Unleashing the Power of Marketing Automation: Marketo Engage with Vertify Takes the Lead Over Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Digital marketing is a must for any mid-market and enterprise company to stay ahead of the competitive curve. Customer engagement is paramount in digital marketing, and choosing the right marketing automation platform (MAP) is crucial for the success of mid-market and enterprise companies. The two prominent players in this space, Salesforce Marketing Cloud and Marketo Engage, offer robust solutions to streamline marketing efforts. However, these platforms are really not created equal, and many marketing executives find themselves trying to decide between these two robust – but very different – offerings.

When it comes to maximizing the potential of marketing automation, the combination of Marketo Engage and Vertify emerges as the winning formula. In this post, we will delve into the strengths of both platforms and explore why Marketo Engage, enhanced by Vertify, is the superior choice for mid-market and enterprise companies. 

Salesforce Marketing Cloud: A Brief Overview

Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a comprehensive marketing automation platform that aims to provide a unified view of customer interactions across various channels. With features like email marketing, social media management, AI-based analysis and forecasting, and analytics, Salesforce Marketing Cloud is undoubtedly a powerful tool. However, when considering the needs of mid-market and enterprise companies, certain limitations come to light.

Challenges with Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Complexity and Learning Curve

Salesforce Marketing Cloud, being a part of the broader Salesforce ecosystem, can be complex and may have a steeper learning curve. For mid-market and enterprise companies looking for an efficient and user-friendly solution, this complexity can pose a challenge and delay your time to value. With Salesforce Marketing Cloud, users find the interface and application harder to navigate and digest than Marketo Engage. 

Integration Challenges

Seamless integration with other best-of-breed systems is essential for a holistic marketing strategy. Although Marketing Cloud and Salesforce CRM can be natively connected, we have heard reports of Marketing Cloud struggling to actually integrate with other Salesforce products. So, keep this in mind when you are being told that the data management aspects of Salesforce Marketing Cloud are seamless.

Additionally, most enterprises are also choosing best-of-breed solutions across product, ERP, support, intelligence, customer success, and warehousing. Salesforce Marketing Cloud often presents integration challenges to these systems, making it less adaptable for companies with diverse tech stacks. When these systems are in place, costly and time consuming engagement with the Mulesoft arm of Salesforce is likely required to create a fully connected customer data universe. 

B2B-Focused Challenges

While Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a robust marketing automation platform, there are certain aspects where it may be perceived as lacking in B2B-focused functionality. Here are some areas where users have identified limitations or challenges in the context of B2B marketing:

• Lead Scoring Challenges: Effective lead scoring is crucial in B2B marketing to identify and prioritize leads based on their likelihood to convert. Some users have found Salesforce Marketing Cloud’s lead scoring functionality to be less intuitive or customizable compared to dedicated B2B marketing automation platforms like Marketo Engage.
• Account-Based Marketing (ABM) Features: B2B marketers often rely on ABM strategies to target and engage specific accounts. While Salesforce Marketing Cloud does offer some ABM features, users have expressed the need for more advanced and tailored capabilities to execute comprehensive ABM campaigns seamlessly. Remember, Salesforce Marketing Cloud is not built off of the Pardot B2B marketing automation platform. 
• Limited Social Media Features: B2B marketers increasingly use social media as part of their strategy. While Salesforce Marketing Cloud does offer social media management capabilities, some users find these to be less comprehensive compared to specialized social media marketing tools.
• Personalization and Dynamic Content: B2B marketing often requires sophisticated personalization and dynamic content capabilities. Users have noted that Salesforce Marketing Cloud’s personalization features could be more advanced, making it easier to tailor content and messaging based on the unique characteristics of B2B leads.
• Advanced Reporting and Analytics: B2B marketers need in-depth insights into the performance of their campaigns and the buyer’s journey. Some users have expressed a desire for more advanced reporting and analytics features within Salesforce Marketing Cloud to better measure and optimize B2B marketing efforts.

Marketo Engage: Tailored for Mid-Market and Enterprise Success

Marketo Engage, on the other hand, is designed with a focus on B2B scalability, ease of use, and comprehensive marketing automation. It provides a range of functionalities, including lead management, email marketing, analytics, and more. Marketo Engage excels in meeting the unique needs of mid-market and enterprise companies, making it a strong contender in the marketing automation landscape. 

Remember, Marketo is trying to be the best at marketing automation; they are not trying to be everything to everyone in the revenue stack. 

Advantages of Marketo Engage

• Scalability: Marketo Engage is highly scalable, enabling companies to expand their marketing automation efforts as their business grows. This scalability is a crucial factor for mid-market and enterprise companies with evolving needs.
• User-Friendly Interface: Marketo Engage boasts an intuitive and user-friendly interface, making it easier for marketing teams to create, manage, and optimize campaigns. This simplicity reduces the learning curve, allowing teams to focus on driving results rather than grappling with complex tools.
• Integration Capabilities: Marketo Engage offers robust integration capabilities due to their in-depth partnership with Vertify, allowing seamless connectivity with a wide range of revenue apps and third-party systems. This flexibility is vital for mid-market and enterprise companies with diverse technology stacks. In addition, this partnership is built for the enterprise business user, so you can manage all integrations on the business side of the house rather than relying on your engineering and development teams. 

Maximizing Marketo Engage with Vertify

While Marketo Engage is a powerful standalone platform, its capabilities can be further amplified when paired with Vertify, a data integration and hygiene automation solution. Vertify acts as a hub, connecting Marketo Engage with various data sources, CRM systems, and other mission critical, best-of-breed revenue tools, all while creating a unified ecosystem for marketing data.

The partnership between the two companies is over ten years in the making and is so robust that the two companies are connected at the product level. Mutual customers see both products as really a single solution that works harmoniously and automates customer data orchestration and lead management. 

Key Benefits of Pairing Vertify with Marketo Engage

Data Unification

Vertify enables the synchronization of data across disparate platforms, ensuring a unified and accurate view of customer information. This consolidated data is invaluable for mid-market and enterprise companies seeking a 360-degree understanding of their audience. Vertify gives every company the ability to decide what they want to be their system of record. 

Enhanced Analytics

By using Vertify to integrate Marketo Engage, companies gain access to enhanced analytics and reporting capabilities – including the powerful capabilities of Marketo Sales Insights – across their entire revenue stack. Additionally, Vertify can connect Marketo Engage to other reporting and analytics platforms, such as Snowflake and Power BI. This empowers marketing teams to derive actionable insights from their data, driving more informed decision-making, and allows analytics teams to use the tools they want for in-depth analysis on marketing efforts. 

Efficient Cross Department Workflows

Vertify facilitates the automation of data workflows across marketing, sales, customer success, and finance, reducing manual tasks and improving operational efficiency across all departments. This is particularly beneficial for mid-market and enterprise companies handling large volumes of data and complex marketing processes.

That’s a Wrap

In marketing automation, the choice between Salesforce Marketing Cloud and Marketo Engage ultimately depends on the unique needs and goals of your business. However, for mid-market and enterprise B2B companies looking for a scalable, user-friendly, and integrated solution, Marketo Engage stands out. 

When combined with Vertify, Marketo Engage becomes a powerhouse, providing a seamless and data-driven marketing automation experience. Make the smart choice for your business’s growth – choose Marketo Engage with Vertify to unlock the full potential of your marketing efforts.

Want to see Vertify in action? Click here to get started.