The manufacturing industry is undergoing a fundamental shift. Their business is no longer centered on making products. Instead, it’s all about building relationships with customers to satisfy their desires and needs. In this new Age of the Customer, manufacturers must adopt the sophisticated marketing and customer service strategies formerly consigned to the domain of their retailers and distributors. Whether your customer is another business, an individual, or both, Salesforce’s Marketing Cloud and Pardot products offer omnichannel solutions to support customers at every step of the buying journey.
At Mountain Point, our certified marketing consultants can guide your company through your Pardot or Marketing Cloud implementation to ensure you get the most out of your investments. But let’s start with the basics: Which tool is right for you? Pardot or Marketing Cloud?
B2B Marketing: Salesforce Pardot
For manufacturers selling their products wholesale to distributors, Pardot may be the best option. It was designed with a business-to-business (B2B) framework in mind and is well-suited for automating communication to prospects, channel partners, and current customers. And its segmentation, personalization, and reporting capabilities make it a strong choice for companies pursuing account-based marketing (ABM) strategies.
Out of the box, Pardot allows you to automate outbound marketing communication to nurture leads, stay top-of-mind, or upsell and cross-sell to existing customers. Inbound marketing tools such as forms and landing pages can help you grow your pipeline. Lead scoring and grading functionalities help automate lead qualification so only the best leads are handed off to sales. Best of all, Pardot integrates seamlessly with Salesforce so when that hot lead turns into a won opportunity, you’ll gain insight into which campaigns influenced the sale. Knowing what's working allows you to concentrate on the marketing efforts resulting in the biggest returns.
B2C Marketing: Salesforce Marketing Cloud
When it comes to connecting directly with customers, nothing tops the best-in-class suite of applications known as the Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Marketing Cloud is comprised of Studios and Builders that enable companies to organize and deliver customer-centered content and craft individualized customer journeys to deliver unique, personalized experiences at scale.
By harnessing the power of email marketing, social engagement, targeted advertising, and mobile SMS and push notifications, companies can connect with their customers on any device. So no matter where your customers prefer to be reached, you can deliver unique personal messages that drive engagement at exactly the moment your customer wants to hear from you.
Have a customer who abandoned an online shopping cart? Marketing Cloud will help you send automated emails to bring them back. Seeing lots of chatter about your brand, product, or competitors on social media channels? Use Marketing Cloud to gain insight into customer sentiment and even respond directly to customers’ posts. And because you’re working on the Salesforce platform, handing off an issue to your customer service team or a hot lead to your sales team has never been easier. Marketing Cloud is fully integrated with other Salesforce tools including Service Cloud and Sales Cloud. That means customers experience seamless, proactive support no matter who they’re interacting with at your company.
So Pardot or Marketing Cloud… which is right for you?
Ready to talk through finding the best marketing solution for your company? Contact our Salesforce-certified marketing consultant, Holland. He can offer free, upfront, no-obligation advice on identifying the best product for your team. And with more than 15 years of experience and 5 Salesforce marketing certifications under his belt, Holland will make sure you get the most of your marketing automation investment.
Holland Dotts, Creative Director / Marketing Consultant
Email: holland.dotts@mountainpoint.com
