More companies are jumping on the digital marketing trend. This simply means that competition in marketing automation is ramping up by the day. According to research published by Market and Markets, the global automation market size is set to grow from $3.3 billion in 2019 to $6.4 billion in 2024, at a CAGR of 13.4%.
There is a very good explanation for this growth as the recent trend is driven by a pressing need to automate the marketing process, customer retention, and fairly high demand for personalization.
At the forefront of companies providing a solution to these problems are Marketo and SalesForce. In this article, we compare the two companies and see how they stack up against each other, which will prove the wiser choice.
Main Difference Between Marketo and SalesForce
| Features | Marketo | SalesForce |
| Launch Company | Marketo is owed by Adobe Inc | SalesForce is owned by SalesForce, Inc headquartered in San Francisco, California. |
| Target audition | B2B management | B2C management |
| Versatility | Limited to email marketing and lead management | Can be used across multiple channels. |
| Ease of Use | Easier to use for people who don’t wish to bother themselves with lines of codes. | Would be fun to use if you like writing codes. |
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Marketo vs SalesForce: Features and Capabilities
As already known, Marketo is one of the leading platforms for marketing automation and has more than 2,300 customers and 100,000 users worldwide.
Marketo is best for B2B transactions. This allows e-commerce firms and organizations which work with them to focus more on selling to businesses rather than directly to customers. This is because the platform is focused on generating and activating leads before passing them through a sales funnel so B2B companies can grow.
Marketo might also be useful in fields such as campaign strategy and customer interaction and marketing automation. Marketo gives the privilege to users to access customer automatization at a peak level, and each of its products are divided into four different parts, each with its own plans.
Below are some rundown of Marketo features;
- Marketing Automation
- B2B marketing & lead management
- Consumer Engagement Marketing
- Email & campaign management
- Real-time Personalization
- Personalize messages across channels
- Marketing Management
- Budgets & marketing calendar
- Solutions
- Email Marketing
- Inbound Marketing
- Up-Sell and Cross-Sell
- Loyalty Marketing
- Lead Generation
- Event Marketing
- Measure & Optimize ROI
SalesForce on the other hand is designed for marketing, service, and sales. One of its advantages is that it requires no technical knowledge to set up and manage as well. It improves the nature if business by improving the relations up between businesses and customers.
Its features include;
- Contact Management
- Opportunity Management
- Quote Management
- Quote to Cash
- Einstein Analytics
- SalesForce for Small Businesses
- Lead Management
- Watch Marketing Activities across all Channels
- Dynamic Dashboards and Custom Reports
- Mobility
- Email Integration with Sales Force Lightning
- Comprehensive Sales Forecasting
- Workflow and Sales Approval with SalesForce Chatter
- Files Sync and Share
- SalesForce Engage
- Territory Management
- Partner and Channel Management
Marketo and SalesForce: Pricing
SalesForce has a range of products that are both distinct and are priced based on quotes from the company. These prices aren’t fixed, and in some cases can fluctuate depending on what is to be done for a customer.
However, there are fixed prices for some of their CRM packages. Below is a list of the price of the products offered by SalesForce as illustrated by Forbes Advisor.
| Essentials | Professional | Enterprise | Unlimited | |
| Starting Price (per user per month, billed annually) | $25 | $75 | $150 | $300 |
| Max Users | 10 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Lead Management | √ | √ | √ | √ |
| Opportunity Management | √ | √ | √ | √ |
| Rules-Based Lead Scoring | – | √ | √ | √ |
| Sales Cycle Forecasting | – | √ | √ | √ |
| Workflow Automation | – | – | √ | √ |
| Sales Team Collaboration | – | – | √ | √ |
| Opportunity Splits | – | – | √ | √ |
| Advanced Reporting | – | – | √ | √ |
Pricing for Marketo are split into three different offerings; spark, standard, and select.
Spark starts at $895/month, and offers the following benefits;
- 10,000 records
- Email marketing
- Customer engagement engine
- Commuication limits
- Lead management / nurture / score
- Event marketing and webinars
- Marketing calendar
- SEO
- Social boost
- CRM integration
- 5 sales insight users
- 5 marketing calendar users
Standard starts at $1,795/month, and offers the following benefits;
- 10,000 records
- Includes all of spark, plus:
- A/B testing
- Advanced lead scoring
- Advanced dynamic content
- Progressive profiling for forms
- Extended integrations & API
- Marketing program analyzer
- Revenue cycle modeler
- Revenue analyzers
- 10 sales insight users (total)
- 5 marketing calendar users
Select starts at $3,195/month, and offers the following benefits;
- 10,000 records
- Includes all of standard, plus:
- Advanced revenue analytics
- Advanced email analytics
- Time-series data warehouse
- Advanced custom reports
- Social sweepstakes and referrals
- Role-based permissions
- 20 sales insight users (total)
- 5 marketing calendar users
» MORE: Salesforce Pricing: What Is the Best Plan? (Price Guide)
Reasons to Choose Marketo over SalesForce
Marketo offers a number of advantages over SalesForce. This places in some situations a reasonable choice over SalesForce in terms of what a customer except to gain from the platform. Below is a breakdown of what to expect from Marketo and why you should choose it over SalesForce.
Social Media Marketing
Marketo gives you access to a wide range of tools that can be used by a customer across relevant platforms and channels. This feature helps you launch and manage contests, referral campaigns, and relevant social media activities to both attract and maintain followers.
Analytics
Marketo Analytics tools allow you see where your most relevant leads are coming from. This helps you convert them to better sales and revenues. Also, it customizes reporting on landing pages, email marketing, web tracking, and overall
Email Marketing
The drag-and-drop interface employed by Marketo means you can effortlessly create email marketing template or campaign.
Landing Pages
Marketi focuses on helping businesses create excellent landing pages that make doing business as stress-free as possible.
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Reasons to Choose SalesForce over Marketo.
These are reasons to choose SalesForce over Marketo;
- Enhanced organization and communication methods
- Automation for efficiency
- Ease of use for teams
- Analytical reporting
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Similarities between Marketo and SalesForce
Salesforce and Marketo share a variety of standard reports that allow you to understand the number of leads you are generating in each lifecycle, the source of your leads, and more.Both Salesforce and Marketo have established themselves as effective automation tools. Modern marketers use them to run their marketing campaigns backed with informed decisions and a precise set of rules to engage prospects.
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Alternatives to Marketo and SalesForce
If you don’t fancy using either Marketo or SalesForce, a number of other marketing platforms exist for you. They offer almost the same features, and you might find them better than two already described. They include;
- HubSpot Marketing Hub
- Zoho CRM
- Oracle Eloqua Marketing Automation
- Dynamics 365 Marketing
- Sage CRM
- Act-on Marketing Automation Platform
- SAP Marketing Cloud
» MORE: Which Is Better for You: Salesforce or Oracle?
FAQ
Can Marketo and SalesForce be integrated?
Yes, the two platform can be integrated as one. The integration allows you enjoy benefits not exclusive to either as single platforms.
Does SalesForce have a permanent yearly fee?
SalesForce has no permanent fee, and in most cases, the fees are by quote. It all depends on the size of the involved data.
Is there a huge difference between the two platforms?
There isn’t much difference between each platform. It all depends on personal preference. You should ask yourself what you really want before choosing a platform.
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