LinkedIn Lead Gen forms are definitely a favorite for those creating LinkedIn Ads, but what happens after people fill out the form? Ideally, you continue to market to LinkedIn leads by sending them your newsletters or adding them to a nurture program. If you are like me, you don’t want to manually export leads from LinkedIn and import them into your marketing platform. This is where Zapier comes in. 

Zapier is a user-friendly platform that allows you to automate a wide variety of workflows. With over 5,000 apps available, you can easily set up integrations without coding, including Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (f.k.a Pardot) and LinkedIn Ads. In this blog post, we’ll show you how you can automate the flow of leads from your LinkedIn Ads to Account Engagement in under five minutes.  

Deciding between two ways to automatically create Account Engagement leads from LinkedIn using Zapier

There are two ways that you can use Zapier to automatically create Account Engagement leads:

1. Use Zapier Apps LinkedIn Ad to Webhook, which uses an Account Engagement form handler
2. Use Zapier Apps Linkedin Ad to Pardot 

Here are the key things to consider when deciding which method to use:

API Call vs. Webhooks

The Pardot App within Zapier operates like an API call so there are some specific considerations:

• API calls are not supported with basic editions of Account Engagement, so you can only use webhooks.
• Records created by API calls will create a duplicate, so it would require additional steps in the Zap to prevent this if you’re using the Pardot App.

Duplicates from personal email addresses

• Leads from LinkedIn Lead Gen forms usually come in with personal email addresses, so you might have duplicates with different email addresses. 
• However, the webhook approach does allow for more control to ensure that a record is updated to reduce the risk of duplicates that can be created via API calls.

Webhooks Require a Zapier Paid Account

Account Engagement, LinkedIn Ads, and Webhook apps are considered Premium Apps and will require a paid Zapier account. Learn more about Zapier pricing here. 

LinkedIn Access Considerations

The LinkedIn Account used for the integration will need access to the LinkedIn Ads account, specifically the lead gen forms. 

Setup needed for each business unit

Have multiple Account Engagement business units? You will need to set up the Pardot integration for each business unit. 

Approach 1: Using Zapier Apps LinkedIn Ad to Webhook 

Step 1: Create Lead Gen Forms in LinkedIn Ads

First, you’ll create your LinkedIn Lead Gen form. To help make testing easier, submit a test submission. 

Step 2: Create Assets In Salesforce and Account Engagement

1. Create Salesforce Campaign 

• Update campaign member status as needed

2. Create Form Handler

Next, you’ll create your form handler in Account Engagement

Settings to configure:

1. Use Kiosk/Data Entry Mode –  so that we don’t cookie Zapier!
2. Set Success and Error Locations

• Add any completion actions needed, examples include:
  • Add to list
  • Add to campaign
  • Send Autoresponder email
• Add/map fields
  • Only make the email address required

Step 3: Create a Zap in Zapier for LinkedIn Registration

Step 1: New Form Response in LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms

1. Choose app & event as “LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms”
2. Trigger event as “New Lead Gen Form Response Response”

3. Choose Account as “LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms”
4. In the setup trigger, choose LinkedIn Account and select the respective Lead Gen Form
5. Test trigger for this action by submitting a test lead on the LinkedIn Lead Gen form

Step 2: Action Post In Webhooks by Zapier

1. Search “Webhooks by Zapier”  and select Action “Post” 

2. Configure Actions by updating URL and mapping data fields with the External Field Name in the Form Handler. 

3. Test the webhook

The final zap will look like this:

Step 3: Verify Submission in Account Engagement

Navigate to the form handler to confirm that the test submission appears

Step 4: Activate the Zap and LinkedIn Ad

Don’t forget to turn on your zap and your ad!

Approach 2: Using Zapier Apps Linkedin Ad to Pardot 

Step 1: Create Lead Gen Forms in LinkedIn Ads

Step 2: Create Assets In Salesforce and Account Engagement

1. Create Salesforce Campaign 

• Update campaign member status as needed

2. Create List
3. Create other marketing assets as needed, examples include:
   • Autoresponder email
   • Add list to any engagement studio programs 
4. Create an Automation Rule

Rule: 

• Prospect List is a member of the LinkedIn Lead Gen List

Actions – add as many as necessary but here are a few recommendations: 

• Assign Prospect
• Add to CRM Campaign xxx with “Responded” status
• Adjust Prospect score 
• Update any field values

Step 3: Create a Zap in Zapier for LinkedIn Registration

Step 1: New Form Response in LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms

1. Choose app & event as “LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms”
2. Trigger event as “New Lead Gen Form Response Response”
3. Choose Account as “LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms”
4. In the setup trigger, choose LinkedIn Account and select the respective Lead Gen Form
5. Test trigger for this action by submitting a test lead on the LinkedIn Lead Gen form

Step 2: Find or Create Prospect in Pardot

1. Choose app & event as “Pardot” and Action Event as “Find Prospect”
2. Choose your Pardot account
3. Update set-up actions to map fields, and add all fields gathered in your lead gen form:
   • Email Address
   • First Name
   • Last Name
4. Test your step

Step 3: Add Prospects to List in Pardot

1. Choose app & event as “Pardot” and Action Event as “Add Prospect to List”
2. Choose your Pardot account in the next step
3. Update set-up action with the following fields
   • List – Choose the list you have created in Pardot for this campaign
   • Prospect – Update this field with Prospect ID
4. Test your step

Your final zap will look like this: 

Step 4: Verify Submission in Account Engagement

Navigate to the list that you created and confirm the test lead submission is showing on the list. 

Step 5: Turn on the Zap and Automation Rule in Account Engagement

Once you have finished testing your Zap and know that the leads are flowing with the data as expected, you can turn on your Zap.  Avoid technical debt by pausing your automation rule when your LinkedIn Ad is no longer active. 

Now that Zapier is configured, what’s next?

Go forth and build more Zaps!  Remember, you have to create a new Zap for each LinkedIn Lead Gen form. 

Need help with other integrations? Reach out to the team at Sercante to get the conversation going.

Original article: From LinkedIn to Account Engagement: Linking Lead Gen Forms Using Zapier

©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

The post From LinkedIn to Account Engagement: Linking Lead Gen Forms Using Zapier appeared first on The Spot.

Migrating from one marketing automation platform (MAP) to another can be nerve wracking. You are bound to be overwhelmed and not know where to start. But I once had a high school coach say “nervousness equals readiness.” And while that didn’t always ease the nerves before a big race, it has stuck with me all these years. So embrace the change as you prepare for your marketing automation platform migration!

I have been on both sides of a marketing automation platform migration project — both as a person who owns the platform and as a consultant. I want to share some of the learnings from those experiences to make the process a little less painful for anyone who’s just getting started. 

Remember the reasons you are changing MAPs

Since we work through so many marketing automation migration projects where we help our clients switch to Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot), we’ll use those migrations as an example for the purposes of this blog post. 

Marketing teams are usually migrating to Account Engagement for one of a few reasons:

• It works better with Salesforce 
• Their current MAP is not easy to understand
• They are looking for better support
• Budget

Migrating to Account Engagement means you get one unified platform for sales and marketing, which for marketers means one less system to have to log into! 

With Engagement History on leads, contacts, and accounts, your sales team has insight into engagement with marketing activities right on their record. And a lot of marketing technology (martech) integrates with Salesforce. 

That means you can, more often than not, pull that information into Account Engagement to use in your audience segmentation.

Account Engagement is not ‘Insert Marketing Automation Platform Name Here’

Regardless of the reason you are migrating to Account Engagement, you need to remember that Account Engagement might not be able to do everything the same way as your existing MAP — but that isn’t a bad thing! There is most likely a solution for it using native functionality or customizing code. 

I have seen clients say they want everything in Account Engagement to be how it is in their current MAP. This approach will most likely cause some headaches down the road. Take a step back and get an understanding of what the end goal of your process is today so it can be translated into Account Engagement, and then look at how it can be done within Account Engagement. 

Make sure you spend time on Trailhead to get an understanding of the basics of how Account Engagement works before you dive into migrating systems. 

Documentation will be critical for success — marketing ops rejoice!

The first step before starting to move over assets is to make sure that you have your processes documented. Not only will this help during migration but it will allow you to take a good look at how things are done today and try to improve where possible. 

Here are a few to make sure you document:

• User management – Who needs access? What type of access do they need? 
• Lead routing – When does a lead go to sales? What information is required before it goes to sales? Who is it assigned to? What happens if the lead is not ready? 
• Reporting – What are your KPIs? What system does reporting need to happen in? How do you need reporting – by campaign, by channel, by quarter, by month? 
• Lead and customer journeys – How and when do you engage with a lead? What about a customer? 
• Legal requirements – Is there specific language on forms, emails, and landing pages that we need to have?
• Overall martech stack – What tools are in your tech stack? How do they all work together? Do you have any new tech you are adding soon? 

Channel your inner Marie Kondo throughout your MAP migration

Regardless of how clean you think your current MAP is there will always be old assets and outdated processes. Channel your inner Marie Kondo and make sure you only migrate over what brings you joy — well, migrate what is still necessary for the future. Don’t worry you can always export reporting on old assets so you are losing that data.

This is not only about cleaning up your assets, now is the time to take a good look at what isn’t working well today and make improvements. This applies not only to processes but nurture programs and email and landing page experiences. 

Bonus: Account Engagement Cleanliness Resources

• 4 Things to Clean in Account Engagement for Faster Processing Times
• 13 Spring Cleaning Tips for a Spotless Pardot Org
• Foster A Junk-Free Pardot Org: Data Maintenance Tips
• How to Import Prospects Into Pardot While Ensuring Clean Data
• Supercharge Sales ‘Speed To Lead’ With Clean Pardot Data

Marketing automation migrations take time

While yes, technically, you can do a migration in 30 days, I suggest taking as much time as you can. This is  especially true if you have lots of nurture programs, email templates, and complex processes to migrate to the new system. 

This is not always possible. There are so many factors that go into this — especially budget and resources. 

So, have an honest conversation with your team about the timeline. Don’t forget to factor in overlap with your current MAP (at least a month), and try to give yourself a little padding for the unexpected and time off. 

Something will not go as planned

No matter how much you plan and prepare for a migration, something will not go as expected. AND THAT IS OKAY!!! 

You might find some custom code on a form you weren’t aware of. Or you could experience sync errors with Salesforce due to a validation rule you didn’t know existed. 

Just take a deep breath and know that it can be fixed. 

You don’t have to go through a MAP migration alone

Again, migration projects are scary. But you can work with consulting companies that go through these MAP migrations every day. Not only do they know all the processes and logistics for migrating to the new platform, but they’ve worked with companies that weren’t fully utilizing their MAP investment and found ways to improve user experience and adoption.

Working with a partner, like Sercante, can help make it less scary and make sure you get the maximum value out of your tools. 

Reach out to the team at Sercante as you get ready for your marketing automation platform migration. We’ve seen it all, so bring us your juiciest challenges!

Original article: Getting Real About Marketing Automation Platform Migration Projects

©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

The post Getting Real About Marketing Automation Platform Migration Projects appeared first on The Spot.

The Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) and Salesforce integration can be used to pass data back and forth between Pardot and Salesforce. In this article, learn everything about the Salesforce connector including what objects are synced, what happens if the prospect already exists in Pardot and how Pardot, and how to map Salesforce users to Pardot users.

Two different sync methods

• All Records 
• Select Records using Marketing Data Sharing 

Objects that sync from Salesforce to Pardot

• Leads
• Contacts
• Accounts
• Opportunities
• Campaigns
• Custom Objects (Available in: Pardot Advanced Edition and Available for an additional cost in: Pardot Plus Edition)

Synced but requires mapping in Pardot

• Users
• Custom Fields

Syncing prospects from Pardot to Salesforce

A prospect is synced to Salesforce when the record has been assigned to a user. A user can be assigned using a completion action or by using an automation rule.

Since Pardot uses email address as its unique identifier**, Pardot will check to see if there’s a contact in Salesforce with the same email address and then check if there’s a lead with the same email address. If there’s no email address that matches the prospect in Salesforce, Pardot will create a new lead in Salesforce. This can be illustrated with this flow chart.

You can also navigate to the connector settings and run a full sync.  Learn more about what causes a prospect to sync from Pardot to Salesforce here.

** If your Pardot account allows for multiple prospects with the same email address, there are some requirements for the record to sync to Salesforce. 

Syncing Prospects from Salesforce to Pardot

By default new leads and contacts within Salesforce will not sync over to Pardot automatically. There are 3 ways to sync new leads and contacts from Salesforce to Pardot:

• By clicking the send to Pardot button on the lead or the contact record in Salesforce.
• By manually uploading the lead or contact’s email address into Pardot.
• Enable the option in the Salesforce connector to ‘automatically create prospects if they are created as a lead or contact in Salesforce.com’. This feature is not retroactive so you will need to upload a CSV into Pardot that includes the CRM ID and email address to trigger Salesforce records to sync. 

• Run a full sync (Pardot Settings > Connectors > Gear Icon > Sync All Prospects)

Once the Pardot prospect and the Salesforce lead/contact are connected, Pardot will check for changes in Salesforce every 2-4 minutes. 

Connected Campaigns: Salesforce Campaigns and Pardot Campaigns 

The launch of Connected Campaigns in 2019 streamlined how Salesforce and Pardot campaigns are used, allowing management of campaigns to be managed within Salesforce. Plus, if you enable Campaign Member Sync your prospects will be added to campaigns as campaign members. 

Prospects can be added to a Salesforce campaign using the following methods:

• Automation Rules 
• Segmentation Rules
• Completion Actions
• Engagement Studio Program

When you set up a rule using one of these methods you will be able to see the action criteria to add to Salesforce campaign.

Mapping Fields Salesforce Fields to Pardot Fields

When you verify your Salesforce connector with Pardot, the default fields for leads/contacts and accounts are set up automatically. Any custom fields will need to be created in Pardot and mapped to the corresponding Salesforce field.

Mapping Salesforce Users to Pardot Users

Each Salesforce user will need to be created in Pardot as well, so you can assign Pardot prospects to a sales rep. You can create users in 4 ways:

• Manage User Sync In Pardot (Pardot Settings > Connectors > User Sync) by mapping Salesforce Profiles to Pardot Roles
• Manage User Sync In Salesforce 
• Create directly in Pardot (Pardot Settings > User Management > Users)

• Uploading a CSV file

Troubleshooting

I changed a contact’s email address in Salesforce, but the change isn’t syncing to Pardot.

This is the expected behavior of the Salesforce connector unless you have the setting Automatically change email addresses in Pardot to reflect changes in Salesforce.com enabled under the Salesforce connector settings.

My Prospects aren’t syncing to Salesforce.

First, check to see that there wasn’t an error while syncing the prospects to Salesforce. You can view sync errors by navigating to Pardot Settings > Connectors > Sync Errors

Fix any errors and try syncing the record with Salesforce again.

If you have no errors, make sure the record is assigned to a user. You can check this by clicking into the prospect in Pardot and looking for an assigned user under the Insight table.

Have other questions about the Pardot and Salesforce Integration? Ask in the comments!

Original article: Everything You Need to Know About the Pardot and Salesforce Integration

©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

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Congratulations and welcome to Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) family! Not sure where to start? We promise it is not as scary as you think it might be.  We have created this Pardot implementation plan and checklist to help get you started. After reviewing the official Pardot Implementation Guide, we created a project plan Google Sheet to keep track of tasks, notes, and documentation. 

Get the Pardot Implementation Checklist Template

Look for the method you’ll use to open the Pardot implementation checklist template below. You’ll also find instructions for using the template.

Google Users

If you have a Google Account: Click here to open the template in your browser and make a copy. Navigate to File > Make a copy > Update the document name and save to your drive.

Microsoft Excel Users

If you don’t have a Google account, you can download to an Excel file instead. To do that, open the template in your browser and make a copy. Navigate to File > Download > Microsoft Excel. 

Using the template

We have organized the templates into 3 different tabs: 

1. Tasks
2. Timeline
3. Key Documents  

Task lists

The task list is broken into 5 sections: Planning, General Set up & Technical Items, Salesforce Connector, Marketing Assets, and Integrations. The setup tasks include all the tasks listed in the official Pardot Implementation Guide.

Timeline

Sometimes it is good to see all the tasks visualized in a timeline, and you know someone is going to ask for it, so I added in a timeline tab just for that. Just update the start and due dates for your project and the timeline will also update.  

Key Documents

There are lots of planning discussions that happen when implementing Pardot, so you will want to document final decisions and make sure that everyone can easily access the documentation. 

For example, did you finalize your naming convention and folder structure? Make sure to put it in a document on a shared drive and add the link to this tab. 

Get Pardot Implementation Guidance

Still feeling overwhelmed with your implementation? Or have questions about Lightning builders or B2BMA setup? Don’t hesitate to reach out. The team at Sercante is here to help. 

Original article: A Free Pardot Implementation Checklist and Planning Template

©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

The post A Free Pardot Implementation Checklist and Planning Template appeared first on The Spot.