The Solomon team got a sneak-preview into Marketo’s new Certified Associate program (MCA). We are excited to share that the program has been officially released and is now available to everyone! Read below for a preview of what to expect, or if you are ready to dive in now, check out our MCA Study Guide.
While the Marketo Certified Expert (Adobe Certified Expert – Marketo Engage Business Practitioner) designation is still the gold-standard, this new certification aims to be more accessible, can be a good baseline for your marketing team, and is a great preparation step towards obtaining MCE status for Marketo Admins and other advanced users.
Three members of the Solomon Solution team took the BETA MCE exam: Jessica, a Marketo Certified Expert (2016) with 4 years Marketo Admin experience; Veronika, also a Marketo Certified Expert (2018) with a year of Marketo user experience; and new team member Austin Stephens, who has one year of Marketo Admin experience and is currently studying to take the MCE exam.
What’s a Marketo Certified Associate?
Set to be released later this year, Marketo describes the MCA exam as “designed to assess a candidate’s knowledge in marketing automation, general marketing concepts, and email marketing in Marketo. The exam is rigorous and professionally administered to provide a highly respected marketing automation credential for new entrants into the field of marketing automation.”
Who should take the exam?
Since this exam focuses on general marketing knowledge plus Marketo’s most widely-used features (building campaigns, executing emails, designing landing pages), this exam is great for the non-admin users of your marketing team. Many small marketing departments may only have one Marketo admin user. If that’s your company, consider this exam a great opportunity to train back up and ensure a team-wide understanding of marketing automation.
(Want to take the MCE instead? Learn How to Become a Marketo Certified Expert in Six Weeks Or Less)
How does it compare to the Marketo Certified Expert credential?
In a word, it’s easier. However, the MCA exam is still a fantastic test of marketing knowledge.
To be successful on the MCA exam, Marketo recommends a combination of industry-level knowledge of marketing automation, minimum of 3 months (200-400+ hours) of hands-on experience in Marketo and academic training prior to attempting. While that may sound like a lot, it’s a fraction of what’s needed to successfully complete the Certified Expert exam (administrative access, knowledge of all areas of Marketo, minimum 800-1,000+ hours in the system).
The MCA exam doesn’t require Admin Marketo knowledge or experience. Approximately half the questions are about marketing best practices while the others are about Marketo’s most popular features including email programs, audience targeting, and basic reporting. Unlike the MCE exam which, which requires you to recognizes subtle differences between answer options, the MCA exam questions are written more simply with no “None of the Above” or “All of the Above” options.
What’s on the exam?
We’re not here to give away all the secrets, but we can share that it’s a mix of Email Marketing Fundamentals, Marketing Automation Fundamentals, Audience Targeting and Data Management, Landing Pages, Form Basics, Events and Webinars, and Analytics and Reporting.
Get to studying!
For more details on the MCA exam and where to begin in your study, check out our MCA Study Guide. Or if you think you have the basics down and are ready to become an expert, download our extensive 5-part MCE study guide.
Alternatively, this is a fantastic time to get your Marketing team up to speed in Marketo with training by Solomon Solution. Contact us to arrange a custom program.
