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  • Career Development, Community, Community Spotlight, To export

Introducing the 2023 Salesforce Marketing Champions: Dragon Edition

Congratulations to the 2023 class of Salesforce Marketing Champions! We are honored that some of our own Sercante dragons were selected as part of this prestigious group this year.

Let’s get to know them.

The Program: Salesforce Marketing Champions

First! What even is a Salesforce Marketing Champion?

Salesforce knows a career as a marketer can be a hectic, fire-emergency-filled job. You are communicating across departments, across the globe, and in large amounts of acronyms.

We truly enjoy our work, but sometimes it can be thankless. Salesforce provides this program as a way to recognize champions in the Salesforce marketing space and help amplify the marketing voice, both in and outside the Trailblazer Community. 

Champions are nominated through the community and have a wealth of knowledge in marketing and the Salesforce platform. Each champion is a #MomentMarketer, Googling their way to success, always learning and improving their skills through certifications, and truly demonstrating their strategic love through training sessions, speaking events, and content creation. 

We want to send another big congratulations to the entire Salesforce Marketing Champion class of 2023! See the complete list here. 

Don’t forget to check out the 2023 Salesforce MVPs, too — Congrats to The Salesforce MVP Class of 2023!

MVPs are similar to the marketing champions. According to the Salesforce MVP Code of Conduct, MVPs are “lifelong learners who go above and beyond to share their expertise and help the entire community succeed… [and] leaders in the Trailblazer Community who encourage each other, celebrate others’ successes, work collaboratively to make our community and the world a better place, and have a lot of fun along the way!”

The People: Meet The New Sercante Marketing Champions

Let’s meet the Sercante dragons who worked hard in their communities and made it into the Salesforce Marketing Champions class of 2023.

New Marketing Champion #1. Cara Weese

Thoughts about joining the program

“It is an honor to be named among such an esteemed group of professionals. I have been working in the Salesforce community for 10 years now, and I am excited to combine my passions for Salesforce and Marketing to help drive growth for organizations and fellow community members who are learning the Marketing Cloud platforms or looking to up their marketing game to the next level by providing advice, best practices, and through networking events.”

Fav tool!

“I don’t know that I can choose just one. I guess I would have to go with Salesforce Analytics and bucket all of the reports, dashboards, Intelligence, and B2BMA in one umbrella. I have a great passion for analytics!”

Something fun!

“I love books! Whenever I have downtime, whether that be traveling, sitting outside, or even working at my desk, I have to be listening to an audiobook. I also pick up books from time to time, but as a busy working mom, it’s often easier to listen. I love Fantasy, Mystery, YA Fiction, and Historical Fiction, but honestly, I could read just about anything.”

New Marketing Champion #2. Cate Godley

Thoughts about joining the program

“I’m excited to join the Marketing Champions program and connect with other marketers in the Salesforce community. I’m passionate about education and can’t wait to help more people learn how to effectively use and manage Account Engagement.”

Fav tool!

“Salesforce Reports/Dashboards. I love data and getting to create my own reports and dashboards to display that data is one of my favorite things.”

Something fun!

“I love going to concerts, house plants, dogs, and playing board games. If I’m not doing something related to Salesforce I’m most likely doing something related to one of those things.” 

New Marketing Champion #3. Jacob Catalano

Thoughts about joining the program

“I’m extremely excited to be a part of the 2023 class of Marketing Champions with so many of my colleagues in the Salesforce community. Being included in such a brilliant group of marketers is a dream come true and I can not wait to learn and grow alongside some of the brightest minds in the Salesforce community.”

Fav tool!

“Flows is one of the most powerful automation tools out there and I love when I can just take an hour or two and find new ways to use Flow.”

Something fun!

“I spend most of my time performing in musicals locally and playing golf. These two things are totally different but give me the most joy and let me step away from things going on and relax.”

New Marketing Champion #4. Julian Janssen

Thoughts about joining the program

“I’m really excited to be named to the 2023 class of #MarketingChampions alongside some of my amazing colleagues at Sercante, and be more involved in the community around Salesforce’s amazing marketing automation tools! This ecosystem has provided me amazing opportunities in my own career, so I am excited to give back and guide others in this space.”

Fav tool!

“Campaign Influence: I love the Campaign Influence reporting models available in Salesforce. It’s an amazing tool to help marketing departments recognize and validate the value of how their campaigns help affect pipeline and realize revenue — a massive impact on most businesses that often goes overlooked.”

Something fun!

“I spend most of my time not working being a music nerd — going to concerts, browsing through records, playing guitar, or running to carefully curated playlists I have put together.”

New Marketing Champion #5. Kelly Ryan

Thoughts about joining the program

“I am so excited to be here! I have relied on this marketing community since day one in my digital marketing role, trying to connect all the backend dots across channels and platforms. I am honored to be a part of the Marketing Champions and share my knowledge with the next round of accidental admins and one-person teams!”

Fav tool!

“Creuz Your Data! Long lists of data are the daily pain of Pardot and Salesforce admins. So why not make your life easier? Just copy paste the data, select if you need a comma or semicolon, and you are good to go!”

Something fun!

“I really enjoy reading, especially historical fiction because I also love facts. I love getting literally lost in all the little local bookshops when I travel, too. I’ve been known to just sit on the floor and sift through huge stacks of old books until I found the ones with the most ridiculous titles.”

New Marketing Champion #6. Mike Morris

Thoughts about joining the program

“Since joining the Salesforce ecosystem, I’ve learned so much from members of the community, the team at Sercante, and the Marketing Champions. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to share my knowledge and help inspire the next class of Marketing Champions.”

Fav tool!

“I’ve got to go with Kelly on this one. Creuz Your Data is an awesome little app and has saved me countless hours. If you are building dynamic lists in Account Engagement or reports in Salesforce, check it out! I’m also very partial to the Protected Campaign Member Statuses app as a way to manage campaign members’ statuses in Salesforce.”

Something fun!

“I spend a lot of time in my office, so when I’m not working, I prefer to be outside. I enjoy hiking, kayaking, and running. I’m not very good at relaxing and prefer to be active.”

New Marketing Champion #7. Rich Feist

Thoughts about joining the program

“I can’t wait to continue my learning about all things Salesforce. I’m really looking forward to attending more events!  I honestly still can’t believe I get to be a part of this amazing program!”

Fav tool!

“My favourite Salesforce tool is Flows, I love what you can do with them. My favourite other tool is Pomodoro Marinara which is a great time-keeping app to keep you focused.”

Something fun!

“Favourite holiday location is a tie between Oaxaca and Sicily, the food and drink is insane!”

New Marketing Champion #8. Kirsten Schlau

New Marketing Champion #9. Laura Curtis

Thoughts about joining the program

“I’m so excited and honored to be part of this program. I’m excited to meet so many passionate and like-minded marketers. I’ve been part of the Salesforce community for almost 5 years and being recognised as a Marketing Champion is amazing. I’m looking forward to using the platform to build upon my knowledge and experience, and continuing to share my passion for Marketing Cloud with the world!”

Fav tool!

“Oh this is tough! First off, another vote for Creuz Your Data! I’ve spent far too many hours in the past formatting long lists of data for Marketing Cloud. This tool is an absolute MUST for everyone in the Salesforce ecosystem. Secondly, I love any tool around personalisation, whether that’s Marketing Cloud Personalization or dynamic content, the results you get from often simple personalisation tactics are awesome and every marketer should be maximizing their use of personalisation tools! Finally, creating different Chrome profiles is a great tip for testing and keeping data separate!”

Something fun!

“When I’m not in the Salesforce world having fun, I hate to say it but, I’m a fan of TikTok (I always said I wouldn’t download it, but as soon as I did I was hooked!). There’s something about switching off and scrolling relatable content for hours! I also love taking holidays, my fav destination would have to be either Bruges or somewhere hot where cocktails are readily available! I also love getting creative with my nail designs. No one gets to see them working from home, but having a nice set makes me smile :)”

Repeat Sercante Marketing Champions

We’re super proud of our new Salesforce Marketing Champions. But let’s all take a moment to recognize members of the Sercante team who were named Marketing Champions in the past (once you’re in, you’re in for good) and are already seasoned pros when it comes to championing marketing for Salesforce.

Connect with the Marketing Champion Community

So what should you do with all this information? Definitely connect with this group so they can help you out! 

Salesforce Marketing Champions put themselves out there so they can be helpful to people in the community like you. They all write blogs, present sessions at Salesforce events, lead user groups, or answer questions online. 

Consider this your invitation to hit them up!

Do you need help from a marketing champion? Are you the next champion?

Ready to become the next Salesforce Marketing Champion? Keep an eye out for the call for nominations and applications here.

And as always, leave us a comment with your favorite tools and apps! Or let us know when you need help with something only a marketing champion can solve.

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  • Career Development, Community, Community Spotlight, Industry News, To export

Congrats to The Salesforce MVP Class of 2023

Like many big software companies, Salesforce has an honor they bestow to most influential supporters. They call this the Salesforce MVP program. The Trailblazer Community team recently announced the 2023 Salesforce MVP program inductees, and we were thrilled to see many of our favorite marketing voices on the list.

Marketers don’t always get the recognition they deserve, which is why we’re on a mission to showcase all of the amazing things marketers do. We’re especially excited to highlight the people who are shining the limelight on Salesforce marketing tools for a change.

Background of the program

If you haven’t already noticed, there’s a whole lot to learn about using marketing automation and CRM tools. Salesforce does everything they can to make resources available to customers so the tools are easier to use and customize, but everyone learns in their own way. 

Sometimes we need real people who have been working closely with these tools to teach us what’s possible with them. (You know, like, other customers and people with an outsider’s perspective)

That’s where the Salesforce MVP program comes in. These are all people who share what they know about the platform and personally connect with others who are still learning. 

According to the Salesforce MVP Code of Conduct, MVPs are “lifelong learners who go above and beyond to share their expertise and help the entire community succeed… [and] leaders in the Trailblazer Community who encourage each other, celebrate others’ successes, work collaboratively to make our community and the world a better place, and have a lot of fun along the way!”

Here’s the MVP Hall of Fame and Member Directory, which goes into complete detail about the program.

How Salesforce MVPs are Selected

Wondering how people get a spot in the program? Here’s how the process works:

  1. Salesforce opens nominations for MVPs around November each year.
  2. Community members either self nominate or can share stories to nominate others.
    • Current MVPs do not need to take action, they are automatically reviewed for renewal.
  3. The Trailblazer Community team completes the first round of nomination reviews. 
  4. Then, the nominations go through a second round of reviews from a team of Salesforce employees who are active in the Trailblazer Community
  5. After that, current Salesforce MVPs provide feedback to new nominations and nomination renewals. 
  6. The Trailblazer Community team completes a final review before the Salesforce leadership team makes final calls and approvals.

The 2023 Salesforce MVP Class

Congratulations to everyone who was selected to join the 2023 Salesforce MVP Class! 

MVP NameMVP Name
Aaron CrosmanMichael A. Grandel
Andy Engin UtkanMihoko Yamashita
Ankit TanejaOleh Mykytyn
Asterisk LoftisPatricio Sapir
Ben LaMothePhaneendra Arigachetta
Gian Piere Vallejos BardalesRachel Park Brayboy
Johann FurmannSamantha Shain
Kannan NarayananSkye Tyler
Kristi BrownSwati Taunk
Kristin HubbardThomas Theunen
Lilith Van BiesenVicki Moritz-Henry
Maham HassanWarren Walters

Marketers Who Made the New 2023 Salesforce MVP List

We were thrilled to see two people we know from the Salesforce marketing community who made the list. Special congratulations to Ben Lamothe and Vicki Moritz-Henry and thanks for all the work you do for the community!

In fact, we know these two MVPs thanks to their work with the MarDreamin’ conference. Both have presented at MarDreamin’ in past years and have contributed in other ways. 

Our team reached out to them to get their thoughts on their new Salesforce MVP honors. Here’s what they had to say:

Ben Lamothe

“Being selected as a Salesforce MVP is an honor and is truly humbling. Giving back to the Salesforce and Account Engagement (Pardot) Trailblazer community that has changed my life and given me so much, is so important to me.”

Vicki Moritz-Henry

“When I transitioned careers into Salesforce, I was astounded by how supportive the community was. There were so many people who encouraged, mentored and taught me over the years. I honestly wouldn’t be where I am now if it wasn’t for them. My motivation is to spread that impact and be that same person for others.”

Andrea Tarrell Added to the Salesforce MVP Hall of Fame

Last but most certainly not least, we wanna send a huge congratulations to the person who started this whole blog (and Sercante) in the first place. Andrea Tarrell has been an influential voice in the Salesforce community for close to a decade, and she’s served as a Salesforce MVP enough years for Salesforce to add her to the MVP Hall of Fame in 2023.

Launching The Spot for Pardot blog is only a small fraction of everything Andrea has contributed to Salesforce Trailblazer Community through the years. She’s spoken at countless events including Dreamforce, Connections, Dreamin’ conferences and user group meetings. Andrea even launched the first virtual conference for marketers on Salesforce in 2020 — MarDreamin’ (formerly ParDreamin’).

Keep being helpful and the rest will fall into place

The Trailblazer Community team received over 2,400 MVP nominations in 2023, so of course some people were disappointed to learn they weren’t among the 24 new MVPs who were selected. The most important takeaway though is to keep going! While the MVP program brings inherent benefits along with it (i.e. free entry to conferences, getting asked to participate in high-profile marketing content), the true benefit is that helping others helps you, too.

When the community grows, we all grow together. And there’s room for us all to be successful in the community. So, keep sharing what you know. Start a Salesforce blog (or you can write for this one!). Apply to speak at community events. Volunteer with a Salesforce mentorship program, like Merivis, for instance.

The possibilities to give back are endless. Tell us how giving back to the tech community has enriched your life in the comments section.

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  • Community, Community Spotlight, Industry News

The Spot & Jenna Molby: An Iconic Duo

You thought putting tea and honey together was good? Well, we’re pleased to announce Jenna Molby’s whole library of Salesforce blog posts and tools now live on The Spot with insights from 50+ marketing pros.

The same way André 3000 pairs perfectly with Big Boi, or Brie with Champagne, Jenna Molby and The Spot are the Yin to each other’s Yang.

This is gonna be super helpful next time you’re trying to create a fancy landing page. Or finally earn the certification you’ve been eyeing. With one place to go for all the guidance you’re looking for, the sky’s the limit to what you can do.

Jenna Molby and The Spot are together at last

So what exactly does this partnership mean? Here’s what to expect:

New guest author on The Spot

Jenna Molby now has a HUGE bubble on The Spot. Seriously — her spot is almost the size of our OG blogger, Andrea Tarrell. Go see for yourself here! 

Like Elsa and Anna, Jenna Molby and The Spot are the perfect compliment to one another. Don’t just take our word for it though. Jenna explains it all in this video.

You’ll find all of Jenna Molby’s Salesforce blog posts on The Spot from now on. You’ll also get redirected to The Spot when Salesforce posts on Jenna’s website come up in search results.

The reason all of my Salesforce content is moving to The Spot is that Andrea and her team at Sercante have always been great at supporting not only me, but the greater ecosystem. – Jenna Molby

Top 5 blog posts in the collection

Wondering what’s included in the collection that’s moving to The Spot? Here are the top 5 blog posts from jennamolby.com, which are all posts that now live on The Spot website. 

1. Ultimate Guide to Capturing UTM Parameters in Pardot

UTM parameters are tags you add to a URL. Use this guide when you’re ready to implement them to use in Pardot.

Read Blog Post

2. How to Use Pardot Form Handlers

Pardot form handlers allow you to use forms to post your data to Pardot. We’ll give you the lowdown on how they work and when to use them.

Read Blog Post

3. Salesforce Pardot Specialist Certification Practice Exam

Ace your Salesforce Certified Pardot Specialist exam by using this practice exam to test your Pardot knowledge

Read Blog Post

4. 6 Ways to Use JavaScript to Enhance Your Pardot Forms

Want to do something with your Pardot form that is not available in the editor? Try using JavaScript! Here’s a guide to get you started.

Read Blog Post

5. MQL Reporting in Salesforce: Tips, Tricks and Examples

In this post, we’ll share example MQL reports and some tips and tricks for creating reports in Salesforce.

Read Blog Post

All the tools in one place

Anyone who knows Jenna Molby’s name already has her tools bookmarked in their browsers. Now, you’ll find things like her calendar link, form style, and landing page style generators living in harmony with freebies from Sercante Labs.

You can find all of the free tools on this page.

Here’s a sampling:

Google Calendar Link Generator

Use this Google Calendar Link Generator to create calendar links that can be used on your web pages, landing pages and emails.

Try it Now

ICS Link Generator for Microsoft Outlook & Apple iCalendar

Use this ICS Link Generator to create calendar files that are compatible with Microsoft Outlook & Apple iCalendar.

Try it Now

Bulletproof Pardot Email Button Generator

Create beautiful buttons for your Pardot emails. Simply select your button style to generate HTML for a Pardot email or landing page template.

Try it Now

Pardot Form Style Generator

Use this tool to customize your Pardot forms in four easy steps.

Try it Now

2 Free Pardot Landing Page Templates For Events

Create beautiful responsive landing pages in Pardot by using one of these two free landing templates specifically built for use in event marketing campaigns.

Try it Now

Jenna claimed her spot — and so can you

No matter your goals, you can claim a spot among the community. Whether you’re here for guidance through new features, ongoing solutioning help, or resume-building criteria, The Spot has you covered. 

Here are resources you can use that go beyond blog posts and free tools. Now, get in there and do all the ingenious marketing automation things you know are possible. And let us know when you need support that goes beyond what these resources can do.

Become a guest blogger

We’re looking for passionate marketing technology bloggers to share their knowledge and experiences with others in the community.  Visit this page to learn more about contributing to The Spot.

Join the Pardashian community

The Pardashians Slack is a community where Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (formerly Pardot) and Marketing Cloud users can grow their skills together. Click here and complete the application to join.

Watch MarDreamin’ replays

Get ready for a 3-day virtual conference focused on all things marketing on the Salesforce platform. You can access session replays here and learn at your own pace.

Find or post a job

The Spot for Pardot Jobs is a place to find your next gig or team member when you use Salesforce marketing tools. 

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  • Community, Community Spotlight

The Spot Wrapped: 2022 Edition

As 2022 comes to an end, it’s time to reflect on all of the ways our dear readers interacted with The Spot over the past 12 months.

This was certainly the biggest year yet for The Spot since Andrea Tarrell started the blog in 2017. For one thing, we widened our focus to include all tools marketers touch when Salesforce is part of the tech stack. On top of that, the resource got a spankin’ new name, website, branding updates, and lots of new authors who contributed content. (You can read all about the updates in this blog post.)

However, we’ve always had one focus in mind that honors the spirit that inspired Andrea to start this blog in the first place: sharing knowledge so everyone can grow. And we did a whole lot of that in the past year.

Now for the good stuff. Read on to see all the stats that made 2022 wonderful for The Spot community.

The Spot Wrapped Stats

We’re sure you have that one post you always refer to while you’re knocking out a task. Or the one you pull up when you need a gut check along the way.

Better yet, you’ve hopefully uncovered a new gem or author in the past year that made you feel confident you could implement a new feature or strategy.

Here are the stats behind The Spot so you can see how everyone is using this resource.

Top Blog Posts in 2022

Now, for the thing we know you’re here to find out: what were the most popular posts on The Spot in 2022? Here are the posts that really resonated with our readers in 2022.

Top 10 New Posts in 2022

The Spot 2022 Blog Contributors

Little known fact: The author ‘spots’ on our About webpage here grow depending on the all-time total number of blog posts each author has written for The Spot. 

With that in mind, here’s who has the biggest spots as of December 21, 2022:

Andrea Tarrell, Erin Duncan, Ambre Juryea-Amole, Adam Erstelle, Marcos Duran, Mike Morris, Jordyn Jaffer, Mike Cruezer, Kirsten Schlau

Become a Guest Contributor for The Spot

See anyone you know? Picturing yourself among the crew? We welcome guest posts from the community, and we even have paid contributor opportunities available.

Learn all about becoming a guest blogger for The Spot on this page.

Top Contributors on The Spot in 2022

These top contributors poured their hearts into blog posts for The Spot in 2022, which means they wrote more posts than any other contributors. Click on their names to view their author biographies and a list of all the posts they’ve written for The Spot.

These are the top 10 blog contributors from 2022 in descending order:

  1. Ambre Juryea-Amole
  2. Erin Duncan
  3. Kirsten Schlau
  4. Dominique Beaudin
  5. Jordyn Jaffer
  6. Mike Morris
  7. Laura Curtis
  8. Marcos Duran
  9. Adam Erstelle 
  10. Andrea Tarrell

I have an unfair advantage here because “content” is in my job title and I’m part of the marketing team at Sercante. But I am forever amazed by our top contributors who consistently deliver high-impact content on a regular basis while delighting our clients at the same time.

Way to go, team Sercante!

The Spot 2022 Audience Breakdown

So here’s a little information about you — our readers.

The Spot Readership Stats

  • Total unique website visitors in 2022 – 109,000
  • Top 5 countries (in descending order)
    • United States
    • India
    • United Kingdom
    • Canada
    • Australia

Your Favorite Topics in 2022

These were the most popular blog posts by topic in 2022.

Looking Toward an Even Bigger Year in 2023

Thank you for being here and reflecting on the past 12 months with us. We’re busy cooking up our plans to grow this resource along with the Salesforce platform in 2023. And we can’t wait to connect with you and continue to deliver helpful content and connect with the community in the coming months.

Want to see more? Make sure you’re on our subscriber list by completing the form on this page. Or, drop a comment below to let us know what you want to see more of on The Spot.

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  • Community, Community Spotlight, Events

Mardreamies 2022 Award Winner Story: Grassroots Innovation

The MarDreamies awards celebrate solutions marketing and sales professionals built to reach their goals using Salesforce. These solutions are especially impressive because they each rose to solve a specific challenge while utilizing technology to automate their way to greatness. 

Winners of the MarDreamin’ awards get bragging rights for their team and company, a sweet prize pack, and a fancy trophy to remind them how awesome they are every day. And the MarDreamin’ team announced the MarDreamies winners during the After-Party, which took place November 3, 2022. 

Check out this blog post to get details about the full MarDreamin’ conference — including information about watching all session and keynote replay videos.

MarDreamies Award Categories

The MarDreamies awards are divided into five categories to honor the teams behind the magic:

  • Personalization Perfection: Right-time, right-message marketing
  • Social Impact: Creating positive change through Salesforce
  • Grassroots Innovation: Scaling small business with Salesforce
  • Extending Salesforce: API-driven solutions
  • Best in Show

You can find all the details about what went into choosing the award winners in this blog post.

2022 MarDreamies Award Grassroots Innovation Category Winner: FTD Disorders Registry

Here’s the solution that won the MarDreamies 2022 award for the Grassroots Innovation category, which recognizes teams that scale small businesses with Salesforce marketing tools. The MarDreamies Grassroots Innovation award went to FTD Disorders Registry, which was submitted by Sherry Harlass.

What does the FTD Disorders Registry do?

The FTD Disorders Registry (FTDDR) is designed to bring together the frontotemporal degeneration (FTD) community. This means persons diagnosed, their family members, caregivers, and friends as well as clinicians, scientists, patient advocacy groups, and the pharma/biotech industry.

Their goal is to advance the science and move faster toward finding treatments and cures for this spectrum of disorders, which includes:

  • behavioral variant FTD (bvFTD)
  • primary progressive aphasia (PPA)
  • progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP)
  • corticobasal degeneration (CBD) / corticobasal syndrome (CBS)
  • FTD with motor neuron disease (also called FTD-ALS)

A diagnosis of FTD can be isolating, so the registry was created to be a resource for patients, families, and caregivers. We provide one location to collect and share de-identified data, promote research studies, and notify potentially eligible research study candidates.

How does FTD Disorders Registry use Salesforce to reach their goals?

The team at FTD Disorders Registry is technologically savvy and uses the Salesforce platform in a unique way to support the company’s mission. Specifically, the marketing team uses Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) to communicate with their audience while tracking campaign success so they can adjust their strategy when needed. 

The FTD Disorders Registry collects data to help researchers and direct prospects to clinical trials in the search for treatments and a cure for a group of rare diseases, for which there currently are none. Maintaining data fields is critical for reporting on these diseases. When the team updated their enrollment forms, they added several new data points in Salesforce. An intricate Pardot campaign was built to collect this additional data from participants who joined prior to the update.

Turning to the Salesforce Community for Help

Marketing teams who have limited resources know the importance of relationship building within technical communities to solve challenges that go beyond their teams’ expertise.

As a small (3 people when campaign was initiated) nonprofit registry, FTD Disorders Registry lacked time, people, and knowledge to set it up. Thanks to a Spring of Salesforce opportunity, we learned by doing guided by a wonderful (volunteer) expert (in another state). 

Assets the team built for this campaign included:

  • 1 layout template
  • 2 landing pages
  • 2 forms
  • 1 Thank You landing page on their website
  • 6 email templates
  • 12 Engagement Studio Programs
  • 17 email lists
  • 4 completion actions
  • 6 operational emails
  • 2 Thank you emails

Salesforce is the data collection tool from which enrollment and survey information is collected. The team then generated an NIH Globally Unique Identifier (GUID), which allows the sharing of data specific to a research participant without exposing personally identifiable information. They used Pardot to collect missing data fields, because they also use it to generate lists from these same Salesforce fields to send targeted emails about research opportunities.

Small Teams Use Grassroots Innovation to Accomplish Big Goals 

The team at FTD Disorders Registry truly encompasses the spirit of the grassroots innovation category. The small team wears many hats and uses community resources to figure things out when necessary.
Check out this blog post to learn more about the MarDreamies awards. Or, share a few words to congratulate the winners using the comments section below.

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  • Community, Community Spotlight, Events

Mardreamies 2022 Award Winner Story: Best In Show

The MarDreamies awards celebrate solutions marketing and sales professionals built to reach their goals using Salesforce. These solutions are especially impressive because they each rose to solve a specific challenge while utilizing technology to automate their way to greatness. 

Winners of the MarDreamin’ awards get bragging rights for their team and company, a sweet prize pack, and a fancy trophy to remind them how awesome they are every day. And the MarDreamin’ team announced the MarDreamies winners during the After-Party, which took place November 3, 2022. 

Check out this blog post to get details about the full MarDreamin’ conference — including information about watching all session and keynote replay videos.

MarDreamies Award Categories

The MarDreamies awards are divided into five categories to honor the teams behind the magic:

  • Personalization Perfection: Right-time, right-message marketing
  • Social Impact: Creating positive change through Pardot
  • Grassroots Innovation: Scaling small business with Pardot
  • Extending Pardot: API-driven solutions
  • Best in Show

You can find all the details about what went into choosing the award winners in this blog post.

2022 MarDreamies Award Best In Show Category Winner: INSURICA

Here’s the solution that won the MarDreamies 2022 award for the Best In Show category, which recognizes the overall winner from Mardreamies Award submissions. The MarDreamies Best In Show award went to INSURICA, which was submitted by Andy Paden.

What does INSURICA do?

Placing over $1 billion in annual premiums for our clients, INSURICA is among the 50 largest insurance brokers in the United States and is currently the 24th largest privately-held independent agency in the country.

INSURICA employs more than 700 colleagues in 35+ offices located throughout Oklahoma, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Mississippi and Texas. They are constantly looking to expand their network with partners who bring additional value and expertise to the enterprise and clients.

Award-winning solution details

INSURICA wanted a way to pull in data from the Department of Transportation (DOT) alongside their client’s information/statistics. Their intention for the project is to offer a well-rounded picture of their DOT data with the end result being a customized report by account. 

By developing a connection between the data into Sales Cloud and using Pardot to call that information into an email template with merge tags.

How it works

Here’s how the solution pulls Department of Transportation Data into Salesforce and uses merge tags to dynamically populate email in Pardot. 

Using the API to call in DOT data to Sales Cloud, and the database updates that pull on a monthly basis. TO accomplish that, the team developed custom Sales Cloud fields on the account object. Then, the solution parses that data over to Pardot via mapped fields. 

Additionally, the team uses an email template with custom merge fields to populate data in a report-like layout template. Then, sales team lead members enroll their accounts to receive the email using a custom Salesforce flow action on the account record page.

Data updates monthly and the report needs to be refreshed to ensure the most up-to-date information.

And the results speak for themselves. The team at INSURICA now has custom data-centric reports to enrolled accounts.

Congratulations to the Best In Show Winners

Marketers often turn to third-party data sources to accomplish their goals. The team at INSURICA now has a customized view of carrier data that varies by account, and it does that through an innovative API-driven solution that lead to their MarDreamies Best in Show award.


Check out this blog post to learn more about the MarDreamies awards. Or, share a few words to congratulate the winners using the comments section below.

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