This article is for CMOs and marketing leaders who have been asked to move marketing onto Pardot, now called Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement, because the company is standardizing on Salesforce. It is our first-hand story from Edgile, and part of our series on the marketing platforms we have used, and liked, over the years.
What do you lose when you switch from Marketo to Pardot?
When Edgile switched from Marketo to Pardot as part of a corporate one platform model, we lost some of Marketo's advanced features and flexibility, we had to start over and rebuild our marketing, and the Salesforce integration was not as seamless as the sales promise, because Pardot began as a separate product with walls between the systems. What was fine: the cost savings were real, and like most of these platforms Pardot is powerful and can be extended, with enough features for most advanced marketing.
AI Summary
At Edgile we switched from Marketo to Pardot as part of a corporate one platform model, and the move saved money. What we lost was Marketo's flexibility and some of its advanced features, and we had to start over and rebuild our marketing on the new platform. The Salesforce integration was not as integrated as the sales promise: Pardot began as a separate product, so there were walls between the two systems. What was fine was the reason for the move. The cost savings were real and marketing ran on the company's standard platform. The lesson: these platforms are very powerful and they can be extended. Most of them have enough features to do most of the advanced marketing you need, so a switch is survivable. Budget for the rebuild and test the integration before you sign.
What happened at Edgile
Edgile was a security consulting firm, acquired by Wipro in 2021. Our marketing ran on Marketo. When the company moved to a one platform model built around Salesforce, marketing moved with it, from Marketo to Salesforce Pardot. There were cost savings involved, and that was part of the decision.
At the time, Marketo was simply more flexible and more powerful. Pardot was the platform that fit the company standard.
| Area | What we expected | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| Why we switched | A corporate one platform model, with real cost savings. | Held up. The savings were real and the move fit the company standard. |
| Advanced features | Marketo was more flexible and more powerful at the time. | We missed some of its advanced features. |
| Programs and assets | A platform move. | We had to start over and rebuild. |
| Salesforce integration | Sold as one seamless system. | Not as integrated as the sales promise. There were walls between the systems. |
Why the switch made sense
A one platform model is a reasonable business decision, and it is usually not marketing's call. One vendor means one contract, one set of administrators and one place for customer data. When that comes with cost savings, it is easy to see why leadership makes the move. If you are in this position, it helps to accept that the reasons are sound and focus on making the switch work.
What we lost
Marketo's flexibility and advanced features
We missed some of Marketo's advanced features. Marketo was built for marketers who want to design their own programs, and it gave us more room to build exactly what we wanted. On Pardot we worked within what the platform did well, and some of what we had built in Marketo did not have a direct equivalent. For a deeper look at why Marketo earned that reputation, see part 3 of this series, Why Marketo became the standard (coming soon).
We had to start over
A platform switch is not a data migration. Contacts move, but the work around them, the programs, templates, nurtures and scoring, has to be rebuilt on the new platform. We had to start over, and that time is a real cost that rarely shows up next to the license savings.
The integration was not as integrated as promised
The sales promise is one seamless system: Pardot as the marketing side of Salesforce. That was the most disappointing part. Once you are implementing, you find that not all Salesforce objects are available to Pardot and there are walls between the systems.
The reason is history. Pardot and Salesforce came from different products, joined after the fact through a connector. Vendors do replatform their products and the walls come down, but it still takes years to make those changes. Our NetSuite article uses the same Salesforce and Pardot example to show why a platform built as one system from the start avoids this problem.
What was fine
The reasons for the move held up. The cost savings were real, and marketing ran on the same platform standard as the rest of the company, which is what the one platform model set out to do. And the bigger point: these platforms are very powerful, and they can be extended. Most of them have enough features to do most of the advanced marketing a company needs. The switch was not a failure. It was a trade: we gave up flexibility and paid for a rebuild, and in return the company got savings and one standard platform.
Lessons for a CMO facing the same switch
The main lesson: many of these platforms are very powerful and they can be extended. Most of them have enough of the features to do most of the advanced marketing you need. The platform matters less than how well you set it up and build it out.
- Respect the business case. A one platform decision with cost savings is a fair call. Make your case on facts, then make the switch work.
- List what you will lose. Before the move, write down the programs and features you rely on and check how each one will work on the new platform. Do not assume a feature exists because the demo looked similar.
- Budget for starting over. Count the time to rebuild programs, templates, nurtures and scoring, not just the license savings.
- Test the integration, not the demo. Ask which objects and fields marketing can actually reach, and try the integration you need before you sign. When two products started separately, expect walls between them.
- Ask how the platform was built. A product that was acquired and connected later behaves differently from one built on a single platform from the start.
Platforms change. Your website still has to be readable.
Whichever platform runs your marketing, buyers and AI assistants judge you by your website first. AI search engines and agents read your pages to decide what to say about you, and many sites are hard for machines to read. MachineReady scans your site the way AI reads it and shows what to fix, on any platform.
Switching platforms, or deciding whether to? Run MachineReady on your website to see how AI reads it today, whatever platform runs your marketing, or get in touch with Dan Seyer to talk through the move.
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