Victor Nazarenko. Solutions Architect

What can Marketing Cloud do?

It’s easy to get lost in the Marketing Cloud features. It is also hard to separate marketing bs from what exactly the system can do. So I’ve come up with a summary that I myself can relate to. Feel free to give feedback if this is article answers your questions (especially if not).

Marketing Cloud allows you to (TLDR):

  1. Organize: Integrates disparate customer data under a unified ID.
  2. Segment: Provides deep customer segmentation capabilities in both B2C and B2B sectors.
  3. Personalize: Opens new horizons for personalized communications.
  4. Automate: Built-in Marketing Cloud tools eliminate routine tasks and streamline communications.
  5. Enhance the ecosystem: Native integration with your other Salesforce products. (If your current CRM isn’t Salesforce, you’re probably tendering to buy it, right?)
  6. Evolve: The system continuously evolves, keeping your business at the cutting edge of technology.
  7. One-stop shop: Enables managing marketing across all available channels in one place.

More details

Building Communication Paths in Journey Builder

You can build a path for each individual customer based on:

  • Whether they opened an email,
  • Clicked a link in the email,
  • Their gender, age, or customer segment,
  • Their order or abandoned cart,
  • Any other customer-related data.

Depending on the chosen path, you can send the customer different emails or engage different channels. Alternatively, you can choose to do nothing and remove the customer from the journey if mid-journey analysis shows that the campaign is not relevant to them or they belong to an irrelevant segment.

Automating Data Workflows in Automation Studio

At its core are customizable blocks of predefined logic or custom programs for data extraction, mass email sends, complex segmentations using full-fledged SQL, and much more. Automatically initiate sets of preconfigured blocks in the required sequence based on schedules, file receipt, or API requests.

Sending Emails with Email Studio

Email Studio is the core system of Marketing Cloud, formerly known as ExactTarget, the engine behind email campaigns that supports triggered sends, tracks interactions, and stores subscriber data. Surprisingly, in daily operations, you rarely access the Email Studio interface, as access to almost all of its functions is integrated into tools like Journey Builder, Audience Builder, and Content Builder.

Sending SMS in Any Country from Mobile Studio

To send personalized SMS to your desired country, as well as receive SMS from customers with specific keywords, simply request Salesforce to enable that country for your messaging. This service is free but may take up to two weeks for Salesforce support specialists to set up. Please note that sending SMS to different countries incurs varying costs in terms of super messages. For more details, refer to the article “How Much Does Marketing Cloud Cost.”

Managing Data Sources in Contact Builder and Audience Builder

The architecture of Marketing Cloud, like almost any Salesforce product, revolves around the customer. The goal is to centralize all interactions around a single customer record to achieve the coveted 360-degree view. This means having the ability to see and utilize all available customer data across various channels and business processes.

Creating and Reusing Content in Content Builder

Content Builder is the internal content management system of Marketing Cloud, facilitating the creation of email and SMS templates with dynamic personalized content. It includes storing, organizing images, and content tagging. Additionally, Content Builder allows for content sharing across different business units within the organization.

Constructing and Hosting Landing Pages in Web Studio

In Salesforce Marketing Cloud, you can effortlessly create landing pages on your own domain without leaving the platform. For setting up a domain for landing pages, refer to the Sender Authentication Package material. It’s not mandatory to use the built-in constructor; you can always embed ready-made HTML with links or include embedded JavaScript logic as needed.

Segmenting and Sending Audiences to Advertising Services with Advertising Studio

Using Advertising Studio, you can automatically populate user segments and send these segments to advertising platforms. This includes creating lookalike audiences based on existing segments of users.

Gaining Insights and Building Communication Rules Based on Customer Engagement in Interaction Studio

In Interaction Studio, you can track user interaction paths with online resources and personalize content based on visited pages, completed forms, and loyalty levels. This enables you to tailor communication strategies dynamically according to user engagement with the brand.

Personalizing Content Using AI Einstein Tools

AI Einstein tools select the most relevant content for emails and landing pages based on user data. They analyze overall audience engagement and optimize the timing of email sends during periods of highest open probability. This ensures that content delivery is tailored to maximize user engagement and effectiveness.