Create Marketo Custom Objects

Last update: June 7, 2024

Use custom objects in Marketo to track metrics specific to your business. This could be anything from cars, to courses–whatever you would like to model in Marketo to run your campaigns.

NOTE
You can set up custom objects to work on a one-to-many or many-to-many basis. You create the initial object the same way, but the steps are different when you start adding fields to the object. See Understanding Marketo Custom Objects for more information.
NOTE
You cannot create, edit, or delete a Link or Dedupe Field once the custom object is approved.

Create a Custom Object for a One-to-Many Structure

This example shows a Car custom object, for use in a one-to-many structure. Later, you’ll create a course custom object and an intermediary object to use in a many-to-many structure.

  1. Go to the Admin area.

  2. Click Marketo Custom Objects.

  3. Click New Custom Object.

    NOTE
    The Marketo Custom Objects tab displays all custom objects on the right, and details for any approved ones, including number of records and fields at the most recent update.

  4. Enter a Display Name. The API Name and Plural Name populate automatically. Enter a Description (optional).

    NOTE
    You can edit these fields when you’re creating them, but after they’re saved, you can only edit the Plural Name field and the Show in Lead Detail slider.

  5. Pull the Show in Lead Detail slider over to display Show if you want to view custom object data on the Database page. Click Save.

  6. The custom object information displays the content you entered. Notice that it’s in a Draft state.

    The next step is to add fields to build out your custom object.

    NOTE
    You can only populate Marketo Custom Objects via a list import, or the API.

Create a Custom Object for a Many-to-Many Structure

This example shows a course custom object, which you’ll use for creating a many-to-many relationship between people/companies and courses. When you’re done, you’ll create an intermediary object to connect it to people or companies in your database.

NOTE
For a many-to-many relationship, you don’t need to create a link in the custom object. Instead, you’ll add two links to the intermediary object (see below).

  1. Go to the Admin area.

  2. Click Marketo Custom Objects.

  3. Click New Custom Object.

  4. Enter a Display Name. The API Name and Plural Name populate automatically. Enter a Description (optional).

    NOTE
    You can edit these fields when you’re creating them, but after they’re saved, you can only edit the Plural Name field and the Show in Lead Detail slider.

  5. Pull the Show in Lead Detail slider over to display Show if you want to view custom object data on the Database page. Click Save.

  6. The custom object information displays the content you entered. Notice that it’s in a Draft state.

    NOTE
    You can only populate Marketo Custom Objects via a list import, or the API.

The next step is for you create your intermediary object (see below). But before that, you need to create a field to link to with it.