CERTIFIED MARKETING 1: STUDY GUIDE

What is this Certified Marketing 1 (CM1) is a 60-minute, 45-question assessment to

evaluate essential digital marketing skills. It was created by General Assembly
assessment? and the Marketing Standards Board, a group of leaders from top global
companies working to establish clear pathways to success in marketing
careers. Test-takers will see how they compare to an industry benchmark and
identify learning opportunities.

This guide contains a brief overview and relevant vocabulary for each
assessment topic. Note: Reading the guide does not guarantee performance
on CM1 or cover all topics/skills required to master the test.

What will I To complete CM1, you’ll need the following:

● A computer or laptop: Don’t attempt this on a tablet or smartphone.
need? ● Fast and reliable internet: Once you begin, the timer can’t be
stopped.
● Google Chrome internet browser: Make sure you use the latest
version; CM1 is not optimized for other browsers.
● Any spreadsheet application (e.g., Excel): Have a blank
spreadsheet open and ready. You’ll need to do calculations for some
questions.
● Peace and quiet: Find a quiet area where you’ll be able to focus.

What are the ● Open book — you can use reference materials and search the web.
● Complete the assessment alone.
rules? ● Do not share assessment questions or materials with anyone.
● You have 60 minutes, with no pauses or breaks.
● All numbers in the assessment are displayed using standard U.S.-
English number notation. (e.g., One thousand dollars and 20 cents
would be represented as $1,000.20.)
● Correct answers that are formatted in either U.S. or European notation
will be accepted as valid. (e.g., 50.10% or 50,10% are both
acceptable.)
What skills CM1 will test your knowledge in the following categories and problem-solving
methods.
are
assessed?
Skills Problem Types

● Consumer/Customer Insights ● Conceptualize: Understand

● Creative and apply marketing
● Channels and Execution concepts.
● Measurement and Analytics ● Calculate: Use data to
● Marketing Technology report on marketing
campaigns.
● Interpret: Interpret results
to make strategic decisions.

Dive deeper: Discover the skills you need to thrive as a digital marketer through in-person
and online courses and workshops at General Assembly:
digital
marketing at ● Digital Marketing: Build a strong foundation in marketing channels,
GA. SEO, search, and analytics to power successful campaigns in our 10-
week part-time or 1-week accelerated course, in-person or remotely.
● Digital Marketing Circuit (online): Learn digital marketing
fundamentals at your own pace, guided by a mentor, in our 5-week
online course.
● Short-form classes: Discover valuable marketing skills like analytics,
social media, and more, and connect with others in the field at expert-
led workshops.
Consumer/Customer Insights

Overview

Customers and consumers are at the heart of marketing. To be an effective marketer, you must know
how to segment and target them, while also understanding how they interact with your brand. For some
marketers, a “customer” is the retailer purchasing your products to sell them, while a “consumer” is the
individual buying your product to use it. Below, we use “customer” to simplify the materials.

Key Concepts:

Conversion Funnel ● A framework that helps marketers understand the customer’s

journey or experience with their brand, starting with how they learn
about it and ending with retention and referrals.
● Knowing this information helps marketers target their
communications.
● The 6 stages of a conversion funnel are:
○ Awareness: A potential customer is just learning about
your brand/company and you need to actively engage them.
○ Consideration: The potential customer is willing to consider
your product/service.
○ Comparison: The potential customer is evaluating your
brand/company against potential competitors.
○ Conversion: The potential customer makes a purchase and
becomes an actual customer.
○ Retention: Your customer has repurchased your
product/service.
○ Referral/Advocacy: Your customer becomes an advocate
for your brand.

Lead ● A prospective customer.

● A qualified lead is a prospective customer who has shown intent to
purchase or has requested additional information. Different
organizations may have slightly different ways to determine whether
a lead is qualified.

Persona ● A written description of a brand’s ideal customer, informed by

quantitative and qualitative data.
● A persona typically includes details like demographic information,
behavioral information, and motivations/goals.
● Creating a persona can help marketers better understand and target
customers.
Audience Segmentation ● The process of dividing groups according to shared characteristics.
Some examples of audience segmentation include:
○ Behavioral: purchasing behavior, habits
○ Attitudinal: values, lifestyle, interests
○ Geographic: physical location or region
○ Demographic: age, gender, race, ethnicity etc.

Positioning ● A way to distinguish a product or organization in the minds of their

ideal customers.
● David Ogilvy, founder of Ogilvy & Mather and known as the “Father
of Advertising,” defined positioning as “what a product does, and
who it is for.”

Unique Selling ● A type of positioning that focuses on a specific factor or

Proposition consideration that differentiates a product or organization.

Market Research ● Valuable information that marketers collect and analyze to better
understand their customers and how their product or organization
fits their needs.
● Market research can include:
○ Primary research data: Information that can be gathered
firsthand and is “owned” by your organization.
○ Secondary research data: Information that can be
gathered from outside sources. This information may already
exist (e.g., public records) and be accessible to people
outside your organization.
● Marketers look at both quantitative and qualitative data. Different
tools used in market research may include surveys, focus groups,
observations, and government reports/data.
Creative

Overview

Bringing compelling messages to life requires many steps. From writing a brief to adapting content to
different channels, marketers need to find ways to create content that aligns with organizational goals
and appeals to customers.

Key Concepts:

Brand Definition ● The process of creating a defining name, symbol, feature, or

quality that distinguishes an organization or product from
competitors.
● Brand definition should be consistent and reinforced in all
messaging from an organization.

Creative Brief ● A document that defines expectations between a marketer and an

agency.
● As the name implies, a brief is concise, but contains essential
information.
● It defines objectives and requirements for a marketing campaign.

Gated Content ● Any resource that requires users to provide some information
(such as name and email address) before they are able to access
the materials.

Campaign Objective ● A statement that establishes the intended outcome of a

campaign.
● It should be focused, clear, and measurable.

Differentiator ● A quality or trait that distinguishes a brand or product from its

competitors.
● It’s also known as competitive advantage.

Storyboard ● An early-stage visual representation of video content.

● It includes a design of what each scene will look like.

Adapting Messaging ● Ways to effectively adjust creative materials to suit different

channels and customers.

Benchmarking ● A practice to establish foundations for making creative decisions

based on past performance.
Channels and Execution

Overview

Marketers should have an understanding of different traditional and digital channels (e.g., print ads or
social media) in order to achieve their marketing objectives.

Key Concepts

Awareness ● Whether people know about your brand/product.

● Improving awareness means increasing the size or improving
the quality of the audience.
● Examples of awareness metrics include fans/followers and reach
(the number of people who see your content).

Engagement ● The interaction between users and brands.

● Some ways to measure engagement in digital media are:
○ Clicks (click-through rate)
○ Conversions (conversion rate)
○ Opens (open rate)
○ Unsubscribes (unsubscribe rate)
○ Shares (share rate)
● Some ways to measure engagement on social media include:
○ Twitter: Replies, retweets, favorites
○ Facebook: Page likes, post likes, shares, comments
○ Pinterest: Repins, likes, comments
○ LinkedIn: Interactions, likes, comments
○ Instagram: Likes, comments, shares
○ Snapchat: Total unique views, story completions,
completion rate, screenshots
○ WeChat: Follows, messages, open rates, purchases

Social Media Marketing ● The process of gaining traffic or awareness by using social
media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, WeChat, Google+,
Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, and Tumblr.

Direct Marketing ● A form of direct outreach to individual consumers or customers.

● Examples of direct marketing tactics include emails, physical
mail, catalogues, and text messages.

Display Marketing ● Advertisements placed on different websites, apps, or

platforms.
● The practice tends to use images, graphics, and sometimes
audio and video to communicate a message.
● Types of display marketing ads include:
 ○ Static: An ad that does not change in appearance.
○ Rich media: An ad featuring video, audio, or other
elements that encourage viewers to interact with the
content.

Digital Video Marketing ● Online video content designed to attract and appeal to
customers.
● Examples include testimonials, how-to’s, training videos, and
viral videos.

TV Marketing ● Advertisements and content that can be run as television

commercials.
● It requires consideration of the audience most likely to watch
television when the advertisement runs.

Content Marketing ● Targeted, valuable materials shared with relevant audiences to

generate interest from potential customers.
● Content marketing generally requires wait time before seeing
results and works best over time.
● Examples include blog posts, white papers, infographics, and
more.

Paid Search ● Advertising done through paying for sponsored listings in order
Marketing/Search Engine to affect rank/placement in search results.
Marketing (SEM) ● Paid search platforms include Google AdWords and Bing Ads.

Organic Search ● The algorithmically generated results that come from someone
entering terms into a search engine. It does not include paid
placements.
● Placement on a search engine results page is determined by
factors such as relevance to the search query, links, domain
authority, and other factors.

Search Engine Optimization ● The process of strategically refining online content to improve
(SEO) ranking placement in organic search.

Influencers ● Individuals with a large following through a major audience

channel, e.g., radio, television, or social media.
● They don’t have to be celebrities; oftentimes they’re known only
within specific communities.
● Influencers with high recognition and reach (e.g., celebrities)
are called macro-influencers.
● Influencers with lower reach but high engagement are called
micro-influencers (e.g., bloggers, category specialists, etc).
Measurement & Analytics

Overview

Using data to measure performance and impact helps marketers identify opportunities for improvement.
Marketers need to understand how to collect and analyze relevant data in order to make informed
decisions. Typical metrics measure a customer’s overall value, progression through the marketing funnel,
and satisfaction.

Key Concepts

Key Performance ● A measurable value that indicates progress toward meeting key
Indicator (KPI) objectives.
● A KPI should be “SMART”:
○ Specific
○ Measurable
○ Attainable
○ Relevant
○ Time-Bound

Attribution Modeling ● A tactic that determines which interactions a customer has had
with different channels, or touchpoints, have influenced a
consumer conversion.
● Marketers decide which type of attribution model (e.g., single
touch or multi-touch) is aligned with their data capabilities and will
best help evaluate progress on campaign goals.

Single-Touch Attribution ● A practice that assigns 100% of customer conversion credit to one
touchpoint.
● Some examples include:
○ First-touch attribution: Credit is assigned to the first
touchpoint in the customer journey.
○ Last-touch attribution: Credit is assigned to the last
touchpoint in the customer journey.
○ Last non-direct click attribution: Ignores direct traffic
and gives full credit to the last channel before conversion.

Multi-Touch Attribution ● Assigning values to several touchpoints that occur before a

potential customer converts, i.e., becomes an actual customer.
● Some examples include:
○ Linear attribution: Distributes the credit of the sale
evenly to all the of the touchpoints along the conversion
funnel.
 ○ Time-decay attribution: Gives more value to the
touchpoints that happen closer to the sale.
○ Position-based attribution: Credits more to the first
and last touchpoints.
○ Algorithmic attribution: Uses statistics and machine
learning to determine the weight of the different
touchpoints.

Customer Lifetime Value ● A prediction of how profitable a customer’s long-term relationship

(LTV or CLTV) with the company will be.
● CLV = (Customer Value) x (Average Customer Lifespan)

Customer Acquisition Cost ● The cost of converting a potential client to a customer.

(CAC) ● CAC = (Total Marketing Costs) / (Acquisitions)

Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) ● The cost of acquiring a potential customer.

● CPA differs from customer acquisition cost because an acquisition
may not necessarily be a customer. For example, an acquisition
could be confirmed interest from a potential customer (e.g., a
subscriber to your newsletter), or a user who signed up for a free
trial.
● CPA = (Campaign Costs) / (Number of Conversions)

Click-Through Rate (CTR) ● Percentage of users that clicked on a specific link in your
marketing materials.
● CTR = (Clicks) / (Number of Impressions)

Cost Per Thousand/Cost ● The cost to have 1,000 impressions (i.e., views of your ad) on a
Per Mille (CPM) webpage.
● CPM = 1,000 x [(Total Cost) / (Total Impressions)]

Return on Investment ● The profit made from an investment.

(ROI) ● ROI = (Investment Gains - Investment Cost) / (Investment Cost)

Return on Ad Spend ● Helps measure the performance of a paid marketing campaign.

(ROAS) ● ROAS = (Gross Revenue) / (Total Costs)

Data-Driven Decision- ● Marketers need to know when they have enough data to make a
Making decision. They’ll want to consider:
○ The precision of a decision.
○ The sample size.
○ Whether the sample is representative of the target
population.
Marketing Technology

Overview
Knowing how to use the right digital tools can make it easier for marketers to launch excellent
campaigns. The wealth of technology currently available can help marketers with a variety of tasks, such
as data collection and customer experience improvement.

Key Concepts

Marketing Automation ● Software that helps automate certain tasks, e.g., sending
automated emails based on where the customer is in the customer
journey.
● While marketing automation tools are intended to save time and
streamline processes, marketers need to think critically about how
to properly integrate them.

Customer Relationship ● Software that helps marketers effectively manage customer

Management (CRM) relationships.
Software ● Different systems will vary in features, but all are designed to help
store customer data at different points in the customer journey.
● CRM software is a key tool for marketing and sales teams to
collaborate.

Web Analytics ● Statistics that help marketers understand and quantify

performance. Marketers often measure factors like traffic
(visitors), leads (potential customers), and sales (purchasers) on
their website.
● Examples of common web analytics platforms include Google
Analytics, Kissmetrics, and Looker.

Programmatic Advertising ● The use of software to streamline and automate elements of

digital advertising purchasing.
● Programmatic advertising software helps with search engine
marketing (SEM).

Machine Learning (ML) ● A branch of data science that uses massive data sets to identify
relationships between inputs and outputs. Algorithms use these
inputs to make predictions.
● Machine learning can help marketers analyze results faster,
automate certain processes, and optimize campaigns in real time.

Personally Identifiable ● Information that can be used to identify a specific individual, e.g.,
Information (PII) home address, email address, full name, or national identification
number.
 ● There are certain restrictions on how marketers can collect and
use personally identifiable information.

A/B Testing ● The practice of showing two versions of something (an “A” and a
“B”) to different sets of users to see which one is more effective at
driving behaviors, like opening an email or clicking on a call-to-
action button.
● Also known as split testing, this is one of the most common and
effective ways to get the right message to the right consumer.
● Multivariate testing uses the same mechanism as A/B testing, but
compares more variables (e.g., versions “A”, “B”, and “C”).