When it comes down to what businesses are succeeding, it almost always comes back to good marketing online. Marketing has gotten harder thanks to the abundance of information consumers get when looking at their social platforms and the web. That’s why creative marketing is essential to stand out and make an impact.
That’s why investing in the correct courses can be a great idea. Not every course, however, is on par with today’s standards. We take a look at the best creative advertising courses online.
Why Does Creative Advertising Matter?
We live in a consumer market. This is both physical and digital. It is estimated that more than 236 million American shop online. This is a huge marketplace. This also means that there is a lot of competition. Standing out in the crowd is not easy.
However, it becomes easier knowing what crowd you are speaking to. It doesn’t matter how good your product is. If you don’t relate or stand out to your customer, your product may never see the light of day.
Creative advertising can mean all sorts of things. It can be emotional advertising through funny or sad ads. It can also be the way you advertise and spend your resources. But without knowledge, you end up spending your energy in places that make things less efficient for your business.
Top Courses to Consider
These classes range from fundamentals to more intensive classes. Having a base knowledge of marketing is important because it is the driving factor of why a business does or does not have a loyal fanbase.
After obtaining the knowledge, you can hire a company such as Pathlabs.com media services to ensure it gets done correctly. Having the knowledge sometimes is different from the execution.
Here are the top courses to help boost your digital media presence and creative advertising.
Coursera Digital Marketing Specialization
Coursera offers more than 400 digital marketing courses. The Digital Marketing Specialization course offered by Illinois is one to consider. You can join more than 20,000 students who have enrolled for free. While the course costs money, there are financial aid opportunities, and a course is well worth the cost.
Key Components
- Understanding data collection and the importance behind analyzing it and interpreting the information.
- Understanding the analysis and framework behind consumer decisions online, such as leaving items in a cart. In other words, understanding your sales funnel with what works and doesn’t.
- Learning to navigate new media and how the data measurements change (and don’t change) within the framework.
There are a lot of hands-on projects for this course. With that, students can earn a certificate at the end of the course.
Google Digital Marketing (Digital Garage)
Going straight to the source is always a good idea. That’s why learning from Google is a part of the top digital courses. Their Digital Garage has tons of classes to choose from with direct information on how to take advantage of marketing with Google.
Their Fundamentals of Digital Marketing Course offers 40 hours of education. They have 26 modules on direct strategies to grow your business.
Key Components
- Understanding what the online opportunity is.
- Knowing who you need to market to is the first step in the fundamentals.
- How to build your web presence and with what tools you can do this. With many options out there, it’s better to work with simplified and current tools.
- How to become searchable with Search Engine Optimization. This includes all the basics from backlinks to using keywords.
This is a beginner’s class that offers self-paced learning and a certificate to put on your resume. Despite it being for beginners it’s great for a refresher and offers more beyond what is listed above. Best of all? The course is free.
Udemy Digital Marketing
Udemy courses are thorough. This includes the Udemy Digital Marketing course which covers nearly everything you need to know when it comes to online marketing and making creative content.
For $99 you will cover an array of topics and get a certification to put on your resume after completing the course. The Complete Digital Marketing courses also offer 12 in 1 courses and are often on sale for 88% off.
Key Components:
- Understanding how market research sets your audience and how you market to them. Building ads that attract people takes time and thought.
- How to use various tools such as Google AdSense and Adwordsamong many more. Using tools to not only market but simplify the process for efficiency is key to building an online presence.
- Understanding SEO concepts and how to tailor marketing on other platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, apps, and more.
To Udemy’s credit, this course is offered to a number of high-profile companies such as NASDAQ, WordPress, Eventbrite, and so on. The best part is that they give you a lifetime access to course content. You can come back and review it at any time.
LinkedIn Learning – Become a Digital Marketing Specialist
LinkedIn offers a free course with different options such as subscribing to learn more afterward. Along with some of the other options on this list, this is a great course for people who want to get the basics down.
It is a good appetizer before investing in a full degree to hone your skills. It offers 20 hours through 11 lessons of class material covering a lot of the above-mentioned in other classes.
Key Components:
- How to create memorable content that shows up through SEO and other marketing platforms.
- Delve into several subject matters in marketing digitally to find which genre or specific area speaks to the student.
- After the intensive overview, there is the option to go more in-depth on the material for a subscription fee.
This class is great for beginners and those who want a refresher on the most critical aspects of creative marketing. There is attention to detail without taking a deep dive into each category. It also doesn’t hurt to get an inside view from another company outside of Google. LinkedIn has its own search and feed system.
CopyBlogger
CopyBlogger is different from the recommended courses because it isn’t necessarily a course. However, CopyBlogger is one of the most successful marketing tools behind it.
That’s because the creator of Genesis, the most popular WordPress theme, runs it. Through many blogs and tutorials, you can learn the epitome of marketing online.
Key Components:
- This is a free option, but also there is no direction or course syllabus. You read at your own pace and what you want. There is no certificate.
- You can pick up the latest marketing tools and trends as CopyBlogger keeps you up-to-date. So there is no need to renew course after course.
- Being able to see the principles and teachings in the blog itself allows creators and writers to implement and see real strategies.
CopyBlogger is technically not an online course, but it has enough content to be one. Even if you enroll in a course, it is worth looking at this material ever so often so you can keep your creative ads relevant.
How To Choose a Course?
The first thought you may have is whether you should immediately go to a recognized University program that offers these certificates and degrees or start small. It never hurts to have something like this on your resume.
But it is likely that in a university degree you will be learning similar things to what is on this list for a much higher price. With any recommendation, starting with a program like Google Digital Garage and learning the fundamentals from a site that dictates it all in the first place makes sense.
This allows you to understand what you need to know before reading a course manual. Then you can further develop your skills through courses and continue to stay up-to-date. With creative marketing, you have to learn how to read your audience and what resonates with them. And take the analytics to see what’s not working.
This comes through more intensive training through something like Coursera. But whichever path you choose, these are all the top digital marketing courses to help make your business stand out in an online consumer market.
