Exploring Pardot Uses: Top 5 FAQs Answered

Pardot became Marketing Cloud Account Engagement in April 2022, so this blog will refer to this tool as a “Pardot/MCAE.”
Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (formerly Pardot) is an excellent choice for customers looking for a B2B marketing automation tool. Not only is it tightly integrated with all Salesforce core objects, but Pardot is affordable, making it available to a wide range of businesses, and it also appeals to new users as a simple solution with a short learning curve.
While working as a Pardot Specialist/Consultant, we have noticed that the same questions were asked by clients, marketing, and IT professionals who were curious about Pardot/MCAE. That is why we have listed down all the most frequently requested Pardot questions with their proper answers.

So, let us begin with a list of questions.

What is Pardot, and how does it work?

Pardot is a powerful marketing automation tool that enables marketers to identify prospective customers most likely to convert. And also allows communicating with prospects in the right way, at the right time. This Marketing automation aims to treat each prospect as an individual as they get familiar with your product or service at their own pace using only one automation that works automatically as per the selected time interval.

Can Pardot be used for B2C?

Before Salesforce revised the messaging, Pardot was known as a B2B marketing automation tool for many years. Pardot is most suited for businesses with "considered" sales cycles, which are frequently associated with B2B transactions, as mentioned in the prior response.
Yes, B2C marketing may use Pardot. B2C marketers will benefit if they offer a high-value good or service and have a "considered" sales cycle. We have worked with B2C organizations that have used the Pardot tool successfully because they tick the criteria we have listed here.

What is Pardot used for?

Depending on the requirements of the business, Pardot can be used for some or all of the following:

1. Email marketing: one-to-one or list emails to the particular selected list of prospects records, automated email journeys. Email marketing automation can be based on specific actions, event triggers, and wait periods. We can customize these features as per our business requirements and their needs.
2. Forms: capture new data and creates new prospects or enrich existing prospect records.
3. Segmentation: Multiple options are available to split our prospect database into different lists of audiences for more targeted marketing. All custom functionality is possible here.
4. Scoring: score of any prospect will depend on their engagement behavior. That will measure here as a value; using this value, we can conclude how much our customer is interested in our business/ services.
5. Grading: grade of prospects is based on how closely their data aligns with our ideal customer profile.
6. Lead qualification: Pardot score and grade combined identify prospects, and then the sales team should focus on that selected prospect records only.
7. Social media marketing: used to post to LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook, then we can track post engagement. If a prospect is known and tracked in your Pardot database, activity will appear on their Engagement History in Pardot.
8. Engagement History: This is a compiled log of all activity prospects make across your online assets (website, landing pages, etc.). All collected information will be displayed here.

Does Salesforce own Pardot?

Yes, now Pardot is owned by Salesforce, which acquired Pardot in 2013 as part of the $2.5B ExactTarget acquisition; Salesforce decided to retire all Pardot connectors to other CRMs, to double down on the Salesforce-Pardot connector. Pardot is part of Salesforce due to the acquisition and the Pardot Lightning App.

How does Pardot work with Salesforce?

Pardot and Salesforce work closely together to leverage the data the two platforms gather in real-time. Here is a specific example of real sync.
Bidirectional data sync: A big thanks to the Salesforce-Pardot connector, Pardot data is synced to Salesforce, and vice versa, and two platforms exchange multiple types of data. Pardot gives Salesforce new lead information and engagement data/reports in an organization setup. In contrast, Salesforce feeds Pardot with all that the sales teams do, whether leads are qualified or disqualified, how opportunities are progressing, and also which products or services the prospect purchased. All related information will be synced between Pardot and Salesforce in real time.

Summing up:

Pardot is a reliable marketing automation solution that empowers businesses to nurture leads, drive engagement, and make data-driven decisions. As technology evolves, Pardot will continue to innovate, providing marketers with new tools to fuel their success. Embracing Pardot as an integral part of your marketing arsenal could be the key to unlocking unprecedented growth and staying at the forefront of your industry.