Adytum › Certifications › Growth Operator

Adytum Education · Track 02 of 08

Be your own marketing department.

For founders and SMB owners who don't have a marketing department, or who are about to hire one. Four tiers, with Foundations FREE forever.

What this track gives you

The discipline of marketing as a science + craft + operational system, grounded in canonical theory (Drucker, Levitt, Sharp/Ehrenberg-Bass), behavioral economics (Kahneman, Cialdini), and operational measurement (Binet/Field, LTV/CAC). It does not teach "growth hacking" or platform-specific tactics. What you learn applies in any toolchain. The framework progresses with you, from being the only marketer (Foundations) to hiring a VP (Master).

TierWhat you can perform on completion
Foundations (free)The work of a Marketing Assistant / Coordinator, or the bar for hiring one
Practitioner ($499)The work of a Marketing Manager: campaign architecture, content systems, paid + organic integration
Expert ($1,499)The work of a Director of Marketing / Head of Growth: strategy, team building, budget defense
Master ($4,999)The work of a VP Marketing / Fractional CMO: leadership, P&L ownership, board reporting

The 7-dimension curriculum (every tier)

Every Foundations module across all 8 Adytum Certified tracks covers the same seven competency dimensions applied to its discipline. For Growth Operator:

  1. Domain theory: Drucker, Levitt, Sharp/Ehrenberg-Bass, Romaniuk, Kahneman/Cialdini, AIDA + CDJ, STP, Jobs-to-be-done
  2. Workflow design (tools optional): Briefs, content calendars, campaign planning, audit playbooks (works in any toolchain)
  3. Process design: Intake systems, DACI for marketing decisions, sprint cadence, cross-functional handoffs
  4. Edge cases: Crisis comms, channel diversification, attribution disputes, founder-led organic, regulatory marketing
  5. Stakeholders: Sales (the eternal tension), Product, Finance/CFO, Founders, agencies, customers
  6. Ethics & governance: FTC disclosure, dark-pattern avoidance, consent + privacy (GDPR/CCPA), inclusive marketing, AI-content disclosure
  7. Measurement: LTV, CAC, payback period, MMM vs attribution, brand-equity vs activation (Binet/Field), Goodhart-resistance

Tiers

FREE · Module 1 LIVE

Foundations

Self-paced, ~15 hours, 7 modules + glossary. Earn a certificate for any single lesson via Open Badges 3.0 micro-credentials. Stack all 7 + pass final synthesis portfolio = full Foundations credential.

Module 1 (Domain Theory) live now. Modules 2-7 in active authoring; same PhD density as Brand Strategist Foundations.

Start Foundations →
COMING Q3 2026

Practitioner: $499

~50 hours. Builds on Foundations with executable craft: campaign architecture, content systems at scale, paid + organic integration, marketing-ops automation, agency management. Portfolio assessment with reciprocal peer review.

COMING Q4 2026

Expert: $1,499

~120 hours. Director-level: marketing strategy, team building, budget defense, board-level reporting, marketing-mix modeling, brand-equity measurement, vendor strategy. Capstone strategic plan + presentation.

COMING 2027

Master: $4,999

~300 hours. CMO / VP level: marketing leadership, cross-functional CEO partnership, P&L ownership for marketing, M&A diligence on marketing assets, board-level brand stewardship. Capstone GTM redesign case + mentor panel review.

Further reading: the canon

If you want to start before Foundations ships fully, these are the books that ground the curriculum. Adytum doesn't reproduce these sources; we point you at them. All citations are full enough to find in any library catalog or major bookseller. No affiliate revenue.