Digital marketing is key for businesses that want to increase brand awareness and draw attention to brands for long periods of time. When done effectively, digital marketing helps “funnel” potential buyers toward a purchase. Training to be a digital marketer involves exploring the tools used to analyze customer data, interpret trending topics with SEO, and discover the strategy behind driving sales.
Interested in a career in digital marketing? There are a variety of ways to get into digital marketing as a career. For example, search engine optimization is a key part of digital marketing and can lead to a viable career path.
I chose the following digital marketing courses because of their positive reviews from the digital marketing community, their thoroughness, and their accessibility.
- Google eCommerce and Digital Marketing Professional Certificate through Coursera: Coursera
- HubSpot Academy Digital Marketing Course: HubSpot Academy
- Moz Academy SEO Starter Pack: Moz Academy
- Digital Advertising 101 from Semrush Academy: Semrush Academy
- Coursera Digital Marketing Specialization: Coursera
The best digital marketing courses: comparison table
Google eCommerce and Digital Marketing Professional Certificate via Coursera
Coursera's Introduction to Google Digital Marketing is suitable for beginners and you will finish the course with a professional certificate. This course is supported by Google and is completely online. It covers a wide variety of topics, from search engine marketing and like conversion to social media sales, marketing campaigns, and creating an eCommerce store.
This certification includes several courses, which together should take around six months to complete at 10 hours per week.
Cost
A Coursera subscription costs $59 per month, so the cost will depend on how quickly you complete the course. A six-month learning trip would cost $354.
HubSpot Academy Digital Marketing Course
HubSpot sells marketing and sales software and also offers free courses to learn digital marketing. This course covers email, SEO, social media, content creation and programming, and website advertising. It is particularly suitable for small business owners who have a business plan but are not familiar with digital marketing practices. It is taught primarily via video, with a transcript available.
Cost
The HubSpot Academy digital marketing course is free. As with most online course materials, an email address is required to log in.
Moz Academy SEO Starter Pack
When it comes to SEO, Moz Academy is a good place to start for step-by-step instructions on how to use the right tools for the business. Provides procedures for SERP listings and keyword evaluation; Additionally, it provides context such as how and why pages appear in search results and the history of search algorithms. The third module, Local SEO Fundamentals, focuses on SEO strategies for local businesses.
Moz Academy generally has a good reputation among the digital marketing community in terms of a starting point for beginners. Please note that there is no guarantee that the “recent SEO trends” section will still be recent when you get to it, as search engines are changing very quickly.
Cost
The complete SEO starter package costs $149.
Digital Advertising 101 from Semrush Academy
Business owners or marketers who want to approach their work from a strategic angle or focus on advertising may find value in this Semrush Academy course. Along with the basics of how digital advertising works, this course covers how to measure the performance of your campaigns and create solid strategies around your most successful projects. Teaches you an overview of competitor research and how to design an overall digital advertising strategy.
Cost
Digital Advertising 101 from Semrush Academy is free.
Coursera Digital Marketing Specialization
The digital marketing specialization available on Coursera is taught by professors at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This is a relatively in-depth course that covers the theory and practice of digital marketing, but it may repeat some of the same content from other courses listed here, so choose which format will be best for you.
Coursera is generally considered reliable, although some of the same information contained in this course can be found for free. On the other hand, this specialization is good for people who want a guided path through the practical uses of digital marketing tools. It ends with a practical project that involves executing a digital marketing campaign.
Cost
A Coursera subscription costs $59 per month, with a 7-day free trial, so the cost will depend on how long it takes you to complete the course. A four-month learning trip would cost $236.
Are digital marketing courses worth it?
Whether an online digital marketing class is worth the time, effort, and money for you depends on your learning style and career goals. Digital marketing courses often provide a “one size fits all” overview rather than focusing on a specific job role or audience. It may be wise to search for free tutorials on YouTube before signing up for a paid class.
Digital marketing changes very quickly; just look at Google's AI overviews. Make sure any course you choose is up to date or that you can supplement it with contemporary content. Employers may not care as much if you have a professional certification as if you can show proven results.
Is digital marketing well paid?
As of May 2024, the median salary for a digital marketer in the US was $64,898, according to Indeed. The upper end of the salary range could reach up to $113,442.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that the median annual salary for market research analysts and marketing specialists as of May 2023 was $83,190.
