Learning how to use and customize Salesforce can be a rewarding experience, but it can also present unique challenges for individuals with disabilities. Whether it’s navigating the interface, processing complex data, or communicating effectively with colleagues, users with disabilities may encounter barriers that hinder their learning journey.

It’s a topic that’s near and dear to my heart, and I had the pleasure of presenting a session on this topic at WITNess Success, a Salesforce community conference.

In this blog, we’ll explore the experiences of individuals who have learned Salesforce while managing disabilities, highlighting their strategies, successes, and the resources available to support them.

Emphasizing the importance of accessible online learning modules to learn Salesforce while overcoming disabilities

The Salesforce community includes inspiring members who have shared insights into the experiences of individuals with disabilities learning Salesforce.

Here’s what they have to offer.

Akasia Parran

Akasia Parran, who has been legally blind for five years, found her path to a Salesforce career through the support of the Blind Institute of Technology and Salesforce’s accessible online learning modules.

Akasia completed her Salesforce Administrator certification in just six months. “I wouldn’t have a career without Salesforce’s continuing efforts to create accessible software,” she shares.

This accomplishment showcases the significant impact of accessible technology on career development​ (Salesforce)​​ (Trailhead | The fun way to learn)​.

Thomas Frantz

Thomas Frantz, Senior Manager of Accessibility Partnerships and External Communications at Salesforce, emphasizes the role of inclusive design and community support.

He has been instrumental in promoting accessibility within Salesforce and shares how the company’s efforts have helped him and many others thrive in their careers.

His work continues to foster a culture of inclusion and accessibility within the tech industry​ (Salesforce)​.

Leveraging Assistive Technologies

A range of assistive technologies is available to help users with disabilities learn Salesforce.

• Screen readers like JAWS and NVDA help visually impaired users navigate the Salesforce interface.
• Voice recognition software such as Dragon NaturallySpeaking enables users to input data and commands through speech, which can be particularly beneficial for those with mobility impairments or dyslexia.
• Alternative input devices, like adaptive keyboards and mice, provide valuable support, allowing users to interact with Salesforce more comfortably and efficiently.

Seeking Personalized Support

One of the most effective strategies for learning Salesforce with a disability is to seek personalized support.

The Salesforce Trailblazer Community is a fantastic resource where users can connect with others who share similar experiences. Local user groups and accessibility resources provide additional guidance and support. By reaching out to these communities, users can access tailored advice, mentorship, and encouragement.

Embracing Universal Design

Inclusive design practices ensure that Salesforce training materials and resources are accessible to users of all abilities. Organizations should advocate for and implement universal design principles, ensuring their training content is user-friendly and accommodating. This includes providing alternative formats for materials, ensuring compatibility with assistive technologies, and creating an inclusive learning environment.

Building a Supportive Community

Fostering a culture of empathy and support within the Salesforce community is essential for empowering disabled users. Encouraging open dialogue about challenges and sharing strategies for overcoming them helps create a more inclusive and understanding environment. Users should feel empowered to share their experiences, learn from one another, and support each other in their Salesforce journeys.

Learning Salesforce with a disability may present unique challenges, but it is possible to succeed with the right strategies, resources, and community support.

Remember, your unique perspective is a source of strength, and your experiences can inspire and empower others on their learning journeys.

Original article: Empowering Users to Overcome Disabilities and Learn Salesforce

©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

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Well, we’ve got another TrailblazerDX completed and in the history books, and boy was it a good one. While it seemed like a smaller crowd this year compared to 2023, the vibe and excitement of what’s on the horizon for Salesforce was off the charts! 

I’ve never been more excited to be a part of this community. Keep on reading for my top takeaways from this year’s event and what this means for technologists. 

#TDX24: Get your sunglasses, cuz the future is looking bright!

We headed to San Francisco along with several thousand of our Salesforce friends for the annual Salesforce developer-focused conference. The conference took place March 6-7, 2024, and it included more than 300 technical sessions and hands-on workshops. The focus for the conference was the Einstein 1 Platform and the era of AI.

This year, Heather Rinke and I had the pleasure of presenting a session at TrailblazerDX along with our friend Arvind Raman, who is a director of partner product success, at Salesforce. The session is called 5 Tips for Getting Started with Data Cloud, and you can check out the recording on Salesforce+ here.

My top 2024 TrailblazerDX takeaways

These are the biggest takeaways I have from the 2024 TrailblazerDX conference.

Smart AI for smarter decisions

TrailblazerDX 2024 showcased Salesforce’s cool AI updates all made possible through the Einstein 1 Platform, making data work harder for businesses. Think better insights, smarter analytics — it’s like having a crystal ball for making savvy decisions. And bonus points for now supporting unstructured data! That’s going to truly be a game-changer.

Keeping it simple, keeping customers happy

Salesforce — the Customer Company — is about making life easier for businesses. They’re focused and committed to simplifying the complexity of connecting the dots between customer data via Data Cloud — across the entire tech stack and more recently multi-org, so you can give your customers that “wow” experience every time. No more guessing games — just happy customers.

Coding made easy

Forget the days of complex code. At TrailblazerDX 2024, Salesforce rolled out tools like Einstein 1 Studio that make coding a breeze. It’s like giving developers and administrators superpowers to create awesome stuff without breaking a sweat. And to be clear this goes beyond the clicks, not code theme in past years. We’ve gone from a click-based GUI to a conversational experience. 

Locking down security

Cybersecurity’s a big deal, and Salesforce knows it. They’ve beefed up security features to keep your data safe from prying eyes both externally and internally (check out data spaces). It’s like having a digital security guard on duty 24/7. 

Learning and growing together

TrailblazerDX 2024 wasn’t just about tech — it was about community — a community that broke the Guinness Book World Record for Einsteins. It’s a place where people come together to share ideas, learn new things, occasionally color, and grow together. Because when we collaborate, amazing things happen.

Why we techies should get excited

1. Innovation at Your Fingertips: With Salesforce’s AI goodies, we tech nerds can get creative and drive innovation like never before. It’s like having a toolbox full of cool gadgets to play with.
2. No more spreadsheets: Unified customer data means less hassle. No more manual list pulls, digging through endless spreadsheets, or joining multiple tables together using SQL — we can now spend our efforts actually using the data versus trying to get the data. One of my favorite sayings: Work smarter not harder!!
3. Coding, Simplified: Low-code tools mean less time coding and more time creating awesome stuff. It’s like having a shortcut to building cool features without all the headaches.

What this means at Sercante 

As a trusted Salesforce partner, we’ve been keeping a pulse on the latest platform innovations and future planned roadmap developments and as a result, have refocused too. ICYMI you might have noticed we had a bit of a glow-up!  

“Our rebranded mission, the statement that guides us through our day-to-day, is to use Salesforce to create seamless digital experiences with radical impact. Looking toward our long-term goals, our vision is a tech-driven future where real connections thrive.”

Based upon the key takeaways mentioned earlier related to AI, keeping it simple, and less code — we see a future where it will be less about the how and more about the why. The why is strategy.  

Of course, you’ll still find Salesforce consultants performing hands-on keyboard work on our team, but we’re so much more than that and will continue to lean into it. We’re focused on the human side of technology with strategies that get to the heart of impactful growth. As I stated at the beginning, there has never been more of an exciting time to be part of the Salesforce ecosystem and Sercante. 

So, in closing, I hope you enjoyed my top takeaways from TrailblazerDX 2024, served up with a side of Sercante expertise. Send us a message and let’s make some magic happen together!

Dragons Out!

Original article: TrailblazerDX 2024: The Salesforce Conference Recap You Need

©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

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Marketing Cloud Growth Edition is here and its infrastructure represents a fundamental shift compared to Account Engagement. While Account Engagement is “near core,” Marketing Cloud Growth Edition is built on the Einstein 1 platform and leverages Data Cloud, Flow, and Einstein capabilities. This signals a shift in the skills that marketers will need in the future. But don’t worry, we’ve curated some resources to help you get a head start.   

Is Marketing Cloud Account Engagement being retired? 

Absolutely not. This question has come up in just about every social post that I’ve seen and has been addressed in detail in the blogs below by Andrea Tarrell and Erin Duncan, so we’re not going to dig too deeply into it here. 

The short reason is that Marketing Cloud Growth Edition is a distinct offering geared toward small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs). However, innovations and features from this product will make their way into Marketing Cloud Account Engagement, so there will be a need for marketers to evolve their skills.

• The Marketing Cloud That Broke the Internet (& 5 Key Takeaways)
• Announcing Marketing Cloud Growth Edition

What are these new skills that you keep mentioning? 

After playing with Marketing Cloud Growth Edition a bit, three areas really stood out to me.

• Audiences are created using Data Cloud
• Assets are built with Experience Cloud
• Automations (including email series) are powered by Salesforce Flow

While Data Cloud, Experience Cloud, and Flow might sound a little scary, these represent great opportunities for Account Engagement pros to develop new skills. To make things even easier, Salesforce has provided excellent learning resources for all these topics in Trailhead. Let’s get started!

Data Cloud

Data Cloud is a dream come true for marketers. Imagine having all your customer data from different applications centralized in a single location and available when creating your marketing segments. Imagine no more as that’s exactly what Data Cloud delivers.

Marketers need a general understanding of the tool and key terminology. They will also need to be able to utilize Data Cloud to build segments.

Key Data Cloud Terms

• Data Stream: A data source ingested into Data Cloud. Examples include Salesforce CRM and Amazon S3 – and many more.
• Data Lake Object (DLO): A storage container for the data ingested into data streams.
• Data Model Object (DMO): A Data Cloud object created from data streams, insights, and other sources.
• Customer 360 Data Model: Data Cloud’s standard canonical data model. Data ingested into Data Cloud is mapped to DMOs found in the Customer 360 Data Model.
• Starter Data Bundles: A Salesforce-defined data stream that includes mapping to the Data Cloud DMO structure.

Here are some of the sources that can be used as data streams in Data Cloud

Recommended Trailhead Modules

• Data Cloud for Marketing Basics
• Segmentation and Activation
• Create a Data Stream in Data Cloud (I highly recommend this module to get hands-on experience with data cloud)

Here’s an example of how a segment focusing on Sales and Marketing titles based in the United States would look in Marketing Cloud Growth Edition.

Experience Cloud

Assets in Marketing Cloud Growth are built using Experience Cloud. The experience feels similar to the Account Engagement Lighting Builders, but the foundation is different and there are some cool upgrades. I’m a big fan of the campaign-based workflow, the ability to publish/unpublish forms, and the ease with which forms can be styled — without the need for CSS.

Marketing Cloud Growth Email Builder

Marketing Cloud Growth Form Builder

At this time, the best way to prepare for the asset-building experience in Marketing Cloud Growth is to get hands-on with the lightning builders in Account Engagement. If you have not yet enabled them in your org, take a moment to do so using this blog as a guide. You can still access and use the classic builder after the lighting builder is activated, so you are not locked into a single builder.

Recommended Trailhead Modules

• Set Up a Customer Site with Experience Cloud (while not directly related to the Marketing Cloud Growth builders, this is a fun project to learn about Experience Cloud.)

Salesforce Flow

Salesforce Flow is at the heart of Marketing Cloud Growth and represents a great learning opportunity for account engagement pros. Flow has historically been the solution of choice for Salesforce admins when creating declarative automations within Salesforce, but it’s now a marketing tool as well (and you’re going to love it).

Marketing Cloud Growth generates a pre-built flow when assets are created. These are an excellent starting point and can be customized to specify tracking (for emails), subscriptions, and wait step times (in minutes, hours, days, months, or a specific time of day).  Branch logic can also be added to further customize the recipient journey and more features are on the roadmap for future releases.

Flow is one of the tools that is best learned by doing. Fortunately, there are plenty of great Trailhead modules, projects, and superbadges on this topic. If you learn better with the help of an instructor, our Salesforce Flow Basics For Marketers Workshop is for you!

Recommend Trailhead Modules

• Flow Builder Basics
• Build a Simple Flow

There are also a few posts on the Spot that will guide you, step-by-step, through creating flows that address common marketing needs. These are fun little projects that are highly relevant, so be sure to check them out. As always, practice in your sandbox or Trailhead org.

• How to Automatically Create Campaign Member Statuses in Salesforce
• How to Manage Salesforce Campaign Activation with a Simple Flow

Start building your Marketing Cloud Account Engagement skills for the future 

The current release of Marketing Cloud Growth Edition is not a replacement for Account Engagement, but it does give us a glimpse into the future. Many innovations and features from  Marketing Cloud Growth Edition will make their way into Marketing Cloud Account Engagement, so it’s time to begin evolving your skills in preparation.

Original article: Evolving Your Skills as an Account Engagement Pro

©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

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The role of marketers is continually evolving. This is especially true for those working within the Salesforce ecosystem. With the advent of advanced technologies, products, and functionalities to support — all while sticking to data-driven strategies — marketers are expected to adapt and expand their skill sets to stay competitive and relevant in the industry. 

One significant shift that I see for Marketing Cloud Engagement professionals is the need to add Data Cloud and Flows into their skill repertoire. 

In this blog post, we’ll explore why Marketing Cloud Engagement professionals should upgrade their skills to include Data Cloud and Flows, along with practical steps to start this learning journey.

Why upgrade your Marketing Cloud Engagement skills?

1. It’s the future for the Mothership

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re likely very aware of how much rapid growth and development Salesforce has invested in its Data Cloud product — not only are the release cycles happening much more frequently than other products. This in turn unlocks new features and integration points with other products in the ecosystem, and there’s also a version of Data Cloud being offered at $0 for Sales and Service Cloud customers and just recently announced for Marketing Cloud Customers too. 

If that’s not a sign, I’ll give you one more reason: Data Cloud is the data foundation and Flows power automation for Salesforce’s new product, Marketing Cloud Growth Edition. Marketing Cloud Growth Edition is built on Einstein 1, which has been the pipe dream for many of us Marketing Cloud Engagement fans who have dealt with wonky UX, and clunky integrations over the years. Reading between the lines, cough cough SAFE Harbor cough cough sometime in the future (likely a few years), there will be a single marketing automation application that current Marketing Cloud Account Engagement and Engagement users will want to use.

So now that I’ve convinced you (hopefully) of the WHY — let’s dive into how these tools/features can help you as a marketer.

2. Become a better marketer by offering better customer experiences  

Enhanced Targeting and Personalization

Data Cloud can enable you to take your target and personalization efforts even further when using Data Cloud with Marketing Cloud Engagement through segmentation and activation. 

Data is the lifeblood of modern marketing. By incorporating a solid understanding and foundation of data models and the Data Cloud platform into your skill set, you’ll be able to visioncast and architect how to leverage vast repositories of consumer data, enabling you to create more targeted and personalized marketing campaigns and customer experiences. 

Understanding how to leverage data effectively within Data Cloud allows you to segment your audiences more precisely, tailor your messaging, and deliver content that resonates with individual preferences and behaviors in Marketing Cloud Engagement and beyond. (you also might want to read up on Consent Management)

Seamless Automation and Optimization

For those who have no clue about Flows (no I’m not talking about the Progressive Lady), let’s give you a breakdown:  Flows allow you to build complex business automation using clicks instead of code. For Salesforce admins, Flows are your best friends because they allow you to be able to handle the majority of complex business requirements without the help of a Salesforce developer.

Flows are not currently a feature/functionality in Marketing Cloud Engagement however it accomplishes many of the same needs you’d use Automation Studio and Journey Builder for. While the need and exposure for flows in your immediate feature might be limited, getting familiar and a basic foundation will allow you to go further faster in the future.

3. Gain a Competitive Edge and Future-Proofing

Marketers who embrace emerging technologies and methodologies gain a significant advantage in a competitive landscape. By upgrading your skills to include Data Cloud and Flows, you position yourself as a forward-thinking marketer capable of leveraging cutting-edge tools to drive results. Moreover, as the marketing landscape continues to evolve, proficiency in these areas ensures that you remain adaptable and prepared for future developments in the industry.

How to start your learning journey

1. Make time for training and education

For many practitioners, finding or making the time for training and education can be hard. As the old adage goes, “Investing in yourself is the best investment you will ever make.” So, invest!  As your reward for reading through this entire article, we’ll provide you with our recommended learning path to begin upskilling in these areas.

Begin by seeking out training programs and educational resources focused on Data Cloud and Flows. Many online platforms offer courses and certifications specifically tailored to marketers looking to expand their skill sets in these areas. Look for reputable sources such as industry-leading tech companies, online learning platforms, or professional associations.

2. Be realistic

Just like most things — be realistic with your goals. As they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Getting a shiny new certification might be the goal for some but doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the right goal for you. Set learning goals that make sense for your current role, day-to-day responsibilities, and where you want to go in your career.

3. Look for hands-on practice and experimentation

Theory is essential, but practical experience is equally crucial. Take advantage of sandbox environments or trial versions of Data Cloud and Flows functionality. (Unlike Marketing Cloud Engagement — these do exist!) 

From experimenting with building automated workflows, setting up data streams, mapping data, and creating segments to exploring data analytics tools, and analyzing results, hands-on experience will deepen your understanding and proficiency in these areas.

4. Collaborate and Network

Engage with peers and industry professionals who are already proficient in Data Cloud and Flows. Join online communities, attend webinars, and participate in networking events to exchange knowledge, seek advice, and learn from others’ experiences. Collaborating with experts in the field can provide valuable insights and accelerate your learning process.

Conclusion

As marketing continues to evolve in the digital age, we see Data Cloud and Flows becoming increasingly vital for success. By upgrading your skills in these areas, you can unlock new opportunities for not only yourself but also for ultimately driving better results for your organization. Start your learning journey today:

Data Cloud Learning Path

• Administer Data Cloud  (Trail)
• Build Data Strategy for Data Cloud (Trail)
• Enhance Data in Data Cloud  (Trail)
• Explore Data Cloud (Trail)
• Model Data in Data Cloud (Trail)
• Create a Data Stream In Data Cloud (Project)
• Prepare for your Salesforce Data Cloud Consultant Credential (Trail Mix)
• Data Cloud Quick Start Guide (Trail Mix)
•  Salesforce Data Cloud Product (Video)

Flows Learning Path

• Salesforce Flows (Workshop)
• Build Flows with Flow Builder (Trail)
• Automate Your Business Processes with Salesforce Flow (Trail)
  • Build a Simple Flow (Project)
• Flow Elements and Resources Specialist (Superbadge)
• Screen Flow Specialist (Superbadge)
• Screenless Flow Specialist (Superbadge)
• Flow Management Specialist (Superbadge)

Original article: Evolving Your Skills as a Marketing Cloud Engagement Practitioner

©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

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There’s some fear in the air.

I’m sensing major mixed emotions swirling for many with the announcement of Marketing Cloud Growth Edition and the vision of marketing automation on the Einstein 1 (a.k.a. Salesforce core) platform.

On the one hand — it’s everything we’ve all been asking for. True one platform, no-integration-needed shared infrastructure for marketing to work seamlessly with all customer data. 

But there’s a glimmer of doubt with people thinking: “What does this mean for me? Are my skills still relevant? What does this mean for my product, my team, or my consulting business?” 

Don’t bet on innovation being slow 

There is a very large population of people who benefit from the status quo as it sits today. 

Employees benefit from their skills being in demand to drive up compensation. 

Consultants benefit from their experience being rare and slow to accumulate to stay relevant.

Product companies have grown to address a specific product gap or market need in today’s toolset.

But if the technology changes, all of that gets disrupted. When I hear people asking about timelines for the expansion of Marketing Cloud Growth Edition, I feel like they’re actually hoping that the pace of innovation on this will be slow. When I tell them I don’t think that’s going to be the case, that statement is met with uneasiness, and it’s clear that‘s not what they were hoping to hear.

Big change takes time, for sure. But I really wouldn’t bet on this freight train moving slowly. This has been a long time coming, and there’s momentum behind this new product that is incredibly exciting.

Remember that the technology is only one piece of the puzzle

I think that the fear of change here is somewhat misplaced.

Yes, there is a lot of power in the technical knowledge of any platform — Marketing Cloud Engagement, Account Engagement (Pardot), Salesforce, and any number of new tools.

But even harder to come by are the soft and business skills that make you successful with those platforms. Things like: 

• Understanding business process
• Mapping out data relationships 
• Wrangling colleagues from across sales, marketing, customer service, and product to get agreement on content 
• Training and driving the adoption of a new tool or process
• Defining project plans and dependencies with the work of other teams 
• The logistics that go into the execution of any complex campaign 
• Spotting a gap or a need, and the extreme ownership you bring to “I’m going to figure out how to solve it” 
• Spreading best practices & defining standard processes
• Breaking complex terminology into terms anyone on your team can understand

Just think about your job today: How much of it is actually hands-on configuration in a tech platform, and how much of it is “tech-adjacent” planning, organizing, collaborating, and communicating? 

I bet it’s a blend of both, and as you move up the ladder in your career the “tech adjacent” becomes more critical.

Time to go back to school 

So, if we could flip a switch and change all customers to the new platform overnight — the skills and experience we’ve all gained from many years on Pardot and Marketing Cloud are still super useful, even if we’re logging in at a different URL. 

We’re not being sent back to the starting line. But we do probably have some relearning to do to keep our edge and stay relevant. But I choose to view that as exciting and not daunting. (Well maybe a little daunting. But I’m going to crack open a Red Bull and push through.) 

The way I think of it is this: Someone has to emerge as leaders, thinkers, and builders on any new platform. Who better than you and I? Let’s leverage the hard-won experience in this ecosystem as a springboard in this next chapter. 

Let’s lean into the next-gen set of tools that are going to bring marketing strategies to life on the Salesforce platform, and let’s go build some cool stuff.

Some quick shameless plugs

I can’t resist sharing two more things on this topic…

#1: Check out our Salesforce Flow for Marketers course

Flow is a big piece of how Marketing Cloud Growth Edition users can automate customer journeys. Need to brush up on your skills? Sercante has a Salesforce Flow Basics for Marketers Workshop that will kickstart your learning.

#2 Come join a team of growth-minded learners

When change is in the air, it’s a great time to be among like-minded learners. If this article resonated with you, I would invite you to come check out roles on the Sercante team. We’re committed to always learning, always chasing that edge, and we are eagerly seizing opportunities to get our team’s hands on the “next gen” ASAP. It’s a great spot to try on new skills and figure out the role you want to play in the next chapter of your career. Drop us a note at hiring@sercante.com if you’d like to chat!

Original article: What Marketing Cloud Growth Edition Means for Your Career

©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

The post What Marketing Cloud Growth Edition Means for Your Career appeared first on The Spot.

I want to clear up a misconception that I’m hearing in the Salesforce world about the great $0 SKU Data Cloud debacle.

As you may recall, Salesforce announced at Dreamforce 2023 that a Data Cloud edition would be available at no cost to Sales and Service Cloud Enterprise Edition clients. This was also mentioned in Salesforce’s February 2024 press release around Marketing Cloud Growth Edition. 

To be clear, you still need Sales or Service Enterprise Edition to take advantage of this offer. Having just Marketing Cloud does not make you eligible.

Sales and Service Enterprise Edition Customers: What to do about no-cost Data Cloud offer

Now that we’ve clarified any confusion, you might say, “Great, I have Enterprise Edition — I want to get an account provisioned today!” And I would say, “Get prepared first.”

Data Cloud is a game-changer capable of driving remarkable transformation within your organization. Hence, having a well-crafted plan, strategy, and vision in place is paramount.

It’s the basis and foundation of change management — without a plan, vision, consensus, understanding, etc., you might as well stop before you even start.

Speaking from experience, diving into Data Cloud without a clear plan often leads to:

1. Misconceptions: A perceived lack of product value.
2. Tension: Without a collaborative mindset, conflicts can arise.
3. Loss of Momentum: Initial interest and excitement wane over time.

However, before devising a plan, it’s crucial to assess your organization’s readiness. 

Data Cloud Readiness Criteria

Consider these five key aspects:

1. Data Quality: How accurate and complete is your data? Does it account for individual privacy preferences? 
2. Access: Does your organization have the ability to open up your tech stack and bust data silos?
3. Actionability: What is your ability to use new data to improve growth programs across various channels?
4. Commitment: Company-wide, is there a long-term commitment and investment for a customer data platform (CDP)?
5. Goals: Do you have a shortlist of the simplest and most important objectives to begin with?

Get a Data Cloud Readiness Assessment

We’re here to assist you in preparing for Data Cloud. Reach out to explore our Data Cloud Readiness Assessment offering so you can be sure your organization is primed for success.

Original article: Data Cloud No Cost Edition: Get Ready First

©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

The post Data Cloud No Cost Edition: Get Ready First appeared first on The Spot.

ICYMI: Salesforce dropped a hot product announcement yesterday. And she’s called Marketing Cloud Growth Edition. 

There was a flurry of blogs and social postings following the official drop of the Salesforce press release, notably: 

• Salesforce Ben
• Anthony Lamot
• Timo Kovala
• Eliot Harper
• Natasha Martin

To hear some talk, MC Growth Edition is going to instantly change everything and be the best thing in the world. 

On the flip side of the spectrum, I’ve seen some hyper-skeptical commentary around MC Growth Edition. “It’s SMB only”, “It’s going to take years to catch up”, and “You don’t have to worry about this now,” (I’m sensing a twinge of fear/self-doubt intermingled in these statements, though).

Like most things involving extreme opposites, the current reality and answer to “What is Marketing Cloud Growth Edition?” is somewhere in the middle of these two takes.

Let’s dig into some of the nuances here and read the tea leaves. If I could boil this down to a top 5 highlights, they would be: 

1) Marketing Cloud Growth Edition is built on “Core,” and that’s a fundamental advantage for innovation 

Marketing Cloud Growth Edition is built on the Einstein 1 platform — aka the same underlying infrastructure as Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Experience Cloud, Data Cloud, and recently, Commerce Cloud. 

Marketing Cloud Engagement is NOT on core today (but it’s integrated).

Pardot / Marketing Cloud Account Engagement IS on core… kind of. It’s a blend of on and off-core. Call it “near core” if you need another buzzword for your collection.

Many long-time Pardot customers have been rallying around the vision for “Pardot on Platform” for the last several years. And if you’ve been watching closely, you may have noticed that many of the product enhancements delivered in recent years have been either built-in core, rely heavily on components from core, or had prerequisites of things like enabling SSO with core. 

Why does this “on core” distinction matter, though? The simplified answer is that as new things are released, you can take advantage of those within other “on-core” tools. Examples would include things like Flow for automation, UI enhancements like Path, improvements to Salesforce reporting functionality, etc. These product innovations can be leveraged for the most part across objects and clouds that are built on core. 

So TL;DR — MC Growth Edition being on the Einstein 1 platform means that when enhancements are added to Salesforce and Data Cloud, we don’t have to wait for an integration to come out to use them in the marketing department. We will be able to take advantage of these enhancements immediately, in many cases.

2) The significance isn’t what’s available now — it’s about the vision 

In subsequent posts on The Spot, we’re going to be getting way in the weeds of how MC Growth Edition works and outlining functions and constraints of the current builders. 

There will be edition comparison guides.

Screenshots.

Pros & cons lists.

But amidst all of this, I would emphasize that what’s generally available now isn’t the important thing to look at unless you are actively evaluating a platform to purchase in the next 30 days. The exciting thing about MC Growth Edition is about where the product is headed.

Salesforce has an aggressive vision for this, and looking at the speed with which Data Cloud has grown, I’m betting on them to move FAST.

3) Expect to see a focus on unifying builders & tooling 

A friction point for existing customers is there are usually several ways to do things in different clouds. We have two email builders in Pardot. Another email builder in Salesforce. And an entirely different content builder in Marketing Cloud Engagement. 

Expect to see these tools start to converge, with Marketing Cloud Growth Edition as the first mover for shared functionality. 

One email builder. 

One landing page builder. 

One segmentation engine (built on Data Cloud).

(P.S. The buzzword for this concept is “composable services” — as a new tool is built, expect to see it designed in a way that it can be used and leveraged in multiple parts of Salesforce. We’re already seeing examples of today for more behind-the-scenes things of Pardot/Marketing Cloud, like the backend email sending engine.)

4) This makes AI real 

I’ve been listening quietly to all of the headlines about generative AI for the last year. 

Listening, because as Thumper says, “if you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all.” 

The picture has been painted like this: 

• You’re working with smart marketing automation tooling
• You log in and the system can suggest a target audience for you 
• It can suggest a product offer for you 
• Heck, it can write your content from a campaign brief 
• AI tells you when to send your email
• AI makes it omnichannel 
• Campaign results come flooding in… and yes, AI analyzes that for you too 
• We cheers with our Mad Men era old fashioneds because the computers do all of the heavy lifting for us

That sounds nice, but also super unattainable with today’s tooling.

The elephant in the room: No one’s data is that organized. Systems remain super siloed. And the systems most customers are on today don’t solve for that. 

Until now. 

Marketing Cloud Growth Edition is the vision for how we move past that. It’s the beginnings of the shared infrastructure and unified data that get us to the AI-shaped pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Bring on the robots.

5) Existing customers are going to see the benefits too… without switching

Customers new to marketing automation, or new to marketing with Salesforce should absolutely evaluate MC Growth Edition.

Pardot and Marketing Cloud Engagement customers should wait a bit before asking themselves “Should I switch?” Largely because they may find they get some of the “good stuff” without having to switch.

We had two team members (one from a Pardot background, and one who’s an OG ExactTarget pro) participate in the pilot of MC Growth. What we saw is that Salesforce is thinking very carefully about how to share the value of the development work being done in MC Growth with its existing customer base. 

Over the next few months, customers will start to see new features you can opt into or just turn on in your org. It’s not going to be a “migration” or a requirement to move anything — just a gradual transformation and growth in the tools that are available to you as more of these composable services are built and shared.

The future looks bright 

One thing is for sure — the next chapter is going to be anything but boring for marketing technologists on the Salesforce platform!  I’ve never been more excited to grow in this ecosystem <3

Original article: The Marketing Cloud That Broke the Internet (& 5 Key Takeaways)

©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

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Let’s just start by stating a few facts: we live in a super-connected, yet totally disconnected world. Nobody wants to go back into the office (yes, I’m going here two sentences into this blog post, so hang on to your seats!), but everybody wants to be virtually plugged in 24/7. Nobody wants to actually drive to the store, but everybody wants the stuff they order from their phones to arrive the same day. 

How in the world do we actually reach and keep up with our consumers?! It’s a funky time for marketers to market! 

People to power the tech strategies

We’re forced to rely on the creme de la creme of marketing products and strategies to keep up with the completely crazy consumer lifestyle. At this point, you’ve been living under a rock if you aren’t aware that Salesforce marketing tools have been a  top choice for companies both big and small for eons. Just last month alone, Salesforce was yet again announced as a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant — both for B2B Marketing Automation and Multichannel Marketing Hubs. Thank goodness for solutions!! 

So we’ve got this huge marketing opportunity, and we’ve got amazing tools from our friends over at Salesforce, but what happens next? NOTHING is more irritating than being told a product, appliance — really, anything — will solve all of our woes. And right after we sell the farm to pay for the golden solution, we realize we actually have no clue how to use it. 

That’s when frustration and immediate buyer’s remorse starts to sink in.  We so desperately need people to implement the technology [CORRECTLY] and teach us how to “do all the things.”   We need an advocate, a guide, a mentor, a technical wiz — someone who has walked in our shoes and will tell us exactly how the solution will make our lives much easier, as it was promised, once our sales rep is long gone chasing other deals down to meet their quota. The question is: what trees do these people grow on and how do we even know what to look for?

Key differentiators in MarTech talent 

Candidates are flying off the shelves. Offers are being extended left and right. Employees aren’t settling for “mediocre” in the name of loyalty as their parents and grandparents did and are now choosing to leave if they don’t feel a work environment, team, or job meets their expectations. Everyone is working fast to scoop up the top talent and retain them. 

Speaking of….What exactly defines “top talent” in MarTech?

To set the record straight: I hate despise strongly dislike the phrase “top talent.” It reminds me of old school staffing industry terminology where any candidate you wanted to pitch to a client is “top talent” <insert eyeroll and puke emojis>. 

But in reality, there are differentiators we look for here at Sercante when hiring that set candidates who could probably do the job apart from candidates we know our clients are going to be over the moon to work with. 

What exactly are these attributes, might you ask? Well dear reader, keep on reading. 

A technology lovin’ kinda person 

Yes, you may have your certs, that Coursera course on coding under your belt, and know your way around the backend of the system. But do you actually think it’s cool? Do you geek out on reworking the puzzle pieces to better serve the environment in which the technology will be used? Do you tinker with other related Salesforce marketing tools just because you like to? This is what sets apart someone who does it because they have to from someone who does it because they WANT to. 

I’ve told nearly every candidate I’ve hired in technology that the job will get boring very fast if you don’t actually think it’s cool and interesting. And I stand by that. You’ve gotta love the product for your excitement and knowledge to shine through to a customer. The passion for the technology in a candidate unlocks the keys to the kingdom for our clients.

The project manager hat 

Every job has some flavor of project management. Even in recruiting, we have hiring deadlines to meet. Hiring managers to chase down to make sure we stay on track. A budget to be mindful of, and an approval process if we need to go outside of the budget. Standing updates to give so they know we’re actually working and are aware of the wins and challenges. The list goes on!  

If you’re actually PMP certified, you’re probably rolling your eyes at this point because being a project manager means so much more than this — and, you’re right. We get it.

 BUT, there is truth that even if you’re the guru for Marketing Cloud implementations, if you can’t wrangle a bunch of other people who have competing deadlines and projects and drive them together towards a collective goal — you just ain’t gunna be successful (sorry not sorry for southern grammar to hit home the emphasis). That project management mindset and experience is crucial to make sure we do what we say we are going to do, the way we say we’ll do it, and nothing slips through the cracks. 

Mother Goose Instincts. I mean, a consultative approach. 

Being able to check off the to-do list is great and feels like an accomplishment. We did what we were asked to do — hooray! But, there’s more to it than a list. 

Knowing how to anticipate and recommend what even needs to be on the to-do list is what elevates a MarTech candidate. Leading with empathy. Anticipating what’s around the corner and planning ahead. Thinking big picture of how the project/implementation/audit/etc. impacts the rest of the business. Digging into the other pain points not mentioned in the original scope that we also may actually be able to help with in the future. 

These are all beautiful phrases that sound easy and natural, but in reality, take time and courage to develop. They are the difference between a “they can get the job done” kinda hire and a “our CSAT is 5/5 because Client XYZ can’t live without our consultant” kinda hire. 

Sercante + MarTech Talent = Success 

The Secret Sauce 

One question we often get from candidates interviewing with us is what sets us apart from the hundreds of other Salesforce partners in the ecosystem. We LOVE this question. It gives us an opportunity to show how we’ve been successful and in turn, why a lot of our customers choose us. 

In short, we’re marketers at heart. We truly love what we do. A lot of us started on the client side and have walked in a version of our customers’ shoes before. We want to empathize with you and make it easy (hello Sercante core value: Simplifying Complexity). It. Just. Shouldn’t. Be. That. Hard! We weren’t founded off of trying to be the world’s best or biggest consultancy. We were founded off of trying to help marketers and salespeople be wildly successful on the Salesforce platform. 

Landing this plane

If you are a  partner in the Salesforce ecosystem reading this, I hope it encourages you to lift the pen-to-paper bullet points off the job description and think more about the customer and how much of an impact each hire has on customer success, happiness, and truly the long-term success of your own organization. 

If you’re a Sercante client or prospective client who wants a peek behind the curtain as to how we deliver, I hope it’s reemphasized the amount of thought and quality that goes into staffing here at Sercante. If hiring in MarTech is still fuzzy, reach out — we’d love to hear from you and give the gift of knowledge that we’ve gratefully received over the years.

Original article: The Big Salesforce Consultant Differentiators: A Recruiter’s View

©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

The post The Big Salesforce Consultant Differentiators: A Recruiter’s View appeared first on The Spot.

In the beautiful sunshine and chill vibes of Clearwater Beach, FL, Salesforce community members of all kinds came together recently for Florida Dreamin’. The Dreamin’ events are community-led Salesforce conferences around the globe each with their personality. Florida Dreamin’ specifically strives to, “provide inspiration, coaching, and guidance on how to truly blaze your own trail.” 

This comes from a perceived, “gap in Salesforce education when it comes to career pathing and guidance.” From my experience as a first-time attendee, this conference lives up to its vision by serving up an abundance of project management/team dynamics & soft-skill content.  

Of the 44 sessions on offer, over half had a non-technical focus with topics spanning from career path advice and how to negotiate like a pro to advice on building diagrams and running demos that are informative and effective.

Some Soft-Skill Session Highlights

I attended many wonderful sessions across a variety of technical and non-technical topics, but wanted to highlight three soft-skill sessions in particular. Two of them I found especially illuminating and will be taking tips and tricks back to my consulting work and the third one is my speaking session, which I certainly hope provided impactful guidance to those in attendance.

5 Critical Change Management Steps for Successful Adoption

In this session, Paula Cervoni and Stacey Chery of Silverline emphasized the importance of dedicated and continual change management throughout the lifecycle of a project and into the training and adoption phase. Good change management helps get to the end goal of successful happy users which is what we all want! The change management steps Paula and Stacey outlined are:

• Alignment – to the vision and mission of the project with engagement from Stakeholders, SMEs, Executive Team Members, and end users
• Communication – a concerted strategy and communication plan to keep users informed every step of the way, 
• Training – curated applicable training paths for each user group/business role using real-world examples when possible to demonstrate utility, 
• Reinforcement – making sure that users are actively supported and know exactly who to go to when they have issues at go-live, 
• Measurement – getting some data behind adoption and success with both formal and informal measurement methods 

With these steps, you too can change manage with the best of them and help your projects succeed, not just from a technical perspective, but from an adoption and satisfaction perspective as well. 

The Surviving & Thriving Handbook for Accidental Admins 

I was honored to give my first-ever Salesforce speaking session at Florida Dreamin’ and am especially happy to be able to join in on the soft-skills theme. My session highlighted my journey into accidental adminship* at a nonprofit organization and the struggles I faced trying to be successful in my day-to-day job as well as my Salesforce Admin duties. 

To help bring myself from surviving to thriving, I enacted a number of actionable processes which streamlined my responsibilities, set expectations for my end users, and increased buy-in and end-user satisfaction. 

Suggested steps for others facing accidental adminship included:

• Establishing 2x yearly full organization Salesforce expectations and communication meetings 
• Offering regularly scheduled office hours to your end users 
• Identifying and leveraging your super users to be your champions, beta testers, and day-to-day support for other users in their departments
• Setting up a Salesforce Request queue process to allow the Admin to triage, manage, and systematically work through end-user needs and issues
• Bringing in a trusted partner, such as Sercante, for support

If this sounds like a topic you could use some support on please reach out to Sercante! We are here to help ease your Admin burden.

 * An Accidental Admin is, “someone who had not considered a career in Salesforce until some event brought Salesforce into their work life and who juggles Salesforce admin responsibilities in addition to their regular job” – Source: Salesforce Ben 

Just a Demo? Never! Always Demo Like a Pro

Jennifer Kinstle, Principal Architect at Zennify, gave a super practical guide on how to demo like a pro. She highlighted three key steps to a successful demo which ultimately can lead to increased adoption and project success. 

Her recipe for a great demo is the following:

1. Know the business  – Understand the specific audience you will be demoing to. Tailor your demo to the language and topics that will be most understood and valued by the demo audience.

2. Tell the story – A good demo has a beginning, middle, and end and works with an applicable business use case. Jennifer suggested always “share the why”  – making it clear to your audience why the demo is important to them and their business.

3. Prepare & practice – This includes preparing your space, both physical and digital to ensure there are no unexpected interruptions… error messages or chat messages, and the like.

Jennifer also advises tailoring your demo script to what you need. If you need a full line-by-line script, do that, if you do better with bulleted talking points, then go for it. She also highlighted the importance of the run-through, do the demo exactly as you would for the demo audience in the environment where you will be doing the final demo. This is a critical step to mitigate unexpected errors or bugs so you can fix them before show time.

Following the tips in this session, I feel like I will be able to improve the utility of my demos for my clients.

Florida Dreamin’ for the Win!

Florida Dreamin’ was a wonderful conference experience and a great place to give my first ever speaking session. The manageable size of the conference, beautiful location, and focus on soft skills and the Ohana spirit make this an ideal conference for everyone from the seasoned pro to the brand new trailblazer. 

Gorgeous ocean sunsets and delicious tiki drinks aside, this conference has a strong sense of community and inclusion with loads of meetups (including a nonprofit lunch meetup that I attended) and excursions. Folks were there to learn a lot, network, and have a fun time doing it, and I don’t think you can ask for much more out of a Dreamin’ event. 

Be sure to check out these other posts from my fellow dragons who attended Florida Dreamin’ with me and shared details about their favorite sessions there.

• The Art of Delivering Empathetic and Joyful User Experiences | Catherine Williams

• How to Write like a Marketer: Intro to AMPscript for Salesforce Marketing Cloud | Kayla Border

Original article: Florida Dreamin’: A Conference Where Soft Skills Shine

©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

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Living in a fast-paced world of technology, it’s easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of innovation and lose sight of the human element. We can occasionally prioritize the tools and systems we use over the people who rely on them. 

I had the honor of attending Florida Dreamin’ in October 2023. I was especially inspired by one session in particular.

Here’s a summary of that session.

Insights from Daniel Gorton’s Florida Dreamin’ Presentation

Daniel Gorton, a Salesforce architect with a unique background in social work and psychology, recently delivered a thought-provoking presentation at Florida Dreamin’ that reminded us of the importance of centering people within our technology discussions.

Here are the insights he shared.

Asking The Right Questions

Gorton, who defines himself as an “empathetic and multi-centered Salesforce architect,” captivated the audience with his perspective at the intersection of technology and social work. He posed essential questions that challenge our approach to change and user experiences, asking, “What are some ways we can be inclusive and intentional with change?” and “How do we make sure everyone has their needs met?”

Consider Learning Styles and Needs

One of the key takeaways from his presentation was the emphasis on inclusivity, considering diverse learning styles and needs. Gorton reminded us that individuals have varying comfort and experience levels with technology. This message couldn’t be more relevant as we continue to integrate artificial intelligence into our daily lives. In a separate presentation during Florida Dreamin where the A.I. Lay’s campaign “Messi Messages” came up and an audience member asked, “Just because we can, does it mean we should?” which reflects the unease many feel when confronted with different and evolving types of technology. 

Change management was also a focus of Gorton’s presentation. He stressed the importance of not just looking at systems but also focusing on the people behind it — those who build, test, approve, and use it. Gorton encouraged us to add value and create experiences that anticipate users’ needs, ultimately leading to joy and delight. He reminded us that even small gestures, like adding emojis, can brighten someone’s mood. Additionally, he underlined the fact that users teach us valuable lessons in the process.

Where Empathy and Strategy Meet 

Combining our empathetic sides with strategic approaches, such as focus groups, road mapping, and well-defined processes, can help bridge the gap between technology, those who work in it, and the end users.

Gorton urged the audience to “consider organizational context, system performance, & Salesforce well-architected best practices.” He provided several examples of how Sales Cloud does this today, citing Path as one of the easiest-to-offer UI features. 

Gorton also provided insights into best practices for training, emphasizing the importance of feedback and requests, encouraging feedback loops, and breaking down silos. He encouraged us not to be afraid to iterate and build slowly, ensuring that we can fine-tune our solutions over time.

Finally, Daniel Gorton’s presentation was a reminder that technology should enhance human experiences, not overshadow them. By being more inclusive, empathetic, and thoughtful in our approach, we can create solutions that bring not only use but also delight users. Let’s reflect on Gorton’s insights and let them serve as a valuable guide for how each of us can navigate through the intersection of technology and the people behind those systems. 

Get More Highlights from Florida Dreamin’

Be sure to check out these other posts from my fellow dragons who attended Florida Dreamin’ with me and shared details about their favorite sessions there.

• Florida Dreamin’: A Conference Where Soft Skills Shine | Abbey Freund
• How to Write like a Marketer: Intro to AMPscript for Salesforce Marketing Cloud | Kayla Border

Original article: The Art of Delivering Empathetic and Joyful User Experiences

©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

The post The Art of Delivering Empathetic and Joyful User Experiences appeared first on The Spot.