It is not always easy to stay current with digital marketing trends. There are many courses out there, but choosing only the best can save you some time and put you up to speed on the industry’s best practices. Plus, there are high-quality free options for you to make your first steps, further dive, or certify your knowledge. Therefore, let’s see the best free digital marketing courses available, and the utility of completing them for your CV.
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What are the best platforms to find free digital marketing courses?
We present you with 8 of the most important platforms to learn the basics or upskill your knowledge in any area of digital marketing you are interested in. All of them have free valuable courses, many including certifications. You will learn relevant digital marketing skills for free as well as improve your CV and develop your career.
Best 8 Free Digital Marketing Courses:
Google is an established player in the training business. Its wide range of courses targets every stage in your career development. In that sense, Google Digital Garage is a great place to go if you need to introduce yourself to different digital marketing and business topics. With more than 150 courses available from dozens of institutions, the offer is quite appealing. You can also filter your selection in terms of the number of hours, difficulty, and topic. There is a selection of digital marketing, data, and career development courses available that you can delve into.
Marketing courses mainly focus on establishing an online business, understanding the customers’ behavior, and every tool that helps you with these activities. Career development courses focus on job seeking, soft skills, well-being, and other useful work-related abilities. Data-driven training is based on coding, Google platforms (i.e. Google Analytics), and anything to properly measure your business impact.
Google Digital Garage’s courses are ideal for those taking their first steps in marketing. Their introductory courses give you a solid introduction to any skill or tool to understand how they work. Certification is available for specific training, which can help you boost your CV. However, not all of them do so.
As a global institution, Google is instantly recognizable. Its courses and certifications are equally recognized by employers worldwide. Choosing them is an easy way to start improving your CV as well as backing up your knowledge in marketing, soft skills, and data.
If you feel that the Digital Garage is too basic, Google hears you, as they also offer Google Skillshop. Designed with specialized courses, you will have the chance to learn and master different Google platforms that are already very popular and widely used in the marketing industry. Google Ads, Google Analytics, marketing, and online business are the main topics for you to learn. You can do them at your own pace, an advantage of learning through online courses.
With a dozen options, certification is available for these courses. There are various picks for each: Google Ads, Google Marketing Platform, Analytics Academy, and Waze. As dominant tools in the business, obtaining said certifications can boost your profile when searching for marketing-related positions.
The reviews of Google Skillshop mention that employers appreciate these certifications when hiring. Others mention that the courses could use some more practice, but all in all, people recommend these programs as a chance to learn the right tools with their creators.
With over 30 free online marketing courses, General Assembly is an exciting alternative for learning the essentials of the field. On a 1 to 2-hour Livestream set on fixed dates, these webinars are offered at a set time, in case you prefer to sit for a more standard session. This is a good contrast for those who are not that familiar with self-paced courses.
The courses cover a wide range of marketing-related concepts. From email marketing basics and SEO to doing social media on a budget, they are greatly focused on online business needs and strategies rather than platforms or tools. On Wednesdays, they hold workshops on these subjects, so you can work on specific areas of your career that could use some guidance.
If you are struggling with your business growth, or are thinking of incorporating some new perspectives, then General Assembly events are good places to go. Their free courses work as solid introductions for beginners who want to learn digital marketing basics. They are also of great value if you are not ready to specialize in a field before having a clear overview of your options.
If you are interested in longer immersive courses, General Assembly has them, but at a cost.
HubSpot Academy’s focus is on inbound marketing, sales, and customer service professionals. All of their courses are online, free, and many of them provide certifications. The diversity of the topics covered is second to none, from general to specific topics related to digital marketing. Plus, you can choose to take some of them in Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, or Japanese.
Of course, HubSpot has its own set of digital marketing tools. This means many of the sessions offered are aimed at mastering them. Still, if you are not particularly interested in the Academy’s platforms, they cover multiple relevant topics: GDPR, reporting, lead generation, etc. Training length is very variable as well. Some comprise a couple of short sessions, whereas others are fewer long ones, all on videos to watch at your pace.
With more than 100 options, HubSpot Academy is a competitive training site for digital marketing professionals. Beginner, intermediate or advanced marketers can find compelling training to choose from for a quick or deep dive into relevant areas for your business and career development. It is a great alternative to big players like Google, with a respected name in the training business.
If site traffic is your main concern, Ahrefs are the go-to guys in the biz. They target their courses to junior marketers to senior SEO experts and offer them friendly tools and proper training. They pride themselves on their free and accessible marketing materials that you can tackle at your own rhythm and quickly understand. Plus, being pro bloggers, the site is updated regularly, with tons of new content weekly.
Aside from free material, their main draw is their free-of-charge Blogging for Business course. In approximately five hours divided into 40 bite-sized lessons, you can learn all about content marketing, a hot topic in the industry. Each session tries to answer questions, concerns, and myths associated with creating a successful blog that generates your expected outcome, whatever that is. They cover everything, from the general to the particular, in an attractive way.
As usual, there are paid options of tools that can enhance your site’s traffic. This will assist you with indexing and boosting visits as well as trending insights. Nevertheless, the free course is an excellent option for anyone who wants to have a good understanding of blogging fundamentals for your business.
Udemy is another established competitor in the online training world. Having forged alliances with big companies, many might be familiar with their courses and how they work. Numerous topics are covered: email, social media, ads, and content, among many others. Each of them has many options to choose from too, as well as courses on platforms like WordPress or Google Suite.
Udemy’s style is friendly, with a great UX. It is mainly aimed at beginners or intermediate learners (with some specialized options too) who could use some insights into different digital marketing areas. The user rating for each course is an appealing piece of information for you to make sure you are choosing correctly. You can do them at your own time and pace, and you can select short 1-hour lessons to 17+ sessions. Many of these offer certification and are recognized by employers worldwide. Plus, you can feature them on LinkedIn to let your network know you are developing your skills.
A reliable site, Udemy’s experience is overall popular and valuable. Taking free courses with them will give you a general understanding of various subjects, or deepen your knowledge of them. Besides, their quizzing method between lessons ensures your proper learning of the concepts taught.
eMarketing Institute offers 10 free digital marketing courses. You can choose from e-commerce, social media, email, SEO, blogging, analytics, content, and affiliate marketing. Some of them allow you to certify your experience so you can attest to your knowledge in your CV.
In business since 2014, eMarketing Institute is recognized for its free certification possibilities. Each of the certified pieces of training is examined through multiple choice exams. With 50 questions, you must score at least 50% to obtain the credit.
eMarketing Institute is well regarded for introducing students to basic concepts. Though iterative at times, they are ideal for those making their first steps in digital marketing. Free ebooks are available as well. If you are not looking to certify, these are great alternatives to read at your own pace. In the end, it is a great place to start for beginners or business owners who need a holistic view to command and hire the right people.
Last but not least, Alison has 250+ free online courses for you to learn key digital marketing skills. Founded in 2007, this site is committed to delivering free training and certification to empower individuals, entrepreneurs, and teams to succeed professionally.
Though it is free to take, it is important to know that certifications come at a cost. In that sense, Alison is better suited for self-paced learners who seek a general understanding of the covered topics. With a lesser technical approach, you will find many soft skill sessions to browse through.
Their management and customer-oriented options make Alison stand out from other professional education sites. These are the sessions to attend if you are looking to improve your business skills to better satisfy your client’s needs. They also work well to learn how to properly handle the daily commercial and supervision tasks of both online and retail businesses.
Do free digital marketing certificates have value?
Long story short: yes, free digital marketing courses are definitely worth it. Many of them are recognized by employers all around the world. Not only are they acknowledged for the institutions behind them but also attest to the professional’s commitment to learning the necessary skills for the marketing industry.
Moreover, there are many options out there to choose from. Some organizations already collaborate with training sites to ensure that their employees continue to learn relevant competencies. Plus, many workers choose to certify their abilities to earn better salaries.
Finally, digital marketing is an ever-growing field.
Every day we see new capabilities to be learned, or better tools that improve the work quality in the area. By gathering free certifications, not only will you earn a general understanding of marketing but also see the trends and where things are going. After all, marketing is a discipline where you should never stop learning.
Closing thoughts: should I take free marketing courses?
Taking free marketing courses is definitely a good call. After reviewing all the possibilities, we are certain that there are at least a couple of courses you can benefit from. As shown, the sites that offer free lessons are renowned for their quality and professionalism.
Free online learning today is a reliable prospect. Many professionals can vouch for the listed platforms above, and there are many user reviews out there for you to choose the best one. With pedagogic value and tested methods to ensure learning and the independence of the students to go at their pace, it is a great step in your career.
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