Bonafide Marketing Genius

Top 5 Online Marketing Courses

In today’s digital world, you need a valid digital marketing certificate to be able to work in the field. However, with the surge in online learning platforms, you can now gain the necessary skills with minimal to no costs. Here are five of the best online marketing courses to help you get started.

Learn HTML, CSS & JavaScript

If you’re new to the digital marketing world, start by learning basic HTML, CSS & JavaScript. HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language, which allows web pages to be formatted visually. CSS is Cascading Style Sheets, which allows designers to style their pages using familiar CSS properties like color, size and font-family. JavaScript is a programming language that makes your work more efficient by allowing you to write programs that operate on the web. Being able to code is extremely beneficial since it enables you to easily find work, update your skills and continually grow your expertise in the field. Learning these three elements will get you 80% of the way to becoming a web designer.

How to Create a Winning Marketing Plan

Having a strong business plan is essential for any startup. The same concept applies to a marketing plan. Before you can start executing your plan, you need to have a clear idea of how you’re going to achieve the goals you’ve set for yourself. Having a plan that relies on assumptions and isn’t fully thought through will only get you so far. To that end, you need to create a winning marketing plan that will bring in the desired results. There are five steps you need to take to do this.

1. Set a benchmark for your plan

It’s important to set a benchmark and review why you’re there. Ideally, you want to set a benchmark that’s at least somewhat comparable to what you would expect from a traditional marketing plan. Setting a benchmark that’s too high (expecting to sell a lot of expensive products) will only discourage you from starting the program. On the other hand, if your benchmark is set too low (selling a very limited amount of $5 products), you may end up being overwhelmed and discouraged – not to mention, you’ll probably fail. So, find that happy medium and make sure you stick to it.

2. Break down the big picture into measurable chunks

The next step is to take your big picture (which stands for the overarching goal of your plan) and break it down into measurable chunks. For example, if your benchmark is to double your sales within the next 12 months, your measurable chunks might be:

  • Sales of $25,000 in the next 3 months
  • Consistent traffic to my website from top-tier social media platforms (i.e. Hootsuite, Twitter, LinkedIn)
  • Doubling of my email list in the next 6 months
  • 20% sale of products in my eCommerce store every month
  • The creation of a profitable online store
  • 50 new customers per week
  • A consistent 20% Return on Investment
  • Achieving profitability
  • Building a brand that people desire

Once you’ve set your measurable chunks, you need to think about how you’re going to go about achieving them. For the $25,000 sales benchmark above, your plan might look like this:

  • In the next 3 months, I’m going to reach out to 20 of my existing customers and convince them to purchase my products. I need to create a short-term plan to do this.
  • I’ve got a lead in my email list that I’m going to pull information from to create an eCommerce store. I need to set up a short-term automated email campaign to do this.
  • My eCommerce store isn’t generating enough revenue to cover my monthly expenses. So, I’m going to launch a product fund-raising campaign and once the product is funded, I’ll be able to move on to the next stage.
  • I’ve created a product that’s going to be extremely valuable to my customers. So, I’m going to create a long-term plan to monetize it.
  • I’ve launched a product fund-raising campaign on Kickstarter and have successfully raised $5,000 in 30 days (70% of my goal). Thanks to the generosity of my backers, I now have enough money to move forward with developing my product.
  • I’ve got to get these 20 customers to use my product so I can start generating revenue. So, I’m going to create a short-term plan to do this.
  • I’m busy meeting with a top-tier real estate agent to discuss purchasing an investment property that I can use to establish a property-based online business.
  • I’ve got an idea for a new t-shirt design that I think would be valued at $500 or more. I’m going to create a plan to price it at $75 and see if it sells.
  • I’ve decided to build a list of 20 highly targeted prospects who I think could be extremely valuable to my business. I’m going to create a plan to do this.
  • I’ve got an idea for a new recipe that I think could be valuable to my customers. I’m going to create a plan to do this.
  • I’ve decided to create a blog for my customers to follow. I’m going to create a plan to do this.
  • I’ve decided to create a YouTube channel to upload video tutorials related to my industry. I’m going to create a plan to do this.
  • I’ve got a Facebook group with 300 members. I’m going to create a plan to do this.
  • I’ve got a Twitter account with 5,000 followers. I’m going to create a plan to do this.
  • I’ve got an Instagram account with 15,000 followers. I’m going to create a plan to do this.
  • I’ve got a LinkedIn account with 3,200 followers. I’m going to create a plan to do this.
  • I’ve got an AOL account with 12,000 subscribers. I’m going to create a plan to do this.
  • I’ve got a Sittercity account with 16,000 subscribers. I’m going to create a plan to do this.
  • I’ve got a Shopify store. I’m going to add more products and plan to do this.
  • I’ve got a Big Commerce store. I’m going to add more products and plan to do this.
  • I’ve got a Shopify store. I’m going to add more products and plan to do this.
  • I’ve got a Big Commerce store. I’m going to add more products and plan to do this.

Each of these measurable chunks represents a potential milestone to work towards. The important thing to keep in mind is that once you’ve set your benchmark for your plan, you need to stick to it. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself struggling to meet your end goal without a clear idea of how you got there in the first place. Setting a benchmark isn’t something you can easily change – it’s something you need to commit to.

3. Identify and analyze your strengths and weaknesses

Now that you’ve got a clear idea of your plan and how you’re going to achieve it, it’s time to identify your strengths and weaknesses. The first step is to take a step back and look at your plan from a critical eye. Are you using the right metrics to track your progress? What are your weaknesses? Do you have anyone you can turn to for help? These are all questions you need to ask yourself before you move ahead with your plan. For example, if you’re not tech-savvy and feel uncomfortable using computers, you might not want to take this route. Or, if you’re not social media-savvy, you might want to find a mentor who can help educate you on the importance of this platform.

While you’re taking stock of your strengths and weaknesses, you need to consider what role each one plays in your plan. Your strengths might be the key to your plan’s success, while your weaknesses could become fatal flaws that bring down your entire operation. It’s always a good idea to look at the positives as well as the negatives. If you see that your weaknesses are holding you back more than your strengths, the logical step forward might be to ditch the weakest link and develop your strengths further.