Marketing Cloud Next: Onto the Frontier - Session 5: Data Cloud

When you configure Marketing Cloud Advanced there's a checkbox that says: "Activate Data Cloud" but what does it mean? What happens in the back? Mike Morris, Senior Engagement Manager at Sercante will walk us through why Data Cloud is needed for Marketing Cloud Next and what advantages can offer you.

1. Marketing Cloud:
Onto the
Frontier

2. Foundations of
Marketing Cloud:
Data Cloud

3. FAQs
●Will this session be recorded?
○Yes! Each session is recorded and will be uploaded here:
youtube.com/@NextFrontierMarketer
●Questions during the session?
○Post them in the chat window
●Slack channel?
○Yes! connect with other Trailblazers in the HowToSFMC
community here: howtosfmc.com
●Registration links and this slide deck?
https://bit.ly/clemarketer

4. Upcoming Sessions and Dates
Session Title Date Speaker
Session 6: Foundations of MC: Agentforce 10/22/2025 11:00 AM EST David Mendoza

Session 7: Exploring MC features announced at Dreamforce
10/29/2025 11:00 AM EST Sydney Lesko
Session 8: Preparing for the future: Translating your MC
experience to MC
11/6/2025 11:00 AM EST Amanda Turner, Erin Duncan
Session 9: Whats Next: AMA panel 11/12/2025 11:00 AM EST Pato Sapir (moderator), Kyle Heldman, Greg
Gifford, Genna Matson, Amanda Turner

5. About me
Mike Morris
Senior Engagement Manager | Sercante
[email protected]
●15+ years experience in email and marketing automation
●20+ years experience marketing and working with large sales teams
●12x Salesforce Certified
●Marketing Champion
LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/msmorris96/

Blog
https://thespotforpardot.com/author/mike-morrissercante-com/

6. Agenda for today
Data Cloud + Marketing Cloud
●Data Cloud Basics
●How Data Cloud and Marketing Cloud Work Together
●Key Concepts:
○Data Streams
○Identity Resolution
○Unified Individuals
○Segmentation
○Data Graphs
●Q&A

7. Data Cloud
Basics
Key Concepts

8. What is Data Cloud?
Unlock the Full Value of Your Data

●Platform that unifies all your data into a
single source of truth for a complete
customer view.

●It simplifies complex data, making it
easy to understand and use.

●It activates your data seamlessly, driving
personalization and efficiency across all
your other systems.

9. Key Data Cloud Terms
Term Definition
Data Stream A data source brought into Data Cloud. For example, a Salesforce objects or external data sources.
These data streams can be based on batched data or streaming data streams.
Data Lake Object
(DLO)
Storage containers within the data lake for the data ingested into all data streams within Data Cloud.
Data Model
Objects (DMOs)
A grouping of data (made up of attributes) created from data streams, insights, and other sources.
DMOs can be standard or can be custom, based on business need.
Customer 360 Data
Model
The standard, canonical data model used for Data Cloud to that connects and unifies customer data
from various Salesforce products (like Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and Marketing Cloud) and external
data sources.
Harmonization The process of mapping ingested data into the Customer 360 Data Model.
Unified Profile A profile that contains customer data reconciled across multiple sources as a single record using
identity resolution rulesets.
Identity ResolutionThe process of identity management by means of matching and reconciling data about people into a
comprehensive view called unified profiles.
Source: Data Cloud Glossary of Terms

10. How Data Cloud Works
Data Sources
Customer 360



Cloud Storage
Amazon S3
Google Cloud
Microsoft Azure

Bring Your Own Lake
Snowflake
Google BigQuery


Mobile & Web


APIs & SDKs


Legacy Systems

Connect & Prepare
Out-of-the-Box
Connectors


MuleSoft Anypoint
Platform


Data Bundles


Streaming & Batch
Data Ingestion
Harmonize
Data Spaces
Data Models
Customer Graph
Data Mapping
Customer 360

Segmentation

Calculated Insights

Bring Your Own
Model

Activate
Einstein GPT

Unified
Customer
Profile

11. Data Cloud is Consumption Based
Data Cloud Credits
●Data Cloud Credits are “digital currency” that you use to pay for Data Cloud services.

●Credit use is calculated by multiplying the number of units consumed for each usage
type by the corresponding multiplier from the rate card.

●Usage types include:
○Data Services
○Data Storage
○Einstein Requests
○Segment Activations

●Usage can be monitored in the Digital Wallet included in your Salesforce org.

12. Data Cloud is Consumption Based
Track consumption with Consumption Cards
Search “Consumption Cards” in the Quick Find box.

13. Data Cloud +
Marketing Cloud
How Data Cloud and Marketing
Cloud Work Together

14. Marketing Cloud
Connect & Unify Data | Analyze, Plan & Generate | Activate





DATA STREAMS
Data sources such as CRM data (Lead, Contact,
Account), External Data, Commerce Data
IDENTITY RESOLUTION RULE
The filter from the data streams that creates your audience
segments (based on configured matching rules).
SEGMENTS
Creating audiences from all types of data, using attributes to
determine your ideal campaign population.
UNIFIED INDIVIDUAL
The filtered individuals that are the population of
the segment for your campaign.
CONSENT
Consent lives with the Unified Individual, and is at
the channel level (Email, SMS, What’sApp).
]
]
]
Connect &
Unify
Analyze,
Plan &
Generate
Activate

15. Data Cloud Setup
The Foundation for Marketing Cloud
●The setup process has been greatly
simplified and is automated now.

●Gone are the days of installing data kits,
manually deploying data streams, and
creating the Salesforce CRM Connector.

●Big shout out to the great work of the
product team!

16. Data Streams
Ensure Your Data Is Available for Use
●Salesforce data must be brought into Data Cloud via a data streams.
○Example: Contact, Lead, Account
●Mapping DLOs to DMOs is key to harmonizing and unifying data.

17. Data Streams
Mapping Data Stream Fields (from DLOs to DMOs)
Let’s map title on the lead DLO to the individual DMO.

18. Identity Resolution
What It Is and Why It Matters
●Identity Resolution links records from
different sources to create a unified
profile.

●It doesn't merge data like a traditional
deduplication process; it uses a set of
criteria to link related records.

●The Unified Individual is used throughout
Marketing Cloud to enable
personalization, segmentation, and
scoring.

Default Match Rules

19. Identity Resolution Rules
Adding Criteria to a Rule Decreases Likelihood of a Match
Only Profiles with supporting match
criteria will be evaluated.
●Not Evaluated
○Ind. Id 002 - Missing Phone

Ind. Id 001
First Name Astro ✅
Last Name Nomical
Phone [phone]
Email [email protected]
Ind. Id 002
First NameAstro ❌
Last NameNomical
Phone
Email
Ind. Id 003
First Name Astro ✅
Last Name Nomical
Phone [phone]
Email
Ind. Id 004
First NameAstro ✅
Last NameNomical
Phone [phone]
Email [email protected]
FName/LName
Phone Number
AND
RULE

20. Identity Resolution Rules
Adding Criteria to a Rule Decreases Likelihood of a Match
Only Profiles with supporting match
criteria will be evaluated.
●Not Evaluated
○Ind. Id 002 - Missing Phone
○Ind. Id 003 - Missing Email

Ind. Id 001
First Name Astro ✅
Last Name Nomical
Phone [phone]
Email [email protected]
Ind. Id 002
First NameAstro ❌
Last NameNomical
Phone
Email
Ind. Id 003
First Name Astro ❌
Last Name Nomical
Phone [phone]
Email
Ind. Id 004
First NameAstro ✅
Last NameNomical
Phone [phone]
Email [email protected]
FName/LName
Phone Number
AND
RULE
AND
Email

21. Rulesets
Adding Rulesets Increases Likelihood of a Match
●Rulesets are a collection of Rules.
●Any number of rules can be contained within a single ruleset.
●Criteria are grouped with AND operators.
●Rules are grouped with OR operators.
●You can have multiple rulesets (Accounts vs Individuals, Production vs Test, etc).

Criteria
Criteria
Criteria
AND
AND
RULE
Criteria
Criteria
Criteria
AND
AND
RULE
Criteria
Criteria
Criteria
AND
AND
RULE
OR OR
Let’s take a look and an Identity Resolution Rule.

22. Segmentation
Build Segments with Unified Individuals
●Data Cloud is the primary segmentation tool in Marketing Cloud.

●Segments are built using unified individuals based on the identity resolution rules
configured at setup.

●This is an incredibly powerful too that allows marketers to build highly targeted
segments using data from multiple sources.

●Segments can have a 1:Many relationship to campaigns.

●Data Cloud is consumption-based.
○It’s important to consider the “freshness” of the data needed in the segment. Refreshes will
consume credits and should be done as needed to support the marketing campaign.

23. Segmentation
Build Segments with Unified Individuals
Let’s take a look at the visual segment builder.

24. Data Graphs
Cross Object Personalization
Data Graphs connect fields and objects
to the Unified Individual.
Once a data graph is active, you can use
its fields for:
●Email
○Merge field
○Dynamic content
○Repeaters
●Flow
○Exit rules
○Decision elements

25. Data Graphs
Considerations
●Data Graphs enable personalization and dynamic content in Marketing Cloud.
●You can create multiple Data Graphs, but only one can be set as the default.
●You can add objects and fields to an existing Data Graph, but removing them requires a rebuild.
●Best practice is to start with immediate needs and add fields as new needs arise.
●Refreshing Data Graphs consumes credits; the default schedule is daily but can be customized or
run manually.

26. Learn More
Trailhead
●Data Cloud Basics for Marketers
●Get Started with Data Cloud Credit
Consumption
●Create a Data Stream in Data Cloud
●Data and Identity in Data Cloud
●Segmentation in Data Cloud
Videos (Salesforce)
●Data Ingestion and Mapping Best
Practices
●Identity Resolution and Unified Profiles


Blog Posts
●3 Tips for Optimizing Your Data Cloud
Credit Usage
●Building Data Graphs in Marketing Cloud
Growth and Advanced Edition
●Understand the difference between a
Relationship and a Mapping in Data
Cloud
Blogs
●The Spot
●The Agentic Marketer

27. Key Takeaways

28. Key Takeaways
Essential Data Cloud Principles
●Data Cloud is the central engine of Marketing Cloud Next.
●Thorough planning is critical for Data Cloud setup—it's far easier to plan ahead than to
untangle complex data dependencies later.
●Data Cloud is consumption based.
Marketing Impact & Benefits
●Data Cloud empowers marketers with unprecedented access to data for richer insights
and activation.
●Identity Resolution and Unified Individuals are foundational for effective audience
segmentation.
●Data Graphs unlock sophisticated, cross-object personalization capabilities, including:
○Merge Fields, Dynamic Content, and Repeaters

29. Q&A

30. Upcoming Sessions and Dates
Session Title Date Speaker
Session 6: Foundations of MC: Agentforce 10/22/2025 11:00 AM EST David Mendoza

Session 7: Exploring MC features announced at Dreamforce
10/29/2025 11:00 AM EST Sydney Lesko
Session 8: Preparing for the future: Translating your MC
experience to MC
11/6/2025 11:00 AM EST Amanda Turner, Erin Duncan
Session 9: Whats Next: AMA panel 11/12/2025 11:00 AM EST Pato Sapir (moderator), Kyle Heldman, Greg
Gifford, Genna Matson, Amanda Turner

31. Thank you