Salesforce Marketing Cloud certification helps Aussie make bank

When considering which credentials in the Salesforce universe are the best investments, one marketing consultant makes the case for Salesforce Marketing Cloud certification. When Eliot Harper's consulting clients want advice on what kind of questions they should ask job applicants for marketing positions, he instead offers one suggestion: "If they don't have a Salesforce Marketing Cloud certification, don't interview them," Harper said. "That's because I really think it is a great litmus test." With eight areas of study including marketing, app building and development Salesforce accreditation allows certificate holders to show they have mastered specific niches of Salesforce concepts. Harper himself has two certifications: Marketing Cloud Consultant and Marketing Cloud Email Specialist. Of the two, he views the consultant recognition as the "pinnacle" of the marketing certification umbrella. "It's highly sought after," he said. "It is a hard certification. It separates the pretenders from the contenders." That's because certificate holders can't earn accreditation simply by studying, Harper offered. "You pass it because you have to have hands-on experience with the marketing platform, together with knowledge gained from studying," he said. Harper recommends working with Salesforce Marketing Cloud for at least a year before taking the Salesforce Marketing Cloud certification exam. It's the only way marketing professionals will experience errors on the platform, which ultimately builds a true understanding of how it all works, he said. "I recall specific exam questions about a data binding error, and that's for Journey Builder (a feature in Marketing Cloud that manages the customer lifecycle). You wouldn't know that until you experienced it," he said.