Marketo MCSA

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

Marketo has recently changed the Marketo Consultant certification to MCSA - Marketo Certified Solutions Architect. I'm going for a MCSA workshop hosted in Dublin this week (which I hope clarifies most of my questions), and was wondering if anyone with this certification can give me some first-hand insight or tips?

Thanks!

[Karan_Hari3]

Hi Grace Brebner​,

Thanks a lot for that explanation. That's exactly what I wanted to know.

Best Always,

Karan Hari

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

I attended the MCSA Workshop and just to clarify the cases presented need to be real, they cannot be fictitious. Also when presenting the different scenarios you will need to present evidence of performance and success. You will need to present on:

Lead Nurturing

Lead Scoring

Lead Lifecycle

AND 2 of of the below items:

Marketo Lead Management

Center of Excellence

Analytics

Web Personalization

ABM • Administration

Integration – Native and/or Custom

Mobile

Digital Ads

The training was very advanced and extremely helpful.

Thanks!

[Chris_Johnston]

Hi Macarena, we have 6 (including myself) at our office with the MCSA certification. Happy to help you with anything you need. Feel free to email me chris@salytics.com.

[Anonymous]

Hi Chris,

I found a PDF in the Community (Marketo Certified Solutions Architect) that gives some overview of how to achieve the MCSA certification. It mentions it's case study based, and that you should show expertise in at least 3 of the below areas:

Marketo Lead Management

Center of Excellence

Analytics

Web Personalization

ABM • Administration

Integration – Native and/or Custom

Mobile

Digital Ads

Do you know if you can only use one case study that showcases 3 of these areas of if you can present different case studies, each based on each area?

[Anonymous]

Hi Macarena Mazzeo,

The PDF link for Marketo Certified Solutions Architect doesn't seem to be working. Can you email me a copy:)

[Anonymous]

Hi Matthew,

I've recently wrote a bit of a more detailed outline of the MCSA after attending the workshop, you can find it here: Marketo Certified Solutions Architect (MCSA)

Hope it helps you!

[Karan_Hari3]

Hi Macarena Mazzeo​,

In the above referred article (as per the below Snapshot), It says that we "Require" to have the MLM Badge and any of the 2 Badges listed below - Prior to applying for the MCSA. As per my understanding having these badges are a pre-requisite.

My question is how do you earn these badges (Listed above) in the first place? Are these badges awarded as a part of the MCSA presentation? or we need to have these Badges first, in order to be eligible for the MCSA presentation? If so, How do we earn them? Are the Marketo Specializations in any way related to this? for example if I have completed the web personalization Specialization, Am I eligible for the Web Personalization Expertise badge?

Patricia Dowling​ - Would really appreciate any help on my above query

Best Always,

Karan Hari

[Grace_Brebner3]

Hey Karan,

I'm MCSA so have been through this process - unless it's changed recently, what the author means is that you need to present on three key areas. One of which must be MLM, and the other two can be chosen by you based on your personal preference.

Hope that helps

[Karan_Hari3]

Hi Grace Brebner and Patricia Dowling​

Thank you for your response. My primary confusion is around the fact on - How to earn those 3 badges (in the community) ? as per the below screen shot from the document,  - My understanding is that-  These are the 3 criteria I need to meet in order to be able to present myself/ Apply for the MCSA

Now since these are requirements I already need to have in order to be able to present myself for the MCSA, If I ask myself the question

1. You need to be a Marketo Partner - Yes I am
2. You need to have a currently valid MCE certification - Yes I have
3. You will require to have a Marketo Lead Management (MLM) badge AND (at least) 2 of of the below items: - In this case I do not have these badges currently.

So referring to my 3rd point, since I do not have these badges currently, does that make me not eligible for applying for MCSA? and if so, how do I go about earning those badges first, so that I can become eligible to apply for MCSA?

Really appreciate your help here

Best Always,

Karan Hari

[Grace_Brebner3]

Hey Karan, I think you're misunderstanding (the way this was phrased in the post you quote is causing confusion.).

Being a partner and MCE is a prerequisite to qualify to present for the MCSA qualification. But the "badges", the three areas of expertise - you don't need to have these in order to qualify to apply, you need to present on them when you complete your MCSA assessment. The community badges are assigned when you complete your MCSA.

[Patsy_Dowling]

Absolutely correct Grace this is still the case you must present on at least 3 areas one of which needs to be MLM and the other two areas of expertise to present on are up to your discretion. 

[Chris_Johnston · Accepted solution]

You can use a bunch. Essentially the idea is they want you to show that you can do a ground up implementation for a company that spans the globe with multiple offices and teams. If certain areas you have no experience in you could build a "fake" example even. Just as long as you can show you have the knowledge in every area through various points is what they are looking for. It all comes down to a 1 hour presentation that you can use whatever materials you like to highlight your ability.

Some of our team actually created an entirely fake ground up implementation, in order to a) highlight the skills and b) we use as a tool to show our potential new clients or existing clients how to go about taking on a new area without fear of confidential data being shown, we can allow them to get all into an instance.

The 2 day course basically teaches you everything you need at a high level and you have a couple of exercises during the training to help get you working in the right direction and understanding what they are looking for.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for this Chris, extremely useful!

[Aslihan_Ayan_Ha]

I wonder if Marketo or any MCSA publishes their case studies.I would love to see them.

[Chris_Johnston]

Marketo definitely does not. I doubt any MCSA would as if they were good and using client examples, they would run into confidentially reasons for hiding it. If it was a mishmash of various clients, it wouldn't make a lot of sense unless the person was presenting it to you, and if it was a complete fake case study, it would bore you, as it would focus on the mundane tasks of this user needs x, y, z permissions and this user needs this. It gets into Lead Partitions and Workspaces etc, but really, it would be as exciting as Marketo Docs. The presentation is really more about the oral aspects as opposed to a full case study as well. The included PPT is just the point form mishmash to help guide the presentation along with getting into a Marketo Instance to help show what you have built.

[Anonymous]

Hi Chris, thanks! I will

[Anonymous]

As far as I am aware the consultant certification was only limited to Marketo Partners. Has this changed with MCSA now?

[Chris_Johnston]

It's still for partners, but I do know Marketo is working on new certifications that will be available for non-Partners. Doing the Specialist Certifications will end up being still the highest you can achieve as a non partner. Marketo Certification: Specialization Topics

The reason that MCSA is limited to partners is because it really is more about helping clients implement than learning new skills in Marketo and so it wouldn't make sense for a user to need that. It is also a very long and tough process to achieve.

[Anonymous]

Hi Neeraj,

I believe it's still only available for Partners.

Thanks,

[Gerard_Donnell4]

Hi Macarena Lopez Mazzeo​,

What day is it on?

Thanks,