8 Courses to Take to Make a Move In Digital Marketing – PCMag.com

Digital marketing is the fast-expanding aspect of marketing that involves anything with a digital element. That includes work in social media, email marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and digital advertising. If you’re looking to move your marketing career forward, or even get into marketing from some other field, then gaining skills in the discipline’s digital elements is an excellent career move. Even better, you don’t need to go back to college or business school to do it. There are plenty of quality courses in these subjects available online.

“Digital marketing encompasses any type of marketing that involves an Internet-enabled device and related technology to deliver advertising, messaging, content and/or communications to engage new or existing audiences with the goal of building business value,” said Heidi Cohen, Chief Content Officer of the Actionable Marketing Guide.

Staying current in digital marketing can be challenging as it moves just as quickly as technology. As an example, email marketing is exploding with products such as Salesforce Pardot offering features that let companies send automated messages if someone fails to open emails or has an e-commerce cart that’s left with products in it. Those capabilities are being bolstered by artificial intelligence and data analytics to not only better understand your marketing data, but also forge closer relationships with prospects and customers.

Online learning sites, such as Coursera, LinkedIn Learning, Udemy, and even YouTube have plenty of web-only courses available to teach you what you need to know for your next digital marketing role. Here are some recommendations.

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  Integrated Marketing

  An area of marketing called integrated marketing melds multiple areas, including advertising, PR, and direct marketing, both from a strategic as well as technology perspective. To prepare for this aspect of digital marketing, Marcinek recommends the course “” on Coursera.

  The course is taught by Professor Eda Sayin of the IE Business School, which comprises three educational institutions: the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and Singapore Management University. The course covers how to combine multiple areas like PR, social media, and SEO into your marketing plans.

  Integrated marketing communications is part of a holistic marketing strategy, according to Marcinek. “Just performing advertising or just doing PR without them talking to each other, without a greater goal in mind, or aligning your business goals won’t get the same results without an integrated mindset,” Marcinek said.