Career Development

I’ll admit it. As a marketing professional, I was a bit nervous the first time that I heard the term “marketing automation.” My first thought was that somebody was trying to automate my role and that I would soon be looking for a job.

This fear was not unique to me — many in my department had the same thoughts. However, these fears were completely unfounded.

Turns out that marketing automation, specifically Pardot, actually saved my bacon — twice.

What is marketing automation?

According to Salesforce:

“Marketing automation is technology that manages marketing processes and multifunctional campaigns, across multiple channels, automatically.”

Marketing automation is basically a tool that streamlines and simplifies many tasks within marketing and sales organizations leading to greater efficiency. It frees teams from performing many processes that have traditionally been done manually (if they are even getting done) and allows them to be more strategic. It is NOT the equivalent of replacing workers with robots.  

Score one for marketing automation

I worked in a leadership role in the marketing department of a mid-sized organization for over 20 years. Along the way, the concept of marketing automation was introduced. After some initial skepticism and limited success with with other platforms, we adopted Pardot and I became a huge fan. Working in Pardot quickly became the favorite part of my job and we were able to do some amazing things with lead scoring, grading and nurturing.

Our organization had a great run, but eventually ran into some challenges. After several rounds of layoffs, my number came up. While this was a business decision, an abrupt change in employment is never a fun thing. This was the first time that my Pardot knowledge came to my aid.

Since I was the Pardot expert within the organization and we had an extended contract, we were able to agree to a transition plan that was mutually beneficial for both parties. I was afforded more time to find my next career and the extended transition ensured that marketing operations continued uninterrupted. Score one for Pardot!

Second act  

When I first started using Pardot, I saw all the stickers and t-shirts emblazoned with:

“I ♡ Pardot”

I thought it was a bit funny, but soon I found myself echoing the same sentiment. I decided very quickly that I wanted to transition from a marketing leadership role and that Pardot would be the focus of my new career.

I began reaching out to friends, colleagues and organizations that I knew used Pardot. This and the skills that I had developed led me to Sercante and my current role.

I now get to utilize Pardot every day, work with a team of awesome Pardot pros, and help my clients succeed on the Salesforce platform. How cool is that? Score one more for Pardot!

Ready to write your story?  

Marketing automation is nothing to fear. In fact, you should embrace it and take advantage of every opportunity to build and enhance your skills. At the end of the day, tangible technical skills are what employers need and they will also keep you relevant.

The team at Sercante is now offering two Pardot training courses to help you build your skills. Our Pardot Admin Bootcamp and Code School for Pardot Admins courses are taught by Pardot pros who work and innovate in the platform on a daily basis.

If you are looking to take control of your career and write a success story of your own, I highly encourage you to take a look. You’ll be glad that you did.

As a Pardot consultant, I run into a lot of people who are stuck.

They’re not getting the value they wanted out of the tool.

They’re not sure what to do next.

The ocean of possibility feels daunting.

When talking to people in this space of frustration, I try to listen for 3 things.

1. What is the outcome they’re after?
2. Are they working toward that outcome in an effective way?
3. If not… is it because they don’t know how to, or because they don’t want to? (That may sound like a weird question, but I’ll explain.)

Getting through “I don’t know how”

If lack of effective action stems from a missing skills or knowledge, that’s actually a great place to be.

You can learn.  You can find resources.  You can talk to people who have walked the road you’re walking.

This is the frame of mind for many of the companies my team supports with implementations.  There’s a knowledge gap, and we have a structured process to help would-be Pardashians conquer that (full of training guides, blogs, videos, and other helpful goodies.)

When there’s more to the story

Sometimes the knowledge gap is real.  But I also frequently find smart, motivated people avoiding starting a project or executing something poorly.  In those cases, there’s invariably more to the story than “I don’t know how.”

Why haven’t you created an Engagement Studio nurture?

If scoring and grading was a priority when you bought Pardot, why aren’t you using it yet?

Have you trained your sales team on how to leverage the information you’re gathering in Pardot?

The first answer to inquiries like that is often “I don’t know how.”  Or the usual time and money fallback.

But those are rarely the TRUE reasons holding talented, in-it-to-win-it marketers back. The real barrier is often something more like:

• What if I build it and then it flops
• What if I can’t get other people to buy in
• What if I do it once and then it becomes my job forever
• What if my boss hates it
• What if I’m not good at this
• What if I look dumb

In other words… it feels like a risk.

Identifying and naming that lurking reason for inaction is powerful.  Seeing is the first step to overcoming.