9 Digital Marketing Courses to Become a Rockstar Marketeer

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There are over 4.5 billion active internet users globally; 4.2 billion connected via mobile phones. Over 1.9 billion people worldwide purchased items online in 2019.

As much of the world connects, shops, and lives online, it’s now an imperative for any business worth their salt to implement marketing strategies that include – or better yet, prioritize – the digital realm.

So you want to be a digital marketer. Or you want to pick up these skill sets at the very least.

What’s hot and hip and cool about digital marketing is that it opens up a whole new world of possibilities for marketers, brands, and organizations.

Gone are the days of advertisements and billboards, and launching brand tracking studies to measure the impact of these campaigns.

Using the same marketing principles online, digital marketers can reach more people than humanly possible; pinpoint exactly who interacted with what content; and of those, who clicked-through; and of those, who bought something; and also who dropped off in the process, and when and where in their lives did it all occur.

We can do this down to a ‘T’, and these feedback loops are what makes digital marketing so indubitably suited to cater to the needs of customers better.

And that’s why digital marketers are rockstars in this new digitized world. The average salaries of digital marketers in the US range from $48,000 at the very low end of the spectrum, to a whopping $180,000.

But digital marketing is still such a broad term.

There are too many buckets of specialization in digital marketing, ranging from experts that know how to get businesses seen like SEO and content marketers, to the more insights-focused ninjas in analytics. You might not need to do it now if you’re a marketing noob, but you’re going to have to specialize one day.

This may come by understanding what you’re good at. Or you could peruse some reputable online courses to see which fits. There’s plenty of online courses available for digital marketing, and what we’ve done is picked 8 of our favorite ones.

We’ve included the ones designed for beginners in the exploratory phase of their digital marketing journeys. And we also included the more advanced ones for those looking to specialize – in social media, or growth marketing, or email marketing.

Check them out below, see which fits best. And thank us later!

1. DIGITAL MARKETING SPECIALIZATION | COURSERA

If you’re a novice, Coursera’s flagship Specialization series has a comprehensive digital marketing course to get you from beginner to a competent level of mastery.

Offered by the University of Illinois, the class comes highly rated and is one of the top digital marketing courses available today.

Digital Marketing Specialization makes a well-balanced presentation of digital marketing fundamentals to give you a good understanding of the main concepts of the strategic marketing and the interplay between them.

You’ll learn key concepts such as search engine optimization, digital analytics, social media marketing, and even 3D printing. You’ll also get a crash course in classic marketing concepts and converting them for the digital world.

The course is totally free unless you want a certificate to beef up credentials and impress future employers.

What the reviews are saying:

“This is a great course that equips you with a hands-on practical project where you can put together all the research skills and knowledge you have acquired in the other previous six courses. I would recommend everyone involved on the Digital platform to do this course” – Tumelo M

2. COMPLETE DIGITAL MARKETING COURSE: 12 COURSES IN 1 | UDEMY

Udemy’s best-selling Complete Digital Marketing Course is an expansive series that will get beginners acquainted with key digital marketing topics required to power digital businesses. The course is designed and taught by industry experts Rob Percival and Daragh Walsh, both highly rated instructors on Udemy.

Learn how to implement marketing strategies across the wide array of online marketing channels. Learn how to use the free tools recommended in the course to elevate your digital marketing game.

Complete Digital Marketing will run you through major marketing concepts, tools and channels including market research, WordPress, email marketing, copywriting, search engine optimization, Youtube marketing, social media marketing, Linkedin marketing, app marketing, Google Adwords, Facebook Ads, and Google Analytics.

The entire course features over 20 hours of video lessons and costs $11.99.

What the reviews are saying:

“Yes the course was a good match for me. It totally gives a practical way to use Digital Marketing. The theory is 30% and application is 70% throughout the course. Throughout the course, for each topic, they tell about what are the do’s and don’t’s. It is perfect course for someone who is planning to know about digital marketing.” – Hitesh Agarwal

“Take the time to go through the entire course, it’s so worth it! An amazing course covers everything you need to enter the Digital Marketing field. I took this course as a supplement for my college classes because I felt school was going to damn slow. After completing the course I feel like I’m miles ahead of my class. Great course, totally recommend.” – Edwin Castro

3. GROWTH HACKING WITH DIGITAL MARKETING | UDEMY

If you’ve got the digital marketing basics down and you’re looking to specialize in a particular digital marketing field, consider Growth Hacking to establish and broaden your customer base.

As exciting as Udemy’s Growth Hacking with Digital Marketing course sounds, you’ll need to be familiar with digital marketing fundamentals such as social media, SEO, and online advertising for it to be worthwhile.

Offered by online school, Eazl, the course will train you to develop customer personas, identify the ones with the greatest purchasing power, use powerful tools such as web traffic analysis & lean analytics, and build digital conversion funnels.

You’ll also learn how to use Google Analytics and calculate important metrics like Lifetime Customer Value (LCV) and Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC), giving you a big picture perspective of the entire digital marketing process and of course, how to hack it!

The course costs $11.99.

What the reviews are saying:

“I absolutely loved this course! I’ve taken digital marketing courses as far back as 2012 but this has been the best learning experience of a topic that I love very much! Informative lectures, awesome practicums and thought provoking assignments really made this one of the best courses that I have taken this year! Another fantastic delivery by the EAZL team!” – Justin Underhill

4. INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISING | SKILLSHARE

Here’s another course to help you specialize, and this time it’s in social media advertising. Offered by SkillShare and designed by Shopify’s Strategic Partnership Manager, Brian Peters, this course gets you acquainted with the fundamentals of social media advertising.

You’ll learn key concepts and jargons, establishing campaign goals, targeting, how to develop compelling visuals and copy, and optimizing social campaigns to constantly improve results.

The course is suitable for marketers, small businesses, freelancers, and anyone looking to use social media to connect with customers, turn impressions into conversion, and drive long-term business success.

If you’re interested to take the course, you have to take a SkillShare subscription which costs $99 annually, or $15 monthly.

What the reviews are saying:

“The class was great. Covers the basics so well that it gives clear direction of what I should explore next to advance the skills. This is a core foundation of Social Media Advertising and helps to understand what matters and how to start and measure success. Thanks to the instructor for sparing the time and building this wonderful class.” – Murtuza Banani

5. DIGITAL MARKETING NANODEGREE PROGRAM | UDACITY

Udacity’s flagship Digital Marketing Nanodegree Program is the motherload course to take if you want to gain complete immersion in your quest to be a rockstar digital marketer.

The course was developed in collaboration with industry heavyweights like Facebook Blueprint, Google, Hootsuite, Hubspot, MailChimp, and MOZ, so you know it’s legit!

Learn the various forms of marketing content and how to create them, incorporate social media in your marketing strategy, identify when to use display, video, or email marketing, and finally, learn how to use Google Analytics to measure the success of your campaigns and optimize the next ones. You’ll also master digital marketing concepts and techniques such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

We’d recommend the Digital Marketing Nanodegree Program for serious padawans only, as the approximately 3-month course would run you back $399 per month, or $1,017 for the 3-month access.

In exchange, you’ll get special access to the course materials along with Udacity’s technical mentorship support and personal career coaching and career services.

What the reviews are saying:

“The DMND program is unmatched. The way the lesson is strategically placed has caused a great impact in my current career as a Digital Marketing Associate at a Digital Communications firm. Having a strategy in place and being able to practice with projects took away the fear and the result has impacted real-world campaigns I currently optimize daily. My mentor April is so supportive & always available to answer questions. My client’s FB campaigns have received more “sample request conversions” in 2 months than the entire 2017 year!” – Ashley B

6. DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIST | ED2GO

Dive into the practical side of digital marketing in Ed2Go’s Digital Marketing Strategist course. Taught by content writer and workplace trainer, Liselle Turner, the course will train you to build and manage digital marketing campaigns using the digital, social, and content marketing to move customers further down the sales funnel.

In this class, you’ll learn digital marketing fundamentals, best practices, and the A-Zs of campaign management. Some of the topics covered include Search Engine Optimization, digital strategy, copywriting, multiplatform digital advertising, email marketing, market research, brand management, and even budget planning.

The course is perfect for those who want to broaden their understanding of sales strategy, and develop their customer relationship management (CRM) skills.

Digital Marketing Strategist costs $3,595, and takes 12-months to complete.

7. DIPLOMA IN DIGITAL MARKETING FOR BUSINESS OWNERS | JOHN ACADEMY

Maybe you’re looking to build digital marketing skills for a specific use-case, like running a business for example. Well, check out the Digital Marketing diploma course offered by UK’s online course providers, John Academy, expressly designed for business owners looking to leverage the power of digital to expand their business and convert audiences.

Learn how to build sales funnels, run social media campaigns, and run effective affiliate marketing strategies. Master vital business skills such as creating upselling opportunities, building a podcast, and running lead generation activities via email marketing.

Diploma in Digital Marketing for Business Owners is certified by the UK’s learning and training accreditation body, CPD Qualifications Standards, and Cambridge International Qualifications (CIQ).

The course costs £25, with an additional £39 for a hardcopy certificate and £24 for a PDF certificate.

8. BEST PRACTICES FOR EMAIL CONTENT MARKETING | LORMAN

Email marketing is such a vital tool in a company’s marketing arsenal – over 80% small businesses use email as their main channel to acquire customers. If you’re looking to boost your email marketing knowledge, check out this special Lorman webinar hosted by expert email marketer, Grant K. Johnson.

This hour-long webinar delves into strategies and approaches to maximize the results of email marketing programs. You’ll learn the latest benchmarks, strategies to increase open rates, A/B testing fundamentals in email campaigns, and content marketing best practices.

Access to the webinar alone costs $149, while an all-access pass to all of Lorman’s training content costs $699 for a full year.