A marketing automation rockstar must understand basic logic.
I believe we’re all database marketers at this point. Perhaps that isn’t your title, but it is your every day reality. Even designers must consider the database with spaces for text blocks, mail merges, and other dynamic content.
Dynamic content is about segmenting your audience into increasingly smaller blocks to send the right message to the right group of people as efficiently as possible. Segmentation of the database is all about logic, especially Boolean logic.
So let’s talk about logic. I believe a marketing rockstar embraces logic to target audiences effectively. You probably have heard of Boolean logic and I won’t go into the details but there are the three key operators that you should be familiar with.
And, Or, and, Not.
Let’s try some examples based on this diagram.
- First, Joe is a subscriber to the Blog. Blog = TRUE.
- Second, Joe is a subscriber to Marketo’s Blog. Marketo Blog = TRUE.
- Third, Joe is not a subscriber to HubSpot’s Blog. HubSpot Blog = FALSE.
Which campaigns does Joe qualify for?
If I use “OR” or “Any”, then either or both criteria can be true and I will qualify for the campaign, even if I am only a subscriber to the blog.
I can also qualify if I’m a subscriber to both blogs.
Not is anyone without that criteria so everybody who is not a subscriber to HubSpot’s blog will be in the blue area and if I am a subscriber I am in the white area so I will be excluded from this campaign if I use a “Not” filter.
The good news is if you understand this type of logic, you don’t necessarily have to know things like SQL queries, which can become more complex.
Common Operators in Filters
These are Marketo specific, however, you will see very similar ones in HubSpot, Pardot, and Eloqua.
| Operator | Description |
| IN | The lead is IN, or a member of a List |
| NOT IN | The lead is NOT IN, or not a member of a List |
| CONTAINS | The field has the value somewhere |
| NOT CONTAINS | The field does not have this value anywhere |
| STARTS WITH | The first few characters contain this phrase, word, or number |
| NOT STARTS WITH | The first few charactes do not contain this phrase, word, or number |
| IS | Exact match for the value – not more or less |
| IS EMPTY | The field is empty, or NULL. There is nothing here. |
| IS NOT EMPTY | The field has a value of some type |
| Less than | The number or score is less than X |
| Greater than | The number or score is greater than X |
| At Least | The number or score is X or above |
| In Past | The date is within or prior to X days, months, or years |
| Between | The value is between these two dates |
| On or Before | The value is on this date or prior to the date |
| Before | The value is before this date |
| On or After | The value is on or ahead of this date |
| After | The value is after this date |
| Is | The date is X |
| Any | Or is between the filters |
| All | And is between the filters |
| Advanced | Allows you to use parentheses with OR and AND: (1 or 2) and 3 |
For more details on Marketo filters and triggers, see my Marketo Filter Reference Document.
Stay tuned for more on Not filters next week.
You are reading A Logic Lesson for Marketers by Josh Hill originally posted at Marketing Rockstar Guides - Guides and consulting for the inbound marketer +1.617.564.3079. If you enjoyed this post, follow Josh on Twitter and G+
(c) 2012-2014 by Josh Hill. All Rights Reserved. May not be resold, relicensed, or modified for use in other works.