Being a Marketo Champion is amazing - you get previews of new features, a direct line to Marketo Engage product / support / marketing experts, and you’ll join a group of the funniest, most knowledgeable people you'll ever meet. You’ll get the opportunity to speak at Adobe events including Adobe Summit and roadshows. Plus, you get excellent swag. What do the Champions do that make them stand out to Adobe and what can you do to help your nomination into this elite group? Shout out to @Amy_Goldfine who contributed to this list to help you evaluate if you're ready to become a Champion!
1) Technical Skill
This is a no-brainer, but it is the biggest requirement of being a Champion: you have to be good at Marketo'ing.
If you don't have your certification, you should take the test. Aside from it being a requirement for Champions, it's excellent for your resume because good hiring managers prioritize people with their certification. Formerly called the Marketo Certified Expert (MCE), it's now the Adobe Certified Expert - Marketo Engage Business Practi...
There is plenty of advice floating around to help you study, just search Marketing Nation or go to the certification page to prepare. If you're already a BAMF Marketo Engage power user or administrator and have your certification, you're on the right path!
2) Community Involvement
Before I became a Champion I was obsessed with my Marketing Nation level, but I am fatally competitive. It's not about what level your account is at, it is about giving back to the community. Champions aren't just technically savvy with Marketo, we love to help other people. When I was first getting started in Marketo I ran into a problem and posted a question on Marketing Nation. A Champion reached out and not only answered my question, when I had ongoing issues with their fix they jumped on a call with me and walked me through the solution for free, out of the goodness of their heart!
It taught me from the beginning of my Marketo Engage career that Champions go above and beyond to help other people and once I was proficient in Marketo I wanted to give back to others in the same way. You can answer questions in Marketing Nation to support our newbie Marketo Engage users or tackle difficult questions that sometimes need custom solutions.
If you've answered a ton of questions and want to take that next step, take solutions that you’ve implemented that can help lots of people and create a Marketing Nation post about it. It's an extension of wanting to help people by sharing your set up or strategy to a larger audience. Post real, usable advice that hasn't been explored or posted before to help other Marketo Engage users uplevel their instance.
Champions are thought leaders - we're not all the same and often specialize in different areas, but what unites us is our love of helping others.
3) Social Engagement
You don't have to tweet as often as Kim Kardashian to be an advocate for Marketo Engage. Ultimately, social engagement is all about helping others. When you post in Marketing Nation or answer community questions, you're helping a specific group of people who are current users that check the community. What about people who aren't current users or who don't go on community often?
By posting about Marketo Engage or sharing social posts from Adobe, you're sharing with your network and extending that information to people who might not have seen it otherwise. It is a less direct path, but we've all seen times when someone retweets important news or information and another person comments that they hadn't heard about it yet. Share insights and information with people who may not have seen it otherwise.
4) Heartfelt Advocacy
Marketo Engage is the premier marketing automation platform and Champions are happy to tell you about how using it upleveled their companies. Adobe offers a number of ways to engage such as joining Purple Select, being a reference, or joining a MUG.
Marketo User Groups (MUGs) are a great place to network with other power users and user group leaders are always looking for fresh new content to showcase. Presenting to a user group can be a great first step on the path to presenting for Adobe at Summit or other larger scale events. People who are Champions or become Champions are members of Marketo User Groups, they are active on Purple Select and love wearing free SWAG. You’ll find Marketo Champions in most or all of the advocacy options Marketo Engage offers and we recommend that you join them too!
If you’re missing a pillar of Championship, now is a great time to supplement your application by jumping in with both feet! If you check off most or all of these items, I recommend applying to become a 2021 Marketo Champion. If you have questions, reach out to a current or former Champions, we're here to help!
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