Alex Colburn – May 13, 2021
The Developers Speak is a video series featuring certified Salesforce consultants at Digital Mass. They come to you twice a month to help bridge the gap between business problems and technical solutions.
In this episode of The Developers Speak, Alex breaks down the differences between Pardot and Marketing Cloud, and some considerations you should take into account before choosing one over the other.
Hi, I'm Alex Mracek, I'm a Pardot Consultant at Digital Mass, and today I want to talk about some of the differences between Pardot and Salesforce Marketing Cloud. We'll also talk about some considerations to keep in mind when deciding which marketing automation tool you're going to move forward with.
At their core, both marketing automation tools allow you to send emails, create long-term automated campaigns, categorize and group consumers, send information to Salesforce, and then report on the information that you have. Both of these tools come out of the box, and with a little bit of training, you can start using them right away. So even though they have similarities, the tools are different.
Pardot is positioned as the B2B platform and Salesforce Marketing Cloud is positioned for B2C companies. Pardot trades a smaller feature set for a more focused offering that's less configuration and easier to master up-front. This means that smaller teams who don't have access to technical resources like Salesforce developers will be able to pick up Pardot right away. For teams that want aren't ready to go through a big learning curve or hire additional resources, Pardot will be a good choice because they'll be able to send emails right away. If that team decided they wanted more out of the platform, like creating a more customized experience, there are ways to extend the capabilities with additional development, but they won't need to do that upfront.
On the other end, Salesforce Marketing Cloud offers a robust feature set across multiple studios, creating a multi-channel experience. This means that there will need to be more planning, strategy, and configuration up-front to get things up and running. The usage of AMPscript, SQL, and SSJs will also require more technical staff to really hone in on what Salesforce Marketing Cloud is capable of. These features aren't required, but they will allow you to get the most out of your marketing automation tool.
At the end of the day, nobody knows your marketing team like you do. You know the size of your team, their technical capabilities, your customers, and what your budget looks like. I would highly recommend getting in contact with a Salesforce AE or our team of Salesforce consultants at Digital Mass to put together a plan so that you can crawl, walk, and then run with your new marketing automation tool.
About the developer:
Alex Mracek was Digital Mass’ first hire in 2018. Before he joined DM as a Salesforce Developer, Alex had been working in the technology space for over 5 years and was studying Marketing at Concordia-St. Paul. Once he joined Digital Mass, Alex quickly received his Pardot Consultant and Pardot Specialist certifications. Quite a powerful marketing developer combo if you ask us.
In his free time, you’ll find Alex fishing at the cabin, watching the MN Wild or the Liverpool FC, and playing D&D.