Background: Marketing Cloud Next is a portfolio, not a product

If you’ve ever tried to understand Salesforce’s various Marketing Cloud offerings, you’re not alone in feeling confused. Growth, Advanced, Next, Engage… the names sound similar but mean different things. Here, we’ll break it all down.

In 2024, Salesforce launched a new generation of Marketing Cloud: Marketing Cloud Next.
It is important to emphasize that Next is not a single solution, but a portfolio of products built directly on the Salesforce core platform.

This means, among other things:

• Marketing, sales, and service teams work within the same data model

• Customer data is always synchronized and up to date

• AI and automation can be used throughout the entire customer journey

The Next portfolio consists of two main tiers: Marketing Cloud Growth and Marketing Cloud Advanced.

In addition to the Next portfolio, there is also Salesforce Engage, which is part of the previous generation of Marketing Cloud but is still used by many organizations.

Growth is the simplest tier in the Next portfolio and is ideal for companies that want to get started without the system becoming too complex.

What you can do:
• Send emails and text messages with offers or news
• Create simple customer journeys, such as automated welcome messages
• Use AI for basic audience targeting (e.g., “customers who recently purchased bike accessories”)

Who it's for:
Small and medium-sized businesses, or teams that want to start small and grow over time.

Advanced is the most comprehensive tier in the Next portfolio. It includes everything found in Growth—but with more options for analysis, testing, and interactivity.

Examples of features:
• Test different paths in customer journeys (A/B testing in Journey Builder)
• AI insights that suggest the best timing and frequency for mailings
• Two-way communication via SMS or WhatsApp

Who it's for:
Medium-sized and larger companies that want to continuously optimize their marketing workflows and operate in a more data-driven way.

Example:
An e-commerce company can test different promotional messages on different customer segments and let AI optimize the timing of mailings to maximize repeat purchases.

Marketing Cloud Engagement is what many people mean when they say “Marketing Cloud.”
It is the previous (and still widely used) platform featuring:

• Email Studio

• Mobile Studio

• Journey Builder

• Automation Studio

• Content Builder

It is separate from the Next portfolio and runs on its own infrastructure.

Ideal for organizations that:
• have higher omnichannel requirements
• want comprehensive functionality right away
• are already working in the traditional MC environment

Account Engagement is completely separate from both Engagement and Next.
It is a B2B platform for lead nurturing, scoring, and sales support.

Key features:
• Automation rules and drip nurturing
• Behavior-based lead scoring
• Campaign evaluation with B2B Marketing Analytics
• Seamless collaboration with sales teams via CRM integration

Next = the new generation of
Growth / Advanced = the tiers within Next
Engagement (Classic) = original MC
Account Engagement (Pardot)= for B2B

Once the differences between the various solutions become clear, it also becomes easier to choose the right path forward and develop a strategy that truly integrates marketing and sales. Want to learn more? Contact us!