Your company has chosen Marketo and we congratulate it! You are about to discover a very rich tool whose functionalities will never cease to amaze you.
But at the risk of shattering your dreams, we prefer to warn you right away: marketing automation doesn’t mean autopilot. You will need professionals with a solid knowledge of the tool to use it at its best and avoid mistakes.

Marketo training to get the hang of it

Of course, practice makes perfect: practice is essential to master a tool; and beginner’s mistakes are often rich in lessons (see our article on the 10 mistakes made by neophytes).

However, to make sure you do things the right way and acquire the right reflexes from the start, don’t neglect the theoretical input from seasoned users! This will save you a painful backtracking when you realize after a year that all your campaigns were not perfectly set up…

Like any computer tool, Marketo has some basic rules that you have to master before starting. These good practices may seem tedious to those who are impatient to launch their first campaigns, but they are essential for the future good functioning of your marketing automation. So a piece of advice, train yourself to the basics before you even start to manipulate Marketo!

Acquisition of Marketo skills: which method to choose?

Start by evaluating your objective and your needs: do you want to become autonomous in the use of Marketo very quickly? Do you need to know all types of programs perfectly? Are you looking for a very specific skill on a precise functionality of Marketo? Do you have a team of marketers to grow in competence, if possible at the same pace?
Depending on your objectives, you can draw from several sources of knowledge at your disposal:

• The Marketo documentation: very clear and educational articles on everything you need to know about Marketo. The advantage: the documentation covers all the areas of Marketo. The disadvantage: it only deals with their most commonly used features.
• The community of users: if you come across a question that is not covered in the Marketo doc, there is a good chance that another user has already asked it in the community and that a third (or more) has already answered it. Advantage: there are bound to be answers to your questions. Disadvantage: they don’t always shine for their synthesis spirit and you often have to browse a whole thread to find THE answer you were looking for.
• Marketo University: self-paced e-learning modules or instructor-led courses on all areas of Marketo. Advantage: it’s well done. Disadvantage: it’s not free.
• Marketo face-to-face training: one, two, three or four day courses depending on the level of skill you are looking for, led by a Marketo certified trainer with a small group of users like yourself. Advantage: it’s in English and it’s very interactive !

Marketo training: a module adapted to each skill level

The main asset of a classroom training is the contact with the trainer (at least for us ;-). He alternates interactive presentations and practical exercises. By getting hands-on, you learn much faster and benefit instantly from the feedback of a Marketo expert.

The face-to-face trainings are adapted to different skill levels. For example,

• Marketo Essentials to discover the tool in its entirety and understand its general principles. Ideal to acquire the basics before practicing!
• Marketo Advanced is for people who have already practiced Marketo, and therefore master the basics. Here they will learn to master in detail each type of campaign possible in Marketo.
• You can also benefit from ad hoc training on areas of Marketo that you lack: smart campaigns, reporting, integration with the CRM …
• There are even trainings for experienced people who want to prepare for the Marketo Certified Expert certificate. Shortly before the exam, this training module alternates reminders on the tool and practice tests. To date, 100% success rate for those who have prepared the exam with Merlin/Leonard

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Marketo training: inter or intra-company?