Cloak of Adventure Campaign via Salesforce Trailhead

Of all the community engagement sites that I've participated in, the Salesforce Trailhead site is the most amusing. Kudos to the teams that put this together. 

Last summer, Salesforce offered free developer access to their Salesforce platform. This was great because it gives access to learn more about the platform from the admin side; plus learning opportunities for different levels of SFDC usage (basic, admin, and developer).

The Cloak of Adventure quest starts harmlessly enough through a Trailhead branded email invite:

2016-01 SFDC Email Invite - Trailhead Badge Contest

Engagement is simple. Enroll in the contest (via Pardot web contact form). Complete training modules (a mix of multiple choice questions or performing setup steps within SFDC developer edition). Earn badges. Once you meet the contest requirements, a second email is sent asking for your mailing address details (also fulfilled using Pardot).

Easy. Simple. And, a quick way to engage users in SFDC's self-service training modules.

Marketing Automation: Basics

Choosing the right platform for your business is half the battle. And, not all the bells and whistles of a solution intended for large enterprises such as Marketo or Eloqua are right for your small business. 

You want to consider marketing automation when that static web contact form just doesn't work for you anymore; or there are so many unqualified inquires that you need some other way (other than manual oversight by a human being) to follow-up with them all in a timely and reasonable manner. 

Here are some basic built-in features to look for in an entry-level marketing automation platform:

- customer segmentation
- lead scoring (critical for B2B; sometimes used for high end prosumer products)
- automated campaigns
- marketing and/or sales automation
- landing pages

Nearly all email marketing and marketing automation platforms have email marketing (basic and custom templates). integration or APIs with popular CRM tools, email/web/or social campaigns, and some form of web or campaign analytics.