Source from: Websites Offering Free Digital Marketing Training and Certifications | Total Visits 791 |
Someone asked me if a Career in Marketing is a good idea and what skills were needed in the field.
One way to begin in this field is by having certifications that employees expect to find in a marketing professional’s resume. For digital marketing, this could be Hubspot, Google’s analytics, and Google Adwords certification, just to mention a few. As a marketer, you are also expected to have some project management skills so you can study for the PMP (Professional Management Professional); this one is really hard to pass the exam, compared with to the others).
But before you embark on getting certified, make sure you have tested all of the areas of Digital Marketing and you are at a point where you can define what you want to specialize in, for example, Social Media, Branding, Influence Marketing, Technical SEO, SEM, Affiliate, Video Marketing, Content Marketing, Inbound Marketing, Mobile Marketing which is part of technical SEO, etc.
Last year when I was visiting New York, I went to a workshop about this exact topic: Careers in Digital and Social Media Marketing: WORKSHOP: Innovation Lab- Discover Careers and New Trends in Digital &…
Before getting into training and becoming certified, ask yourself:
Do you want to be part of the team or do you want to be the manager? Do you want to be a Digital Marketing Manager or a Marketing Director? Each of these fields has different levels of difficulty and also different salaries. For instance, specialties within the field of marketing like social media are way easier than Technical SEO wich requires a bit of programing or coding knowledge.
If you want to work as a digital manager, which pays from 80k to 110k, it might require that you have a marketing or business degree, whereas a social media specialist doesn’t require a bachelor’s degree and pays about between $30K to $45K annual salary.
Warning, a digital marketing career can have its ups and downs. If you don’t stay focused and aren’t clear of your career goals, you can wind up being just another dude who says they know online marketing, but has not specialization. Plus, the competition in this field is fierce because many people are not focused on what they want to specialized in. Many say they know Digital Marketing, but they only talk the talk and don’t walk the walk and that won’t look for an employer who knows this field very well. In the other hand, there are employers who aren’t proficient enough in the field, and can make the mistake of hiring online marketer newbies who can talk a good game, employees hire them because some employers don’t know better. So in order for a marketing professional to stand out, they need that extra topping to their resume in order to be noticed and increase their talent stack.
Lastly, if you really want to have a steady and exciting job in the field of marketing, make sure you shoot high. The higher you shoot –for example, you want to work for Google, Hubspot, Amazon, or the American Marketing Association digital division, etc.– the better. In other words, a smart employer will hire you based on your unique and strong skill set and no so much of how good you sound.
What I mean by this is by shooting high when applying for jobs, it places you dealing with real professionals. This way you won’t be wasting your time having interviews with employers who doesn’t understand digital marketing too well and will hire the person who is good talker sales-like type of person— instead of you a person with real skills, who can be a great asset to an organization.
Diversification is the key to being noticed in the Marketing Field
- Complementary skills
–Marketing + Technology + HTML + Management- Unconventional set skills
–Marketing + Video Production + Environmental Recommended Aid: Additional Certifications:
PMP, Adwords, Google Analytics, CISCO, etc.
Harvard and Stanford –extended school cert.- Key: Work internships with a big corporation
The American Marketing Association provides training, and if you have a marketing/business degree you can become an AMA member
Get the AMA Digital Marketing Certification
FREE TRAINING SITES:
1.Stonybrook.edu/Lynda (online marketing series)
2.Free Seminars (http://www.webex.com/webinars/)
3.Advance Digital Marketing courses
5.SEO: Google start up guy to optimize your site
6. Google’s Analytics Free Training. (This page contains free training)
7. Lynda Digital Marketing Courses series digital marketing – Lynda
8. WordStream’s PPC University PPC University is a totally free online learning resource
9. Social Media Quickstarter Digital Marketing Course
Constant Contact’s Social Media Quickstarter emphasizes opportunities to integrate email with social media marketing, to maximize the impact of both channels. In a series of step-by-step lessons, learners can study digital marketing tactics for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, Google+, YouTube, blogging, and online listings and reviews sites.
10 Alison Free Diploma in E-Business Alison is a massive online learning community of more than six million registered users, with standards-based and certified courses offered absolutely free of charge.
FREE TRAINING WITH CERTIFICATIONS:
1. Learn Social Media and get certify (https://hootsuite.com/pages/education)
2. Adwords (learn and certification
3. Learn Social Media (Hubspot academy)
4. Google Analytics Individual Qualification (IQ)
GOOGLE DIGITAL MARKETING COURSES
- Pre-Course Preparation
- Introduction To Digital Marketing
- Adwords Fundamentals
- Search Advertising
- Display Advertising
- Mobile Advertising
- Video Advertising
- Shopping Advertising
- Analytics
- Tools and Best Practices
- Google My Business
Marketing Certification List
The following are the best marketing certification programs you can gain to boost your credibility and reputation.
- AMA Certified Professional Marketer
- Bing Ads Certification
- Content Marketing Institute Online Training and Certification
- Copyblogger Certified Content Marketer
- DigitalMarketer Certified Content Marketing Specialist
- DMA Certifications
- Google AdWords Certification
- Google Analytics Certification
- HootSuite Certification
- HootSuite Advanced Social Media Strategy Certificate
- HubSpot Certifications
- Marketing Management Certificate
- W3Schools Certifications
How to Pass Digital Marketing Certification Exams
Many of the above-mentioned programs allow you to get your certification after studying their training and taking an online exam. Most online exams are timed, but no one is watching you and how you get your answers unless it is specified as a proctored exam.
While you can’t pass any online exam without some basic knowledge on the topic, you don’t have to be an expert either.
Here are the keys to passing most of the online exams in one or two tries tops.
- Review recommended training and educational content.
- If you can take the exam more than once without any consequences, consider the first run a practice run.
- Use ScreenFlow (or another screen recording program) to record your screen for later reference in case you don’t pass the first time. This is for your reference only – do not share it.
- If you are allowed to go back to previous answers, go through the exam and answer everything you know off the top of your head as quickly as possible and return to other questions.
- If there is no proctoring involved, keep text-based training materials (articles, slides, and transcripts) open in another browser or download and open on your computer. CTRL+F any questions you need clarification on using specific keywords.
- If you don’t pass the first time, go through your recording and find the correct answers, or study them.
- Once you feel confident, take the exam again.
If you follow these steps, you should be able to pass most of your certification exams, if not all of them, in one to two tries and get your certifications.
How to Use Your Digital Marketing Certifications
Once you gain certified status, you will want to make sure everyone knows it. Here are some ways to mention and use your certifications to ensure you get recognition.
- Note if there are any restrictions on creating badges for your certifications. Google, for example, doesn’t give or allow you to create a Google Analytics Qualified Individual badge.
- Incorporate certifications on your about me page on your website.
- Display certifications on your information product or consulting services landing pages so people know they would be learning from or working with a certified individual.
- Place certifications in your website sidebar so people can find out you are certified from any page on your website.
- Include certifications in your author bios, forum profiles, and any other “about me” descriptions.
- Add certifications to the Certifications section on your LinkedIn profile. Also place them in your profile headline and summary.
- Put the most important certifications (the ones likely to land you customers or a job) to your Twitter bio.
- Include certifications in your resume if you are looking for a new job. Search for jobs that ask for people with your certification for best results.
- Use certifications to join social media groups and forums for certified professionals to grow your professional network.
Effectively, if you are a HubSpot Certified Inbound Marketer, you want the world to know it. People looking for someone to handle their inbound marketing will come to you over others without that certification.