With thousands of online marketing courses and coaches, the era of digital marketing has opened a new range of opportunities for people who are willing to learn and build long-lasting careers. Gone are the days when you had to go to college for years, have thousands in debt and loans, and come out with a degree only to get a job that barely pays minimum wage. The age of the internet is creating new windows and roles. As long as you have the knowledge, skills, and determination, you can succeed as a digital marketer.
The better news is that you don’t need a university degree to access these new jobs. There is a range of online marketing courses for beginners, intermediate learners, and even experts to develop their skills and earn industry-recognized certification. As a matter of fact, the internet is so saturated with options. The real challenge is knowing which courses are the best online marketing courses for you and which ones are a waste of your time and money.
A quick internet search for a digital marketing class or course will produce many results of marketing course content. Everybody, from large educational institutes to small freelance coaches, is offering a class on digital and online marketing. It’s worth keeping in mind that not all programs have a marketing course certificate. However, many of these programs that don’t offer certificates still have excellent curriculums. As you sieve through these results, here are some essential things you should consider before you make your decision on the best online digital marketing course.
Whether a product is offered by an industry market giant or a newcomer, the real proof of whether it works or not lies in what the customers are saying about it. In every industry, reviews are critical, and many marketers will tell you one of the most effective ways to sell anything is with social proof. To tell a good course from a bad one, look at the ratings, the student testimonials, and which other leaders in the industry or the press are talking about it.
When searching marketing courses for small business don’t forget to check for reviews!
Ratings and reviews are excellent ways to determine the success of a course. However, they are mostly dependent on external factors, like student behavior and how much publicity the course is getting. If you want to really know if this course will be worth it for you, check out who is teaching it. Do some research on the faculty listed on the course page and see how much experience, knowledge, and connection they bring to the table. Check out their social media profiles (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Youtube, etc). Are they writing on any press publications (Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur, etc.)? The faculty and course instructors’ quality is a strong indicator of how much value you will get out of the course.
Online marketing can be divided into different categories, such as, introduction to marketing courses, SEO, copywriting, ad management, content marketing, brand management, etc. Each of these niches requires specific skill sets. Some introductory courses cater to a beginner audience, and they typically teach the fundamentals across a variety of niches. However, as you go to the intermediate stage, it’s essential for your growth to begin to niche down and choose courses that go deeper into specific skills and techniques.
Every good course should make a breakdown of its content available on the sales page. Depending on your level of expertise, whether you are looking for beginner-level online digital marketing classes or trying to learn specific advanced skills, you should make sure that the curriculum contains the specific details you are looking for. Another way to check this is to go back to the ratings and see if anybody mentioned the topic you are looking for or the result you are trying to achieve
It is common to come across online marketing courses that don’t offer certifications. There is nothing wrong with doing a free or uncertified course, but you must make sure that it suits your purpose for taking the class. If you come across certified courses, do further research to determine the certificate’s credibility and what potential jobs you can access with it.
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Alex Quin is a full-stack marketing expert and global keynote speaker. Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of UADV Marketing - a member of the Forbes Agency Council.
