Free Online Digital Marketing Courses and Certifications
Earn certifications on digital marketing, an in-demand job skill
Digital Marketing Trend and Demand
Nowadays, people look for information by using web search engines such as Google Search and Bing, watch videos on YouTube, share daily life with friends via social media such as Facebook and Instagram, follow current trends and popular topics with Twitter, and subscribe to email newsletters to receive product and service updates. According to Hootsuite (2020), the number of internet users has increased by 8.2% as compared to July of last year. With the increasing use of technology and internet, digital marketing becomes more important now and in the future to every business. As the result, companies need to change the way they communicate to their existing and potential customers and clients.
Based on Mercer’s 2020 Global Talent Trends Study, digital marketing is one of the in-demand skills according to human resources professionals. If you are looking for digital marketing jobs, it will be good to earn some relevant certifications and add them to your resume to increase credibility and employability. Below is a shortlist of digital marketing courses and certifications you can study to enhance your knowledge or help you to pursue a career in digital marketing. By clicking on the respective headings, you will be redirected to the respective websites for more details.
Certifications
Google Digital Garage — Fundamentals of Digital Marketing
Cost: Free courses and certification
Renewal Requirement: None
This certification program comprises 26 modules with topics on search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), social media, display advertising, mobile advertising, email marketing, content marketing, and analytics, etc. Typically, learners will need to dedicate 40 hours to complete all the courses and earn the certificate. With the accreditation from The Open University and Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe, the quality of these courses is guaranteed. Thus, this certification program is a good starting point for those people who want to learn about various aspects of online marketing or pursue a digital marketing career.
Google Ads Certification
Cost: Free courses and certifications
Renewal Requirement: Once per year
There are a few areas for the Google Ads certification, including but not limited to Search, Video, Display, and Shopping ads. They are all available under Google’s Skillshop for free. According to Statista (2020) and StatCounter (2020), Google Search is the most popular search engine in the world. Thus, it is beneficial to earn the Google Ads Search certification if you are pursuing a digital marketing career. Upon completion, you will have knowledge in how to make use of Google Search to generate traffic, leads, and sales for your websites and businesses. Based on the data from Statista (2020), YouTube is estimated to have 1.86 billion users in 2021. If you want to learn about advertising on YouTube, you should pursue the Google Ads Video certification. To earn any of the Google Ads certifications, one will need to pass the assessment with a minimum result of 80%. In the case which you do not pass it, you do not have to worry since you can retake it without a cost.
Microsoft Advertising Certified Professional
Cost: Free training and certification
Renewal Requirement: Once per year
Bing Ads was renamed Microsoft Advertising in 2019. Although both training and certification are free of charge, you need to be an existing Microsoft Advertising customer in order to be qualified for becoming Microsoft Advertising Certified Professional. From this Certified Professional program, you can learn about how to create, manage, measure, and improve your Microsoft Advertising campaigns. Being a member of the Microsoft Advertising Certified Professional, your profile can be shown in the membership directory which allows others to search and view your profile and connect with you. This will indirectly help to increase your credibility and visibility in the marketing industry and your digital marketing career.
Facebook Blueprint
Cost: Free online courses but exams cost approximately US$ 150 per exam
Renewal Requirement: 12 to 24 months depending on certifications
Facebook and Instagram are two of the popular social media platforms (Hootsuite, 2020). For companies that operate in the B2C model, they would want to utilize social media marketing to reach more customers. Therefore, if you are working in a B2C company as a digital marketer, it is a good idea to learn about how to manage digital marketing campaigns and advertising on these two platforms. Facebook Blueprint offers courses for one to learn about both Facebook and Instagram. Currently, Facebook Blueprint offers 8 certifications in areas of digital marketing, media planning, media buying, marketing analytics, and technical implementation. However, there is an exam fee and certification renewal requirement for each certification.
Cost: Free courses and badge
Renewal Requirement: Once per year
Twitter Flight School provides courses that enable one to specifically learn more about the Twitter platform and products. One can search for a course by either product type or job function. Twitter Flight School offers badges instead of certificates. However, it only provides the Video Badge for the present. Typically, to earn the badge, one is required to commit 2 to 4 hours of time to go through the course materials and pass the test with a minimum result. Although there is only the Video Badge available for the present, it is worth considering taking other courses on Twitter Flight School if you want to learn about and be an expert in advertising on Twitter.
Google Analytics Individual Qualification (GAIQ)
Cost: Free courses and exam
Renewal Requirement: Once per year
By using Google Analytics, you can track and measure your website and digital marketing campaigns performances easily. With the new insights discovered, you can improve the user experience of your website, drive more traffics to your website, and increase conversions from your digital marketing campaigns which in turn generates more sales and revenue for your business. Thus, Google Analytics is an important tool for digital marketers nowadays. Before taking the GAIQ exam, you may want to study both Google Analytics for Beginners and Advanced Google Analytics courses from Google Analytics Academy to prepare for the GAIQ exam. Both courses are free of charge just like GAIQ. However, there is an annual renewal requirement for GAIQ.
HubSpot Academy
Cost: Free courses and certifications
Renewal Requirement: 13 or 25 months depending on certifications
HubSpot Academy provides 18 certifications in sales and marketing areas with completion time ranges from 1 hour to 6 hours depending on the certifications pursued. For those who are interested in inbound sales, email marketing, or website optimization, you can find the related certifications from HubSpot Academy. Some of its courses are related to its own HubSpot products such as CRM, Sales, Marketing, Services, and CMS Hub. Therefore, if you are using HubSpot product(s), you may want to consider taking these courses to learn about how to use the software to work more efficiently.
SEMrush Academy
Cost: Free courses and certifications
Renewal Requirement: Once per year
Search engine optimization (SEO) strategy is important for those who want to generate organic traffic to their websites. SEMrush’s business focuses on providing tools to help digital marketers on SEO. If you are interested in mastering the SEO skill, it is worth considering studying the SEO courses available on SEMrush Academy, which includes backlink management and technical SEO courses. In addition, it also offers courses in areas of pay-per-click (PPC), social media marketing (SMM), content marketing, and its own SEMrush tools. Both its courses and certifications are free of charge, but certifications require renewal every year.
Conclusion
If you are new to the digital marketing field and cannot decide which certification to pursue first, you may consider Google Digital Garage’s Fundamentals of Digital Marketing certification. This certification provides you the fundamental knowledge of many digital marketing topics with its 26 modules. Furthermore, it does not require renewal which saves your time on maintaining the validity of the credentials. Thus, it is a great idea to start with Google Digital Garage’s Fundamentals of Digital Marketing certification if you are a new digital marketer. Once you know about digital marketing’s basic concept, you can look for specialized certification to study and gain more in-depth knowledge of a specific digital marketing topic. Since all the courses listed above are free, you can even try to earn as many certifications as possible.
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