Marketo Certifications Explained

For anyone looking to have a career as a Marketo user, demonstrating your ability in using the tool with a Marketo certification is a must.

But what are the different types and which is the right one for you?

Certification Types:

As of 2023, there are three different exams you can take to achieve Marketo certified status. The names of the certifications have changed in recent years since Adobe’s acquisition of Marketo.

1. Adobe Marketo Certified Engage - Certified Professional (formerly Marketo Certified Associate)

This is the go-to for beginners who are looking to start their career in marketing automation, or relatively new users of Marketo. This certification demonstrates your ability to manage all essential tasks in Marketo, from building programs and assets like emails and landing pages, working with audiences, and finally reporting.

Therefore, if you’re starting out in a marketing automation or email marketing role, look no further than this certification. Most employers recruiting for Marketing Automation Manager type roles tend to accept any level of certification, so offering up this up during the recruitment process will put you at the front of the queue.

Equally, if you’re in a general marketing role or a senior leader in a company that uses Marketo, this certification provides a good general knowledge of how Marketo works and its capabilities for your organisation.

Oakley Marketing offers an affordable online course to get you Marketo Certified Professional exam-ready, without assuming any prior knowledge of Marketo. Find out more here.

Full details about the certification, including how to book your exam, can be found in Adobe’s official documentation here.

2. Adobe Marketo Certified Engage - Certified Expert (formerly Marketo Certified Expert)

This is the second level of Marketo certification and is typically taken by day-to-day Marketo users who have 18+ months experience.

The complexity is stepped up to include knowledge that requires all areas access within a Marketo instance, which is normally reserved for companies’ most-advanced users, such as those responsible for system governance. An understanding of best-practices when it comes to email marketing and Marketo setup is also covered as part of this certification.

Hands-on experience is the critical resource to take the step from Certified Professional to Certified Expert status, as well as making use of Marketo’s official product docs to implement more advanced processes such as setting up a system integration with a CRM like Salesforce.

Full details about this certification can be found here.

3. Adobe Marketo Certified Engage - Master

This certificate acknowledges the highest level of Marketo expertise. It is typically taken by users with 5+ years experience in Marketo, and usually with experience of multiple instances.

The expected knowledge goes beyond the technical use of the tool and into an understanding of project leadership, such as planning and implementing a migration of a Marketo instance.

For users on a path to becoming a Solutions Architect or Business Systems Analyst, this is the certification to be striving for and to ultimately demonstrate your capability.

Full details about this certification can be found here.

Summary:

Unless you’re already an experienced Marketo user, the ‘Adobe Marketo Certified Engage - Certified Professional’ is the one we would suggest starting with, as it can be achieved with very little hands-on experience. Then you can advance towards the other certifications as your own hands-on experience develops to cover what’s in the exam syllabus and you instinctively feel ready to take that step.

Don’t forget to check out our own digital ‘Beginner to Marketo Certified Professional’ course, which you can take at your own pace to start your Marketo journey, or if you’re just about ready to take your exam and want to fill any knowledge gaps.