Free digital marketing courses are a blessing for marketers everywhere. Before these courses started to appear online, learning how to run digital marketing campaigns often meant learning on the job, spending hours testing out marketing strategies and tactics to see which approaches generate the best returns.On the other hand, you could have spent thousands on a professional qualification from a university or industry bodies like the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) or the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).But now, if you don’t have the luxury of having loads of room in your job to test different digital marketing activity or if you don’t have the funds to take a professional course, there are a range of free digital marketing courses that you can take online, covering everything from Facebook Ads to inbound marketing to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).Below are our pick of the bunch of the free online digital marketing courses. If you’re looking for something a little more in-depth with someone to guide you through what will actually work for your organisation, take a look at our digital marketing training.Intro to Digital MarketingLink: training.empower.agency/courses/digital-marketing-charities-nonprofits/This intro to digital marketing course is aimed at charities and nonprofits who are looking to understand different digital marketing methods, to enable teams to understand potential methods of marketing to maximise the impact of the project and reach more potential beneficiaries.This free course gives an overview of what the different areas of digital marketing entail, how they can help you reach your target audiences, how much resource each takes and which ones to prioritise.This course also includes details on how to write digital marketing plans and guidelines to make the most out of your marketing activity, understanding the most effective channels and ensuring more users are being reached.Facebook BlueprintLink: facebook.com/blueprintFacebook is the king when it comes to paid social, but it can help to learn the basics first before parting with your budget on a real campaign. With more than 50 modules, Facebook Blueprint helps you learn the skills to build, run and improve your Facebook ad campaignsWe like Facebook Blueprint’s elearning so much, that when we’re taking on new team members at Empower, we ask them to take several of the key modules to help them get up to speed with key concepts and strategies around Facebook advertising.Facebook Blueprint follows traditional e-learning, where you can choose what module you want to take next, so you can tailor your training to whatever it is you want to achieve and skip the rest.Training is accessible on desktop or mobile, 24×7, so you can learn when and where you need. Now there’s a good reason to spend more time on Facebook.Hubspot Inbound Marketing certificationLink: academy.hubspot.com/certificationInbound marketing is a hot topic in marketing circles, featuring the integration of SEO, blogging, landing pages, lead nurturing, conversion analysis and reporting to form a modern inbound marketing strategy.With a wide range if topics and specialisms that all need to work hand in hand to be effective, it can be overwhelming to know where to start with inbound marketing.That’s where Hubspot’s inbound certification course comes in, a free marketing training course that covers the fundamentals of the inbound marketing methodology.Over 30,000 marketers have taken the course so far, so the content has been tried and test to a high standard.The course is suitable for marketers looking to round out their digital or content marketing skill sets, or even non-marketers who want to learn the inbound marketing methodology.Students looking for internships or full-time positions are also encouraged to take the course to set themselves apart from their peers when applying for jobs.There’s a lot to get through here, but if you take this course then you’ll be up to speed with the latest thinking around inbound marketing in no time.Google Partner ProgrammeLink: google.com/partnersGoogle offers a range of certifications based on it’s advertising and analytics products, namely Google Analytics and Google Adwords. They also go into further detail around other products, like YouTube advertising, but analytics and adwords are the place to start.The AdWords exams cover basic and advanced advertising concepts, including campaign set up, management and optimisation. To become AdWords certified, you’ll need to pass the AdWords Fundamentals exam and one of the other AdWords exams.The Google Analytics Individual Qualification (IQ) exam covers basic digital analytics and Google Analytics best practices. You’ll need to pass the Google Analytics IQ exam to get a certificate.That’s a lot of exams, but once you’re certified, you’ll also have the opportunity to promote your skills by sharing your certification status on your Google Partners public profile page and getting a badge to display on your website, letting prospective clients or employers know that you’re Google certified.Moz’s Beginner’s Guide to SEOLink: moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo More a guide to read through than a course that tests your skills, Moz’s Beginner’s Guide to SEO has been read over 3 million times and provides comprehensive information you need to get on the road to professional quality Search Engine Optimization, or SEO.The Beginner’s Guide to SEO is an in-depth tutorial on how search engines work, covering the fundamental strategies that make your websites search engine–friendly.The guide is designed to describe all areas of SEO—from finding the terms and phrases (keywords) that generate traffic to your website, to making your site friendly to search engines, to building links and marketing the unique value of your site.If you are confused about this stuff, you are not alone- this guide is here to help.You can read the whole guide online, or download the PDF.edX Introduction to MarketingLink: edx.org/course/introduction-marketing-ubcx-marketing1xFounded by Harvard University and MIT in 2012, edX is an online learning destination and MOOC provider, offering high-quality courses from the world’s best universities and institutions to learners everywhere.edX’s introduction to Marketing course will teach you core concepts and tools to help you better understand and excel in marketing. The course will bring a marketing lens to complex business and organisation challenges and aid in holistic decision-making that aligns with customer and company goals.Key topics include Market Research and its importance to strategy, brand strategy, pricing, integrated marketing communication, social media strategy and more.You’ll learn through the award-winning teaching approaches of the Sauder School of Business’s marketing faculty, so you have access to a world-leading institution on marketing.These are our pick of the free digital marketing courses you can take online, but you may have discovered your own. Which free courses have accelerated your marketing expertise? Let us know in the comments.
