In the race of cloud marketing solutions, Salesforce (Pardot) and Adobe are the two competitors that we consistently hear about on a day to day basis. These two companies have been going head to head for quite some time ever since Adobe’s acquisition of Neolane and the rebranding to Adobe Campaign.
In a market where integrated, automated, marketing solutions that are data-driven are the standard, we feel that Adobe Campaign shines as the eventual victor in the battle of the marketing cloud. Their client awareness, market saturation, and superior integrative features, to us, will continue to gain momentum and help keep Adobe on top. We are not alone in thinking this way both Tech Giants Gartner and Forrester, seem to agree.
Let The Games Begin
While Adobe Campaign and Pardot have been in the marketing cloud space for several years it wasn’t until last year that things started to heat up between the two competitors. In 2017 when Adobe partnered with Microsoft to integrate Adobe Campaign with Microsoft’s own CRM Dynamics 365 it kicked off a new wave of innovation but threatened its main competitor; Pardot. As a counter, Pardot added the data-sharing platform Data Studio as well as a partnership with Sitecore and Google 360 analytics.
This one up you type of growth is not only fierce but underscores just how valuable and competitive the marketing cloud space has become. So how do you make a choice when choosing a platform? It seems that both companies have their advantages and as the months progress the gap between their offerings may continue to shrink. Well, we have our thoughts on that as well. Take a guess.
Adobe Is The Creative Space
Photoshop, Lightroom, Premier, Dreamweaver, any of these applications ringing any bells? Well, they should as they are all a part of Adobe’s Creative Cloud. Although these applications fall under Adobe and are technically separate from Adobe Campaign the overall awareness and brand saturation of their products is something Salesforce may never be able to top. It would be hard to find a team that is not using many of the products in Adobe’s creative arsenal.
Furthermore, Adobe is the main service provider of tools for everything marketing centers around; the creative pieces seen by the target audience. With any email campaign, graphic, video, or advertisement Adobe’s Creative Cloud is (for the most part), one of the few products used on a mass scale to build digital and print collateral, especially on a professional level. Coupled with data-driven campaign automation and digital distribution, this one-stop shop integration throughout the pipeline of marketing from creation to delivery is done all under the roof of one cloud system.
As a result, this means many agencies and professionals alike could tailor and deliver their marketing to the consumer in a faster and more efficient manner. When you add in Data, analytics, segmentation, and automation, as well as integration with complex data sources and applications, Adobe seems to be able to do it all.
Adobe Trumps The Market
The Adobe Marketing cloud itself is 8.07%of the market share and is utilized on over 46,344 websites as stated by Datanyze, a leader in technographics and market insights. Whereas Pardot is only 4.46% of the market share and is used on 25,577 websites. Adobe already knocks Pardot out of the park when it comes to being the most widely utilized cloud marketing platform to-date. Additionally, the Adobe Marketing Cloud is leading in most countries including Germany, Australia, Spain, and over 119 other countries.
Meanwhile, Pardot takes the lead in the United States, France, Japan, and only 56 other countries. While both cover a significant amount of the globe it’s worth pointing out what this global dominance uncovers.
Gartner And Forrester Have It Right
According to the 2018 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Multichannel Campaign Management Report, both Adobe and Salesforce are clear leaders. However, within the leader tier, Adobe shines with its ability to attract global enterprises and mid-market organizations across a wide range of industries. Additionally, Adobe Campaign unites content creation and data analytics together all while offering cross-channel capabilities.
As for Salesforce, it’s focus and much of its success seem to revolve around its niche for B2C marketers who are seeking cloud-only multichannel marketing and hub deployment, especially when the integration to Salesforce assets is of primary importance to the consumer. Salesforce may take center stage as a remarkable CRM platform, but Pardot falls short when it comes to being a fully-integrated marketing tool.
According to the 2018 Forrester Wave: Cross-Channel Campaign Management ReportSalesforce as a marketing cloud comes second to Adobe. Forrester sights Adobe as the ultimate leader overall based on their current offering, strategy, and market presence. Adobe was continuously ranked better than Salesforce when it came to Digital Advertising, where Adobe received a 5 and Salesforce received a 3.60/5. In services, measurement and optimization, content and asset management, product vision, and performance where Adobe came out on top scoring fives across the board.
We Have A Winner Folks
In short, Adobe may be the winner of the marketing cloud space for now and potentially the future. With Adobe owning the creative space and Salesforce’s Pardot lacking in so many vital areas it may be clear how far ahead Adobe is when it comes to becoming the ultimate leader in the marketing cloud space. Will Adobe eventually become the standard in Cloud marketing solution?
It seems they have a good start, but we expect this space to continue to heat up, more players to enter into the game, and the battle to continue for quite some time. When the dust settles and the ultimate consolidation is complete we may just see the same two familiar faces leading the charge.
Have an opinion on this? We would love to hear from you.