What this book covers
Chapter 1, What Is Automation?, takes you through the basic concepts of automation and why automation is important. It will go over what exactly automation is and the reason behind doing it. It will also go into detail on the best ways to implement and create solutions for automation. We will see high-level strategies as well as more intricate and technical tactics for automation implementation and maintenance.
Chapter 2, SFMC Automation Tools, is an overview of Automation Studio and Journey Builder. This chapter focuses on an overview of these two and how they work to help the internal automation of the platform.
Chapter 3, SFMC Automation Best Practices, dives into best practices for automation in SFMC with a major focus on things such as performance, efficiency, scalability, context, and preference.
Chapter 4, Automating Email Sends, covers the basics and some more in-depth knowledge of best practices and considerations for automation. With all this background under our belts, we start to explore real-life scenarios to put this knowledge into practice.
Chapter 5, Automating Your ETL and Data, moves to the bread and butter of what automation is made for – data! We discuss automating ETL via import/export/query activities as well as filter activities, and similar activities for segmentation and data staging.
Chapter 6, The Magic of Script Activities, takes the next step forward into developer-level solutions. This is a quick introduction to utilizing custom solutions using AMPscript or SSJS inside of script activities.
Chapter 7, The Power of In-Step APIs, explores the option of making API calls from inside SFMC. Through script activities, we can do API calls via WSProxy, native functions, and HTTP POST/GET to the internal endpoints. But we can also use Script.Util content syndication functions to make calls to external endpoints and add integration/interaction with external services.
Chapter 8, Create Mini Web Apps, introduces you to more advanced API implementation and uses. We will be diving into advanced development solutions that can essentially create mini web apps inside your automations!
Chapter 9, Getting Started with Custom Integrations, introduces you to proper planning methods as well as helping you understand the basic integration toolkits. This should serve as an introduction to the tooling, terminology, limitations, and basic setup necessary to begin building custom solutions.
Chapter 10, Exploring SFMC as a Piece of the Puzzle, dives into determining how to identify areas in your processes for automation as well as how to structure your project for success.
Chapter 11, Exploring SDKs, APIs, and Specs, covers the standard Marketing Cloud SDKs, including how to both read and extend the capabilities provided. Also, you will learn the major differences between the Marketing Cloud REST and SOAP APIs as well as how to create your own API gateway.
Chapter 12, Webhooks and Microservices, covers the basics of both webhooks and microservices as well as how to functionally incorporate these into your current business processes.
Chapter 13, Exploring Custom Journey Builder Activities, shows how to design, develop, test, and execute custom Journey Builder activities within Marketing Cloud. Special emphasis will be given to common component files as well as authentication and best practices.
Chapter 14, Carpe Omnia, is a basic recap and wrap-up of the book touching on the main points that we went over and the possibilities that are now open to us, as well as giving some last-minute tips and tricks based on this newly acquired knowledge.