What is Salesforce Marketing Cloud and Why You Need It?

Imagine having a tool that lets you connect with your customers in a personalised and effective way. That’s exactly what Salesforce Marketing Cloud does. It allows businesses to send targeted emails, manage social media, and automate marketing campaigns, all from one platform. 

In this blog, we discuss the features of Salesforce Marketing Cloud, how it can benefit your business, and guide you through setting it up. Discover how companies are using it to build stronger customer relationships and grow their brand effortlessly.

Table of Contents

1) What is Salesforce Marketing Cloud?

2) What Does Salesforce Marketing Cloud Include?

3) Benefits of Salesforce Cloud Marketing 

4) How to Set Up Salesforce Marketing Cloud?

5) Types of Companies That Use Salesforce Marketing Cloud

6) How Does Salesforce Marketing Cloud Help Your Business?

7) Salesforce Marketing Cloud vs Salesforce Sales Cloud

8) Salesforce Marketing Cloud vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement

9) Conclusion

What is Salesforce Marketing Cloud?

Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a robust Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform that enables businesses to create, automate, and personalise their marketing campaigns across multiple channels. It provides powerful products and features designed to help marketers connect with their target audience more meaningfully.   

With Salesforce Marketing Cloud, businesses can streamline their marketing efforts, optimise customer interactions, and achieve better results through data-driven insights. It empowers marketers to create personalised experiences at scale, enabling them to deliver the right message to the right person across various channels like email, mobile, social media, and more.

 

What Does Salesforce Marketing Cloud Include?

Salesforce Marketing Cloud is made up of two main types of modules:

a) Studios: These help you manage content and specific marketing channels, like Email Studio.

b) Builders: These help you manage data and automate campaigns, like Journey Builder.

As Salesforce has added more technologies, the full Marketing Cloud suite now includes analytics tools, a customer data platform (CDP), Google plug-ins, and more. Let’s dive into what each Marketing Cloud Studio and Builder offers:

Marketing Cloud Studios

a) Email Studio: Create, preview, test, and send emails using Content Builder.

b) Mobile Studio: Manage SMS messaging with MobileConnect and GroupConnect and send push notifications or in-app messages with MobilePush, including features like geo-location and Bluetooth Beacons.

c) Social Studio (Retiring in November 2024): Schedule and monitor social media posts, engage with audiences in real-time, and analyses social media performance all within a single platform.

d) Advertising Studio: Align your online ads with CRM data to find new prospects by using lookalike audiences from Facebook and Google based on your high-value customers.

e) Web Studio: Manage landing pages and microsites with CloudPages to collect data and personalise web experiences with forms and coupons.

f) Automation Studio: Automate marketing tasks and manage data, such as importing files, running SQL queries, and filtering data. You can also add these automated activities to Journey Builder to create multi-step workflows.

Marketing Cloud Builders

a) Journey Builder: A visual tool that maps out your customers’ journey through different marketing touchpoints. You can segment audiences, automate messages (like SMS or emails), and adjust workflows using different entry sources and activities.

b) Contact Builder: Manage all contact data, including demographic and behavioural information. You can organise this data into groups like "abandoned carts" or "populations" and create segments for targeted marketing.

c) Content Builder: Create templates for emails and landing pages with reusable content blocks to streamline your content creation process.

d) BrandBuilder: Customise your Marketing Cloud account by uploading your company’s logo and adjusting the colour scheme. For Enterprise 2.0, you can create multiple brand styles and assign them to different business units.

e) Analytics Builder → Standard Reports: Access built-in reports for tracking email campaigns, web and mobile analytics, customer behaviour, and admin activities. These reports help refine marketing strategies and improve customer journeys.

f) Analytics Builder → Datorama Reports: Launched in January 2021, Datorama Reports replace the old Discover Reporting Tool and offer pre-built dashboards for easier campaign and journey tracking. It’s available as an app in Marketing Cloud with an auto-created Datorama account.

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Benefits of Salesforce Cloud Marketing   

Salesforce Marketing Cloud offers numerous benefits that empower marketers to enhance their marketing strategies and achieve their business objectives. It also helps in effectively managing and using the Salesforce Sales Cloud. Let's explore some of the key benefits. 

a) The marketing cloud in Salesforce enables marketers to deliver tailored experiences, resulting in stronger customer relationships and increased engagement.   

b) Marketers can reach customers through various channels, ensuring consistent messaging and maximising the impact of marketing campaigns.   

c) Automation features streamline marketing processes, saving time and effort for marketers to focus on strategic initiatives.   

d) Robust analytics capabilities provide valuable insights for informed decision-making and optimised marketing strategies.   

e) Seamless integration with other Salesforce products enables a unified customer view and team collaboration.   

f) Marketing Cloud caters to businesses of all sizes, adapting to evolving needs and supporting marketing initiatives.   

g) By delivering personalised experiences, targeting customer segments, and measuring performance, marketers achieve better ROI and revenue growth.   

How to Set Up Salesforce Marketing Cloud?

Setting up Salesforce Marketing Cloud is simple and helps businesses streamline their marketing efforts. Here are the steps: 

a) Sign up for an account and select the plan that suits your business

b) Import your customer data into the platform for easy organisation

c) Customise your account by adding your company logo and colours

d) Use tools like Email Studio and Journey Builder to create campaigns

e) Start sending personalised messages to your customers based on your marketing strategy

Types of Companies That Use Salesforce Marketing Cloud 

 

Let’s explore some of the common sectors:

a) Retail Companies: These companies use Salesforce Marketing Cloud to alert their customers on special offers and products that may interest them. They also allow them to automate customer journeys by their shopping behaviours. It helps to increase customer retention and sales as well.

b) Healthcare Organisations: Healthcare providers use it to send appointment reminders and health tips to their patients. They can also deliver personalised health updates based on patient profiles. This improves patient communication and care management. 

c) Financial Services: Clients of banks and financial institutions receive product changes, account notifications, and customised promotions through the platform. They are also in a position to personalise these communications using customer data. This aids in improvement of customer relations as well as establishing trust.

d) E-commerce Businesses:  Businesses that operate in the e-commerce segment employ the Salesforce Marketing Cloud for creating automated campaigns that are based on customers’ browsing history and previous purchases. This also aids in the sending of personalised product recommendations, and cart abandonment notifications. It also directly improves the conversion rate and customer loyalty.

How Does Salesforce Marketing Cloud Help Your Business?

Salesforce Marketing Cloud helps your business by making it easier to connect with your customers. You can send personalised messages, like emails or SMS, based on customer preferences and behaviour. This means you can reach the right people at the right time, improving customer engagement and satisfaction. It also lets you manage all your marketing channels in one place, making your campaigns more organised and efficient.

The platform also provides insights into how your marketing efforts are performing. You can track customer interactions, monitor campaign success and make data-driven decisions to improve results. This helps your business grow by creating stronger connections with your customers and boosting sales.

Salesforce Marketing Cloud vs Salesforce Sales Cloud

Here are the key differences:

1) Purpose

Salesforce Marketing Cloud is designed to manage and optimise marketing efforts, helping businesses connect with their customers through personalised messages. It focuses on customer engagement through multiple channels like email, social media, and SMS. 

On the other hand, Salesforce Sales Cloud is built for managing the sales process, from lead generation to closing deals. It helps sales teams track prospects, manage pipelines, and boost productivity.

2) Features

Marketing Cloud offers tools to create marketing campaigns, such as email marketing, social media management, and targeted advertising. It also provides analytics to track campaign performance and customer engagement. 

Sales Cloud, however, focuses on sales-oriented tools like lead management, opportunity tracking, and sales forecasting. These help sales teams close more deals and manage customer relationships.

3) Audience

Marketing Cloud is used by marketing teams to reach and engage customers through tailored marketing efforts. It enables marketers to create personalised journeys for customers based on their behaviours. 

In contrast, Sales Cloud is mainly used by sales teams to manage prospects, leads, and customer relationships. It focuses on helping sales representatives follow up on leads and close deals effectively.

4) Automation

Marketing Cloud offers automation for complex customer journeys. It allows businesses to automate email sends and social media posts based on customer behaviour. It simplifies marketing tasks and ensures timely communication with customers. 

On the other hand, Sales Cloud automates sales workflows, such as lead assignments, follow-up reminders, and pipeline management. This helps sales teams stay organised and efficiently manage their sales process.

5) Data Use

In Marketing Cloud, customer data is used to create personalised marketing campaigns that improve customer engagement. It allows businesses to segment their audiences and tailor their marketing strategies accordingly. 

In contrast, Sales Cloud uses customer and prospect data to track sales progress, manage relationships, and forecast future sales. This data-driven approach helps sales teams stay on top of their performance and improve their sales strategies.

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Salesforce Marketing Cloud vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement

Here are the key differences:

1) Focus

Salesforce Marketing Cloud focuses on B2C (Business-to-Consumer) marketing. It helps businesses engage with individual consumers through personalised, large-scale campaigns. It’s designed for companies that deal directly with end customers. 

In contrast, Account Engagement (formerly Pardot) is focused on B2B (Business-to-Business) marketing, where the goal is to build relationships with other businesses. It’s tailored for longer sales cycles typical in B2B industries.

2) Campaigns

Marketing Cloud enables businesses to run wide-reaching campaigns across channels like email, SMS, and social media. It helps marketers connect with large audiences through personalised and automated journeys. 

On the other hand, Account Engagement is more focused on nurturing leads with targeted email marketing and content, helping B2B companies build long-term relationships with prospects. It tracks how potential business clients interact with marketing content to move them through the sales funnel.

3) Automation

Both platforms offer automation, but Marketing Cloud’s automation is focused on managing complex customer journeys across multiple channels. It automates tasks like sending emails, tracking engagement, and adjusting campaigns based on customer behaviour. 

Account Engagement, on the other hand, automates lead nurturing processes, using email drip campaigns and lead scoring to prioritise prospects and move them through the sales cycle efficiently.

4) Tools

Marketing Cloud includes powerful tools like Journey Builder for designing customer journeys and Content Builder for creating email and landing page templates. It provides everything marketers need to engage consumers effectively. 

In contrast, Account Engagement offers tools such as lead scoring, drip email campaigns, and in-depth reporting. It helps B2B marketers track and manage leads. It integrates closely with Salesforce CRM. It allows different teams to work smoothly.

5) Target Audience

Marketing Cloud is best suited for companies that sell directly to individual consumers. It offers tools to engage large audiences at scale. It helps businesses with high-volume consumer interactions manage their marketing efforts efficiently.

In contrast, Account Engagement is better for businesses that sell to other businesses and need to focus on building long-term relationships. It helps B2B marketers track the engagement of potential clients and tailor their approach accordingly.

Conclusion  

Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a helpful tool that lets businesses reach their customers with personalised marketing. It provides everything from email campaigns to automating tasks. It makes it easier to manage and grow customer relationships. Whether you are a small business or a large one, this platform can improve your marketing and help you get better results. Understanding its benefits will help you boost your marketing efforts effectively.

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