B2b marketing has moved progressively online. With many b2b businesses finding traditional broadcast methods difficult to track or simply less effective than they used to be, they’re turning increasingly to digital to reap their growth rewards.
A recent study found b2b digital marketing spend is expected to increase by 15% over the next three years. Right now, the top priorities of these businesses are brand and positioning, lead generation and brand communication. But in the next few years there’s likely to be a shift. It’s anticipated that understanding buyers, marketing technology tools and market competitor analysis will each make their way to the top of the list. (Just FYI – we think customer insight is moving up the charts faster than that!).
Your b2b business must now have a marketing team that balances strategic b2b experience with digital smarts to improve contextual customer insight and communication. Without it, your audience is never going to listen. To help you out, we’ve put together a list of affordable online digital marketing courses. And the best part? They won’t bust the budget!
1. Lynda
Cost: AU$19.99 (annual subscription)
Lynda is the Mecca if you want the latest information and tutorials delivered by industry experts. From tutorials in design, to shooting video even to developing websites – there’s tens of thousands of videos to teach you a new skill. There are 3516 video tutorials in their digital marketing course offerings. You can learn everything from email marketing to highly targeted pay-per-click campaigns in Google Adwords. Also – there’s a high number of tutorials that show you how to align sales and marketing to improve results all round. Lynda offers a free trial period and an annual subscription fee of $20 or $25 for month-to-month.
2. HubSpot Academy
Cost: Free
HubSpot is a marketing automation system used by many in the digital marketing world. While their software makes them money, it’s HubSpot’s educational content that makes them stand out from the crowd. Not only do they have a blog that can practically answer any digital marketing question you’ve ever had, but they also have an incredible academy with free courses. The Inbound Certification, Email Marketing, Inbound Sales, Content Marketing, and Growth-Driven Design courses will give you a very solid foundation in digital marketing at no cost!
3. Analytics Academy With Google
Cost: Free
One of the most critical parts of digital marketing is interpreting data and making an informed decision on the next best step. You can’t do that without analytics. Google Analytics is close to the most comprehensive analytics tool that’s free. However, if you don’t know what you’re looking at, you can feel like you’ve just walked into The Matrix: Reloaded. Google offers free online courses through their Analytics Academy with Google, which covers analytics fundamentals, platform principles and how to make data-informed decisions.
4. Udemy
5. Internet Marketing for Smart People
Cost: Free
The team at Copyblogger put together the free digital marketing course Internet Marketing For Smart People. The course is made up of four key pillars: relationships, direct response copywriting, content marketing and selling. If you learn well from reading, this course has 141 pages of digital marketing goodness to absorb.
Final thoughts
Proactively upskilling yourself and your team’s digital marketing ability is critical to staying ahead and informed. While you don’t have to spend thousands to achieve this, you do have to dedicate time. The online world is constantly evolving and it can be incredibly challenging to understand how things work when you are focusing on other elements of the business. That’s where experienced b2b marketing agencies come in. To learn more about inbound marketing for technology companies and how it can boost your sales, download our QuickStart Guide to Inbound Marketing.
Brand chemistry is a b2b marketing agency focused on delivering quality leads and measurable results for our clients. Take a look at our client case studies to find out more.