Do I Need Salesforce Marketing Cloud to Do Basic Marketing?

Summary

Many nonprofits and SMBs assume that basic marketing in Salesforce requires a Marketing Cloud licence. In most cases, it doesn’t.

Salesforce’s native tools already allow:

• One-to-one and bulk emails

• Automated sends via Flow

• Use of email templates

• Integration with platforms like Mailchimp

However, if you need advanced automation, multichannel journeys, lead scoring, or social campaign management, Marketing Cloud Engagement or Account Engagement may be the right move.

Key Takeaway

Before you invest in Marketing Cloud, look closely at what’s already in your Salesforce licence. You might already have exactly what you need, no add-ons required.

Introduction

When talking to prospective clients recently I've picked up some confusion around the marketing capabilities of Salesforce, and a belief that they need Marketing Cloud, typically along the lines of;

“We need to send emails and set up some basic marketing automation, so we’re looking at Marketing Cloud.”

And my response is always the same:

“You might not need it.”

Whether you’re a nonprofit using Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud or an SMB working with Sales and Service Cloud, it’s easy to assume that Salesforce’s Marketing Cloud or Account Engagement (previously Pardot) is your only option for marketing. It’s not.

Salesforce comes with more out-of-the-box marketing functionality than most people realise and for many organisations, this built-in functionality is enough.

Let’s break down what you can do without needing to license additional products.

Basic Marketing Features That Come Built Into Salesforce

If you're using Salesforce already, here’s what’s included by default across Sales, Service, and Nonprofit Cloud:

1. Send One-to-One Emails Directly from Records

Every record in Salesforce; a contact, account, lead, opportunity, even a custom object, includes the ability to send an email directly from the Activity component. You can draft the email right inside the platform and send it without switching to Outlook or Gmail.

Simple? Yes. Effective? Also yes.

2. Send to Multiple People Using List Emails

If you need to send a message to a group of people, you don’t need Marketing Cloud. You can use List Emails, which are available in most Salesforce editions and allow you to send templated emails to a filtered list of leads, contacts, or campaign members.

It’s easy to use, lives within Salesforce, and doesn't require an additional licence. A good example of a List Email is when sending an email to Campaign Members who have been added to a Campaign you have created in Salesforce.

3. Automated Emails Using Flow

Salesforce also lets you automate email sends using its standard automation tools such as Flow or the older Process Builder.

You can trigger emails when a donation is received, when a status changes, or based on just about any criteria you define.

For South African nonprofits, one powerful use case is automatically sending a Section 18A tax certificate after a successful donation. No manual work required, Salesforce handles it for you.

4. Email Templates for Consistency and Scale

Email templates can be created and reused, helping teams send consistent, branded communications without starting from scratch each time.

Text, HTML, and Lightning templates are all supported depending on your setup.

5. Third-Party Integrations like Mailchimp

Still prefer using a dedicated marketing tool but don’t want the cost or complexity of Marketing Cloud?

Salesforce integrates natively with Mailchimp, and many other tools, via the AppExchange. This allows you to sync contacts, leads, and even campaign responses, without requiring a developer.

So, When Do You Actually Need Marketing Cloud or Account Engagement?

There are limits to what standard Salesforce can do. And that’s when solutions like Marketing Cloud or Account Engagement (formerly known as Pardot) come into play.

Here’s what isn’t possible out of the box:

• Journey Builder – if you want to map out a customer journey across multiple touch points, you’ll need Marketing Cloud Engagement.

• Lead Nurture Programs – if you're building multi-stage nurture programs with scoring and grading, Account Engagement is what you’re after.

• Social Media Campaigns – Salesforce doesn’t let you create, manage, or report on social campaigns natively.

• Advanced Reporting on Marketing Attribution – built-in reporting is great for basic email sends, but for campaign attribution across channels, you’ll need to go beyond standard Salesforce.

For someone who works with Nonprofits and SMBs I have seen a lot of value being gained from the out-of-the-box email functionality Salesforce provides, especially when sending automated emails.

There are limitations though as I have mentioned, and that is where third-party tools do come in, including those within Salesforce suite of products.

If you want advice on this, or to understand better how Salesforce can help you and your team engage better with stakeholders, clients, or beneficiaries then please get in touch