feeling much more community-driven than star speakers vs. audience. The cameraman said he was just at an engineering society conference and he said this group was waaaaay deeper into its terminology and acronyms. "What's an MQL?" he asked. "What's an SAL?" One vibe I picked up on was people are ready for the next Marketo. They are searching and anticipating because Marketo is dying a slow death as the forgotten child of Adobe. This community is ready for it. The gold standard is fading away. There’s a new crop of native-AI platforms that are coming to eat Marketo's lunch but there's also a TON of product to build to get there to usurp the crown and take the kingdom. Favorite session? Jon Miller and his dad jokes. My favorite takeaway was about what the future of marketing looks like when AI is handling everything information and content related. What remains? Three things for us lowly human beings to focus on in marketing: 1. Relationships 2. Experiences 3. Craftsmanship Favorite demo? Knak. Brendan's stage presence was fun and natural. Knak's demo did a good job showing how it simplifies the complex processes that enterprise companies face to execute campaigns. Favorite convo - Dan Mott and Nick Donaldson, enjoyed a very interesting non-work related conversation about worldviews on the Emerald Lawn. It's a community that is unlike any others. Really enjoyed the people I met - it was special to be there and learn. Thanks Marketing Ops Community for putting it together and showing up! 👋 Adios LA. Back to the cold cold east coast.

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🔴 Adobe isn’t a DXP.  It’s a conductor’s baton. You don’t “implement” Adobe. You orchestrate programs with it. And most enterprises have no idea what that means. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁: AEM is like a CMS. CJA is like a reporting tool. Journey Optimizer is like a campaign calendar. Wrong tools. Wrong mindset. Wrong metaphor. 𝗔𝗱𝗼𝗯𝗲 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗮 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹𝗸𝗶𝘁. 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗮 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝘆 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲. It doesn't reward speed of adoption. It rewards depth of orchestration. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜’𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗕𝟮𝗖 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗲𝘀: The ones who win with Adobe? They design movement.  • They flow content across heads, hearts, and channels.  • They feed journeys with clean, activated data.  • They move from analytics to action logic in near-real time. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲? They have disconnected parts. Disconnected teams. Disconnected rhythms. And they burn budget on the illusion of transformation.  𝗔𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗿𝘂𝘃𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘂𝘃𝗮𝗿 𝘀𝗮𝘆𝘀: "எனைவகையான் தேறியக் கண்ணும் வினைவகையான் வேறாகும் மாந்தர் பலர்." "Enaivagaiyān thēṟiyak kaṇṇum Vinaivagaiyān vēṟākum māntar palar." “Even those who master every type of knowledge often fail — because they can’t match it with the right execution.” Adobe is not a product stack. It’s an experience discipline. 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼: choreograph content + data + journeys + analytics unify operations around response speed, not channel silos compose experiences, not configure platforms Then all you’re doing is feeding an expensive machine with no music. So, before you upgrade, replatform, or relicense Adobe: 🧠 Ask not: “Do we have the features?” 🔥 Ask: “Do we have the rhythm?” 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗔𝗱𝗼𝗯𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆? Are you orchestrating or just operating? Drop your take ⬇ Would love to hear how your team’s navigating this. #MarTech #AdobeExperienceCloud #DigitalExperience #CustomerJourneyOrchestration #MarketingOperations #CXLeadership #TamilLiterature #B2CMarketing #EnterpriseCX #JourneyDesign #Adobe #AEM #AJO #CJA

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Yesterday, I wrote about PostGrid for direct mail automation in HubSpot. Someone asked about Postalytics, so I tested it today. OVERALL 🟠Postalytics: 600 HubSpot installs, marketer-focused with Basic and Premium tiers 🟠PostGrid: 300 HubSpot installs, API-first developer platform 🟠Both have limited but good reviews in the marketplace QUICK COMPARISON Event tracking is the big differentiator. 🔶Postalytics Premium pushes mail events (printed, mailed, delivered, pURL visits) directly into HubSpot timeline as native activity events. 🔶PostGrid tracks mail status, but I found no documentation showing tracker/pURL visits syncing back to HubSpot contact timelines. If you care about attribution and reporting in HubSpot, this matters. Object support. 🔶Postalytics Premium works with Contacts, Companies, Deals, and Custom Objects. 🔶PostGrid documentation centers on contact objects. pURLs and QR codes. 🔶Postalytics has free drag-and-drop pURL and QR code elements built into their template editor. You drop them in, they generate automatically. 🔶 PostGrid supports pURLs and QR codes through their "Trackers" feature, but the implementation is more developer-oriented and requires technical setup. Workflow integration. Both trigger from HubSpot workflows. 🔶Postalytics felt simpler to set up (variable mapping is slightly more intuitive). 🔶PostGrid requires more technical precision but gives you API control if you need it. Developer flexibility. 🔶Postalytics has API capabilities but is designed for marketers to use without a heavy technical lift. 🔶PostGrid is built API-first with full developer access. Both require careful setup if you understand direct mail logistics. The question is whether you want marketing-friendly tools with stronger HubSpot reporting integration (Postalytics) or developer-grade API control (PostGrid). PostGrid seemed a little more straightforward to test (surprisingly). PostGrid can get simple jobs done just as well as Postanlytics. If you are doing "hardcore" direct marketing (you know who you are), Postalytics is probably the choice, although you pay higher fees for tracking capabilities. That's it for direct mail deep dives. Two solid options for my client. I am talking to both product sales teams to get the 4-1-1, as of course, pricing can be "tricky" and can't comment until I confirm a few things. Anyone running direct mail campaigns through HubSpot? What integration challenges have you faced? Oct-7-2025 UPDATE PRICING POSTALYTICS - You can do basic HubSpot contact automation for no cost. To get the awesome event tracking, they have a Marketeer level for $199/month and a Pro level for $399/month (plus mailing costs). Don't know the differences, but the pricing is better than PostGrid for small use cases.

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HubSpot’s Custom Objects just replaced 3 Salesforce workarounds. Not in theory. In a real enterprise CRM build we’re doing right now. Here’s what we were able to eliminate: 1. The “all-in-one” Account object. In Salesforce, it’s common to jam multiple business concepts into the Account object just to make reporting or automation work. We replaced that mess with separate Custom Objects for brands, locations, and parent orgs, each with their own properties, pipelines, and permissions. 2. Complex lead assignment rules. Because Salesforce separates Leads and Contacts, it often requires automation to reassign or convert them based on activity. In HubSpot, we used a Custom Object for ‘Inbound Requests’ and assigned them to teams based on criteria without converting anything. Cleaner logic, easier tracking. 3. Custom code for relationship mapping. Need to track one person tied to multiple organizations? Or one org linked to multiple deals across business units? In Salesforce, that typically means Apex or external packages. In HubSpot, we used flexible associations across Contacts, Custom Objects, and Deals, no code required. This is the kind of stuff that used to disqualify HubSpot in enterprise sales cycles. But not anymore. Want to build something similar? Start here: - Start by mapping your business objects and relationships before building. - Outline the key properties, users, and workflows for each object. - Use Custom Objects in HubSpot to mirror your actual structure. - Set up associations that reflect real interactions across teams and deals. - Keep it simple. If it doesn’t support reporting or automation, leave it out. If you’re still working around the system, it might be time to work with the system. Curious how this could work in your CRM setup? Drop a comment!

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Why Adding #AgentForce to Your Broken #FSC Implementation Is a Terrible Idea You've spent two years customizing FSC and it still doesn't work. Your team has workarounds for the workarounds and adoption is woeful. Now your #Salesforce AE is pitching AgentForce as the solution to all your problems. Funny how that call always comes right before quarter-end. They're trying to dig you deeper into a hole they helped create. And the consultants waiting in the wings? They're counting on it. More complexity means more billable hours. AgentForce is only as good as the data and structure underneath it. Implementation experts are clear. If data is inconsistent, incomplete, or duplicated, Agentforce becomes a liability rather than an asset. Your customized FSC has all three problems. Every governor limit issue, permission gap, and automation conflict lurking in your org? AgentForce will find it. Unlike a human who can work around problems, an AI agent either succeeds or fails. You're not adding intelligence. You're adding a magnifying glass to your dysfunction. The capabilities are limited. Each agent supports only 15 topics and 15 actions per topic. That's not enterprise-grade automation. That's a demo. And the maintenance burden is real. Improper prompts, outdated connectors, or inaccessible actions compromise data quality and compliance. Every Salesforce update risks breaking functionality. You're not buying a solution. You're buying another project that needs constant attention. The costs compound fast. Premium add-ons for regulated industries. Consulting partners for setup and training. Hidden costs for data preparation, Data Cloud licensing, and governance. Around 90% of CTOs say controlling AI expenses is a major hurdle. You're adding unpredictable costs on top of an implementation that's already over budget. AI on a customized FSC with years of technical debt? You're automating failure. AI paired with a CRM purpose-built for wealth management, running on enterprise-grade infrastructure, with a clean data model designed for how you actually work? That's a different conversation entirely. #WealthManagement #rias Practifi #wealthtech #advisortechnology #advicetech

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Across Stitch, we have over 1,000 years of experience in Salesforce Marketing Cloud. So why did we leave the Salesforce ecosystem and decide to focus exclusively on Braze? We noticed a pattern working with world-class marketers: they kept adding Braze to their stacks when they maxed out their legacy marketing clouds. That pattern became impossible to ignore. Here's what we saw in Braze that we couldn't find elsewhere: -- Built for marketers, not IT departments. Salesforce and Adobe platforms are often cobbled together from acquisitions, requiring specialized technical skills just to execute campaigns. Braze was purpose-built for marketers from day one, with clean architecture and intuitive UX that gives marketing teams real autonomy. -- Real scalability. Legacy platforms talk about scale, but Braze actually delivers it. When our clients hit growth inflection points, they don't need to rebuild their entire stack. Braze grows with them, handling massive scale while maintaining real-time capabilities. -- Genuine product obsession. We've worked with every major platform in this space. Braze's commitment to product quality is different. They're not trying to be everything to everyone. They're laser-focused on being the best customer engagement platform, period. -- Composable by design. Instead of forcing you into a walled garden, Braze sits at the center of best-in-breed stacks. It plays well with others because it was designed that way. When you specialize, you bet everything on one platform. We chose Braze because we saw marketers voting with their budgets, moving workloads from platforms they'd been on for a decade to a platform that actually makes their lives easier. The decision came down to this: where could we deliver the most value? Where could we help marketers do their best work? The answer was obvious.

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