As you may have noticed, there are lots of certification opportunities popping up in the online marketing landscape. The questions that you may have when looking over them are as follows.
Which ones are legit?
Which ones will you actually gain valuable knowledge?
Which ones will actually help you achieve your goals, whether it’s gaining new clients or getting ahead at your job?
As someone who has taken many certification training programs over the last couple of years (twelve in total), I can tell you that some contain great content that you can learn from, and some can even help you get clients as they come from reputable sources. But there are a lot of them that are simply out there to collect your money and give you a badge, which may or may not mean much to the world at large.
So when Simplilearn reached out to me about their Digital Marketing Certified Associate (DMCA) Training Program, I wondered where they fit in. Would they be legit? Would digital marketers be able to learn something from them? Would people be able to achieve goals once they completed their program?
What I found, after doing some thorough research of their program, was that they were different from most of the certification training programs I had embarked upon over the last couple of years. Here are the reasons why I would suggest you consider them if you are interested in getting a solid education in digital marketing.
1. They cover all of the topics every digital marketer needs to know in order to succeed.
When you sign up for the Digital Marketing Certified Associate (DMCA) Training Program, you will get access to training that covers everything that a digital marketer needs to know.
There are some certification training programs that will charge you anywhere between $495 to $995 (or more) to get certified in each of the topics listed above. With Simplilearn, you’ll pay either $499 for 180 days access for self-paced learning or $899 for live, instructor led training plus 180 days access for self-paced learning. Either option will lead to your certification in all of the above topics.
2. They prepare you for other certifications.
In addition to the certification that you get from Simplilearn, the training program also prepares to pass exams for the following.
OMCA Certification to become an Online Marketing Certified Associate. This certification is normally $225, but the fee is covered when you purchase the Simplilearn Digital Marketing Certified Associate (DMCA) Training Program.
Google Analytics and Google Adwords Certifications
Official Facebook Certification coming later this year for Certified Buying and Certified Planning Professionals.
Official YouTube Certification for those who actively manage YouTube channels through Content ID.
So you’re not just getting prepared for one company’s certification program. And you’re not just getting prepared for third-party company certifications. You’re getting prepared to be certified by Google, Facebook, and YouTube as well!
3. You’ll be taught by recognized digital marketing experts.
Do you ever sign up for a training program and wonder how qualified the instructor behind the program is to teach you in the first place? In this case, you don’t have to wonder. The instructors behind Simplilearn’s courses are recognized digital marketing experts and published authors on the topics they teach.
First, you have Avinash Kaushik, the Digital Marketing Evangelist for Google. Blogger behind Occam’s Razor. He is on the Advisory Board of University of Toronto Rotman School of Management’s program on CRM Excellence as well as on the Advisory Board of University of California at Irvine’s program on Web Intelligence. He is also an Associate Instructor at the University of British Columbia for the Web Analytics program Author of Web Analytics: An Hour a Day and Web Analytics 2.0.
Then you have Bryan Eisenberg, professional speaker and recognized authority in conversion rate optimization, web analytics, and persuasive marketing. He is the co-author of several bestselling books including Buyer Legends: The Executive Storyteller’s Guide, Always Be Testing, Call to Action: Secret Formulas to Improve Online Results, and Waiting for Your Cat to Bark? Persuading Customers When They Ignore Marketing.
Next, you have Jennifer Evans Cario, President of SugarSpun Marketing and Adjunct Professor for Rutgers University’s online Social Media Mini MBA program. She is also the author of Pinterest Marketing: An Hour a Day. Her clients have included a wide range of SMBs and start-ups as well as recognized companies like Ford Motor Company, Verizon, American Greetings, The Washington Times, the US Tennis Association and Highlights for Children.
Greg Jarboe, president and co-founder of SEO-PR, has worked on several campaigns for Southwest Airlines, the SES Conference and Expo series, and Rutgers Center for Management Development. He is also the author of YouTube and Video Marketing: An Hour a Day and a contributor to several other best selling books, including Enchantment by Guy Kawasaki.
Brad Geddes is the author of Advanced Google AdWords, now on it’s third edition, a manual used by everyone from beginners to marketers at Fortune 500 companies. He was also one of the first Google Advertising Professionals and the first to work directly with Google to lead AdWords seminars. He has provided PPC and marketing services for big brands including Amazon, Yahoo, RH Donnelley, Business.com, World Directories, Encyclopedia Brittanica, and Red Lobster.
Matt Bailey, author of Internet Marketing: An Hour a Day, is a well-known keynote speaker and internet marketing instructor who has provided in-house training to companies like American Greetings, Eaton Corporation, Hewlett-Packard, Proctor & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Disney/ABC/ESPN, Gerber Life, The State of South Dakota Board of Tourism, and Randall-Reilly Publications.
Jeff Hasen, author of The Art of Mobile Persuasion and Mobilized Marketing, is one of the leading strategists, evangelists and voices in mobile. Companies benefiting from his talents have landed on Wired’s list of most innovative entities on Earth and been named pioneers and the early leader in the burgeoning mobile marketing category. He is also the founder of Gotta Mobilize, a consultancy that enables businesses of all sizes to define their mobile strategy, establish or further their mobile product roadmap, and identify additional business growth opportunities.
Finally, you have Danny Dover. He the Senior SEO Manager at AT&T, where he increased SEO traffic by 92% for one of the company’s primary web properties and created business partnerships that brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars a month in increased revenue, and Lead SEO at Moz, where he helped create a platform (mozscape) that is used today to crawl and download the entire Internet. He is also the co-author of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Secrets.
So when it comes to being trained by people who know their stuff, Simplilearn has it covered!
4. You’ll be given the chance to set your learning goals.
Once enrolled, you will be given the ability to set up your learning goals. We all know that if you don’t set goals, we tend to fall behind on things. Even though there is an option to skip this, it’s important that you take a moment to realistically say how many hours you can devote to your course and when you would like to complete it. Based on the goals you set, you will receive regular email reminders to complete your goals in the timeframes you have set.
Next, you can connect with LinkedIn to set up your personal profile so that anyone you communicate with inside the course can get to know you, your background, and your current goals quickly. Or you can skip this step and set up your profile manually once you’re in your learning dashboard.
Last, but not least, you’ll be invited to download the Simplilearn app on your Apple or Android device so you can take your education on the go.
5. You’ll be given immediate access to the self-paced learning courses.
Ready to get started right away? I know I usually am when I sign up for courses. That’s why I love that even if you do sign up for the live instructor-led courses, you also get immediate access to the self-paced learning modules right off the bat.
Each portion of the course contains a syllabus, high-quality videos to teach you everything you need to know about the topic at hand, and quizzes to ensure that you have retained the knowledge that you have learned.
You can also view the All Tasks tab, which shows a complete listing of the courses and modules that you will go through in your Digital Marketing Certified Associate (DMCA) Training Program, as well as the Resources tab, where you will find downloadable guides and workbooks for each of the major topics the training covers.
6. You’ll be given immediate access to a community of students and instructors to engage with.
Another great part of the Simplilearn Digital Marketing Certified Associate (DMCA) Training Program is that you’re not doing it alone, even though you are doing it online. The Simplilearn community allows you to engage with other students and instructors to talk about the lessons, quizzes and projects that you will be working on in order to gain your certifications.
If you’re curious about social proof (i.e., how many people have been through this course), you can check out the fact that there have been a total of over 420k members in the forums. That’s a lot of students!
7. To get certified, you have to participate in a project and complete an exam.
For many certification programs, all you have to do to become certified is pay a fee and take an open-book exam, which means that your chances of not getting certified are pretty slim. Effectively, you’re just buying yourself a certification.
Simplilearn’s Digital Marketing Certified Associate (DMCA) Training Program is different. You don’t get to just watch a lot of videos, pass some quizzes, take and exam, and get your certification. You also have to do a project that demonstrates that you can apply the knowledge you have learned about digital marketing to a real-world scenario: setting up your own venture as an entrepreneur. The goal of the project will be to do the following.
Get your venture ready to market.
Drive relevant traffic to your website.
Build brand visibility and engagement.
Create a strong content marketing strategy.
The project will require you to use a variety of tools including WordPress, Google Analytics, AdWords, SEO Tools, Facebook page creation, video advertising via YouTube, goal settings, and Google Keyword Planner. You will have three months to complete your project and submit it for evaluation to determine if you will become certified.
Once you have completed the project and taken the exam, then you will receive your DMCA certification.
So is it going to be easy? No. But will you really learn something from it? Yes. And will it be something that people in the online marketing industry respect because it actually gives you real world experience? Absolutely!
Plus, as mentioned earlier, the experience you gain from the project will help you pass other certifications for Google Analytics, Google AdWords, Facebook, and YouTube.
In Conclusion
Out of all of the many certifications programs out there for digital marketers, I would summarize this one as one of the best in terms of cost, instructor quality, information, and real world application opportunity.
Add in the bonus of also preparing you for several other certifications opportunities from OMCA, Google, Facebook, and YouTube, and it’s simply a value you can’t pass up if you are in the market for digital marketing training.
That’s why I not only recommend Simplilearn’s Digital Marketing Certified Associate (DMCA) Training Program, but why I will also likely take it myself down the road. Once I have some free time on my hands.
You're reading Become a Digital Marketing Certified Associate (DMCA) with Simplilearn, originally posted on Kikolani, authored and copyrighted by Kristi Hines.
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