Congratulations to the 2023 class of Salesforce Marketing Champions! We are honored that some of our own Sercante dragons were selected as part of this prestigious group this year.
Let’s get to know them.
The Program: Salesforce Marketing Champions
First! What even is a Salesforce Marketing Champion?
Salesforce knows a career as a marketer can be a hectic, fire-emergency-filled job. You are communicating across departments, across the globe, and in large amounts of acronyms.
We truly enjoy our work, but sometimes it can be thankless. Salesforce provides this program as a way to recognize champions in the Salesforce marketing space and help amplify the marketing voice, both in and outside the Trailblazer Community.
Champions are nominated through the community and have a wealth of knowledge in marketing and the Salesforce platform. Each champion is a #MomentMarketer, Googling their way to success, always learning and improving their skills through certifications, and truly demonstrating their strategic love through training sessions, speaking events, and content creation.
We want to send another big congratulations to the entire Salesforce Marketing Champion class of 2023! See the complete list here.
Don’t forget to check out the 2023 Salesforce MVPs, too — Congrats to The Salesforce MVP Class of 2023!
MVPs are similar to the marketing champions. According to the Salesforce MVP Code of Conduct, MVPs are “lifelong learners who go above and beyond to share their expertise and help the entire community succeed… [and] leaders in the Trailblazer Community who encourage each other, celebrate others’ successes, work collaboratively to make our community and the world a better place, and have a lot of fun along the way!”
The People: Meet The New Sercante Marketing Champions
Let’s meet the Sercante dragons who worked hard in their communities and made it into the Salesforce Marketing Champions class of 2023.
New Marketing Champion #1. Cara Weese
- The Spot author page
- Location – Lincoln, NE
Thoughts about joining the program
“It is an honor to be named among such an esteemed group of professionals. I have been working in the Salesforce community for 10 years now, and I am excited to combine my passions for Salesforce and Marketing to help drive growth for organizations and fellow community members who are learning the Marketing Cloud platforms or looking to up their marketing game to the next level by providing advice, best practices, and through networking events.”
Fav tool!
“I don’t know that I can choose just one. I guess I would have to go with Salesforce Analytics and bucket all of the reports, dashboards, Intelligence, and B2BMA in one umbrella. I have a great passion for analytics!”
Something fun!
“I love books! Whenever I have downtime, whether that be traveling, sitting outside, or even working at my desk, I have to be listening to an audiobook. I also pick up books from time to time, but as a busy working mom, it’s often easier to listen. I love Fantasy, Mystery, YA Fiction, and Historical Fiction, but honestly, I could read just about anything.”
New Marketing Champion #2. Cate Godley
- The Spot author page
- Location – Marietta, GA
Thoughts about joining the program
“I’m excited to join the Marketing Champions program and connect with other marketers in the Salesforce community. I’m passionate about education and can’t wait to help more people learn how to effectively use and manage Account Engagement.”
Fav tool!
“Salesforce Reports/Dashboards. I love data and getting to create my own reports and dashboards to display that data is one of my favorite things.”
Something fun!
“I love going to concerts, house plants, dogs, and playing board games. If I’m not doing something related to Salesforce I’m most likely doing something related to one of those things.”
New Marketing Champion #3. Jacob Catalano
- Location – Dallas, TX
Thoughts about joining the program
“I’m extremely excited to be a part of the 2023 class of Marketing Champions with so many of my colleagues in the Salesforce community. Being included in such a brilliant group of marketers is a dream come true and I can not wait to learn and grow alongside some of the brightest minds in the Salesforce community.”
Fav tool!
“Flows is one of the most powerful automation tools out there and I love when I can just take an hour or two and find new ways to use Flow.”
Something fun!
“I spend most of my time performing in musicals locally and playing golf. These two things are totally different but give me the most joy and let me step away from things going on and relax.”
New Marketing Champion #4. Julian Janssen
- The Spot author page
- Location – Fort Worth, TX
Thoughts about joining the program
“I’m really excited to be named to the 2023 class of #MarketingChampions alongside some of my amazing colleagues at Sercante, and be more involved in the community around Salesforce’s amazing marketing automation tools! This ecosystem has provided me amazing opportunities in my own career, so I am excited to give back and guide others in this space.”
Fav tool!
“Campaign Influence: I love the Campaign Influence reporting models available in Salesforce. It’s an amazing tool to help marketing departments recognize and validate the value of how their campaigns help affect pipeline and realize revenue — a massive impact on most businesses that often goes overlooked.”
Something fun!
“I spend most of my time not working being a music nerd — going to concerts, browsing through records, playing guitar, or running through carefully curated playlists I have put together.”
New Marketing Champion #5. Kelly Ryan
- The Spot author page
- Location – Denver, CO
Thoughts about joining the program
“I am so excited to be here! I have relied on this marketing community since day one in my digital marketing role, trying to connect all the backend dots across channels and platforms. I am honored to be a part of the Marketing Champions and share my knowledge with the next round of accidental admins and one-person teams!”
Fav tool!
“Creuz Your Data! Long lists of data are the daily pain of Pardot and Salesforce admins. So why not make your life easier? Just copy paste the data, select if you need a comma or semicolon, and you are good to go!”
Something fun!
“I really enjoy reading, especially historical fiction because I also love facts. I love getting literally lost in all the little local bookshops when I travel, too. I’ve been known to just sit on the floor and sift through huge stacks of old books until I found the ones with the most ridiculous titles.”
New Marketing Champion #6. Mike Morris
- The Spot author page
- Location – Apex, NC
Thoughts about joining the program
“Since joining the Salesforce ecosystem, I’ve learned so much from members of the community, the team at Sercante, and the Marketing Champions. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to share my knowledge and help inspire the next class of Marketing Champions.”
Fav tool!
“I’ve got to go with Kelly on this one. Creuz Your Data is an awesome little app and has saved me countless hours. If you are building dynamic lists in Account Engagement or reports in Salesforce, check it out! I’m also very partial to the Protected Campaign Member Statuses app as a way to manage campaign members’ statuses in Salesforce.”
Something fun!
“I spend a lot of time in my office, so when I’m not working, I prefer to be outside. I enjoy hiking, kayaking, and running. I’m not very good at relaxing and prefer to be active.”
New Marketing Champion #7. Rich Feist
- The Spot author page
- Location – Brighton, United Kingdom
Thoughts about joining the program
“I can’t wait to continue my learning about all things Salesforce. I’m really looking forward to attending more events! I honestly still can’t believe I get to be a part of this amazing program!”
Fav tool!
“My favourite Salesforce tool is Flows, I love what you can do with them. My favourite other tool is Pomodoro Marinara which is a great time-keeping app to keep you focused.”
Something fun!
“Favourite holiday location is a tie between Oaxaca and Sicily, the food and drink is insane!”
New Marketing Champion #8. Kirsten Schlau
- The Spot author page
- Location – Atlanta, GA
New Marketing Champion #9. Laura Curtis
- The Spot author page
- Location – Northampton, UK
Thoughts about joining the program
“I’m so excited and honored to be part of this program. I’m excited to meet so many passionate and like-minded marketers. I’ve been part of the Salesforce community for almost 5 years and being recognised as a Marketing Champion is amazing. I’m looking forward to using the platform to build upon my knowledge and experience, and continuing to share my passion for Marketing Cloud with the world!”
Fav tool!
“Oh this is tough! First off, another vote for Creuz Your Data! I’ve spent far too many hours in the past formatting long lists of data for Marketing Cloud. This tool is an absolute MUST for everyone in the Salesforce ecosystem. Secondly, I love any tool around personalisation, whether that’s Marketing Cloud Personalization or dynamic content, the results you get from often simple personalisation tactics are awesome and every marketer should be maximizing their use of personalisation tools! Finally, creating different Chrome profiles is a great tip for testing and keeping data separate!”
Something fun!
“When I’m not in the Salesforce world having fun, I hate to say it but, I’m a fan of TikTok (I always said I wouldn’t download it, but as soon as I did I was hooked!). There’s something about switching off and scrolling relatable content for hours! I also love taking holidays, my fav destination would have to be either Bruges or somewhere hot where cocktails are readily available! I also love getting creative with my nail designs. No one gets to see them working from home, but having a nice set makes me smile :)”
Repeat Sercante Marketing Champions
We’re super proud of our new Salesforce Marketing Champions. But let’s all take a moment to recognize members of the Sercante team who were named Marketing Champions in the past (once you’re in, you’re in for good) and are already seasoned pros when it comes to championing marketing for Salesforce.
- Andrea Tarrell
- Brian Roff
- Catherine Williams
- Erin Duncan
- Jordyn Jaffer
- Marcos Duran
- Mike Creuzer
- Taylor Bacchus
Connect with the Marketing Champion Community
So what should you do with all this information? Definitely connect with this group so they can help you out!
Salesforce Marketing Champions put themselves out there so they can be helpful to people in the community like you. They all write blogs, present sessions at Salesforce events, lead user groups, or answer questions online.
Consider this your invitation to hit them up!
- Follow Marketing Cloud on Twitter and LinkedIn and the terms Marketing Champions (Twitter) #MarketingChampions (LinkedIn) and #MomentMarketer (Twitter) #MomentMarketer (LinkedIn)
- Marketing Champions answer questions, share resources, and updates, and provide strategic insights in the Trailblazer Community and in the Pardashians community on Slack
- Check for Trailblazer Community Groups in your area (many run virtual events, too) and Community Conferences, like the Dreamin’ events.
- Save the date for MarDreamin’ 2023!
- Take advantage of free tools people from this group helped to build.
Do you need help from a marketing champion? Are you the next champion?
Ready to become the next Salesforce Marketing Champion? Keep an eye out for the call for nominations and applications here.
And as always, leave us a comment with your favorite tools and apps! Or let us know when you need help with something only a marketing champion can solve.