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Marketers / Account Engagement (Pardot) / Career / Certifications / Marketing Cloud

Marketing Cloud & Account Engagement (Pardot) Certification Paths [Infographic]

By Lucy Mazalon

Published January 25, 2024
Updated April 24, 2025

There are now 40+ Salesforce Certifications, a number which continues to grow every year. And while both are marketing tools, Account Engagement (Pardot) and Marketing Cloud are vastly different products that each required specialised skill-sets and have distinct certification paths to follow.

In this infographic, you will find each pathway side-by-side, highlighting any pre-requisites, with the recommended experience in months/years.

Note that the point may not be to continue up the pyramid – the higher levels are not the only endpoints. It all depends on your role, for example, a marketer using Account Engagement day-to-day does not need to continue up the pyramid to the Consultant certification.

READ MORE: Huge Changes to Salesforce Certifications: Here’s What You Need to Know

Also, I included the Salesforce Administrator Certification as useful knowledge to have as an Account Engagement marketer; with the platform moving ever closer to Sales Cloud features, the core Admin certification will give you a solid foundation – it certainly did for me!

Certification Guides

  • Account Engagement (Pardot) Specialist Certification Guide & Tips
  • Account Engagement (Pardot) Consultant Certification Guide & Tips
  • Marketing Cloud Email Specialist Certification Guide & Tips
  • Marketing Cloud Administrator Certification Guide & Tips

The Author

Lucy Mazalon

Lucy is the Finance Director at Salesforce Ben. She is a 10x certified Marketing Champion and founder of The DRIP.

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Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Comments:

    Larisa B
    October 09, 2020 3:09 pm
    The preprequisite for the MC Consultant is now the Admin cerfification. Do you have an updated 2021 Paths graphic?
    Reply
    Lucy Mazalon
    October 13, 2020 2:09 pm
    Hi Larisa, it's been updated now, thanks for flagging :)
    Reply
    Ajinkya
    February 21, 2022 12:02 pm
    What's the prerequisite to learning Pardot? I'm new to Salesforce ecosystem but interested to make career in Pardot or in Marketing Cloud.
    Reply
    Lucy Mazalon
    February 22, 2022 8:38 am
    Hi Ajinka, there no prerequiste to learn Pardot. If you don't come from a digital marketing/marketing technology background, then you will need to spend more time studying. This is what you can expect to pass the first Pardot certification "Pardot Specialist" https://www.salesforceben.com/pardot-specialist-certification-guide-tips/ Good luck!
    Reply
    Chris
    July 04, 2023 12:35 am
    Have you heard whether they'll ever add a Personalization or Intelligence certification? I know of the accreditations but since I'm not a partner I'm not eligible for these.
    Reply

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