Dreamforce 2017, Salesforce’s annual premier event was uplifting, informative and inspiring. We heard from the likes of Ashton Kutcher, Michelle Obama and the great visionary Mark Benioff himself. We went to concerts with artists such as Leni Kravitz and Alicia Keys. Here are the essential Pardot takeaways.

The keynote “B2B Marketing Keynote: Marketing That Sales Teams Love”, kicked off by Michael Kastow (SVP and GM Salesforce Pardot), explored the utilisation of Pardot, and its relationship with other key Salesforce marketing products. The title probably sounds like an oxymoron for sales to love marketing, but very fitting nonetheless.  

Most Pardot users (myself included) see Pardot with Sales Cloud as the complete marketing solution for a B2B Marketer, in terms of what Salesforce has to offer. I was able to gain a deeper understanding of how to leverage the Salesforce product family, such as Advertising Studio, Sales Cloud Einstein and Salesforce Engage, to support Pardot’s initiatives and bolster its capabilities.

Advertising Studio and Pardot

In the keynote, Maureen Maggioni (Pardot Marketing, Salesforce Pardot) suggested “one of the biggest challenges for a B2B Marketer is to find more leads.”

She further explained that Advertising Studio helps her to find more leads for her sales team.

Maureen stipulated, “In today’s world the lines behind traditional B2B and traditional B2C marketing are blurring, as B2B marketers we need to be everywhere our customers are, including their social and digital channels.”

I personally agree with Maureen’s philosophy.

Advertising Studio allows you to use key segments and use look-a-like audiences to find new Prospects that look like their best customers, thus allowing you to reach them right where they are, with channels such as Facebook and Google. Then, these leads are fed directly into Pardot’s Engagement Studio – the rich canvass where you can build and launch your personalised nurture programs – and get the right leads in the hands of your sales team.

Sales Cloud Einstein and Pardot

Sales Cloud Einstein compliments Pardot as it drives sales productivity with intelligent insights. Pardot currently provides intelligent insights on the individual record, ie. on the contact and lead record. However, in Einstein, sales teams can get access to Einstein Account Insights. As a B2B Marketer, this type of Account Based Marketing is very important to me. This feature allows marketers and sales teams to become experts on their accounts by discerning key developments on that account. An example is how a new leader and a decision maker comes into a business.

Salesforce Engage and Pardot

The rationale behind this full suite solution is that, once we have captured our targeted leads through Advertising Studio, nurtured them via Pardot, identified our key hot opportunities through Einstein, then we can then put the power back in the hands of our sales team with Engage to assist in closing the deals.

For me, the most important message behind the keynote of “Salesforce for B2B Marketing” is that Pardot is no longer a stand alone product, and it is advancing its connectivity with Salesforce on a deeper level. As a marketer, we can look forward to Pardot’s release of its upcoming features and new developments, but we must seek beyond that. We must explore how Pardot can potentially integrate seamlessly with Advertising Studio, factor in the role of how Einstein can play through enhancing account based focused marketing, and finally how Engage and its developments can allow sales to pounce on all the hard work for our marketing efforts.

What to Expect from Pardot in 2018

Pardot has been the cornerstone of B2B marketing on the Salesforce platform and will continue to do so:

  • Pardot will have a more seamless integration with Salesforce via a new B2B Marketing App in Sales Cloud.
  • Engagement Studio will have Chatter embedded in the sidebar for team collaboration – encouraging Salesforce users to participate in the campaign building and iteration phase.
  • Further, you will be able to have Einstein checks within your Engagement Studio.
  • The most important change due to be released in 2018 is the alignment of Salesforce Campaigns with Pardot Campaigns – they are now coming together! It’s like the feeling you get when your two best friends are getting married!

That will then enable you to take advantage of all the great functionality that Salesforce Campaigns offer like multi-touch attribution and in-depth reporting functionality.

Ultimately, there is a lot to look forward to in terms of Pardot’s development for the new year. It is however, equally important to consider the other products mentioned, such as Advertising Studio, Sales Cloud Einstein and Engage that compliment Pardot – transpiring in the “B2B Marketing” suite – the nirvana for any marketing technologist!