Navigating Salesforce Marketing Automation: which tool is right for you?

With the introduction of Salesforce Marketing Cloud Next, the landscape of Salesforce’s marketing automation suite has never been more powerful—or more complex. For CMOs, digital strategists, and marketing operations leaders, the natural question arises:
 “What do these tools actually do—and which one is the right fit for my business?”

To help you make sense of the options, we’ve broken down each major marketing automation product in the Salesforce ecosystem—what it is, where it excels, and which types of organizations it’s best suited for.

Marketing Cloud Engagement (MCE)

The original B2C powerhouse.
Formerly known as ExactTarget, Marketing Cloud Engagement is a robust enterprise-grade platform designed for brands running high-volume, cross-channel campaigns. Ideal for B2C companies, MCE combines the power of Salesforce data with advanced capabilities in email, SMS, mobile, social, and web personalization—brought together through sophisticated Journey Builder automations.

Best for: Enterprise B2C marketers needing cross-channel campaigns, real-time personalization, and large-scale journey orchestration.

Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (MCAE)

B2B marketing with deep Salesforce roots.
Previously known as Pardot, MCAE is purpose-built for B2B marketing and has become deeply integrated into the Salesforce platform. With a focus on lead management, pipeline influence, and ROI tracking, it enables marketing and sales teams to align around data-driven campaigns and meaningful performance insights.

Best for: B2B organizations looking to connect marketing and sales, measure ROI, and leverage Salesforce-native campaign automation.

Marketing Cloud Growth (MCG)

Salesforce-native and scalable.
Marketing Cloud Growth is Salesforce’s first on-core marketing solution—meaning it’s built directly on the Salesforce platform. Designed for small to mid-sized B2B organizations, it uses Salesforce Flow for journey building and taps into the power of Data Cloud for segmentation and targeting. It also supports B2C use cases, making it a flexible option for growing brands.

Best for: SMBs who want native Salesforce integration, simple automation, and powerful segmentation without the overhead of enterprise tools.

Marketing Cloud Advanced (MCA)

Next-level capabilities on the Growth foundation.
Marketing Cloud Advanced builds on the capabilities of MCG, but with additional features for more complex use cases. Also built on Data Cloud, MCA offers deeper analytics, more advanced personalization, and tools for more sophisticated customer journeys.

Best for: Mid-sized businesses looking for greater flexibility, advanced insights, and expanded marketing functionality—all within the Salesforce core platform.

Marketing Cloud Next (MCN)

The AI-powered future of marketing automation.
Marketing Cloud Next represents a leap forward in intelligent marketing. Built entirely on Salesforce Data Cloud, it leverages autonomous AI agents to help marketers scale personalization across every channel—from email to mobile to web. Designed for both B2B and B2C organizations, MCN unifies the best of Salesforce’s marketing technologies into a single, AI-driven platform.

Best for: Forward-thinking teams ready to adopt AI-powered marketing at scale. General availability is expected in July 2025.

Which one is right for you?

Salesforce offers a diverse set of marketing automation tools—each built for a specific type of business, audience, and growth stage. Choosing the right one depends on your goals, your tech stack, and how you want to connect with your customers across channels.

Still not sure which platform best aligns with your strategy?
We’re here to help. Reach out today and let’s build a MarTech stack that grows and scales with you.