Are you one of those who has long been fascinated by Digital Marketing but are clueless as to where to begin?
Have you been working in traditional forms of marketing and now want to understand how going Digital can exponentially help your business?
Or are you the one who is already working in Digital Marketing and want to widen your horizon to understand the holistic Digital Marketing landscape?
If the answer to any of the questions is yes, then you have come to the right place!
There are a plethora of Digital Marketing courses these days and without any defined guidance, learning about various aspects of Digital Marketing can get very confusing. This blog post tries to address this problem by encompassing a comprehensive list of some of the very well-crafted courses so that you can not only kick-start your learning curve but also embellish your resume and make it stand out.
This comprehensive list has been created keeping in mind 2 important aspects. Firstly, it is not a dump of any and every possible Digital Marketing course. Rather, the certifications/courses highlighted in this post are directly from the epicentres itself i.e Google, Hubspot, Bing, You Tube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Hootsuite and Moz. And secondly, ALL the courses highlighted are ABSOLUTELY FREE and the 10 free certifications mentioned, even provide a certificate or a badge that you can share online.
The table, towards the end, acts as a one-stop snapshot of the topic-wise certifications and courses, along with course duration and exam details, which can help you pick the right course and plan your learning path.
So, let’s get started!
1) Introduction to Digital Marketing with Google’s Digital Garage Certificate of online Proficiency
This is the introductory course to Digital Marketing and is relevant for beginners who may want to understand the basics of the Digital Marketing eco-system before deep diving into each topic. Offered in bite-sized modules, the person needs to unlock 23 badges to win a certificate. Each badge pertains to 1 topic (among SEO, SEM, display, search, email, etc.) and covers the entire gamut of online marketing. The ones who already know about these terminologies or are taking the other courses mentioned in this list can choose to skip this course.
Duration: 6.5 hrs
Link: https://digitalgarage.withgoogle.com/
2) Go Inbound! with Hubspot Inbound Marketing Certification
This is one of the best courses in the list, a must have for any marketer. Focussed on a powerful concept of pull marketing to attract potential customers to your website, this course beautifully interlinks all aspects of content, digital and sales focussed marketing. The 4.5 hr ride of this course leaves you intellectually stimulated and with a great sense of achievement and purpose.
Duration: 4.5 hrs
Link: https://academy.hubspot.com/certification
3) Email marketing with Hubspot Email Marketing Certification
With the customers now having the right to opt-out of mails, a carefully crafted email strategy is imperative if marketers need to leverage the most personal medium to target their audience. This certification highlights the how lifecycle marketing, segmentation, email design, deliverability, analytics, and optimization all coexist to create an email marketing strategy that grows your business. Though this is relatively a new course by Hubspot, it inculcates the comprehensiveness and immediate applicability that Hubspot courses are famous for. Go for it!
Duration: 3.5 hrs
Link: https://academy.hubspot.com/certification
4) Web/eCommerce/Mobile Analytics with Google’s Analytics Academy
Working on a lot of content but not sure whether it is reaching your desired audience? Have a ecommerce website/mobile app and you want to optimize your operations for a greater ROI? This certification from Google will give you that Eureka moment! This video-format course is structured across 4 different modules: Digital Analytics Fundamentals, Google Analytics Platform Principles, Ecommerce Analytics and Mobile App Analytics Fundamentals. My only suggestion – Practice as you learn.
Duration: 4.5 hrs
Link: https://www.google.com/partners/#p_analyticscertification
5 & 6) Search Engine Marketing with Google, Bing and Moz
a. Search Engine Advertising with Google’s Adwords Certification and Bing Ads Accreditation Exam
Have a website but not receiving enough relevant traffic? Want to understand the best way to post your ad on Display, Video and Mobile platforms? You are an eCommerce firm and want to leverage search engines for driving traffic to your product? The following 2 courses will help you understand all about Search Engine Advertising:
Google Adwords Fundamentals – Link
Take up this globally recognized certification from Google – Google Adwords Fundamentals. Covered across 7 different modules, you need to clear the Adwords Fundamentals exam and one of other 6 (Search, Display, Video, Shopping and Mobile Advertising) to get certified. There are also separate exams and certifications for latter 6 in case you want to clear all. Unfortunately, unlike the Google Analytics course, this is not a video format based course and so it calls for a stronger will power to ensure completion!
Bing Ads Accreditation Exam – Link
It is without doubt that Google is the most popular search engines in the world. However, with Bing now being bundled with Microsoft products like Office and Xbox, and also being the search engine for Apple’s Siri and Amazon assistant devices, Bing’s share is expected to grow. Those of you who are considering optimizing your future campaigns according to Bing’s ranking factors, can take up this Bing Ads exam. Study guide for this also not a video format but a 109 pager study guide.
b. Search Engine Optimization with Study Guides from Google and Moz
Who wouldn’t want to reach out to their audience when the audience are indeed looking out for them and that too for ‘free’? This is where optimizing the website to search engines is important. Unlike the Google Analytics and Adwords certification, Google does not offer any certification for SEO (may be because of the volatility of SEO algorithms). However, below are some of the guides and courses, that can help you get started:
The Beginner’s Guide to SEO by Moz – Link
SEO Starter Guide by Google – Link
SEO Training Course by Moz – Link (Video Format. Duration 1 hr)
7) Social Media Marketing with Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
Each social media channel serves a different purpose and it is important to know the nuances of each to be able to better plan your campaigns to increase brand awareness and drive engagement.
a. Facebook Blueprint Certification – Link
Offered in 86 modules, this course covers best practices for campaign planning and optimization using Facebook’s family of apps and services including Instagram. Note that while all the courses can be accessed for free, you need to pay and schedule an exam if you want to get an officially recognized certificate from Facebook.
b. Twitter Flight School Certification – Link
Offered in 10 15 min bite sized modules, twitter flight school offers tailored content across different agency roles and functions, including senior leadership (for personal branding), account planning (to incorporate Twitter in media plan to influence key decision makers) and campaign management (to launch and optimize paid campaigns to drive business results)
c. LinkedIn Marketing Solutions – Link
LinkedIn doesn’t offer any designed courses, but the content on LMS website can help you understand various ways through which LinkedIn can help market content to targeted set of audience through LinkedIn Sponsored content, Sponsored Inmail, dynamic ads, display ads and text ads. Each of these 5 sections consists of an overview guide, case studies, data sheets, additional resources.
8) Content Marketing with Hubspot Content Marketing Certification
It is said that ‘Content is the King’. If the right content is not in place, the entire Digital marketing strategy will go for a toss. Just like the other Hubspot courses, this Content Marketing certification comprehensively covers various facets of content marketing strategy including the power of storytelling, sourcing of ideas, content creation framework, content repurposing, content promotion and repositioning, and finally analysing and optimizing.
Duration: 3.5 hrs
Link: https://academy.hubspot.com/certification
9) Video Marketing with You Tube Certification
Video is becoming a preferred content medium and so it is important to have a well-defined video content strategy. This certification from You Tube, across 29 modules, incorporates channel growth best practices, platform strategies, and channel development techniques to help find success on YouTube and beyond. Do check out the eligibility and the relevant certification track to make the most out of this course.
Link: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6145895?hl=en&ref_topic=6145903
10) Digital Marketing for Sales Professionals with Hubspot Inbound Sales Certification and Hootsuite Social Selling Course
a. Hubspot Inbound Sales Certification – Link (Duration 3.5 hrs)
Another important paradigm shift that is being observed is the shift from outbound sales methodologies like Cold Calling, to Inbound Methodologies. Imagine, leads coming to you! This Hubspot’s course will helps you identify potential buyers, develop outreach strategies and build personalized presentations so that you can better advise today’s empowered buyer.
b. Hootsuite Social Selling Course – Link (Duration 42 mins)
The world of Digital is not just restricted to marketing communications. It has started to change the way relationships are formed and hence sales professionals need to adapt quickly to leverage social media to drive better qualified leads and increase deal sizes. Hootsuite’s course on Social Selling focusses exactly on that and consists of 3 main components – establishing a professional social media presence, researching and planning your social selling activities, and prospecting and engaging on social media.
c. LinkedIn Social Selling Index – Link
Though this is not a course or a certification, however, LinkedIn provides a convenient tool to measure your social selling efforts. The score can be used to gauge improvements over time.
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