What are the three Salesforce Marketing Automation Platforms?

These will be elaborated on in a future article.

What is the difference between Marketing Cloud and Pardot.

Salesforce Markets Marketing Cloud as B2C and Pardot as B2B, but those aren't entirely accurate classifications. Both platforms could be adapted to meet many of the needs of B2C, B2B and B2B2C businesses. To understand the differences between the platforms first you need to understand what both platforms can do.

What functionality do Marketing Cloud and Pardot have in common

• Both platforms connect to Salesforce
• Both platforms do not consume API credits (third party apps do).
• Both platforms can send Mass Emails (and SMS with an integration)
• Both platforms can send automated sequences of messages based on data, behaviours or time.
• Both platforms feature drag and drop and HTML email building capabilities.
• Both platforms come functionality to bring Marketing data into Salesforce
• Both platforms can change and update salesforce data, or create tasks within Salesforce
• The ability to send mass email campaigns from within Salesforce
  
• Both platforms feature landing page builders

What functionality does Marketing Cloud have that Pardot does not

Marketing cloud offers a lot more flexibility than Pardot (and in my experience, all other marketing platforms that I've used before). It has these advantages over Pardot.

• Connect to third party data providers via SFTP which enables Marketing Cloud to use any data for automations and journeys, not just data held within Salesforce.
• Connect to Microsoft Dynamics.
• Use any data for automations,  including data stored outside of salesforce.
• Use code (called AMP Script) within Emails to perform complex tasks that go far beyond what can be achieved with HTML and CSS alone.
• Transform data imported into Marketing Cloud via SQL and SSJS in automations.
• Include interactive elements in emails such as inbuilt forms.
• Export Marketing Cloud data into other systems via SFTP.
• Send push notifications via apps.

These functions are not avaliable in Pardot. There are some things that Marketing Cloud also does better than Pardot.

• The email builder is better than Pardot's Classic email builder and features inbuilt buttons and the ability to save and re-use components of emails. 
• The email builder is also better than Pardot's Lightning builder as it doesn't rely on the need for Salesforce CDN and enables customisation via HTML and CSS (in fact Pardot's Classic Lightning email builder is better than lightning email builder for this reason). 
• Cloud Pages is a much better Landing Page builder than either options included within Pardot. Pardot's classic landing page builder is not responsive by default, and requires a high degree of technical literacy to use. Pardot's lightning landing page builder offers minimal customisation options and will not make the design team your business happy.
• Pardot also places limits on what you can do with custom objects, whereas Marketing Cloud does not. You can get around these limits with cleaver use of flow but if you are working heavily with custom objects then Marketing Cloud may be a better alternative.

What functionality does Pardot have that Marketing Cloud does not

Pardot is much more closely integrated with Salesforce than Marketing Cloud. What it loses points to Marketing Cloud for in flexibility, it makes up for in features that are designed to help improve sales performance including:

• Lead grading and scoring - these functions help sales teams find and contact the right leads based on demographic and behavioural data.
• Form Handlers - This is a really cool feature that allows Pardot to capture data from your existing forms and landing pages, and bring that into Salesforce via Pardot.
• Website tracking - Pardot features website tracking, so you use things like website visits as a trigger for automated activity in Salesforce or automated messaging via Pardot. This can be achieved with Marketing Cloud Personalisation, but additional licencing fees apply to do so.
• File Management - This is a great feature for businesses with sales collateral that needs to be updated regularly. Rather than creating a new URL for every brochure, a unique link is generated. If the brochure needs to be updated, links in email or across the web can stay persistent.
• Visibility of prospect actions in Salesforce - Salesforce users can see a lead or prospects interactions with your website and emails via a LWC.
• The ability to add prospects directly to automated sequences of messages - via additional engage licences.

There are also some things that Pardot does better than Marketing Cloud does.

• The user interface is contained within Salesforce, and has a similar look and feel to it.
• Pardot requires a less technical skill set than Marketing Cloud, so can be setup in a lot shorter time.
• The LWC used to display marketing metrics directly in Salesforce are easier to access and understand than those packaged with Marketing Cloud, and are avaliable instantly.
• Reports and analytics from Pardot are better than what is avaliable in Marketing Cloud Reports.
• It is easier to use Pardot to update prospect data in Salesforce than marketing cloud as this can be done outside of Journeys.

Which platform is better, Marketing Cloud or Pardot?

That depends on what you intend to use it for...

• Pardot is less complicated to setup and get running than Marketing Cloud, and offers cheaper licencing fees, so it can be a better alternative for businesses on a budget. Note that it is still more complicated and expensive than many third party platforms like Mailchimp.
• Pardot also offers tools to help amplify the work of sales teams, and is better for businesses with heavy sales operations (e.g. B2B, Saas  or Service based businesses).
• Marketing Cloud is capable of integrating to any platform via SFTP which makes it useful for companies where their data is housed in multiple places (note that Data Cloud + Pardot could achieve something similar) or who need to send data based on data held outside of Salesforce (such as many e-commerce providers and retailers).
• Marketing Cloud also has more functionality geared to enterprise scale businesses like Government, Mining or Bluechip organisations, such as a granular security system, limited deployment tools and business units that can act as sandboxes.
• Marketing Cloud offers more flexibility, particularly in terms of what can be achieved within emails. Additional licences such as personalisation extend what it can do. For businesses with complex use cases for a marketing automation platform it is also a good choice.

Which platform you choose should be dependant on your use cases, budget and the level of technical capacity within your team. They are not a good fit for:

• Businesses on a limited budget
• Businesses without the ability to bring in technical help for project and operational work.