Implementing Pardot Like a Pro: A Specialist’s Roadmap

B2B marketing success hinges on sophisticated automation tools that can nurture leads and drive conversions effectively at scale. In the domain of email marketing, Salesforce Pardot stands out as a technological marvel, defining how enterprises approach their marketing automation strategies. Consistently rated as one of the top marketing automation software, Pardot is a go-to when it comes to email automation.

Especially recommended for B2B enterprises, Pardot elevates email marketing from a general strategy to a targeted, data-driven approach. However, its implementation has a steep learning curve. Without proper guidance and expertise, businesses risk underutilizing this powerful platform’s capabilities.

To help, we’re sharing a detailed Pardot implementation guide that draws from TO THE NEW’s extensive experience in marketing automation. Consider this a walkthrough of a tried and tested roadmap, best practices, and expert recommendations to help you leverage Pardot’s full potential for your business.

Project Planning: Laying the Groundwork for Success

Thorough project planning is essential to ensure a smooth and successful deployment for Pardot. Begin with a comprehensive assessment of your current marketing ecosystem and evaluate existing data structures, marketing assets, and campaign performance metrics. It helps identify gaps in your current strategy and tools that your Pardot implementation will need to address. Look to answer questions such as –

• Where does email fit in your user journeys and marketing/sales funnel?
• Do your lead lists need extensive email automation?
• Do you have the necessary data to implement an automated system?

This can be enhanced by bringing together your marketing, sales, and IT teams to establish clear communication & align expectations. A collaborative approach ensures that all departments understand their roles and contribute effectively to the implementation process.

Set specific, measurable objectives for your Pardot implementation. It can be anything from improving lead qualification rates, reducing sales cycle length, or increasing email engagement metrics.

Establishing KPIs will serve as your north star throughout the implementation journey.

Follow this up by setting up an implementation timeline and allocating resources accordingly. Assign clear roles and responsibilities to team members, ensuring each aspect of the implementation has dedicated ownership.

Data Management: The Backbone of Effective Pardot Automation

A robust data management framework is essential for leveraging Pardot effectively. Start by collecting, storing, and optimizing data in a unified Salesforce Marketing Cloud database that consolidates contact lists, website analytics, and other marketing channels in one. Capture data from touchpoints like form submissions, email engagement, website activity, and offline interactions.

Regularly audit and standardize your data, addressing inconsistencies and enriching prospect profiles with reliable third-party sources for details like industry, company size, and location. Segment prospects by behavior, demographics, and buyer journey stages to enable personalized, targeted campaigns that enhance lead scoring and boost the effectiveness of Pardot emails.

The goal is to collect sufficient behavioral and demographic information to map a holistic view of your prospect’s journey through your marketing funnel.

As a practice, try to store data according to GDPR and CCPA requirements, as it will help protect both your business and your prospects’ privacy rights. Do schedule regular data audits and cleanup processes to maintain high-quality data.

Also Read – Unlock Your Pardot Potential: Maximize your Marketing Automation Performance

Initial Pardot Setup: Getting the Basics Right

The foundation of successful Pardot implementation begins with understanding your platform options. Pardot offers two interfaces – Classic and Lightning App Builder. Both offer distinct experiences – while Classic provides a familiar interface for long-time users, Lightning delivers enhanced functionality with a modern drag-and-drop interface.

Pardot Classic v/s Pardot Lightning

Choose your preferred interface and then configure Pardot to meet your requirements. Build an access hierarchy for your teams that aligns with your organization’s needs and test your setup for data security. For example, managers will need admin rights, while content creators may require limited permissions for asset creation and campaign management.

Start by integrating Pardot with your Salesforce CRM to create a unified data ecosystem between the two where marketing and sales data can flow seamlessly between platforms.

• Configure connector settings carefully to ensure proper lead routing, field mapping, and synchronization rules that match your business processes.
• Authenticate your domains by implementing SPF (Sender Policy Framework) and DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) records correctly to improve email deliverability and protect the sender’s reputation. This is sometimes overlooked but it ensures that your marketing emails do not end up in the spam folder.
• Finally, install the Pardot tracking code across your web properties to enable comprehensive prospect monitoring. This code empowers you to track visitor behavior, gather valuable insights, and trigger automated responses based on prospect interactions with your digital assets.

Tip – As a practice, ToTheNew also recommends implementing Litmus for Pardot. The Litmus extension helps when creating Email and Email templates. 

Email Template Building: Crafting High-Impact Emails

Your main focus in this step should be to create branded templates that are visually striking and technically robust, ensuring accessibility across all devices and platforms. Thoroughly analyze existing email templates, identify areas of improvement in design, and maintain a mobile-first design approach.

Pardot features dynamic content capabilities with extensive personalization through variables, company/product branding, and unique content blocks that can be added to emails based on their segment or behavior.

This makes your emails more impactful and resonates better with your target audience. For, eg, if your campaign target includes financial and healthcare, the emails will be automatically changed based on the recipient’s industry.

Litmus Extension for Email Testing

We recommend integrating the Litmus extension, to enhance usability and streamline email testing. Litmus allows you to test your emails in real-time as you build them, eliminating the need for manual code copying and pasting. This tool automatically renders the emails you create, testing them across all platforms simultaneously, ensuring that your campaigns are optimized for every possible email client and device.

Litmus Extension

Additionally, Litmus facilitates seamless experimentation with various email layouts, enabling you to iterate and refine your designs quickly. By testing different layouts and content elements, you can identify the most effective formats for engaging your audience. This process not only saves time but also enhances the accuracy and relevance of your email marketing efforts.

Lead Scoring: Prioritizing Your Prospects

Pardot lets you automate the prioritization of leads based on their likelihood to convert, helping you divide leads between your marketing and sales teams. Pardot can automate the following parts of lead scoring –

• Identifying Key Scoring Criteria – It can identify the actions or behaviors that indicate higher lead engagement or interest. This includes user actions such as website visits, form submissions, email engagement, content downloads, etc.
• Assigning a Score –  Based on prospect actions, Pardot can update user scores and ensure that scores are always up-to-date, providing real-time insights into a prospect’s readiness to buy.
• Lead Grading –  Pardot offers lead grading, which allows you to assess leads based on their fit with your ideal customer profile. While lead scoring evaluates engagement, grading assesses how closely a lead matches our target demographic and firmographic data.

Automating this part of lead scoring places a clear, data-driven lead prioritization system in place, letting your sales and marketing teams work together more efficiently, ensuring that sales teams focus on the most promising leads, while marketing refines efforts to nurture those still in the consideration phase. This synergy ultimately drives better conversion rates and higher ROI.

Establishing a Broadcast Calendar: Planning for Consistency

Creating a campaign calendar helps you establish consistent communication with your audiences and helps drive more predictable campaign outcomes. You can map out your calendar in Pardot in advance. A consistent and strategic approach helps maintain a steady flow of communication while avoiding last-minute rushes. Here’s a 3-step plan to ensure consistency:

1. Define a Campaign Cadence: Plan a monthly calendar and space out your emails to keep your audience informed and engaged.
2. Align with Business Goals: Coordinate broadcasts with key business initiatives, such as product launches, special events, or seasonal promotions.
3. Balance Promotional and Nurturing Emails: Ensure a mix of promotional content and nurturing emails to maintain audience interest without overwhelming them.

A well-planned broadcast calendar strikes the right balance, building trust and enhancing your brand presence over time while supporting your broader business objectives.

Implement Pardot with TO THE NEW

Pardot plays a pivotal role in driving email marketing success when implemented effectively. TO THE NEW has been an industry stalwart for marketing automation. With expertise and a deep understanding of Salesforce Marketing Cloud for account engagement, we provide seamless Pardot implementation support, ensuring that your automated campaigns are set up for long-term success.

Over the years, we’ve helped businesses across different industries get the most out of Pardot, improving email experiences and driving better results for their customers. From helping dynamic emails for entities like Elevation Church to enhancing email marketing and lead management for a private equity firm, TO THE NEW has consistently delivered seamless Pardot implementation.

So why wait? Get in touch with us today and redefine how your business sends emails.