{"id":11093,"date":"2026-06-02T18:42:23","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T00:42:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/?p=11093"},"modified":"2026-06-02T18:42:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T00:42:23","slug":"what-happens-to-marketing-cloud-as-the-data-layer-takes-charge-at-salesforce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/?p=11093","title":{"rendered":"What happens to Marketing Cloud as the data layer takes charge at Salesforce?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"salesforce<\/div>\n

Salesforce made its name in the CRM space. Despite its moves into data and AI and rumors that it would change its name to Agentforce, Salesforce still trades under the ticker symbol CRM.<\/p>\n

But Salesforce has strong roots as a marketing platform, dating back to its 2013 acquisition of ExactTarget. As is the custom for Salesforce, ExactTarget\u2019s marketing automation capabilities underwent several name changes, eventually becoming known as Salesforce Marketing Cloud.<\/p>\n

Marketing and commerce tools like Marketing Cloud are important enough to the Salesforce business that the company called them out in quarterly earnings calls \u2014 until last week.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

After seeing growth in the marketing and commerce segment slow from +4% to +3% to +1% in successive quarters, the segment turned negative in Q4 2026 earnings at -1%.\u00a0 At its Q1 2027 earnings announcement last week, Salesforce did not provide numbers for its marketing and commerce tools, instead folding them into its Agentforce Apps segment.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

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\n Your customers search everywhere. Make sure your brand shows up<\/span>.\n <\/div>\n

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The growth at Salesforce is clearly elsewhere in the company, and right now, it\u2019s in the data layer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The combination of Agentforce and Data 360 generated almost $3.4 billion in annual recurring revenue (ARR), the company said in last week\u2019s earnings announcement, a 200% year-over-year increase. Data 360 processed 52 trillion records, a 136% increase from the previous year.<\/p>\n

This is a story Salesforce is happy to share.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Why is Salesforce falling short with marketers?<\/h2>\n

Almost anyone who\u2019s evaluated Salesforce for their marketing needs will talk about budgets and complexity. Salesforce offers a complete platform \u2014 few people doubt that \u2014 but it comes at a cost.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Marketing teams that want to use Salesforce to help build personalized customer journeys, for example, could find themselves investing in as many as half a dozen Salesforce tools, including MuleSoft, Agentforce, Data 360, Commerce Cloud, and more.<\/p>\n

A complete platform? You bet. But if you\u2019re looking for agility and ease of use, that stack is a tough sell.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
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\n Your customers search everywhere. Make sure your brand shows up<\/span>.\n <\/div>\n

\n The SEO toolkit you know, plus the AI visibility data you need.\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n Start Free Trial<\/span>\n <\/div>\n
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Get started with<\/div>\n

\"Semrush\n <\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Salesforce also has a reputation for being heavily dependent on IT resources. Its workflows rely heavily on SQL, API integrations require developer resources, and complex data modeling.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The competition knows all of this, and they\u2019re talking about a more agile, easier-to-deploy form of marketing automation. Vendors like Braze, Klaviyo, and Iterable tout faster deployments, no consultants, greater marketing control over the platform, and maximum flexibility.<\/p>\n

Adobe is a solid competitor in the enterprise segment. Braze performs well in customer engagement. Shopify is strong in the commerce sector.\u00a0In other words, marketers have options. <\/p>\n

Salesforce was full of good news at its Q1 2027 earnings call. The company\u2019s bet on Agentforce appears to be paying off. It tells a compelling story about getting your data in order to power your agentic future. It has the tools to deliver on that promise<\/p>\n

But marketers looking for marketing automation are increasingly finding it elsewhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The post What happens to Marketing Cloud as the data layer takes charge at Salesforce?<\/a> appeared first on MarTech<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Salesforce made its name in the CRM space. Despite its moves into data and AI and rumors that it would change its name to Agentforce, Salesforce still trades under the ticker symbol CRM. But Salesforce has strong roots as a marketing platform, dating back to its 2013 acquisition of ExactTarget. As is the custom for … <\/p>\n

Read more “What happens to Marketing Cloud as the data layer takes charge at Salesforce?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"medium":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"medium_large":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"large":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"inspiro-featured-image":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"inspiro-loop":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"inspiro-loop@2x":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail@2x":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-masonry":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-masonry@2x":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail_cinema":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail_portrait":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail_portrait@2x":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail_square":["https:\/\/martech.org\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2025\/11\/semrush-one.webp",0,0,false]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11093\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}