To understand the fundamentals of digital marketing, you don’t need to spend a lot of money on an MBA. There are numerous resources available on the internet that may teach you about the various facets and specialties of this ever-changing industry. We’ll show you some of the greatest free online digital marketing courses we’ve uncovered in this article. We’ve listed them in descending order, with our top picks listed first, based on our proprietary approach.
Whether you’re a first-time marketer, a small business owner, or a seasoned entrepreneur, this selection of free courses is likely to pique your curiosity. We’ll answer some frequently asked questions about these free online digital marketing course offers after the review.
11 Free Online Digital Marketing Institute Featured Programs
Digital Marketing Fundamentals
There’s no better way to learn about digital marketing than from the people who invented it. With good reason, Google’s free online digital marketing course is at the top of our list; it covers all areas of digital marketing for both beginners and intermediate users, and it includes free certification. Google’s industry-recognized certification is a great way to boost your profile and expand your skill set.
This 26-module, 40-hour free online course in digital marketing can be taken at your own pace, wherever and whenever you want. Each module has numerous courses including text, video, and quizzes to evaluate your understanding.
You can pick and choose which lessons to include in your personalised learning plan if you don’t want to complete the entire course. However, we strongly advise that you begin at the beginning and work your way up so that you can earn certification.
While we won’t go through each module in detail, the following are some of the topics covered:
- Increasing your online visibility
- Make a strategy for your online business.
- Search engine optimization (SEO) and how to optimise your campaigns
- Getting known in your community
- Setting up an online shop
- International expansion
- Marketing on social media
- Marketing via mobile devices
- Content promotion
- Marketing via email
- Analytics and advertising
Pros:
- Students will receive an industry-recognized certificate upon completion to include on their CVs and LinkedIn profiles.
- Infinite access
- Quizzes to see how far you’ve progressed
Cons:
- None
Free Certification Course in Inbound Marketing
The Inbound Marketing Free Certification Course from Hubspot Academy is a four-hour industry-recognized training for digital marketers who wish to focus on inbound marketing. The comprehensive programme is aimed for beginners and includes 10 lectures, 34 videos, and 9 quizzes.
Students will learn about the following topics during the free online digital marketing course:
- Inbound marketing’s foundations
- Content strategy (long-term) planning
- Writing blog entries
- Understanding how to promote yourself on social media
- Planning a conversational expansion plan
- Understanding conversion optimization and developing a conversion optimization plan
- Take charge of the nurturing process.
- Bringing sales and marketing together
- Using a customer marketing strategy
Students will receive official HubSpot certification to display on their LinkedIn page, portfolio, résumé, or CV if they complete the course successfully.
Free of charge
Yes, there is a certificate.
Time required to finish: four hours
Beginner’s curriculum
Excellent user experience
Instructional Quality: Excellent
Pros:
- Four enthralling professors will lead the class.
- Awesome user interface
- Industry-accepted accreditation
Cons:
- It’s too short
A free e-business diploma
Mike Feerick created Alison in 2007, and it was the first massive online open course (MOOC) platform on the internet. This is one of the top free online course providers you will find, with over six million students registered.
The Diploma in E-Business course teaches students about Google Analytics and AdWords, as well as search optimization, revenue metrics, analysis, campaign tracking, and digital measurement. The free online digital marketing course, which takes six to ten hours to finish, has recruited over 84,000 students. You must receive an 80 percent or above on the final exam.
You will receive a Learner Achievement Verification Report upon completion, or you can purchase a certificate for roughly $20 from the site’s online shop.
Free of charge
Yes, but there is a price.
Time to finish: 6 to 10 hours
Beginner’s curriculum
Excellent user experience
Instructional Quality: Excellent
Pros:
- Recognized as a pioneer in online education
- An easy-to-use platform
- Tutorials on video
Cons:
- Students who wish to receive a certificate must do so through the online store.
Advance your career as an online marketing manager.
This LinkedIn Learning 24-hour course gives students who already know digital marketing the abilities they need to go up the corporate ladder into management positions. Students will study best practises for online marketing, how to develop a digital marketing strategy utilising the newest tools, and how to advertise effectively on social media platforms in this free digital marketing online course.
The course consists of 11 courses that address advanced marketing topics such as:
- Growth hacking is a term that refers to the act of manipulating
- Improved branding
- Basics of SEO
- Marketing via email and newsletters
- Analytics from Google
- AdWords by Google
- Facebook and Twitter are two of the most popular social media platforms.
- Sketch for user experience design
If you already have a LinkedIn premium account (which most marketers do), you can take the course for free, or join up for a trial and get access to the classes for a month for free.
Free of charge
Yes, there is a certificate.
Time to Finish: 24 hours
Intermediate to advanced curriculum
Excellent user experience
Instructional Quality: Excellent
Pros:
- Learned from industry experts
- Receive a certificate of completion for your profile or CV
- Awesome user interface
Cons:
- To prevent fees, you must discontinue LinkedIn premium before the trial period expires.
Digital Marketing Plan
Through Edx, one of Scotland’s finest universities offers a comprehensive digital marketing education. The course can be finished in around 8 weeks if you commit to four to six hours of training every week. The course material is extensive. This is one of the best options for students looking for the most comprehensive free digital marketing education.
The course’s certificates are available on edX’s paid level, which is also part of a professional certification. However, each module’s teachings can be audited for free. You can read and view all of the content while auditing the course.
The curriculum is aimed to give participants a broad understanding of digital marketing and how it connects to company on a strategic level. It’s a great course to add to your resume or CV because it’s taught by two University of Edinburgh lecturers.
Free of charge
Yes, but there is a price.
Time to Finish: ten months
Intermediate level of education
Excellent user experience
Instructional Quality: Excellent
Pros:
- Syllabus for the entire course
- Awesome user interface
- The programme has attracted almost 7000 pupils.
Cons:
- Only the paid level of certification is offered.
Digital Action and Strategy
Digital Strategy and Action is a fascinating free online course that will show marketers what huge companies like Amazon, Facebook, Netflix, and Google have in common with digital strategy. Students will study how the CEOs of these behemoths grew from a simple idea to billions of dollars in revenue, and how they continue to grow.
Inspiring in-depth case studies, including stories of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, as well as lots of ideas, methods, and guidance, are included in the course.
If you’re an entrepreneur or marketer who dares to dream big, this course will show you how the world’s most successful marketers have stayed on top.
Students can pay extra for a premium edition that includes an instructor-signed shareable certificate with the Babson University logo, although it is not required. It is also available in its entirety for free in the audit version.
Free of charge
Yes, but there is a price.
Time required to finish: four weeks
Introductory to advanced curriculum
Excellent user experience
Instructional Quality: Excellent
Pros:
- Taught by Peter Cohan, a Babson College lecturer in strategy.
- Intriguing and engrossing
- Perfect for individuals who need a little nudge in the right direction.
Cons:
- To receive a shareable certificate, you must pay a fee.
Marketing and Digital Media Strategies
The University of Illinois’ Digital Media and Marketing Strategies course is the fifth of a seven-part concentration in Digital Marketing. It can be completed in audit mode for free or in the premium edition, like with all Coursera programmes. Students who purchase the paid edition will receive a certificate of completion.
The free 15-hour digital marketing course will teach you how to:
- How to make the most of your digital assets
- Online and video marketing fundamentals
- Email and social media marketing fundamentals
Free of charge
Yes, but there is a price.
Time to Finish: 15 hours
Beginner’s curriculum
Excellent user experience
Instructional Quality: Excellent
Pros:
- Mike Yao, Associate Professor of Digital Media, is the instructor.
- Part of a University of Illinois MBA programme that is entirely online.
- On our list, this is one of the only free courses with accreditation.
Cons:
- To receive a shareable certificate, you must either pay or earn credit.
- In the audit-only mode, some assignments may not be available.
A Digital Marketing Plan
Forbes has created its own series of certified online courses, and this one, Digital Marketing Strategy, is available for free for 14 days with a trial to Learn by Forbes.
The self-paced three-hour training covers all of the fundamentals of establishing a digital marketing plan, including:
- How to develop a digital marketing strategy that meets your company’s objectives
- Knowing how to understand the consumer journey and how it relates to digital marketing
- Experimenting with the use of a digital SWOT analysis to evaluate marketing activities
- Explaining how digital marketing incorporates lessons learnt
- Explaining the most important ethical and legal concerns in digital marketing
This is just a small sample of everything you’ll study in this brief yet comprehensive course. As you go through the class, which includes case studies, flash cards, and interactive activities to help you retain as much knowledge as possible, learning will become second nature. You will receive a certificate that you can post on your website, CV, resume, or LinkedIn profile once you have completed the course.
Free of charge
Yes, if you join on a monthly basis.
Time to Finish: Varies
Beginner to Intermediate Curriculum
Excellent user experience
Instructional Quality: Excellent
Pros:
- A free 14-day subscription provides you unlimited access.
- Take things at your own pace.
- Excellent public image
Cons:
- Certification is only available behind a paywall.
Learn Digital Marketing in No Time with These Quick Tips and Tricks
This course, taught by self-described digital marketing certification course by nerd Kapil Chopra, consists of 37 short sessions available for free on the Skillshare website. The course is little under four hours long, and Skillshare provides a free two-month trial, so you’ll have plenty of time to complete all of the sessions if you want to.
While we won’t list them all, here are a few of the more interesting ones:
- How to conduct a keyword search
- How to determine whether or not your website is mobile-friendly
- SEO tactics for YouTube
- Google Analytics and AdWords
- Marketing via email
- Marketing on Social Media
Cost: Free for the first two months, then $99 each year.
No certificate is required.
Estimated time to complete: four hours
Introductory curriculum
Good user experience
Instructional Quality: Excellent
Pros:
- Lessons that are short and easy to understand
- Includes a class project that students can participate in.
- How-to videos
Cons:
- To prevent being charged a price, you must cancel the membership before the two-month trial period finishes.
- For pupils hoping for a more in-depth education, it is too basic.