September 25, 2006 Comments
We knew it was coming eventually, but no one knew who would be the first to pull it off. What's that? Well, a search engine marketing "certification" of course! Apparently the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has decided to launch a new "DMA Certification Program in Search Engine Marketing" at their upcoming October conference. The certification will be offered on two levels and will require the completion of DMA approved courses and testing.
From the press release:
DMA's Search Engine Marketing Certification represents the competency and training of the marketers that DMA member companies and agencies employ, as well as provides a training path for their more junior marketing staff.
Marketers seeking DMA certification will be required to apply to the program and gain acceptance, successfully complete coursework, pass an exam, and complete ongoing recertification.
DMA's certification program is the first program developed by a major marketing association designed to train and certify the level of competency of in-house and agency marketers. Members of the DMA involved with program development include marketers, media properties, and search engines.
The program will include two levels of certification:
The question here is whether or not this certification will hold value. I can understand that it might lend some credibility to search marketers that are just starting out and have yet to establish a reputation for themselves, but I'm hard pressed to believe that successful search marketers that are already in the business are going to go through the trouble of taking the courses required to earn the certification. I see this as something similar to Google's certification program for AdWords. (except that that program is quite a bit less time consuming to pass, making it more of an annoyance than a hassle.)
Time will tell how this gets received by the community. There was certainly a time coming where someone needed to step up to the plate and offer some type of certification, but I'll be curious to see if the DMA is the one that is able to actually pull it off.
Hat tip to Loren Baker over at Search Engine Journal.
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