Marketing Cloud Growth Features for Account Engagement

Note: Marketing Cloud Growth is a new platform built on the Salesforce platform. Current MCAE users will get access to this new Marketing Cloud product as part of their license!

Before you can take advantage of this exciting development, you’ll need a basic understanding of the key Marketing Cloud Growth features that are now available in Account Engagement, and how they can unlock valuable opportunities for your business.

As always, MarCloud is here to help you get up to speed.

What is Marketing Cloud Growth Edition?

Marketing Cloud Growth Edition is Salesforce’s new, AI-driven marketing solution that integrates seamlessly with the Salesforce platform. It was designed to simplify marketing processes while delivering the kind of personalisation and automation that today’s customers expect. 

Initially launched for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), this feature-rich edition is now available to Account Engagement users, unlocking a suite of tools that make it easier to create smarter, more engaging marketing campaigns.

One of the key benefits of Marketing Cloud Growth is its ‘on-core’ integration with Data Cloud making it possible to bring together data from multiple touchpoints into one place and providing a 360-degree view of your customers. This helps marketers deliver more relevant, targeted campaigns that resonate with audiences and ultimately drive conversions.

Key features for Account Engagement customers

1. Unified customer view with Data Cloud

Understanding your customer is key to creating effective, personalised marketing campaigns. 

Marketing Cloud Growth Edition integrates with Salesforce Data Cloud, providing a Customer 360 view that brings together data from all interactions a customer has had with your brand. This unified view enables marketers to build more detailed customer profiles, allowing for more precise segmentation and targeting.

Previously in Account Engagement, if you wanted to achieve the same type of audience segmentation that Data Cloud can do, you'd have to leverage custom object integration, and even then you are capped at four objects and it's only data from Sales Cloud.

With Marketing Cloud Growth, the integration of Data Cloud means that users now have access to real-time data across various customer interactions, be it within Account Engagement, in Sales Cloud, or from an external platform like an ERP or ecommerce database.

With Marketing Cloud Growth, the integration of Data Cloud means that users now have access to real-time data across all customer interactions, not just those limited to Account Engagement. 

This includes a wider variety of data points like transactional data, behaviours across channels, and even offline interactions. This enriched, unified view allows marketers to create more personalised and dynamic segments, leading to more targeted and relevant messaging.

2. Automating customer journeys with Flow

Salesforce’s Flow is an automation tool that allows marketers to design complex customer journeys without needing to write code. Marketing Cloud Growth includes Campaign Flows, a version of Flow that is tailored to marketers.

Campaign Flows is very similar to Engagement Studio in that you can automate marketing processes, such as sending personalised emails when a customer takes a specific action or updating a contact’s score when they engage with your content. So you might be wondering then, what is the difference between the two?

While Engagement Studio is a powerful tool for automating processes, such as lead nurture or even backend processes, like field updates, a key difference compared to Campaign Flows is the type of data it has access to. Engagement Studio primarily functions on data held within Account Engagement, and the only data it can "see" in Salesforce is basic campaign data and data to any linked custom objects (which is limited to four). 

Because Marketing Cloud growth is built ‘on-core’, and relies on information from Data Cloud, which can pull data not only from Sales Cloud but potentially several other sources, it makes Campaign Flow an even more powerful automation tool where decisions on journeys or personalisations can be inclusive of all these data points.

3. Einstein AI for smarter campaigns

While Account Engagement already offers robust AI features like Marketing GPT and Einstein Scoring, the AI integration in Marketing Cloud Growth provides a more advanced and comprehensive set of tools that go beyond what’s currently available in Account Engagement. 

For instance, Einstein Segment Creation leverages the full power of Data Cloud, enabling marketers to create more dynamic, data-driven segments with real-time insights, which is a step above the static segmentation often seen in Account Engagement.

While Account Engagement’s Marketing GPT assists with generating content and scoring leads, the AI tools in Marketing Cloud Growth are designed to provide a more holistic, cross-channel view of customer engagement. This means users can benefit from a unified platform that offers deeper insights, improved segmentation, and automated optimisation across multiple marketing channels. 

For businesses looking to drive smarter, AI-powered campaigns, Marketing Cloud Growth represents an upgrade with more dynamic capabilities and a broader scope.

4. SMS capabilities

In exciting news for customers looking to expand their channel mix and enhance their omnichannel approach, Account Engagement users can now tap into SMS capabilities. Available as a paid add-on, the key functionalities include:

• Send SMS within Campaign Flows: Sends an SMS message from your Salesforce CMS to an audience segment.

• Track SMS clicks and opens: This level of tracking is optional but a no-brainer! Once enabled, the flow tracks how many times message recipients click links.

• Einstein for Send-Time Optimization: Tapping into Salesforce AI for support with sending SMS at the most effective times, driving higher open rates.

Side note: Marketing Cloud Advanced takes SMS one step further by allowing two-way SMS conversations - read more about that in this blog post.

Real-world application

Let’s consider a scenario where an Account Engagement customer can leverage these new Marketing Cloud Growth features. Suppose a B2B marketing team is running a cross-sell campaign targeting existing customers.

1. Building an email with Einstein AI allows the team to type out a simple brief of the campaign, prompting Einstein to generate the email copy and subject line - making campaign creation more efficient.

2. With Data Cloud, the team can segment customers who bought a certain product within a specific timeframe and who do not have any open opportunities at the account level.

3. The team uses Campaign Flows to automate the campaign, triggering follow-up emails when a customer engages with a marketing asset. Engagement scores are automatically updated, helping the sales team identify which customers could benefit from a follow-up call.

The result? A more efficient, data-driven approach that delivers increased sales with less manual intervention from the marketing and sales teams.

Getting started: How to implement Growth features

If you’re eager to get started with Marketing Cloud Growth features, the good news is that accessing these tools is straightforward. Account Engagement customers across all editions (Growth, Plus, Advanced, and Premium) who also have Sales Cloud Enterprise or above will have access to the new features.

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Enable Data Cloud (Salesforce Foundations gives Data Cloud, as well as Segmentation and Activation credits, so we recommend starting with that. You can use Salesforce Foundations with the PSLs with the Winter ’25 release, but not before. So be sure to wait until the Winter ’25 release is complete before activating).

2. Configure the Permission Set Licenses

3. Purchase any requisite messaging/Einstein request credits if you are using email/SMS/Copilot/etc.

Once set up, marketers can immediately begin using features like Campaign Flows and Einstein Send Time Optimization to enhance their campaigns. And with a little help from Salesforce’s user-friendly interface, teams will be able to implement these tools without a steep learning curve.

New growth opportunities with Marketing Cloud

Ready to take your marketing to the next level? At MarCloud, we specialise in helping businesses get the most out of their Salesforce marketing tools. Whether you’re just getting started with Marketing Cloud Growth or looking to optimise your existing account setup, we’re here to help. 

Request a call today to discuss how we can partner with you on this journey toward smarter, more efficient marketing.