Are you a marketer getting ready for Dreamforce next week? Does it feel a bit like getting ready for the new season of House of the Dragon and trying to remember details of the previous season in addition to all the details of Game of Thrones (so many houses, surnames, and rivalries!).
Not to worry; we have prepared a quick House of Marketing Clouds recap for marketers eager to refresh their memories. Read on to get up-to-speed and feel prepared for what are sure to be exciting new episodes (i.e., new announcements and feature showcases) at Dreamforce 2024.
When we last left our heroes…
In the Salesforce ecosystem, 2024 has been all about AI (new and enhanced Einstein Copilots throughout the Clouds, for more efficient and smarter experiences) plus Trust (critical for using AI safely and accurately) plus Data (data availability is necessary to power AI, and there are hundreds of new connectors for Data Cloud) plus CRM (the foundation for all things related to the customer experience). These pillars culminate perfectly into the single biggest announcement for marketers so far in 2024: the Marketing Cloud Growth Edition. MC Growth Edition is the first iteration of Marketing Cloud that’s built on CRM with Data Cloud and AI/Trust embedded; no connectors, ETLs, or apps required.
MC Growth Edition was announced in February 2024 and heavily discussed at Salesforce Connections in May 2024. The buzz in the community has been a mix of excitement and trepidation surrounding the many options now available to marketers under the Salesforce umbrella. How do they compare, and which option is best for various industries and use cases?
House of Marketing Clouds Season One: In the Beginning
Salesforce Core (CRM or Sales/Service Cloud) has historically had some limited email capabilities. In 2013, Salesforce got into the ESP (Email Service Provider) space in a big way through acquisitions of ExactTarget (which became Marketing Cloud Engagement or MCE) and Pardot (which became Marketing Cloud Account Engagement or MCAE). Both platforms have grown in capabilities well beyond email blasts. MCE and MCAE have been compared frequently over the years, particularly as each platform has expanded. In summary, the features and benefits stack up like this:
While MCE and MCAE both offer a lot of robust capabilities for sophisticated marketers, organizations have preferences depending on their use cases and core capabilities desired.
House of Marketing Clouds Season Two: A Cloud for All Marketers
When Marketing Cloud Growth Edition entered the picture in 2024, there were all-new capabilities to consider (see table below), like embedded AI and Data Cloud which had not been seen to this degree previously. New MCGE features are true game changers:
- MCGE built directly on CRM means that accounts, leads, contacts, and objects will be natively available for marketers without going through an integration or connector. In addition, powerful CRM functionality like Flow Builder will supercharge the experiences that marketers may build for customers, and simplify the ability to have those experiences encompass marketing, sales, and service.
- The embedded Data Cloud functionality means that data from other systems (ERPs, commerce, advertising, etc.) can integrate easier than ever and enrich customer profiles for improved targeting and personalization.
- While all Salesforce Clouds have Einstein AI capabilities, MCGE takes AI to a new level. For example, there are built-in Copilots to create content and segments based on conversational prompts. You can even fine-tune the tone of your content based on simple prompts, saving time on content generation and copywriting.
House of Marketing Clouds Season Three: Coming Soon! Dreamforce Predictions
MCGE is recommended for Small Businesses (SMBs) that generally don’t require a large degree of highly personalized content or large volumes of deployments across channels. We predict that we will see MCGE – as the first in the next generation of Marketing Cloud platforms – expanded such that there are even more features and much more scalability for larger organizations.We expect these features to include expanded capabilities in AI, campaign building, cross-cloud/cross-channel customer experiences, and reporting and insights.
ListEngage is going to Dreamforce and will be closely monitoring what’s new and exciting in the House of Marketing Clouds. Stay tuned for our post-Dreamforce recap. Want to have a conversation with us at Dreamforce about marketing, AI, data, CRM, or personalization? Connect with us today.
