Marketo Partner Certification Awarded to Spear Marketing Group

Online, May 29, 2012 (Newswire.com) - Spear Marketing Group, a full-service B2B marketing agency specializing in demand generation and lead management, announced it has been awarded the Marketo Partner Certification. Marketo's Certification Program recognizes partners for achieving required marketing automation and sales effectiveness competencies and for providing a scalable learning environment in which to teach and assess these proficiencies.

Spear develops, executes, and manages a wide range of demand generation strategies for its clients, and is one of very few agencies with knowledge and expertise across the entire sales cycle - from generating net new inquiries to helping clients manage, filter, qualify, cultivate, and nurture those leads into genuine sales opportunities.

"We're pleased to be one of the first true marketing agencies to be awarded Marketo certification," said Howard J. Sewell, Spear President. "Though our Marketo clients look to us primarily for assistance with lead nurturing strategy, campaign development, and creative execution, it's important for those same companies to feel confident that we have the technical chops to back it up. I believe that combination of creative savvy and technical expertise makes Spear a unique type of Marketo partner."

The certification program is groundbreaking for Marketo, as it's the first time the revenue performance management leader has defined a benchmark of knowledge and best practices for its partners to become successful Marketo consultants. Now customers have insight into whether the lead generation company they choose to amplify their marketing efforts has been approved by Marketo.

"By becoming a Marketo Certified Partner, it proves Spear's level of commitment to Marketo customers' revenue growth and success," said Amy Guarino, Vice President of Business Development at Marketo. "It's imperative to educate customers in how to optimize the buying process to drive top line revenue. Marketo's Partner Certification utilizes marketing resources to turn partners into trusted advisors and true Revenue Performance Management leaders."

Introduced in March of this year, the program tests individuals on proficiency in the areas of setup, data management, programs, campaigns, asset/studio design, lead scoring, lifecycle management, and reporting. The content of the test material demands a thorough and comprehensive understanding of the Marketo platform, of which Spear's team impressively surpassed.