Everything You Wanted to Know About Marketing Cloud But Didn’t Ask

Pressing questions about the Salesforce Marketing Cloud that you might not have asked to date.
 

We’ve created a checklist for you to determine if Marketing Cloud is right for you. We compared Marketing Cloud to all the other big marketing automation players to help you decide on one. We’ve even debunked some of the Salesforce myths that might be holding you back from finally using Marketing Clouds. If you're wondering whether it's finally time to talk your management team about signing up with Marketing Cloud, we’ve got one last thing for you. 

We’ve gathered a bunch of the questions that you might have wanted to ask about Salesforce Marketing Cloud but didn’t get around to. Ready? Let’s go.
 

Q: Isn’t Salesforce just for sales?

A: In a word, no. The Salesforce suite of products is for everyone, from marketing to sales, customer success to accounting. Salesforce Marketing is a powerful marketing platform that is mainly used by marketing teams but can also be used for internal process optimization or employee engagement. Amazon Web Services uses Marketing Cloud to anticipate customer needs and serve up the right content and messages. 

Q: Do I need a dedicated Salesforce team to manage it?

A: If you’re using one application, like Marketing Cloud, you don’t need a separate, dedicated team to manage it. Your internal IT team is probably sufficient. You can reduce the amount of management it needs by using its automated workflows and processes. You’ll need a dedicated project team to implement it the first time, but after that, the workflows can handle most of the rest. 

Q: Does all of my data need to be imported into Marketing Cloud to be used?

A: No, you can leave your data where it is currently stored and integrate it into MC through the world’s biggest API library. Marketing Cloud can scan, import, and manage data from the social, search, display, video, programmatic, web analytics, CRM, and email platforms you already have in your tech stack. The built-in AI service, called Einstein, will manage, organize, and identify the data however it’s needed.

Q: Does my marketing team need coding experience to use Marketing Cloud?

A: No. Marketing Cloud was created for non-technical people to use and is filled with helpful interfaces and lots of WYSIWYG editors. Those who want to dig into some coding can do so when creating landing pages or email templates, but it isn’t a necessity. 

Q: Is Marketing Cloud hard to use for beginners?

A: The Salesforce UI does take a bit getting used to, which is where user training and continuing education comes in. Employees should be encouraged to take all the training available to them, so they become experts faster. Organizations should remember to provide continuing education on Marketing Cloud to foster optimal usage and help users uncover new or different ways of doing things. 

Q: Should we use a separate social media platform?

A: Marketing Cloud’s Social Studio can effectively replace your social media platform. It’s able to listen to multiple social media channels, following conversations no matter where they’re happening. For example, Kimberly-Clark uses Social Studio to talk to consumers, identify influencers, establish marketing benchmarks, and build a community around their brand. Save money on your tech stack by switching to Social Studio for all your social media needs.

Q: How long does it take to implement Marketing Cloud?

A: It’ll take at least 2-3 months to fully implement Marketing Cloud, depending on the number and type of integration points, data cleanliness, and how you’ll use it. Marketing Cloud is not a plug-and-play application – which makes sense given how powerful it is. Setting up something like this requires a bit of homework, time, and training, but once you’ve done it, you’re good to go. 
 

These are just some of the questions you might have about Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Got a burning question that need to be answered? Reach out to us at contact@appnovation.com and we’ll connect you to our experts.