Most marketers will agree that digital marketing is on the rise and takes a lot of expertise to be able to create and implement successful campaigns.
However, not all marketing experts feel confident enough to tackle a complete marketing course with all the necessary digital marketing knowledge required. In other words, a certificate is the perfect way to bridge the gap between those who consider themselves internet marketing beginners and those who already have several years of experience under their belt.
Many leading businesses, brands, and organizations offer a certificate in digital marketing hoping to draw in more qualified prospects and keep them engaged for longer. So if you’re looking for the best way to gain in-demand skills and gain confidence in your role as a marketer, check out these 10 integrated marketing certificate programs.
Marketing: Build Your Brand
The first and perhaps most important step to creating an effective marketing campaign is to determine your target audience, which you can do via demographic research or through qualitative analysis of existing customers. From there, you can craft an identity for your brand – what will you offer that distinguished person, group, or organization?
It’s also important to consider the channels that your target audience uses to receive information – whether it’s social media, email, or otherwise.
Once you’ve got your target audience and channel of choice, you can begin to assess their needs and the metrics that you’ll use to measure the success of your campaign. For example, if your target audience is young adults between the ages of 18 and 25, you’ll want to consider using Facebook ads with images that trigger emotional responses like joy or surprise in your target audience.
Digital Marketing: Marketing In The Digital World
As previously stated, digital marketing is quickly becoming a staple of marketing and businesses of all sizes are realizing the importance of establishing a digital presence. The definition of digital marketing is easy: it’s the use of digital tools and platforms to market a product or service.
With so much information and data available online, it’s easier than ever for potential customers to do their research before purchasing a product or using a service. If you’re looking to establish your authority as a voice of reason in your industry, a digital marketing certificate is the perfect fit. You’ll gain in-demand marketable skills that will help you establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry while also providing you with detailed marketing research that you can use to produce highly effective campaigns.
Social Media Marketing: The New Frontiers
If you’re not familiar, social media marketing is simply using social networks to gain traction and grow your audience.
While it can be difficult to understand at first, once you get the hang of it, the benefits are endless – you can connect with existing customers, gain credibility with potential customers, and see your engagement level soar across all platforms.
As a social media marketer, you’ll work with a content strategist to produce content that will resonate with the target audience and create engagement on social media channels. You’ll conduct search engine optimization and set up email marketing campaigns to reach your audience – basically, you’ll use every digital medium available to get the word out about your product or service.
What’s great about social media is that it’s always evolving and changing – you will always have something new to learn. So while it can be incredibly beneficial to establish yourself as an expert in social media, it also means that you’ll never be able to “check out” once your interest wanes.
Email Marketing: The Standard In Marketers’ Kitchens
An email marketing campaign is similar to a social media marketing campaign in that you’ll use email to gain traction and interest in your product or service. However, whereas a social media marketing campaign uses platforms like Twitter and Facebook to gain interest, an email marketing campaign primarily uses email.
In other words, rather than trying to attract people to your website or social media accounts, you’ll be focusing on getting them to take an action that will help you qualify them as a lead. That action might be as simple as subscribing to your email list or as complex as purchasing a product or service through a link in your email.
Once you’ve established an email list, you can start engaging with your audience through content that will spark curiosity and hopefully lead to action. You might choose to send out email newsletters or even just send individual emails with helpful tips or advice – the sky is the limit with email marketing.
Analytics: The Measurement Engine
Last but not least, we’ve got analytics – the measurement engine that lets you track the results of all your marketing efforts and determine what’s working and what needs to be changed to be more effective.
You’ll use analytics to track the results of all your marketing campaigns – whether you’re using PPC ads, SEO, or other channels – and determine what’s working and what needs to be changed to be more effective. With all the noise online, it can be difficult to know what’s working and what isn’t. The good news is that you don’t have to. Analytics will let you track the results of all your campaigns and determine what’s effective and what’ll need to be changed to be more successful in future campaigns.
What Is A Certificate Of Completion?
A certificate of completion is a certificate that you’ll receive after you complete an online marketing program that’s been recognized by a reputable institution. Essentially, these are verifiable statements from an accredited source that you can use to continue pursuing your career in marketing.
In other words, you’ve earned this certificate through a series of verified learning experiences that you’ve submitted documentation for. After you complete the requisite number of hours, you’ll receive the certificate – usually after you’ve also passed a comprehensive exam (sometimes this is called the “case study” or “sat test”).
You’ll often find that accredited institutions will also require you to graduate from college with a degree in marketing or some other relevant field.
Why Are These Institutions Offering These Certificates?
If you’ve been following the blog posts over the last year, you’ll know that I focus a lot on the evolving role of the marketer and how to break out of the pack. One of the key ways that I do this is by encouraging people to pursue accredited courses that will allow them to establish themselves as thought leaders in their industry while also being able to gain more in-demand skills in a short amount of time.
With so many reputable institutions offering these types of courses, it’s clear that someone must be keen on helping qualified graduates gain the skills they need to succeed in the job market. And what’s great about these institutions is that they’ve seen the need and they’ve created programs that allow students to gain the skills they need to succeed in the job market while also helping companies draw in more qualified prospects.