Migrating from Pardot to Marketo: Learn A Whole New Language


This is the fourth and final article in our Pardot-or-Marketo series:
Marketo or Pardot Part 1 – Which is a better fit?
Marketo or Pardot Part 2 – How to Breakdown the Complex Process
Marketo or Pardot Part 3 – How to Manage Data for Long-Lasting Success


In the fourth and final video of this series Luke talks about language, specifically how Marketo and Pardot are known to be two different systems with very similar program names. Watch to see Luke dive into the intricacies and understand more about how each platform refers to their individual tools.

Jeff Coveney: Today, we’re going to be talking about making the switch from Pardot to Marketo and some of the naming. Can you talk a little bit about some of the big ones?

Luke Wakefield: There’s a whole bunch of different things that you can actually kind of look at within the two systems. I would say engagement program and engagement studio are the two that are very closely aligned. So those are kind of your nurture programs. Engagement Studio’s on the Pardot side, Engagement Program’s on the Marketo side. And those are really a little bit different within the UI, but the actual naming is quite similar between the two.

Even between some of your CRMs on how program and campaign are being used. In Pardot, it’s essentially a campaign. So if you’re going to put together any type of marketing tactics, that’ll be your campaign. Once you get over into Marketo, you’re going to be thinking more on the program level. So Marketo is grouped within a program. And then within it, if you kind of dig into a Marketo program, within that program, you have smart campaigns.

And smart campaigns, now we’re already seeing how campaign is used interchangeably. But within a smart campaign, you’re doing a lot of your processing. So in Marketo, you have your program, your smart campaign and processing within it. So you would have within Marketo a smart list, which would be your filters or your triggers. And then in your flow is kind of your different workflow actions that are happening. Now, if you want to jump back to Pardot, essentially a smart campaign is the equivalent to what an automation rule would be. So an automation rule, it’s going to function in almost the same way that a smart campaign would in Marketo.

Smart lists are pulling dynamically within Marketo, and then if you go into Pardot, it’s very straightforward as far as the naming convention, so it’s just a dynamic list, and it functions the same way. In Marketo, smart lists will pull almost immediately, in Pardot, you’ll kind of have to run that dynamic list, and then it’ll give you a notification when it’s finished. So a little bit different on how they process and how their named. Static lists are the same between both of them, they’re just the lists.

Jeff Coveney: Okay. That’s one that’s one that actually is the same. So we’ll make sure to include a list of all the glossary of terms of the differences between Marketo and Pardot. Thanks so much today for joining us, Luke, and we’ll see you guys next time on the next edition of PiPointers.

Pardot/Marketo Glossary Guide

Pardot or Marketo Series

This is the fourth installment of our series, Pardot or Marketo.

Cookies help us keep the site running smoothly and inform some of our advertising, but if you’d like to make adjustments, you can visit our Cookie Notice page for more information.