Actively using the products you’re recommending helps you better understand their pain points and enables you to better communicate solutions. At Kentico, we use our own DXP to power our website and marketing, which is one of the reasons why our very own Director of Digital Marketing decided to take the marketer certification
Like many of our partners and customers, Karel Figlár, Director of Digital Marketing at Kentico, has completed his Kentico training and passed the certified marketer exam. Let’s hear his unique perspective on taking the exam and his biggest takeaway from the course.
1. Why did you take the course?
Kentico is always creating new ways for users to approach online marketing and I believe the course provides a wealth of knowledge for any marketer who wants to get the most out of Kentico. It’s not just about what online marketing applications to use and how, it’s also about why.
The certification verifies your knowledge of the platform and is a great way to prove your level of expertise to clients and prospects.
2. How much time did you spend preparing for and taking the exam?
Well, since I was part of the discussion when the course was created, I was able to go through it at a slightly more accelerated pace than most. I’d estimate it would take around ten hours in total. The certification itself is set for an hour and a half.
In terms of preparation, we at Kentico have a "Use Your Friday Well" policy, where employees can dedicate time to studying and acquiring new knowledge. So my preparation for the course did not interfere with my other projects.
3. What newly gained knowledge have you shared with your team?
Unsurprisingly, the entire Kentico marketing team knows how to work with the platform, so my role was not so much about imparting knowledge about how to set things up, but more about why things should be set up a particular way.
After all, the true value of the training courses and certification is not simply to learn to master the platform but to learn where and how you can add that added value for your end users.
4. Which element did you find most inspiring?
The definite ‘aha’ moment for many participants is the realization that, while the individual online marketing applications are superb, the real power comes when you start combining them.
For instance, the Lead Scoring application is invaluable in showing me information about which users rank as leads based on their activities, as defined by my scoring rules. But combine it with Marketing Automation, and I’m able to target the right leads (those that have reached a certain score or took a set of conditional steps) with emails specifically prepared for the contact group they’re assigned to and have those emails sent automatically so that they are being nurtured towards conversion without any further input from me.
Sure, you can use each application in isolation and they are still excellent tools. But it’s when you use them together that you discover just how powerful and well-thought-out the tool in your hands is.
5. What does the course cover?
The course helps partners analyze and map how their business requirements and digital marketing tactics match the built-in capabilities of Kentico and to understand in detail and configure its out-of-the-box digital marketing features.
It covers:
- Performing day-to-day marketing operations such as analyzing different marketing data using built-in and custom reporting features
- Managing and configuring contacts, their properties and activities in compliance with data privacy regulations
- Defining customer segments using personas, lead scoring, and contact groups
- Leveraging the email marketing features, such as analyzing email campaigns and Defining email components (templates, widgets, etc.)
- Optimizing website content with a/b testing
- Personalizing content using the personalization features
- Defining advanced marketing automation processes
- Proving your understanding of digital marketing in general
The exam tests high-level familiarity and hands-on experience with out-of-box features and solutions and your ability to analyze and run digital marketing projects on websites powered by Kentico.
My favorite part of the course is all the information on the practical use of the tools and the best practice advice with real-world examples.
6. What would you say to someone considering getting certified?
Simply, go for it! 😊 Certification not only gives you a good feeling (not to be underestimated), but you get validation of your knowledge and skills.
I think that real success is when a person starts using everything they have learned daily, and this is what the course will help with.
To learn more, check out how you can become a Kentico Certified Marketer.