In our effort to match up all our Pardot Campaigns to Salesforce Campaigns, we found some bumps along the way. Everything we found can eventually be fixed, so don’t worry!
Campaign Alignment Gotcha #1
When you first got your Pardot account, it shipped with at least two Pardot Campaigns:
- Website Tracking
- Email Plug In
You may have also implemented others – such as the Pardot Campaign used in the Salesforce/Pardot Connector, and the Pardot Campaign used in the Google AdWords Connector, or other apps that connect with Pardot.
Probably you did not make Salesforce Campaigns matching these Pardot Campaigns. I recommend doing so now, and connecting these Pardot and Salesforce Campaigns.
Campaign Alignment Gotcha #2
Pardot Campaigns and Salesforce Campaigns connect in a one-to-one relationship. Meaning: you can only connect one Pardot Campaign to one Salesforce Campaign. You cannot connect multiple Pardot Campaigns to one Salesforce Campaign.
If you ended up with duplicate Pardot Campaigns (maybe you find that one is spelled slightly differently) then you will need to pick which of these Pardot Campaigns will connect to your Salesforce Campaign. The other Pardot Campaign can be deleted (sent to Pardot recycle bin).
Campaign Alignment Gotcha #3
You can’t delete a Pardot Campaign unless it is not in use by other Pardot Assets. So scroll down to the bottom of the Campaign page and check the Usage Table to see if any Forms, or Email Templates, or Dynamic Lists, or Automation Rules, etc., use a Pardot Campaign before you try to delete it.
Do you see that the Pardot Campaign is used by other assets? If so, maybe this is the Pardot Campaign you should keep, and you should delete the other one. (It’s probably easier to do this, because the Pardot Campaign name is going to change to match the Salesforce Campaign name anyway.)
If the Pardot Campaign you want to delete is used by other Pardot assets, then you now need to go edit each of your assets and remove the ‘wrong’ Pardot Campaign and substitute the ‘correct’ Pardot Campaign.
Campaign Alignment Gotcha #4
Did you slip up and pick the ‘wrong’ Pardot Campaign to connect to a Salesforce Campaign? Good news: you can switch.
But your ‘wrong’ Pardot Campaign will now have a line item in the usage table which is for the previous connection to the wrong Salesforce Campaign.
It’s annoying, but not a problem. You can ignore it and move on.
Campaign Alignment Gotcha #5
If you cannot find some of the Salesforce Campaigns you are looking for, you may not have set up the Campaign Record Types you need.
Remember how we went to the Account Settings page, and turned on Connected Campaigns? And we had to indicate which Campaign Record Types you want to use with Pardot?
If you did not choose the correct Record Types, then you want to go turn them on now.
Alternatively, if your ‘missing’ Salesforce Campaign has not been assigned to a Record Type (in Salesforce), you will need to go edit your Salesforce Campaign and apply the Record Type.
Then you can refresh your Pardot sync and will shortly see the Campaign available for you to connect.
Campaign Alignment Gotcha #6
If you don’t use Campaign Record Types in Salesforce, but you do use a Parent/Child hierarchy in your Salesforce Campaigns, you may find that you cannot find some of your Salesforce Campaigns during the Campaign Alignment step.
We’re not sure why this is the case, but is for some reason the Parent/Child relationship on Salesforce campaigns can make the Child Salesforce Campaign invisible to Pardot!
The Campaign is just fine in Salesforce. But it simply can’t be found during the Campaign Alignment step. It’s very weird!
To solve this:
- Make Record Types for Salesforce Campaigns (we recommend simply Parent and Child)
- Then apply the Record Types to each of your Salesforce Campaigns, and save the Salesforce Campaign.
For some reason, this solves the problem, and the Salesforce Campaign will sync to Pardot soon.
Need help wrapping up your Campaign Alignment?
It can be tricky to do all the parts of Connected Campaigns and Campaign Alignment. Please contact us if you need some support setting up your Connected Campaigns.
Update – Want to read all of the blog posts in this series about setting up Pardot Connected Campaigns? Start here:
- Pardot Connected Campaigns: Why You Should Turn It On Today
- Pardot Connected Campaigns: First Steps to Setting It Up and Turning It On
- Pardot Connected Campaigns: Next Steps and Pardot Campaign Alignment
- Pardot Connected Campaigns: Final Steps and Adding to Salesforce
- Pardot Connected Campaigns: Campaign Alignment Gotchas (this article)
- Pardot Connected Campaigns: Campaign Member Sync
