Starting Out With Marketing Cloud? 5 Things You Should Know

Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) is a marketing automation dream tool with the powers you need to reach your ideal customer, through multiple channels: email, mobile, social, or online.

As every business is a unique entity, not every Marketing Cloud project is the same – but there is certainly a blueprint we can follow to increase the chances of a successful outcome. Therefore, the best advice for every SFMC newbie is to have a mentor guiding you through your first implementation.

This guide include 5 things that a typical SFMC implementation includes. Whether you are in the process of becoming a Marketing Cloud consultant, or you are internal Salesforce Admin supporting a Marketing Cloud implementation, knowing these things will save you from ‘falling at the first hurdle’.

Learning Marketing Cloud: Unlocking the Pearl

‘Tricky’ is the first word that comes to mind when I think about SFMC. I have a strong background in Salesforce Sales Cloud and Pardot (Account Engagement), which is likely the reason why many concepts in SFMC did not feel intuitive for me, at first. Since I started my journey studying and implementing Marketing Cloud, I have never stopped asking ‘why’.

When implementing any software we need to be able to:

• Foresee any potential complexity in the project requirements.
• Share important solution considerations with client/internal stakeholders.
• Implement irreversible design changes, confidently.

Marketing Cloud has some hidden steps that you need to discover, like small seashells on the bottom of the sea that when unlocked, reveal the pearl.

1. Marketing Cloud Subdomains

The first item up for discussion in any Marketing Cloud project are subdomains.

You need a subdomain for Marketing Cloud so that all the assets you’ll be creating, e.g. landing pages and images added to email templates, will be hosted on your subdomain – meaning that the URL will appear with your brand in it.

• Assumption: 20+ years ago, there were no services where you could buy and register domains easily (e.g. hover.com, godaddy.com). It’s possible to migrate from the current domain provider to a new one that supports subdomains.
• Fact: You will need to account for time to research a new hosting provider, remove any locks from your current domain, initiate and verify the transfer to the new host, and test it works as expected. Then, create a subdomain that you need to register in Marketing Cloud, and submit it to SFMC support to register it on their end. You can review this process and the options you have here.

2. Creating Marketing Cloud Journeys

Journeys in Marketing Cloud automate steps in a campaign that subscribers pass through, including different branches.

• Assumption: All Salesforce events and actions will appear after you connect Salesforce and SFMC via Marketing Cloud Connect.
• Fact: You will need to submit a case with Salesforce Support for Salesforce actions to appear in Journey Builder.

Here’s a comparison before and after I submitted the case:

3. Testing Email Templates in Marketing Cloud

When testing email templates you have built, or HTML that has been provided to you, you could get stuck with errors.

• Assumption: By using current field variables and adding an unsubscribe option/preference center link, I will be able to test my emails.
• Fact: You will need to submit another case with Salesforce, this time to “Disable CAN & SPAM”. Otherwise, you simply won’t be able to test or send any emails from Marketing Cloud, resulting in errors. The support team does not even question the request because they know this just needs to be done.

4. IP Warm Up

The first step when setting up Marketing Cloud email deliverability is to configure your Sender Authentication Package (SAP) (your organization needs to purchase one from Salesforce, so reach out to your Account Executive to learn about the options).

You will need to decide whether you want to use the shared IP (with all other Marketing Cloud customers), or opt for a dedicated IP. Dedicated IPs need to go through a warm up period – when email servers receive email from your new IP address, they need some time to get used to you. Send emails from the new IP starting with small volumes, and gradually increasing the volume.

• Assumption: “You can skip this step if planning to send email to less than 10k contacts” – is a myth. Another myth is that IP warms up is required only for 100k+ email sends at once.
• Fact: Even though you say you will be sending email in small volumes, you still need to validate if your emails are delivered and not going to spam. I recommend creating a draft email (with a clickable link), sending it a group of colleagues, and ask them to open the email, and if it went to spam, click “Report Not Spam”, “Safe Content”, and click on the links. This will help to initially establish a good sending reputation!

5. Internal Team Training

Understand the internal marketing team’s capabilities, and plan a training roadmap.

• Assumption: We will be able to use Marketing Cloud, just like any other tool. It could even simpler because it costs so much, it should do magic! With great power, comes a learning curve to master the technology.
• Fact: Marketing Cloud is not as easy to use as other tools on the market. For example, if you are looking to utilize dynamic content, you will need to learn AMPscript.

Do marketers know Marketing Cloud scripting languages? I think we will all shake our heads, and say no. Marketers usually do not see themselves playing around with code to create a dynamic content block. Therefore, it’s important to discuss which skills the internal would be suitable for, and plan comprehensive Marketing Cloud training.

Summary

This guide has covered 5 things you should know when approaching your first Marketing Cloud project. With these in mind, I believe you can save time and increase the chances of a successful outcome.

Recap:

1. During the early stages of the project, discuss the current domain hosting provider.
2. Submit the case with the support team as soon as you setup Salesforce Marketing Cloud Connect, otherwise you will not see any Salesforce events appearing in Journey Builder.
3. Submit the case with the support team to “Disable CAN & SPAM” once you start building your email templates, so you will be able to send test emails.
4. Ask the client/internal stakeholders what the planned volume is per email sent. If opting for a dedicated IP, share IP warm up best practices.
5. Ask the about team members’ current skills, and plan comprehensive Marketing Cloud training to fill any skill gaps.