When it comes to Salesforce Marketing Cloud, there are so many things you could do… you sometimes wander from one role to another without any real career path.
You’ll keep on learning new things.
Improving.
Widening your expertise.
But… As Salesforce Marketing components are becoming more mature… As we’ve evolved from an Email Marketing software-as-a-service to a Full Marketing Stack… You must have noticed that some are specializing and, also: there can be a huge financial gap between 2 different roles in the realm of Brandy the Fox.
Based on my experience in the ecosystem, Salesforce Product Roadmap, The State of Marketing Report, and the current context, I curated the 3 roles you should prepare for to get the most ROI from your SFMC expertise.
#1 MC Full-Stack Administrator
First, what do I mean by “Full-Stack”?
There will be more and more companies using more than one MC solution.
Do you expect a company using Salesforce Marketing Cloud Engagement, MC Intelligence et MC CDP to have 3 different admins?
That’s where the Full-Stack Admin comes in. One Admin to rule them all.
What are the required Hard Skills:
- MC Administration
- SF Administration
- CDP Administration
- Personalization Administration
- Intelligence Administration
Related Certifications: MC Admin, SF Admin
Most valuable applicants will demonstrate a hands-on experience with each.
On the topic of hands-on experience, you’ll need to be (or work with) a partner to access Partner Learning Camp and CDP/Personalization/Intelligence sandboxes for training.
Some positions may require MC Account Engagement (ex-Pardot) Skills… If you already have extensive B2C stack experience, count an extra 20 to 30 hours to acquire the needed knowledge.
#2 MC Full-Stack Architect
Another “Build” role.
If you’re an MC Full-Stack Architect, you will be the most hunted MC professional in 2023 by Consulting and Implementation Partners.
Let’s be honest!
Building an efficient, scalable architecture.
Fitting the brand’s technical challenges and limitations and maximizing the stack ROI.
Having a deep understanding of the use-cases implications and requirements.
Dealing with stakeholders, project managers, product owners, IT, Security, Developers, Marketing Operations, and Data Analysts… and finding the right balance.
There will be very few people out there.
And if you want to get there, you’ll have to give a lot of time, hard work, and consistency.
What are the required Hard Skills:
- Expertise on Salesforce Marketing Cloud Engagement
- Expertise on Salesforce MC Account Engagement
- Expertise on Salesforce CDP
- Expertise on MC Personalization
- Expertise on MC Intelligence
- Understanding of the SF Core platform capabilities.
Required Certifications and Accreditations:
- MC Administrator Certification
- MC Consultant Certification
- Interaction Studio Accreditation
- CDP Accreditation
- Datorama Accreditation
- Advanced Cross-Channel Accreditation
- Pardot Specialist
- Pardot Consultant
Nice to have: SF Certified Administrator
This time, if you don’t have access to the Partner Learning Camp, you won’t be able to get the required Accreditations.
#3 MC Lifecycle Manager
A Brand-side job.
This position will have to deal with stakeholders and activate the entire marketing program through the Marketing Cloud Stack.
Personas and Lifecycle definition and calculation in Salesforce Customer Data Platform.
Activation through MC Engagement, Advertising Studio, and Personalization.
Marketing Communications monitoring through Intelligence.
We often forget that the hardest roles can be Brand-sided. You can create a perfect architecture and set-up.
Still, that doesn’t mean your marketing program will convert more, increase value per customer, increase loyalty…
Lifecycle Managers understanding how to orchestrate the different solutions together will be the ultimate business success enablers.
Do they need certifications or accreditations? Not really.
Is there a learning path yet? Not yet.
Where to start? Hands-on experience. You need to work with a marketing services agency and focus on Salesforce Marketing full-stack customers.
See you next week!
Other ways I can help you: