Free Pardot Training Resources

January 7, 2022
Pardot Training, Salesforce Ben | The Drip

If you want to learn Pardot, you’re in the right place. There are many Pardot training resources, available for free! Salesforce’s mission is to make technology skills more accessible by removing the traditional barriers to technology careers such as cost and complicated concepts.

Following on from my successful article covering free Salesforce training resources, I wanted to shed light on all the great ways you can learn Pardot, without spending a fortune, thanks to the great work of Salesforce and the Trailblazer community – experts that were once in your shoes.

I hope you find some resources here that will help you in your day-to-day role, towards a promotion, or on your certification journey. If I’ve missed any that deserve a place on the list, please let me know in the comments.

1. Trailhead

No prizes for guessing Trailhead would appear at the top of this list! Trailhead is Salesforce’s free training site that has over 1,100+ modules, quizzes, and hands-on activities by linking a Salesforce Org (“Trailhead Playground”).

The whole platform is gamified, making learning engaging, and the content approachable. It really is mind-blowing…

When it comes to Pardot, you’ll find an increasing number of trails. In the past year (2021) Salesforce added more content that demystifies the Pardot API, Sandboxes, Business Units, and more. Even if you are certified, I recommend going through any new Trailhead modules to keep up to date with what’s out there.

Beginner:

Intermediate:

2. Training Webinars by Pardot

Pardot has a huge library of resources devoted to helping you get the most out of your Pardot account, including on-demand webinars aimed at marketing and administrator users. The training microsite contains walkthroughs for Pardot’s most-used features.

The daily “Pardot Ask the Expert Office Hours” are free to Pardot customers with Pardot Premier Support (ie. have purchased extra support for their Salesforce/Pardot org). The questions that are best suited to these sessions are tactical, suited for a 5 minute conversation (not based on complex troubleshooting or use cases) – once you’re registered for a session, post your questions as comments on the Trailblazer Community group thread.

3. Pardot Bootcamp

Bootcamps are community-organized events where Pardot experts share what they know about a specific section of the certification exam guide (Pardot Specialist, Pardot Consultant). Every Marketing Champions who presents on the bootcamps offer snippets from their own experiences that are immensely valuable to your long-term career.

I really enjoyed presenting on the “Evaluation” section of the Pardot Consultant certification guide; I found it challenging as it’s the hardest section to study for (ie. it’s very broad) but that meant I could explore different angles to approach it from:

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4. Pardot Blogs

As you can see from the bootcamps, the Pardot community is passionate about sharing their knowledge. That’s why you will find countless blogs curated by individuals or Salesforce partners (such as consultancies). In my opinion, these are the treasure troves of the Pardot world – not only could you find concepts re-explained, more in-depth tutorials, or organizational pain points – but you may also find information on uncommon use cases you need for your business.

There’s The DRIP, The Spot for Pardot (and many more!)

Misc Resources (to be aware of)

These are great resources for any Salesforce professional, however, there’s no Pardot presence (as of yet). I thought I would be amiss to not mention these to you.

Salesforce Certification Days: while they only include the Marketing Cloud Email Specialist certification (at the time of writing), it’s worth mentioning as a resource if you are planning to get certified beyond Pardot (recommended).
Apex Hours: if your role crosses between Pardot and Salesforce development, then check out this community-led YouTube channel. I believe these are the best Salesforce development courses out there, recorded by some of the community’s most familiar faces.
Salesforce Pathfinder: another official program started by Salesforce to increase the number of new Salesforce professionals coming into the industry. As well as 200+ hours of free, immersive training, Salesforce connects you with mentors and also has a network of employers who are looking to hire entry-level professionals.