Are you a revenue guru? In general, the lack of expertise and knowledge is the reason why businesses haven’t started to deploy marketing automation yet (source: Liana Technologies). Next to that, more than half of the marketers (56%) think the MarTech industry is evolving faster than their companies’ use of marketing technology (source: Walker Sands State of Marketing Technology 2017).

Where 10 years ago mass email marketing was the best we could do as marketers, we now have the opportunity to target our customers with automated marketing messages. And yet, technology is moving faster each year and we’re not nearly at the end of evolution. Then, what exactly is holding us back to evolve in Marketing automation?

The first time I got the chance to work with marketing automation 4 years ago, I was really enthusiastic. But I have to admit, when I actually started to work with it, reality kicked in. There are so many possibilities and choices in marketing automation, this wasn’t something I was going to learn in a day. In the context of the modern preach what you practice, I was determined to make this a success for our organization and deliver proof of success.

The problem was, where do I start? First of all, practice makes perfect, and so that’s what I did. When I was skilled enough to master email marketing, I dived into possibilities of improving lead nurturing and generation. Not only did we increase our lead generation, the leads were of way better quality than before, resulting in more deal closings.

Currently I work as a MarTech Specialist and wear the official title of Marketo Certified Expert with pride. I help other companies to reach their marketing goals in the best way possible. Just like I did, you can become a marketing automation expert yourself, but where to start?

Below you can find some study tips:

• Get yourself a 2-days training on the basics right here and check the free Generic MA training, provided by Marketo
• Practice, practice, practice (the basics first)
• Once that is done, explore your company’s needs in marketing
• Find out which options suits your company best in available information on Gartner Magic Quadrant or Forrester Wave. And definitely don’t forget to read the definitive guide to marketing automation.
• See also: MAP Masterclass and MAP custom workshop
• Forrester published The Forrester Wave: Lead-To-Revenue Management Platform Vendors, Q4 2016
• Look at the Gartner Magic Quadrant for CRM Lead Management here
• Click the link if you want to become a Marketo certified expert
• Last, but not least! Marketing automation communities provide free advice from all kinds of marketers to your questions.

Embrace marketing technology and be the initiator and ambassador of the newest MarTech development. It gives you loads of opportunities in marketing. Become your company’s revenue guru!