Why did I take the Kentico Xperience 12 Certified Marketer exam?

My name is Peter and I work as a Key Account Manager with Kentico Xperience’s Gold partner, ACTUM Digital. I’ve been actively using and selling Kentico Xperience DXP for the past 16 months. But how can one sell something without knowing the product inside out? That’s nearly impossible, you’re right. Therefore, in this blog post, I will talk about how I decided to dive into Kentico Xperience’s marketing functionalities and conclude my learning journey with the Certified Marketer Exam.

Getting to know the product inside out

But first things first. After I joined ACTUM Digital, a colleague of mine, a Kentico Xperience expert, showed me what the DXP is capable of. Shortly after, I and my colleagues from the sales department were advised to take the Kentico Xperience marketer training, where the most important functionalities were explained in a very practical way. 

This provided me with a good level of knowledge, and I got a very clear idea of lead scoring, persona setting, A/B testing setup, and various email marketing templates. It was suddenly possible for me to talk about these out-of-the-box Kentico Xperience functionalities when speaking to existing and potential clients. 

However, if there was a Solutions Architect present on a call with a client, they would be able to demonstrate all the built-in online marketing functionalities with such ease, that I became envious and felt a lack of knowledge. I realized that I should dig deeper and learn more. 

I set myself a goal to learn Kentico Xperience marketing functionalities so well that I’d be able to pass the certification exam.

Starting the course

I reserved a considerable amount of time in my calendar and spent a few hours each day mastering the preparation course. The course itself is especially helpful, enabling the attendees to demonstrate their newly acquired knowledge on practical examples. I had some knowledge before this course but it was still essential for the exam.

I learned how to create and distinguish contact groups, define personas, efficiently set a score by lead scoring, and much more. It took perhaps 10 hours in total to finish, but it gave me a great edge before the exam itself.

The exam can take up to 90 minutes, so I switched my status to busy and did it first thing on Friday morning. Let me tell you, if I hadn’t taken the preparation course seriously enough, I would be completely lost.  

The questions were sometimes tricky and sometimes there was more than one correct answer. For instance, three out of four answers were correct and if I chose only two of them, I wouldn’t get any points. That made me consider all the questions from a very wide perspective.

During the exam, I had the training website, Dancing Goat, open and I was also using Kentico Xperience documentation. When I wasn’t sure about something, I performed the activity on the training website right away and this steered me in the right direction.

By doing this, I was able to complete all the questions with relative peace of mind, because I believed that I did the best I could. Still, I was a little nervous when clicking on “submit”. The result page made me feel good, though.  

I passed the certification exam successfully!  

But honestly, in the end, it wasn’t about the certificate itself. It was about a newly acquired knowledge of Kentico Xperience marketing functionalities; not only theoretical knowledge but mainly the ability to use and set them up correctly.

When talking to clients afterward on a call, together with a Solutions Architect, I wasn’t only listening, but I could also contribute actively and talk about what Kentico Xperience DXP can do because I knew exactly how it works. 

For everyone who uses or sells Kentico Xperience  

Therefore, I definitely recommend taking this certification test to everyone who works with Kentico Xperience, who talks about it with clients or sells it. The badge of the Certified Marketer shows that you are skilled and that you know how to make the most of Kentico Xperience.

Bear in mind that it’s not a piece of cake. Prior knowledge is essential, and the preparation course is an absolute must. What helps as well is to talk about it with Marketers and Solutions Architects who actively use these functionalities.  

One more thing, you should never stop at one certification, which reminds me of the fact that there is a new certification exam ready, for Kentico Xperience 13. I am definitely going to reserve my time in the calendar, go through the preparation course and take the exam. Wish me luck!  

Do you want to show off your marketing expertise to your customers? Learn more about the exam and become a certified Kentico Xperience marketer.