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Earn these free marketing certifications to boost your career
Learn the ins and outs of marketing and check our list of free marketing certifications. Become a smarter advertiser and promote your business or career.
Earn these free marketing certifications to boost your career
Learn the ins and outs of marketing and check our list of free marketing certifications. Become a smarter advertiser and promote your business or career.
Contents
Marketing in the 21st century is all about hitting the nail on the head.
We’ve emerged from the age of print ads and cold-calling into a world of SEO-rich content, social media giveaways and influencer marketing. Companies use email and social networks to target a specific audience, stay in close contact with clients and glean data on campaign performance. Marketing is arguably more efficient, aesthetically pleasing and interactive than ever.
The advent of new advertising methods and outlets means entrepreneurs must brush up on their knowledge, as it’s necessary to stay abreast of trends. While you can conduct self-research, a course helps narrow down topics and lets you focus on important aspects.
Here’s everything you need to know about boosting your skills and credentials with these free marketing certification courses.
What is marketing?
Marketing is any action a company takes to promote its product or services, learn more about its target audience and design products that attract them.
To generate interest in a product or service, an organization must develop an image and voice that’ll resonate with its audience. The brand should create targeted, compelling messaging and use insights to shift a marketing strategy as needed.
Marketing strategies are often multifaceted. For example, a company might run a giveaway on Instagram, send a monthly newsletter to current clients, and place a browser ad to gather organic leads.
Types of marketing
There are two main types of marketing: inbound and outbound. While inbound naturally reach your audience, outbound disseminates messages to a large group. Here’s more about both.
Inbound marketing
Inbound marketing forms a bond with potential and current clients through relevant marketing campaigns, directing customers toward the products they want. This marketing style focuses on naturally and organically driving traffic to the brand.
Inbound marketing examples
Search engine marketing: Browser ads and search engine marketing strategies feature brands in front of internet users looking for a product or service a company offers. An ad or paid listing for a brand that sells coffee mugs could appear in the browser of someone searching for cups for their morning brew.
Targeted social media marketing: In social media marketing, companies place targeted ads in users’ feeds on social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. If users can’t connect with the targeted message or don’t want the product, the campaign loses the natural feel of inbound marketing.
Influencer marketing: Influencer marketing is a form of social media advertising wherein brands partner with content creators, such as influencers or brand affiliates, who pitch the company’s products in exchange for a perk. This involves a brand paying an influencer to demo a product, offering the creator’s followers a discount on the company’s goods, and eventually driving traffic to the company’s website.
Content marketing: Content marketing refers to blog-style articles, videos, or static posts that contain tips, advice, or helpful information for viewers. For example, a company that sells coffee mugs might write a blog on tips to use a drip brewer, Moka, or French press. As readers brush up on their barista skills, they may also feel moved to purchase a new mug.
Viral marketing: Going viral and getting noticed is every company’s dream. Virality means gaining the public’s attention on an immediate basis. Once a brand’s marketing campaign garners overnight attention, the brand is set to welcome a wealth of potential clients. Often, these campaigns contain elements that ring a bell with consumers. For instance, KFC’s campaign during the pandemic spread across social media like wildfire. The company received backlash from all over the world for its commercials featuring the tagline “FINGER LICKIN' GOOD®.” As COVID-19 cases were on the rise, the company observed a dramatic drop in its sales. KFC launched a campaign to combat the issue using a hashtag #UntilWeCanFingerLickAgain. All KFC billboards, commercials and ads blurred the brand’s tagline. But this wasn’t all. KFC even added pictures of fried chicken (its hero product) with cutlery. This went viral and generated empathy among its consumers, and the food company witnessed soaring sales again!
Outbound marketing
Outbound marketing casts a wide net. Companies send messages to the public or initiate direct contact with leads, though the receivers might not all be a good fit for the product or service. This style is sometimes called interruption marketing because audiences must stop what they’re doing to focus on the advertising message. As such, outbound marketing feels more intrusive.
Outbound marketing examples
Cold-calling and emailing: In this model, companies call or email strangers with information about their brand. Some of these strangers hang up or send emails straight to spam, but the message might resonate with other recipients.
Radio and TV ads: Not all radio and TV ads are relevant for every listener or viewer, so these marketing strategies also count as outbound. For example, vegetarians won’t be interested in an advertisement for a new hamburger joint, but they may perk up at an ad, say, a kombucha brand. The strategy is a hit or miss, but messages reach a broad audience.
Some social media marketing: If a brand pitches its products on social media platforms to a wide audience, some users won’t find the message useful. This type of social media promotion is more outbound than inbound.
Free online digital marketing courses
The best marketing strategy is the one that works for your audience. Equip yourself to create a plan that works by learning more about promoting your company. Here are some free online marketing courses to check out.
Google Digital Garage: Learn the fundamentals of digital marketing with one of the most prominent companies in the industry.
Coursera: Begin Coursera’s 6-course introduction to digital marketing, and continue learning more with its wide range of niche advertising workshops.
edX: edX offers a range of free online courses from industry experts and top universities, such as Columbia and Berkeley.
Google Analytics Academy: In this Google digital marketing course, you’ll learn how to read the metrics on your campaigns and build stronger future ones with this knowledge.
eMarketing Institute: The eMarketing Institute offers a wide range of free tutorials, including free online digital marketing courses with certificates. It offers courses on specialized topics, ranging from blogging to search engine optimization (SEO).
Why you should earn a marketing certification
Will investing time in a certificate program or continuing education course really help? Absolutely. Even marketing experts can benefit from one of these classes.
Up-to-speed on trends: Certifications keep you posted on the market’s behavior and needs, helping you adapt your strategies to what’s working.
Specialization: The social media marketing landscape changes with every update of an app. Courses help you specialize in trending marketing topics, such as tools, features and trends.
Audience: Because the digital marketing landscape changes rapidly, you should stay on top of research that shows how consumers respond to new trends. Certification training courses help you understand what customers are looking for by teaching you customer segmentation based on demographics, interests and behaviors.
Job opportunities: If you want to market someone else’s business, the hiring manager will want to test your skills. Certifications make your LinkedIn profile or resume stand out. Don’t just stop at a certificate – pursue your marketing degree online and become an even stronger candidate.
Keep your skillset fresh
Marketing is a huge industry that keeps changing with each passing day – some clients may still prefer to see a print ad, while the newer generations would like everything on their phones. And to cater to people from all walks of life, companies must up their media strategies.
