Member StoriesAnita Gibbings

What do you think the future holds for the world of digital marketing and those working in it?

Everyone is talking about there being a ‘digital transformation’ and this applies very much to marketing. I believe we will see further gaps between the efficient performance of digital-savvy marketing organizations and those who do not adopt and keep learning better ways of reaching their audiences when, where and how they prefer to engage.

I also believe that those who do not become digital-savvy marketers will find it harder to grow their careers. With the pace of change in marketing, it is important to invest in keeping your skills and knowledge up to date to stay relevant.

How would you describe your experience with the DMI? Is there a module or exercise that you particularly enjoyed?

I had an excellent experience with the DMI. The coursework was well laid out the instructors knowledgeable. It laid an excellent ground work of ‘must know’ about digital marketing with a well-recognized external certification that I will be happy to display on my LinkedIn profile. I found the sections on metrics and optimization very insightful. This is a real weak point at SAP – we are not as data-driven as we should be in marketing, but we all need to understand and use the right metrics to keep driving our marketing to be more effective. We are under more and more pressure to do this through the margin targets set by our co-CEOs.

Were there any challenges you initially thought of but found you overcame, if so how? (e.g. time, understanding the modules)

It was certainly difficult to find the time during regular work hours. I was already stretched working on our Marketing Operational Transformation project and the change management plan for all the workstreams: events, content, media and telemarketing. Basically, I ended up spending a lot of personal time doing it – instead of watching my kids’ hockey or gymnastics I was sitting in a corner going through course material. In my current role I don’t do any digital marketing – I am working on overall strategic projects in the oCMO so there was a lot of new material for me to learn. That said I think it was well worth the time investment. Even if I am not doing some of the more tactical digital marketing at the moment, I gained an understanding of metrics and optimization steps that I will be using to ask the right questions and optimize marketing performance and effectiveness.

As a Certified Digital Marketing Professional (CDMP), do you have any exam tips for your SAP colleagues?

The quizzes are useful in giving you an idea of how well you understand the material but if you concentrate only there, you will not know some of the material for the exam. I made notes on each module, looking at places where I could be asked for lists, steps or definitions. I spent a fair amount of time getting to know the tools well.