5 Marketing Courses to Set Your Business Apart

Why is it important to take marketing courses? Besides the fact that it fulfills the basic human nature to seek out knowledge, marketing best practices are constantly changing!

Any good business person knows the key to success is constant learning and discovery: so get ahead of the pack and check out these five marketing courses to set your company apart.

5 Marketing Courses to Help You Set Your Company Apart:

1. edX:

   Founded by Harvard and MIT in 2012, edX is an online learning website aimed at providing free, online classes from the best universities in the world. edX offers classes in pretty much every subject you could imagine, including really great marketing courses, taught by professors from the partnering universities. Specifically, they are hosting a free class on marketing analytics. This class puts an emphasis on the importance of knowing the programs that make this growing sector of marketing function. More and more marketers are beginning their careers as marketing analysts. Even if you’re a seasoned marketer, you still need to understand the basic functions of analytics and data in marketing to map out trends and determine spending and ROI. edX classes are self-paced over four weeks. Specifically, the marketing analytics course requires 5-7 hours of work per week to finish on time.

2. Coursera:

   Similar to edX, every class offered on Coursera is taught by professors from some of the best universities and educational institutions in the world. The courses are online and about 4-6 weeks long. These courses are priced at a budget-friendly $29-$99 a pop and each come with a certificate of completion. An example of a Coursera class is their “What is Social?” class taught by Randy Hlavac, Lecturer, Medill IMC; CEO of Marketing Synergy Inc, and hosted by Northwestern University. The class is taught through videos, readings, weekly quizzes, and possibly graded assignments. Overall, Coursera is a great platform for a wide range of marketing courses.

3. Online Marketing Institute (OMI):

   Founded in 2007, OMI commenced in teaching marketing professionals about best practices of digital marketing. OMI is subscription based which enables you to have access to more classes across a spectrum of topics at any given time. The most popular course on the site, Marketing Automation, features many different video classes that you can watch in your own time and in the order of your choosing. Classes offer a group of short videos that add up to about twenty minutes to a half hour. Featured classes of the Marketing Automation course include “Search and Social Retargeting” taught by Janet Driscoll Miller, “Demand Generation: Email Marketing Messaging Best Practices” by Kim Albee, and “Building a Digital Persona to Drive Strategy” by Jon-Mikal Bailey. Essentially, OMI is your super-resource for all things marketing.

4. HubSpot Academy:

   The best part about HubSpot Academy is the fact that it is entirely free! There are over 4.5 hours of instruction and 38 lectures available to teach the basics of things like inbound marketing, SEO, landing pages, blogging, email marketing and many, many more. HubSpot Academy also offers official certifications (at an extra fee) upon completion of the courses. The videos are quick and attention-grabbing, making it easy to squeeze one in here and there throughout the day. Ultimately, HubSpot Academy is a great resource to learn about inbound and content marketing on your own time.

5. Lynda.com:

   Run by LinkedIn, Lynda is an online learning platform that enables people to learn about a multitude of business topics for the completion professional or personal goals. Lynda.com offers 6,121 courses that are all available with a Basic ($19.99) or Premium ($29.99) plan, or a team plan. One of my favorite classes on Lynda.com is “Marketing Weekly Tips” taught by Brad Batesole. In the business world we live in, everything is always changing: especially in marketing. Weekly tips will definitely ensure that you’re up to date with everything marketing. You won’t miss a beat with a Lynda.com membership!

So, what do you think? It’s so easy to get out there and learn about pretty much anything you can imagine. Do you have any other marketing courses that have helped you? Let us know in the comments so we can check them out!