The University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business undertook a journey to implement an enterprise marketing automation tool, ultimately selecting Marketing Cloud after a thorough discovery and vendor evaluation process. The timeline spanned from identifying the need for marketing automation in August to executing the implementation roadmap in March the following year. Key considerations included budget, functionality, training ease, long-term value, and technical requirements for seamless integration with Salesforce CRM.

1. Our Journey to Marketing Cloud
Kirsten Sands Rauscher, Director/Salesforce Admin

2. Who Are We?
Salesforce Trailblazers
• 170 Active Users and 360+ trailhead badges
Top Business School
• Have two top 10 MBA programs (Online & Executive) in the US
Really Awesome
• We love to collaborate and give back to the Higher Ed Salesforce community!
University of Maryland, Robert H. Smith School of Business

3. Our Journey to Marketing Cloud
Our Timeline
• What was our journey like from beginning to end?
Our Discovery
• What was the need for enterprise marketing automation?
The Selection Process
• How & why did we choose Marketing Cloud?
The Road Ahead
• Building an implementation strategy & roadmap
What we’ll be covering

4. Chapter 1: Our Timeline

5. Our Timeline
August
Identified need for
marketing automation
September
Identified need for
marketing automation
October
Hosted demo of top 3
vendors
November
Selected Marketing
Cloud
December
Purchased Marketing
Cloud
January
Searched for
implementation partner
February
Signed contract with
Balance Marketing
March
Execute roadmap

6. Why was the need for enterprise Marketing Automation at Smith?
Chapter 2: Our Discovery

7. The Problem
23+ tools currently being used for mass communication

8. Strategizing the Best Path Forward
Budget
• Developed a budget; anticipated future growth/costs
Functionality
• Does it meet the needs of our users?
Training
• How easy will this tool be to roll-out and train new users
Long-Term Value
• Will this tool be able to grow with us over the long-term?
Technical Requirement
• Does the tool create a seamless and easy integration with Salesforce CRM?
Identify the problem, strategize how to get to a solution

9. Discovery Process
Internal Discovery Technical Discovery Reference Checks
What did discovery entail?
Vendor Demos

10. Internal Discovery
Pre-Interview Audit Surveys
• Confirmed findings with each business unit
• Measured current functionality of existing tools
Discovery Interviews
• Documented requirements for marketing automation tool
• Scored desirability for new features
What did discovery entail?

11. Internal Discovery
Meet with as many stakeholders as possible
• Salesforce Advisory Board nominated members of their business units to participate (sought staff who used
existing marketing automation tools/managed mass communication)
• Groups discovery interviews by function
Conducted 5 Discovery Interviews
• Each group discovery was two hours in a room with a white board
• Leveraged data collected in pre-interview survey audit participants completed in advance
Our strategy

12. A Not Surprising Discovery…
Participants did not know what was possible with marketing automation.
A discovery from discovery….

13. Internal Discovery
What’s possible with marketing automation?
Feature Description How many currently using
feature
How important is this
feature (1-5 scale)
Trigger Messaging
Send a message in
response to a recipients
request or action/behavior.
0/15 5/5
Landing Pages Create & publish content as
a webpage. 5/15 4/5
Segmentation Segment your subscriber
base to send different
messages to different
audiences.
0/15 5/5
Profile Center Subscribers can enter and
maintain their own personal
information.
0/15 5/5

14. Vendor Demos
Identified top 3 Marketing Automation Tools (Gartner)
• Marketing Cloud
• Pardot
• Marketo
Hosted “Public” Demos for Smith/UMD Staff
• 2 hours each
• Donuts/Coffee
How to Prepare

15. Preparation for In-Person Demos
Documentation provided to each vendor
Documentation Included
• Three scenarios to
demonstrate using the product
• A list of specific features to
include in demos
• A copy of the scorecard
• A description of demo
participants
• Smith School requirements
gathered from discovery
• Vendor questionnaire
(technical)

16. Internal Discovery
Using discovery data to score potential
vendors

17. Internal Discovery
Using discovery data to score potential
vendors

18. Technical Vendor Discovery
Technical Questionnaire
• Vendors submitted written answers to
questions around requirements
Post Demo Questionnaire
• Requested a second version of question after
the live demos and concerns/feedback from
demo participants
Hosted calls with each vendor to review
answers
• Clarified any questions/answers from
documentation
Confirming requirements met from a technical perspective

19. Reference Checks
Narrowed to Top 2 Vendors
• Requested to speak with two schools
similar in size that have used their product
for at least one year
• Harvard & Indiana State
• Prepared questions so same concerns were
addressed on each call
Doing our due diligence

20. Why did we choose Marketing Cloud?
Chapter 3: The Selection

21. Our Timeline
August
Identified need for
marketing automation
September
Identified need for
marketing automation
October
Hosted demo of top 3
vendors
November
Selected Marketing
Cloud
December
Purchased Marketing
Cloud
January
Searched for
implementation partner
February
Signed contract with
Balance Marketing
March
Execute roadmap

22. Gathering Documentation for Decision-Making
10+ Hours of interviews with internal stakeholders
6+ hours of product demos
6+ meetings with vendors
25+ hours of documentation & research
3 reference calls with customers
6 Marketing Automation Committee Meetings
Wasn’t easy….

26. Marketing Automation Committee: FINAL VOTE

27. Strategizing the Best Path Forward
Budget
• Developed a budget; anticipated future growth/costs
Functionality
• Does it meet the needs of our users?
Training
• How easy will this tool be to roll-out and train new users
Long-Term Value
• Will this tool be able to grow with us over the long-term?
Technical Requirement
• Does the tool create a seamless and easy integration with Salesforce CRM?
Identify the problem, strategize how to get to a solution

28. Why Marketing Cloud
Budget
• Most economical; fit within our
budget with wiggle room
Functionality
• Exceeded feature requirements
from our users for phase 1 roll-
out
Training
• Offered access to 50+ online
accelerators for users
Long-Term Value
• Could be used across all
departments & engagements
with all stakeholders from
recruitment through alumni
Technical
• Best opportunity for seamless
integration with Salesforce
CRM
Customer Service
• Premium Customer Support
Plan from Marketing Cloud
Factors that Impacted the Vote

29. Is long….
Chapter 4: The Road Ahead

30. The Road Ahead
Hired Balance Digital Marketing as Implementation Partners
• Kicking-off project implementation in April 2018
Conducted Discovery (in-house)
• Developed onboarding roadmap for business units
• Created implementation team
• Drafted roles/permissions and approvals required by Marketing Communications Dept for users
• Collected template requests to build our MC Library of assets and templates
Implementation Plan

32. What I learned from our Journey to Marketing Cloud
Bonus Chapter: Tips

33. What to look out for…
Document your user requirements in detail
• Gather examples, use cases, and differentiate between desired
features v requirements
Be transparent with your vendors
• Each vendor received the same documentation; exposed a lot of
transparency around what Smith was looking for
• Dictate exactly what you want to see
• Comb through proposals; do not make assumptions
Develop a clear selection strategy in advance
• Marketing Automation team was trained on high priority features and
what to look out for in demos
Our Journey to Marketing Cloud