Salesforce Starter: The Perfect Solution for Small Businesses

Are you a small business owner who is interested in using Salesforce for your business all the way up until you saw the pricing? If so, Salesforce Starter was created just for you!

I know what you’re thinking: Salesforce is a big, expensive CRM platform. But Salesforce Starter is different. It’s a low-cost, lightweight version of Salesforce that’s designed specifically for small businesses. Coming in at $25 USD per month/per user, it’s a downright smoking deal to be honest.

There’s even a 30-day free trial to test it out and see if it’s right for you and your team! 

Salesforce Starter Capabilities

Here’s a quick rundown of some of the stuff you can do with Salesforce Starter RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX!

  • Track your leads and customers
  • Manage your sales pipeline
  • Automate your marketing campaigns
  • Manage customer cases
  • Write knowledge articles for your support reps  

Ease of Use is key to Salesforce Starter

What do I mean by that? I mean, it literally guides you through accessing objects (types of records) based on a picklist (dropdown) menu right after you log in (via your homepage)! 

Also featured on the home page are premade dashboard components that display your leads, contacts, opportunities, tasks, and any recommended actions! You can also see any recent records.

If your team’s focus is centered around Sales (Revenue), Marketing (Hello, Sercante) or Service (Support), choose those in the Quick Look picklist and your options change. 

Salesforce Starter for Sales

First up is Sales, the lifeblood of your business. If Sales is your focus, then Salesforce is built for you! Choosing Sales as your focus brings up Contacts (people), Leads (prospects), Opportunities (deals), To Do list (Tasks) along with Tutorials and Setup. 

Salesforce Starter for Marketing

Selecting Marketing as your focus gives you the option to import your Contacts (people), create Campaigns (think email or direct mail campaigns), and has links directly to tutorials and setup. 

Salesforce Starter for Service

Choosing Service opens up access to Cases (customer support requests), Connecting Support Channels (think email or web forms), Knowledge (think help articles), Reports (probably the most important part of Salesforce!), along with links to tutorials and setup.  

Clicking on any of these will take you directly to a list of records of that type (List View) that you have in your organization, and allow you to view, edit, or delete them as you desire. 

Connect Salesforce Starter to email accounts for Einstein Activity Insights

Salesforce Starter even prompts you to connect your Microsoft or Google email accounts so you can sync your calendars and get Einstein Activity Insights (AI recommendations) on your incoming emails. 

The data science and machine learning from Einstein is built to analyze external new sources and your account data to help build a data model that provides relevant updates to help you win more deals. Sounds like a win-win!

Go for all three

One last thought here, you aren’t limited to one or the other, you have access to Sales, Service, AND Marketing!

OK Jason, that’s great. But what if we grow out of Salesforce Starter? 

Salesforce Starter is built on the same foundation as Salesforce Professional, Enterprise, and Unlimited. So as your CRM needs grow, Salesforce can grow with you. All you have to do is contact your Account Executive (AE) to upgrade your edition and I’m pretty sure they just hit a magic button* and BOOM you’ve upgraded! 

(*This is unverified, but I imagine that they have a big red upgrade button they smack when a client wants to upgrade followed by a confetti explosion and 30-second dance party.)

Alright, I’m kind of convinced. Where do I start? 

Well any good SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) has a trial and that’s where you begin with the Salesforce Starter package. 

Sign up for 30-day Salesforce Starter trial

Click this link and you’ll head over to the Salesforce Starter site, where you can sign up for your own 30-day trial, check out a demo, or read some customer stories. 

Then, what’s next?

If you want to know more about how it works, I would recommend taking a look at the Salesforce Starter Quick Look Module on Trailhead. 

If you’re not familiar with Trailhead, it’s where all of us Salesforce nerds go to learn about our favorite CRM in a fun, gameified way! It’s free to sign up, and use and can lead to some awesome new skills. 

Please feel free to leave any questions in the comments below.

Original article: Salesforce Starter: The Perfect Solution for Small Businesses

©2023 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

The post Salesforce Starter: The Perfect Solution for Small Businesses appeared first on The Spot.

By |2023-09-20T20:47:36+00:00September 20th, 2023|Categories: Getting Started, Industry News, revive, Setup & Admin|
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Salesforce Automation Game-Changer: Einstein GPT and Data Cloud Capabilities for Flow

In a move that extends beyond the chatbots used to formulate interview questions or write email subject lines, Salesforce is expanding automation capabilities by integrating Einstein GPT and Data Cloud with Salesforce Flow.

So, what does the announcement from Salesforce mean for marketers? 

Bringing Einstein GPT and Data Cloud capabilities into Salesforce Flow means marketers can use the automations to create impressive real-time experiences for customers. And they’ll accomplish that using clicks rather than coding skills.

It’s something that will make the tools easily scalable for Salesforce customers at every growth stage.

How and when can Salesforce customers access it?

The announcement actually involves two initiatives Salesforce is launching. The first is a tighter integration between Salesforce Data Cloud and Flow. And the second is the integration of Einstein GPT and Flow. 

According to John Kucera, senior vice president of product management at Salesforce, customers can use Flow currently with Salesforce database data. The integration updates between Data Cloud and Salesforce Flow are opening up the possibilities, and incorporating Einstein GPT is adding an efficiency edge to the technology. 

Kucera said the Einstein GPT capabilities will be available on an early adopter basis in early fall as part of the Salesforce Winter ‘24 release. He went on to say that the Data Cloud integration will probably be offered as part of a standard Salesforce subscription, and Einstein GPT for Flow may carry an additional charge once those details are worked out.

Einstein GPT and Data Cloud Capabilities

Salesforce introduced Einstein GPT in March 2023 as the world’s first generative AI CRM technology, which infuses proprietary Salesforce AI models with generative AI models from OpenAI and other large AI models. And Data Cloud takes customer data from any source inside or outside the Salesforce platform and harmonizes it in real time.

So what in the world does that mean for marketers?

That means marketers can use information from Data Cloud to generate content and build workflows via Einstein GPT. Since Data Cloud reacts to data changes in real time,  marketers can serve content that adapts dynamically and creates personalized experiences every time.

For example, a marketer could use Einstein GPT to generate an email with dynamic content blocks that update in real time when a Data Cloud field updates based on customer activity.

John Kucera said to SiliconANGLE, “You can give it a prompt such as ‘I want to create a guided workflow for a new customer or create a rule to follow up with an email to customers who haven’t responded in five days.”

Infusing Einstein GPT and Data Cloud with Salesforce Flow

The new integrations are going to turn things up a notch for marketers. Here’s what happens when we incorporate Salesforce Flow into the Einstein GPT and Data Cloud mix. 

What is Salesforce Flow?

Salesforce Flow is a declarative automation tool. It allows you to create complex automations inside the platform using clicks rather than code, so users can get in there without the need for developer skills.  

Marketers use Salesforce Flow for things like managing campaign activations, automating customer onboarding steps, or creating a custom task series for sales teams. 

How can marketers use Salesforce Flow with Einstein GPT and Data Cloud?

Using the Einstein GPT and Data Cloud integration alongside Salesforce Flow is changing the game for marketers who use the platform. That’s because marketers will be able to use conversational chatbots to automate complex workflows and trigger actions in real time.

Users and admins can describe the type of flow they want to build, and then they’ll sit back and watch the chatbot complete the tasks. Or, it can be used to build formulas or search for functions. It removes much of the manual and tedious work that goes into creating complex flows and automations.

Source: Salesforce

For example, a field in Marketing Cloud Engagement detects that a customer added items to their shopping cart, but they left the page without completing the purchase. That triggers an immediate email notification, created via generative AI, that goes to the customer and offers a discount code for them to complete the purchase.

In summary, the three benefits to marketers include: 

  • Reduced flow build time
  • Access to more options to automate with flow
  • Improved real-time personalization for customer interactions  

Get ready for generative AI inside your Salesforce org

We’re on the edge of our seats with anticipation for combining Einstein GPT with Salesforce Flow and Data Cloud capabilities. 

These technologies make us feel like we have a front row to the future of CRM and marketing automation. So, in the meantime, we’ll be thinking about all the ways we can use conversational AI to do all the things us busy marketers do. 

Have any aha use cases you’d like to share? How do you think Einstein GPT, Data Cloud, and Flow are going to work together in your org? Let us know in the comments! 

You can also drop us a line if you’re wondering how you can incorporate these tools into your marketing operations strategy.

Original article: Salesforce Automation Game-Changer: Einstein GPT and Data Cloud Capabilities for Flow

©2023 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

The post Salesforce Automation Game-Changer: Einstein GPT and Data Cloud Capabilities for Flow appeared first on The Spot.

By |2023-04-19T21:08:10+00:00April 19th, 2023|Categories: Automations, Industry News, New Features, Release Notes|
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Congrats to The Salesforce MVP Class of 2023

Like many big software companies, Salesforce has an honor they bestow to most influential supporters. They call this the Salesforce MVP program. The Trailblazer Community team recently announced the 2023 Salesforce MVP program inductees, and we were thrilled to see many of our favorite marketing voices on the list.

Marketers don’t always get the recognition they deserve, which is why we’re on a mission to showcase all of the amazing things marketers do. We’re especially excited to highlight the people who are shining the limelight on Salesforce marketing tools for a change.

Background of the program

If you haven’t already noticed, there’s a whole lot to learn about using marketing automation and CRM tools. Salesforce does everything they can to make resources available to customers so the tools are easier to use and customize, but everyone learns in their own way. 

Sometimes we need real people who have been working closely with these tools to teach us what’s possible with them. (You know, like, other customers and people with an outsider’s perspective)

That’s where the Salesforce MVP program comes in. These are all people who share what they know about the platform and personally connect with others who are still learning. 

According to the Salesforce MVP Code of Conduct, MVPs are “lifelong learners who go above and beyond to share their expertise and help the entire community succeed… [and] leaders in the Trailblazer Community who encourage each other, celebrate others’ successes, work collaboratively to make our community and the world a better place, and have a lot of fun along the way!”

Here’s the MVP Hall of Fame and Member Directory, which goes into complete detail about the program.

How Salesforce MVPs are Selected

Wondering how people get a spot in the program? Here’s how the process works:

  1. Salesforce opens nominations for MVPs around November each year.
  2. Community members either self nominate or can share stories to nominate others.
    • Current MVPs do not need to take action, they are automatically reviewed for renewal.
  3. The Trailblazer Community team completes the first round of nomination reviews. 
  4. Then, the nominations go through a second round of reviews from a team of Salesforce employees who are active in the Trailblazer Community
  5. After that, current Salesforce MVPs provide feedback to new nominations and nomination renewals. 
  6. The Trailblazer Community team completes a final review before the Salesforce leadership team makes final calls and approvals.

The 2023 Salesforce MVP Class

Congratulations to everyone who was selected to join the 2023 Salesforce MVP Class! 

Aaron Crosman Michael A. Grandel
Andy Engin Utkan Mihoko Yamashita
Ankit Taneja Oleh Mykytyn
Asterisk Loftis Patricio Sapir
Ben LaMothe Phaneendra Arigachetta
Gian Piere Vallejos Bardales Rachel Park Brayboy
Johann Furmann Samantha Shain
Kannan Narayanan Skye Tyler
Kristi Brown Swati Taunk
Kristin Hubbard Thomas Theunen
Lilith Van Biesen Vicki Moritz-Henry
Maham Hassan Warren Walters

Marketers Who Made the New 2023 Salesforce MVP List

We were thrilled to see two people we know from the Salesforce marketing community who made the list. Special congratulations to Ben Lamothe and Vicki Moritz-Henry and thanks for all the work you do for the community!

In fact, we know these two MVPs thanks to their work with the MarDreamin’ conference. Both have presented at MarDreamin’ in past years and have contributed in other ways. 

Our team reached out to them to get their thoughts on their new Salesforce MVP honors. Here’s what they had to say:

Ben Lamothe

“Being selected as a Salesforce MVP is an honor and is truly humbling. Giving back to the Salesforce and Account Engagement (Pardot) Trailblazer community that has changed my life and given me so much, is so important to me.”

Vicki Moritz-Henry

“When I transitioned careers into Salesforce, I was astounded by how supportive the community was. There were so many people who encouraged, mentored and taught me over the years. I honestly wouldn’t be where I am now if it wasn’t for them. My motivation is to spread that impact and be that same person for others.”

Andrea Tarrell Added to the Salesforce MVP Hall of Fame

Last but most certainly not least, we wanna send a huge congratulations to the person who started this whole blog (and Sercante) in the first place. Andrea Tarrell has been an influential voice in the Salesforce community for close to a decade, and she’s served as a Salesforce MVP enough years for Salesforce to add her to the MVP Hall of Fame in 2023.

Launching The Spot for Pardot blog is only a small fraction of everything Andrea has contributed to Salesforce Trailblazer Community through the years. She’s spoken at countless events including Dreamforce, Connections, Dreamin’ conferences and user group meetings. Andrea even launched the first virtual conference for marketers on Salesforce in 2020 — MarDreamin’ (formerly ParDreamin’).

Keep being helpful and the rest will fall into place

The Trailblazer Community team received over 2,400 MVP nominations in 2023, so of course some people were disappointed to learn they weren’t among the 24 new MVPs who were selected. The most important takeaway though is to keep going! While the MVP program brings inherent benefits along with it (i.e. free entry to conferences, getting asked to participate in high-profile marketing content), the true benefit is that helping others helps you, too.

When the community grows, we all grow together. And there’s room for us all to be successful in the community. So, keep sharing what you know. Start a Salesforce blog (or you can write for this one!). Apply to speak at community events. Volunteer with a Salesforce mentorship program, like Merivis, for instance.

The possibilities to give back are endless. Tell us how giving back to the tech community has enriched your life in the comments section.

Original article: Congrats to The Salesforce MVP Class of 2023

©2023 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

The post Congrats to The Salesforce MVP Class of 2023 appeared first on The Spot.

By |2023-03-18T14:50:56+00:00March 18th, 2023|Categories: Career Development, Community, Community Spotlight, Industry News|
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New Product Alert: Nonprofit Cloud and Education Cloud

Guess what? Big changes are coming to two Salesforce industry clouds. Salesforce is launching massive revamps this spring to target users working in the nonprofit and education sectors. The revamped Nonprofit Cloud and Education Cloud are a reimagining of the data model for these industries. 

What’s even better is that they are now inclusive of tools and features that you won’t find in the existing managed packages for those products.

Wait, didn’t Salesforce already offer Nonprofit Cloud and Education Cloud?

You may have seen mentions of these products before, but here’s how they’re different now. 

In the past, Nonprofit Cloud and Education Cloud were a set of solutions Salesforce packaged under an umbrella with those names. Or, many nonprofits relied on the managed package Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP) in combination with Sales Cloud. Additional managed packages and services were stacked to build custom and highly individual solutions. 

For example, a university marketing department may have used Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) while other divisions on campus are using Sales Cloud and third-party CRM for student admissions.

While the new offerings do not include customized marketing solutions like Pardot and Marketing Cloud, they do offer a single license solution that can take the place of Sales Cloud and third-party student admissions tools. 

Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud

The new Nonprofit Cloud takes the learnings from this industry and creates a single, unified product that is truly tailored to nonprofit needs. 

Say hello to a new product based on your feedback, and that is all about YOU, not adapting an existing product to fit. 

Salesforce Education Cloud

Education is also stepping into the spotlight at long last. 

To replace Salesforce Education Data Architecture (EDA) + Sales Cloud, the all new Education Cloud rolls out a single product for student recruitment and admissions.

Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud and Education Cloud Launch Dates & Product Details

So, when can you get your hands on the all-new Nonprofit Cloud and Education Cloud offerings? 

Today! New clients can evaluate these new products starting March 14, 2023.

Read more about the new Nonprofit Cloud and pricing here. Official information about the new Education Cloud is coming soon.

Who should consider Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud?

Here are questions you can ask yourself if you’re considering a move to the new Nonprofit Cloud:

  • Are you looking for a unified approach to program and case management that leverages the newest industry cloud tools like the Actionable Relationship Center? 
  • Is your team at a good place to go through a new implementation? 

Who should consider Salesforce Education Cloud?

You can ask yourself these questions if you’re thinking about moving to the new Education Cloud:

  • Are you looking for a unified solution to recruitment and admissions that leverages the newest industry cloud tools? 
  • Do you have the resources to complete a new implementation? 

Help! What if I already have NPSP or EDA as part of my solution?

Sit back, relax and enjoy new product demos (only if it doesn’t stress you out). Hopefully the demos will get you thinking about the possibilities the new offerings can bring.

Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP), Education Data Architecture (EDA), and other existing products that currently support these industries will continue to be supported with no sunset on the horizon. 

Wait a minute — something’s missing here! 

More features will continue to be added to the impressive roster for Nonprofit and Education Clouds. 

For Nonprofit Cloud, you can expect to see fundraising, outcomes and engagement coming soon. And for Education Cloud, next up is Student Success. 

Learn more at the upcoming Salesforce.org Education Summit.

Get help figuring out your next steps

So, we may know where you can get help understanding these tools and how they fit into your team’s overall marketing and operational strategy. 

Whether you’re already using a set of Salesforce solutions and products or thinking about implementing one of the new ones, you can reach out to team Sercante for help understanding what’s best for your long-term vision.

Are you already using NPSP or other Salesforce solutions at a nonprofit or school? Tell us about your experiences with the tools in the comments!

Original article: New Product Alert: Nonprofit Cloud and Education Cloud

©2023 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

The post New Product Alert: Nonprofit Cloud and Education Cloud appeared first on The Spot.

By |2023-03-14T17:51:20+00:00March 14th, 2023|Categories: Industry News, New Features|
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The Spot & Jenna Molby: An Iconic Duo

You thought putting tea and honey together was good? Well, we’re pleased to announce Jenna Molby’s whole library of Salesforce blog posts and tools now live on The Spot with insights from 50+ marketing pros.

The same way André 3000 pairs perfectly with Big Boi, or Brie with Champagne, Jenna Molby and The Spot are the Yin to each other’s Yang.

This is gonna be super helpful next time you’re trying to create a fancy landing page. Or finally earn the certification you’ve been eyeing. With one place to go for all the guidance you’re looking for, the sky’s the limit to what you can do.

Jenna Molby and The Spot are together at last

So what exactly does this partnership mean? Here’s what to expect:

New guest author on The Spot

Jenna Molby now has a HUGE bubble on The Spot. Seriously — her spot is almost the size of our OG blogger, Andrea Tarrell. Go see for yourself here! 

Like Elsa and Anna, Jenna Molby and The Spot are the perfect compliment to one another. Don’t just take our word for it though. Jenna explains it all in this video.

You’ll find all of Jenna Molby’s Salesforce blog posts on The Spot from now on. You’ll also get redirected to The Spot when Salesforce posts on Jenna’s website come up in search results.

The reason all of my Salesforce content is moving to The Spot is that Andrea and her team at Sercante have always been great at supporting not only me, but the greater ecosystem. – Jenna Molby

Top 5 blog posts in the collection

Wondering what’s included in the collection that’s moving to The Spot? Here are the top 5 blog posts from jennamolby.com, which are all posts that now live on The Spot website. 

1. Ultimate Guide to Capturing UTM Parameters in Pardot

UTM parameters are tags you add to a URL. Use this guide when you’re ready to implement them to use in Pardot.

Read Blog Post

2. How to Use Pardot Form Handlers

Pardot form handlers allow you to use forms to post your data to Pardot. We’ll give you the lowdown on how they work and when to use them.

Read Blog Post

3. Salesforce Pardot Specialist Certification Practice Exam

Ace your Salesforce Certified Pardot Specialist exam by using this practice exam to test your Pardot knowledge

Read Blog Post

4. 6 Ways to Use JavaScript to Enhance Your Pardot Forms

Want to do something with your Pardot form that is not available in the editor? Try using JavaScript! Here’s a guide to get you started.

Read Blog Post

5. MQL Reporting in Salesforce: Tips, Tricks and Examples

In this post, we’ll share example MQL reports and some tips and tricks for creating reports in Salesforce.

Read Blog Post

All the tools in one place

Anyone who knows Jenna Molby’s name already has her tools bookmarked in their browsers. Now, you’ll find things like her calendar link, form style, and landing page style generators living in harmony with freebies from Sercante Labs.

You can find all of the free tools on this page.

Here’s a sampling:

Google Calendar Link Generator

Use this Google Calendar Link Generator to create calendar links that can be used on your web pages, landing pages and emails.

Try it Now

ICS Link Generator for Microsoft Outlook & Apple iCalendar

Use this ICS Link Generator to create calendar files that are compatible with Microsoft Outlook & Apple iCalendar.

Try it Now

Bulletproof Pardot Email Button Generator

Create beautiful buttons for your Pardot emails. Simply select your button style to generate HTML for a Pardot email or landing page template.

Try it Now

Pardot Form Style Generator

Use this tool to customize your Pardot forms in four easy steps.

Try it Now

2 Free Pardot Landing Page Templates For Events

Create beautiful responsive landing pages in Pardot by using one of these two free landing templates specifically built for use in event marketing campaigns.

Try it Now

Jenna claimed her spot — and so can you

No matter your goals, you can claim a spot among the community. Whether you’re here for guidance through new features, ongoing solutioning help, or resume-building criteria, The Spot has you covered. 

Here are resources you can use that go beyond blog posts and free tools. Now, get in there and do all the ingenious marketing automation things you know are possible. And let us know when you need support that goes beyond what these resources can do.

Become a guest blogger

We’re looking for passionate marketing technology bloggers to share their knowledge and experiences with others in the community.  Visit this page to learn more about contributing to The Spot.

Join the Pardashian community

The Pardashians Slack is a community where Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (formerly Pardot) and Marketing Cloud users can grow their skills together. Click here and complete the application to join.

Watch MarDreamin’ replays

Get ready for a 3-day virtual conference focused on all things marketing on the Salesforce platform. You can access session replays here and learn at your own pace.

Find or post a job

The Spot for Pardot Jobs is a place to find your next gig or team member when you use Salesforce marketing tools. 

Original article: The Spot & Jenna Molby: An Iconic Duo

©2023 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

The post The Spot & Jenna Molby: An Iconic Duo appeared first on The Spot.

By |2023-01-12T16:00:00+00:00January 12th, 2023|Categories: Community, Community Spotlight, Industry News|
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6 Memorable Marketing Moments from Dreamforce 2022

Salesforce gave lots of love to marketers at Dreamforce 2022. From the unveiling of a real-life Brandy to the massive Marketer’s Lounge with daily events, marketers had lots to do at the conference.

There was so much going on at Dreamforce, in fact, that you may feel like you missed something important. And that’s totally okay. We’ve got you covered.

Six memorable Dreamforce 2022 moments for marketers

Here’s your snapshot of all the important marketing things that happened at Dreamforce 2022. This is what you REALLY need to know about Dreamforce as a marketer so you can put the FOMO to rest.

Moment 1. Salesforce Genie Announcement

Genie is a powerful tool that takes all your data from multiple sources and allows you to organize it and leverage it real time across multiple clouds, apps, and automations in Salesforce. 

This product announcement is essentially a Salesforce Customer Data Platform (CDP) rebrand with added functionality.

Learn more about the announcement here.

Image credit: Salesforce

Moment 2. Salesforce and WhatsApp Integration

Marketers will be able to leverage the power of WhatsApp to create and send customized messaging and offers with their brand customers through customized experiences. 

This integration is compatible with Journey Builder within Marketing Cloud and slated to be available by the end of the year.

Get all the partnership details here.

Image Credit: Salesforce

Moment 3. Marketing Keynote: Deliver Moments That Count

This marketing keynote session took us through many of the changes that are happening on the marketing front for Salesforce users. It served as a deep-dive into the Salesforce Genie and WhatsApp partnership announcements. 

Two special moments the team at Sercante had a close eye on include:

  • Our client, Grammarly, shared how they use the power of the Salesforce platform to hyper-personalize their customer journey (Start at 27 minutes).
  • Our friend, Shibu Abraham, Marketing Cloud User Group Leader in Malaysia, received the famous Salesforce Golden Hoodie during the Marketing Keynote for his contributions to the greater Salesforce community (Start at 39 minutes).

Watch the full marketing keynote replay here.

Moment 4. Slack Canvas For Marketing Announcement 

Teams across your organization can take advantage of Slack Canvas to create “canvases” where you can share assets, access important information and collaborate real time via video. From there, you can integrate with other apps found in the Slack marketplace to create automations to increase productivity and trigger additional actions. 

Your team can leverage your Salesforce data in multiple ways as you discuss your next campaign straight from Slack.

Get all the details about the Slack Canvas announcement here.

Moment 5. Marketing Cloud Innovation and Roadmap: Wow Every Customer

This keynote continues to hammer away at how Genie can supercharge your Marketing Strategy regardless of what Salesforce Marketing solution you prefer: Marketing Cloud Engagement or Account Engagement (Pardot). 

One of the key things around these workshops is the different applications of Genie and how it can collaborate with Einstein to help specific teams using the Salesforce platform get the most from their data. Additionally, several of the Einstein use cases traditionally used within Marketing Cloud Engagement have begun to make their way into Account Engagement.

Watch the full roadmap replay here.

Moment 6. Creating a Home for Marketers at Dreamforce

You probably saw us at Dreamforce (or at the Home for Marketers) and wondered what is Sercante?

Or maybe you saw pink elephant footprints on the sidewalks and wondered what that was all about.

Well, that was us! 

Elephant footprints led marketers to their home for the week

What was the Home for Marketers at Dreamforce?

Team Sercante hosted a space for marketers (and allies) to hang out, grab a drink, and escape the hecticness of Dreamforce. And our friends from DESelect, Stensul, and Appinium came along for the ride!

The Home for Marketers took place at The Pink Elephant Alibi on Minna Street. We had many repeat visitors and many one-time friends stop by, effectively connecting with over 2,000 marketers and Salesforce Users! 

View the photo gallery and look for your friends here. 

Night of Enchantment: A Dreamforce Party for the Ages

Thank you to everyone who partied with us at the Night of Enchantment party at Dreamforce!

You experienced limitless magical elixirs from the enchanted champagne wall pushed. And you danced with enchanted forest fairies over 15 feet tall. With Dreamforce now behind us, we hope you walked away with fond memories and new friends that evening.

While the escape transported you into a living forest only found in fairy tales, fear not. You didn’t dream all of it. The energy you brought to the dance floor was magical. And thankfully unlike Cinderella’s slippers, the magic of this party didn’t end at midnight. 

The enchanted forest included 3 dance floors across the building, and over 1,000 people tore it up throughout the night. As we all go back to our IRL tasks, we invite you to check out the party photo gallery. 

What else were the Sercante dragons up to at Dreamforce?

Sercante accepts two awards at DF22

Salesforce Partner Innovation Award: Retail

Sercante received a Salesforce Partner Innovation Award for our work in the retail space and for creating positive impacts in our customers organizations. We are fortunate to have tons of awesome customers and humbled to receive this award. Read about the winners here.

Merivis Partner of the Year Award

Merivis Executive Director Kate Perez took the IRL opportunity at Dreamforce to present Sercante Founder and CEO Andrea Tarrell with the 2022 Merivis Partner of the Year Award. The honor was given to the team for providing technical support to Merivis to help them reach their mission and goals as an organization. Merivis supports #veterans and #milspouses preparing for new careers in the Salesforce ecosystem. 

Dragons lead three Dreamforce speaker sessions

Sercante had the opportunity to run 3 sessions at Dreamforce this year. Here’s a quick recap:

  • Blog About Salesforce – Our content manager, Ambre Juryea-Amole, led a session describing how we tackle our content strategy for The Spot (for Pardot). She provided a series of helpful tips on how to make the most out of your content when targeting the Salesforce ecosystem. Get the blog version of her presentation here. 
  • Turn Marketing into a Recession-Proof Competitive Advantage – Three of our CRM and Marketing Automation Strategists (Angelica Cabral, Marcos Duran, and Richard Feist) provided the audience with pillar tactics and strategies to ensure that Marketers are prepared for any changes in their organizations.
Angelica, Marcos, and Rich dropping knowledge to a packed audience
  • Discover How CDP Unifies All Customer Data in One Place – Sercante Founder and CEO Andrea Tarell, and Director, Marketing Cloud Practice, Kirsten Schlau, tackled how CDP can help you create a true profile of your customers and unify your data across multiple datasets.
Andrea Tarrell and Kirsten Schlau explaining the power of CDP

See you at the next Salesforce event

We hope you had a great time with us during Dreamforce. We’ll catch you at the next Salesforce community event.

If you are looking for support on your next Salesforce project or just want to brainstorm with one of us, feel free to reach out!

Original article: 6 Memorable Marketing Moments from Dreamforce 2022

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The post 6 Memorable Marketing Moments from Dreamforce 2022 appeared first on The Spot.

By |2022-10-06T19:11:22+00:00October 6th, 2022|Categories: Community, Events, Industry News|
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Salesforce Product Retirement: Social Studio Sails into the Sunset

The Salesforce platform social media scheduling tool, which we all know as Social Studio, has officially entered sunset mode and has a retirement date set for 2024. 

While the writing’s been on the wall for over a year, it may still be a shock for people who keep everything on the Salesforce platform and rely on Social Studio. We’ve seen a wave of big news, like product name changes, from Salesforce lately. And this news increased our collective jaw drops.

But, but, but… why would Salesforce retire social studio and duck out of the third-party social posting game? This seems like an odd decision.

In reality though, it’s a practical decision that team Salesforce has been working toward for a while. In this post, we’ll break it down for you so you can accept it and adjust your marketing strategy as you plan for the future.

Why is Salesforce no longer selling Social Studio licenses?

We (as-in, the Sercante marketing team) recently discovered the news about Social Studio’s journey into the sunset while shopping for social media scheduling tools. 

During our shopping process, we learned that Salesforce hasn’t made any updates or enhancements to Social Studio in over a year. Then, we contacted a Salesforce AE who informed us that Salesforce is not selling Social Studio licenses after January 31, 2022. 

So, we moved forward with one of our other social media scheduling tool options and said sayonara to the idea of using Social Studio.

Social Studio end-of-life dates

Here are important dates you should know about if you’re a Salesforce Social Studio customer:

  • August 1, 2022 – no Social Studio product renewals after this date
  • November 18, 2024 – end-of-life target date for Social Studio

You will still have access to Social Studio until the end of your contract date or November 18, 2024 (subject to change), whichever comes first. 

Other social media scheduling tools do it better

Salesforce tries to do it all within the platform. But social media scheduling is (arguably) one of the things their competitors do better. 

While there’s no official statement about the reasoning, we’re guessing team Salesforce has rightfully accepted the superiority of competing platforms.

Who will feel the greatest impact of the Salesforce Social Studio retirement?

Some people are going to feel Salesforce Social Studio’s retirement more than others. While other third-party social scheduling platforms include functionality that’s superior to Social Studio, there’s a few major things the competition hasn’t figured out yet.

Here’s who will feel greater effects of the Social Studio retirement moving forward.

Social Studio users who include organic Facebook carousels in their marketing strategy

We have a client who uses Salesforce Social Studio. They have had great success with the inclusion of organic Facebook carousel posts in their marketing strategy. But, they now have to revisit their social strategy based on the news.

We’ve evaluated several third-party social scheduling apps and haven’t found any that can handle posting organic Facebook carousel posts. Let us know in the comments if you have a solution for that.

People who integrate Social Studio with Salesforce Service Cloud

As you’d expect, Social Studio has easy-to-use integrations with other Salesforce clouds, and now teams that rely on those integrations need to revisit their setup.

The two main things you can currently do through Social Studio integrations with other Salesforce clouds is create Sales Cloud leads and respond to or create Service Cloud cases. These features may seem insignificant to some, but they are game changers to teams that rely on them.

If you’re using Social Studio integrations with other Salesforce clouds, then you’re going to need to find an alternative before the tool goes away forever.

Best Social Studio alternative for Salesforce users

The good news is that Salesforce is already working to create alternatives to Social Studio by teaming with third-party social scheduling platforms.

Depending on your company size, industry, and goals, we have a few recommendations for alternatives you can implement before Social Studio is completely retired. You’ll want to evaluate a few alternatives to Social Studio before jumping on board with one. 

For example, you may not need the robust capabilities of one platform if all you do is share simple text social media posts. Or, you may need an advanced platform if you’re scheduling social media posts for an enterprise-level company with many social channels and lines of business.

A few of our favorites are:

One thing we’re already excited about is all of these alternative platforms have better reporting capabilities than what was available in Social Studio. For example, most of these alternatives give you a holistic view of engagement reporting across ALL social channels. Whereas, Social Studio only offers engagement reporting for individual channels.

Sprout Social and Salesforce partnership

Salesforce and Sprout Social logos

Salesforce and Sprout Social recently announced they’ve joined forces to create an integration between the two platforms. According to the release, the integration connects Sprout to Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and Slack.

The great part about this partnership is that many of the same functionalities from Social Studio will be available through the integration with Sprout Social.

The Sercante team jumped on board with Sprout Social, and we’re happy to report that it meets all of our social scheduling needs. It’s easy to use, we can manage multiple brands, and it has other helpful features, like the integration with Canva.

How to connect Sprout Social to Salesforce

The integration is already live and ready for you to integrate Sprout Social with your Salesforce org. This integration allows you to create Sales Cloud leads and respond to or create Service Cloud cases just like you did with Social Studio. 

You can find instructions for integrating Sprout Social with Salesforce here. 

Goodbye Social Studio, and fare thee well

Whelp Social Studio, it was a good run. But Salesforce is giving you the it’s not you… it’s me treatment. And we’ve already moved on.

For the team at Sercante, the partnership between Sprout Social and Salesforce made choosing a third-party social media scheduling tool easy. The integration means it will do all the same stuff Social Studio does — plus a bunch of other features that make our lives easier. 

However, you may find an alternative platform that meets your needs better. And that’s to be expected. 

What third-party social media platform are you using? What are your favorite features and what do you wish yours could do better? Tell us in the comments.

Original article: Salesforce Product Retirement: Social Studio Sails into the Sunset

©2022 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

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By |2022-04-19T15:47:05+00:00April 19th, 2022|Categories: Community, Industry News, Pro Tips, revive, Strategy|
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A Hot Take on the Pardot Rebrand to Marketing Cloud Account Engagement.

It’s official — Pardot is going to be called Marketing Cloud Account Engagement going forward.

This is a big, bold change.

I have a lot of respect for whoever did the work on this rebrand, and whoever ultimately had to push the button and make the final approval on these changes. Having been a part of several corporate rebrands, I have a tiny peek at how much work goes into that.

Time and Twitter will tell how the new names land. Like most things — there are both pros and cons for this change. I suspect there will be a lot of strong opinions on both sides.

Quick background on the Marketing Cloud name changes

Here are the latest name changes affecting marketers who use Salesforce:

  • Marketing Cloud Email Studio (aka ExactTarget) 🡪 Marketing Cloud Engagement
  • Pardot 🡪 Marketing Cloud Account Engagement
  • CDP 🡪 Marketing Cloud Customer Data Platform
  • Interaction Studio 🡪 Marketing Cloud Personalization
  • Email, Messaging, and Journeys 🡪 Marketing Cloud Engagement
  • Advertising Studio 🡪 Marketing Cloud Advertising
  • Datorama 🡪 Marketing Cloud Intelligence
  • myTrailhead 🡪 Salesforce Sales Enablement
  • Salesforce CMS 🡪 Digital Experiences

Get all the details on the recent Salesforce product name changes here.

What I like about the name changes (particularly the Pardot one)

Let’s start with the good stuff.

1. It sets a vision for the connection between Salesforce products

The new naming conventions for the Marketing Cloud suite of products emphasizes that these products are part of the same family. 

Salesforce has made a large number of acquisitions in the martech space, and retaining the individual brand names dilutes the message that they’re all one platform. A unified naming system simplifies the message for the existing stack, and makes it easier to name and talk about future additions.

2. It aligns with marketers’ big picture needs 

Marketers need more than a pile of point solutions.

They have a vision, and they need infrastructure to execute on that. This line in Salesforce’s announcement about the change stated it perfectly: 

“As you consider how to make the wow moments that build customer trust and loyalty, we know you’re focusing less on one channel or technology and more on the full experience. Our job is to deliver the how behind the wow.”

This shift also mirrors a recent change that we made in the positioning of this blog. We announced a few weeks ago that “The Spot for Pardot” is becoming “The Spot” and broadening its focus to a broader subset of martech — and this need is exactly why.

3. It focuses on what the products actually DO from a customer’s perspective

If you already know what Pardot is, you know what it does and what problems it solves. If you already know what Datorama is, you know what it does and what problems it solves.

But no one is sitting around saying “I need a Datorama.” 

They’re saying: “I need actionable business intelligence.”

Putting the names in the customer’s language simplifies the message, in some cases, on why a particular product is the solution of choice for a particular business challenge.

4. It makes it clearer that Pardot + ExactTarget play nice in the sandbox 

For whatever reason, Pardot and ExactTarget have often been viewed as “competing” with one another. People liked to compare features, list pros and cons, and generally viewed it as a “this or that” choice. 

Really, the products both send email, and that’s about where the similarities end. They are totally different tools, designed for totally different customers, with totally different admin experiences. 

Using Sercante enterprise customers as a sample, I’d estimate about half use both ExactTarget and Pardot in different subsets of their business. Having both ensures their marketing teams can run fast and solve hard problems for the business. 

(Somehow in this “either or” narrative people seem to forget that’s why ExactTarget actually bought Pardot before Salesforce scooped them both up. Clearly their founders recognized they were better together than they are apart.)

4. It’s easy to pronounce!

First, at least people will pronounce the new name correctly. Goodbye, Par-dough. 

Silver linings, guys.

Some challenges with the rebrand

Now, for a gentle critique.

1. It’s going to be hard to unstick the legacy brand names

My friend’s mom decided she wanted to be called “Grand-mère” when her daughter brought little humans into the world. 

Her grandchildren decided she was, in fact, “Lulu.” 

Why? Not a clue.

But it stuck.

Take it from the 2 year olds: it’s really hard to tell people what to call you.

The ExactTarget brand was “sunsetted” ages ago. But people still call it that today, mostly for disambiguation with Marketing Cloud. It was rebranded Email Studio. Then Messaging & Journeys (kind of.) Now it’s “Engagement.” 

Jury’s out on how Pardot customers will react to this change.

2. It’s going to make things harder to talk about 

While the new naming system does have a unified nomenclature, it looks clean and sharp on a slide deck, it messages the right things from a customer perspective… 

…it’s going to make the products really hard to talk about.

Take Salesforce Personalization for example. Formerly known as “Interaction Studio,” Salesforce Personalization provides a category-leading experience for AI-driven personalization in cross-channel marketing campaigns. It can be used alongside both Marketing Cloud or Pardot (see also: 3 Interaction Studio Features Marketers Should Look Out For from our Pardot conference last year.)

But labeling it with the generic word “Personalization” makes it really hard for people (customers, colleagues, the community, etc.) to know what you’re actually referring to. 

Because you can personalize content with Pardot using handlebars merge language, dynamic content, or legacy variable tags. You can personalize content in Marketing Cloud with AMPscript or personalization strings. And we call those things “Personalization” too.

I don’t think it’s super clear in the current naming system that “Personalization” is its own thing that requires a separate SKU on your Salesforce order form and requires its own implementation.

3. “Account Engagement” doesn’t reflect the needs of all Pardot customers 

“Account Engagement” implies a go-to-market model where sales reps are identifying target accounts and getting after them, and marketing is complementing those efforts through an ABM strategy. 

That reflects the use case of some customers, for sure. 

But many others use Pardot differently. They use it to communicate with students and donors. They use it for community engagement. They use it for recruiting and internal comms. And Pardot is pretty darn good at those things. The new name doesn’t jive with this. 

4. It makes talent acquisition more confusing 

If I see “project managed Pardot implementation” or “reported on KPIs to stakeholders using Datorama” on a resumé, I have a pretty clear vision of what that person did and what they can do for my company. 

If you take away the OG brand names, it sounds like nonsensical fluff. Project managed Account Engagement? Reported on KPIs to stakeholders using Intelligence?

This is going to need some work.

5. It makes finding a partner more confusing 

The AppExchange made a change to its filters a few days ago, presumably to align with this change to remove “Pardot” and “Datorama” from their filter criteria:

Expertise implementing one part of Marketing Cloud does not always translate to other parts of Marketing Cloud. In the short term, I think this change to the searchability of the AppExchange is going to really damage the ability of customers to find and vet qualified partners. 

In the long term, I think we will see an increased emphasis on partners growing to support across the entire Marketing Cloud. But that will take some time.

6. It makes Googling your way to success more confusing 

What do you search if you’re looking for Pardot help in the future? 

“Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Tips for _______” is almost certainly going to turn up a lot of irrelevant content.

I have a lot of faith in Google, but it’s going to be tricky there for a while.

How I expect the Pardot community to respond to the name change 

The Pardot community is going to full-on rebel in the wake of this name change.

Mostly kidding.

I think a decent subset of Pardot customers, consultants, and long-time users will see the intent of what Salesforce is trying to do with the naming update and get on board.

I also think a decent subset of Pardot customers, consultants, and long-time users will call it “Pardot” until their final days. 

Remember back in 2019 where Salesforce tried to force a name change of Pardot User Groups to “B2B Marketing User Groups”? Yeah, they’re still called “PUGs.”

The Spot has several digital community hubs to rebrand following this change:

More to come on those after the dust settles from this announcement. 

The bottom line 

I believe in the “why” behind the Pardot name change 100%. I appreciate that Salesforce is aligning with customer needs and meeting them where they’re at when they’re talking about their business challenges.

I have faith that Salesforce is going to work on the details and logistics of what this means to customers to make this a net positive at the end of the day. There will be some bumps in the road. And many people will hold on to the Pardot name. And it will continue to help marketers kick butt and take names with engaging their audiences in a scalable way.

What’s your take on the name change? 

I’m dying to hear what ya’ll think of this renaming. Are you for or against? Spicy feelings? 

Drop a comment with your opinion and let’s discuss.

Original article: A Hot Take on the Pardot Rebrand to Marketing Cloud Account Engagement.

©2022 The Spot for Pardot. All Rights Reserved.

The post A Hot Take on the Pardot Rebrand to Marketing Cloud Account Engagement. appeared first on The Spot for Pardot.

By |2022-04-07T19:26:00+00:00April 7th, 2022|Categories: Community, Industry News, Real Talk, revive|
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Salesforce Name Changes: Pardot & Marketing Cloud Get A Rebrand

Salesforce announced today that they’re changing the name “Pardot” to… drumroll… Marketing Cloud Account Engagement. Along with this rebrand, they’re changing the names of about a dozen products — but of course, Pardot is nearest and dearest to my heart.

Do I have opinions? Ohhhh yes. And I will be sharing those in a blog tomorrow.

In the meantime — here’s what you need to know about the future of the Pardot brand. 

2022 Salesforce product name changes

Salesforce likes renaming things. It’s what they do. Having been a customer and partner in this ecosystem for 12 years, I’ve kind of accepted it.

In this quarter’s wave of brand updates, Salesforce itself is actually getting an upgrade. The company announced in March 2022 that Salesforce.com is changing its legal name to Salesforce, Inc. (Sorry, I’m still going to call it SFDC though.) 

The most recent wave of Salesforce name changes

Several products are also getting the rename treatment. Pay attention — you’ll have to use these new names when communicating with Salesforce support agents. 

Here are the latest name changes affecting marketers who use Salesforce:

  • Marketing Cloud Email Studio (aka ExactTarget) 🡪 Marketing Cloud Engagement
  • Pardot 🡪 Marketing Cloud Account Engagement
  • CDP 🡪 Marketing Cloud Customer Data Platform
  • Interaction Studio 🡪 Marketing Cloud Personalization
  • Email, Messaging, and Journeys 🡪 Marketing Cloud Engagement
  • Advertising Studio 🡪 Marketing Cloud Advertising
  • Datorama 🡪 Marketing Cloud Intelligence
  • myTrailhead 🡪 Salesforce Sales Enablement
  • Salesforce CMS 🡪 Digital Experiences

Wait, what? Why?

The word Salesforce has used as a touchstone when communicating these product name changes is that they are EASY. 

Salesforce EVP & GM Digital Experiences Lidiane Jones echoed this in the official announcement about the name change: 

The Marketing Cloud portfolio is now more aligned with the language marketers already use, so the capabilities and value are easier to understand. For example, many marketers are looking for the capability and value of real-time Personalization, not an “Interaction Studio” solution.

We’re expecting to hear more on Salesforce’s logic behind the changes at the Sydney World Tour. 

What is NOT affected by the Pardot name change

With the name change, there’s lots that is staying the same:

  • Product features & functionality (continuing to grow and expand as part of the normal release cycle) 
  • Pricing 
  • Packaging / bundles
  • The actual SKU names on your Salesforce contract

Not ready to accept the new brand? Let’s cope together. 

If you’re anything like us, Pardot is your BFF and you know all the Pardot trivia, including how Pardot got its name.

So, you might need some time to process the news from Salesforce — especially since Marketing Cloud Account Engagement just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

Spotify playlists for your recovery

While we are still waiting for the ecosystem to establish its own moniker (McKay, anyone?) we have just the thing to get you through all of your stages of grief — some tunes to carry you through. Check out our breakup playlists on Spotify. 

What’s your reaction to the new name? Share your take in the comments while we all process this.

Original article: Salesforce Name Changes: Pardot & Marketing Cloud Get A Rebrand

©2022 The Spot for Pardot. All Rights Reserved.

The post Salesforce Name Changes: Pardot & Marketing Cloud Get A Rebrand appeared first on The Spot for Pardot.

By |2022-04-06T18:13:53+00:00April 6th, 2022|Categories: Community, Industry News, Real Talk|
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