The marketing world is highly competitive and can be vicious. Marketing managers who take the time to study important components of the field, stay up-to-date in the technological advances, remain in-the-know of all things marketing, and listen to different perspectives and experts in the field will have a leg up on their competition. But, with their busy schedules and high-pressure jobs, what marketing manager has the time to incorporate extra educational opportunities? Fortunately, for marketing managers, there is an abundance of online resources that can either be listened to, read, or completed at times that are convenient for you. How do you know where to start your search to find the right resources relevant in helping you succeed in your career?
Your search begins right here. We have compiled a list that includes ten free resources for marketing managers that can be accessed entirely online. It consists of a podcast, a blog, webinars, several marketing courses, and a couple of digital marketing resources. As you take your time and read through this article, see which resources stand out to you and start there in your journey.
Copyblogger FM Podcast
Marketing managers heed valuable digital marketing advice, and that is what the Copyblogger FM Podcast gives to its listeners. In the hectic schedules marketing managers uphold, they can appreciate the opportunity to multi-task. They can increase their knowledge and insight by listening to this excellent free resource while running, driving, grocery shopping, or completing plenty of other activities. This weekly podcast is hosted by Darrell Versterfelt and Tim Stoddart and a rotation of experts in digital marketing and sales in topics like email marketing, social media marketing, conversion optimization, and content marketing. When you register for the weekly email, you also receive free online marketing training.
There is a library of podcasts offering a wealth of information dating back to 2010. Some of the topics covered in podcasts over the past couple of years include how to utilize content marketing to convert prospects to purchasers, the strategic foundations of marketing, content marketing boosters, and crafting great headlines. The most recent podcast addresses the advantages of email marketing.
Fundamentals of Sales and Marketing Course
Along the pathway to becoming a marketing manager, one must learn the foundational principles of marketing and sales, so the Fundamentals of Sales and Marketing Course created by the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Initiative is a great free resource for marketing managers. It is entirely online and takes about four hours to complete. This course can benefit anyone in business but is geared toward entrepreneurs. Students will study business analytics, marketing tools, the marketing and sales cycle, and how to reach their target market throughout the coursework. They will learn how to develop a marketing and sales plan and strategy to appropriately build their business and brand. At the completion of the course, students will have a strong foundation of marketing knowledge, know how to better communicate with the target audience, and increase revenue.
The Goldman Sachs Foundation exists to enrich and develop communities through economic growth and entrepreneurship. This course is part of a 10-course program designed to support female entrepreneurs through business education, mentorship, and access to a professional network of peers.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a gold mine for marketing managers. This free resource is a crucial tool that needs to be in every marketer’s toolbox. As more and more shopping and business transactions happen online, marketing managers and their teams need to analyze consumer behaviors, collect data, and analyze website activity. These actions help companies understand what consumers want and how they choose to get it, and what steps are needed to improve the marketing strategy. The new Google Analytics 4 performs improved analytics across websites and apps to give you a complete and comprehensive view of customer data, insights, and interaction throughout all of your platforms in one location.
It is incredible for a marketing manager to receive analytical data that focuses on customer preferences, interactions, purchases, retention, and predictive analytics that enable them to provide a better experience for their customers. Google Analytics offers insights and alerts you to important trends due to machine learning and, in turn, delivers an increased long-term return on investment for marketing campaigns.
HubSpot Marketing Blog
HubSpot is considered a “giant in the marketing universe.” The founders pretty much coined the term “inbound marketing,” which places the marketing focus on connecting with the customer and providing valuable, non-interruptive experiences. Marketing managers who desire to impact and retain customers positively can learn a great deal from the HubSpot staff and their expert guests that contribute to the HubSpot Marketing Blog. This free resource is packed with continuous, up-to-date, helpful information. Marketing topics include customer retention, search engine optimization (SEO), email newsletters, customer experience, Instagram marketing, email marketing, and remote work.
There are beginner’s guides all throughout the different topics, including The Beginner’s Guide to Structured Data, which can assist marketing managers in website organization and optimization. Important Instagram Analytics Apps and Email Marketing Variables are two more examples of the blog posts’ quality information. Periodically, they will post the State of Marketing Report blog to keep you informed of current happenings in the world of marketing.
Marketing Analytics: Product, Distribution & Sales Course
In the modern marketing industry, managers utilize various computer science skills and techniques throughout their careers. You truly cannot successfully market products and services without performing analytics on some level. Analyzing marketing data enhances the customer experience, helps determine the amount in the marketing budget and where to spend it, and can increase a company’s overall return on investment. The Marketing Analytics: Product, Distribution & Sales Course offered by the University of California, Berkeley through edX, provides intermediate level marketing and computer science knowledge highly beneficial to marketing managers. This free resource is self-paced and takes between five and seven hours per week for four weeks.
Students learn how to use decision tree techniques and conjoint analysis to help determine what kinds of products and features consumers desire during the course. Knowing how to navigate these advanced concepts assist in decision making. They will also study the store location decision model regarding distribution and a variety of sales channels to see how to connect and engage with target markets.
Marketing in a Digital World Course
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign brings you the Marketing in a Digital World Course accessed through Coursera. It is the first of seven courses in the Digital Marketing Specialization and was recently updated in April 2020. The course offers incredible flexibility and can be completed in 27 hours at a pace that works with your schedule. Proven by the fact that it is highly rated and one of the most attended Coursera courses, any marketing manager would find this free resource useful no matter what stage of their career they are currently experiencing.
As times change and technology evolves, the marketing and consumer processes follow suit. The digital world continues to expand. We have the internet, email, smartphones, mobile apps, social media platforms, online shopping, and more. This course examines how these digital tools impact marketing techniques, processes, strategies, and consumer behavior. Over the four weeks, you will study how these digital tools are changing product, promotion, placement, and price, and how consumers are able to impact each of these four categories more than ever before.
Marketing Management Course
Every marketing manager strives for success. They are hired to make sure marketing plans will lead to greater profits and customer satisfaction. One of the best free resources for marketing managers is the Marketing Management Course offered by the University of Maryland through edX. It takes about eight to ten hours a week for seven weeks to complete and effectively equip marketing managers to do their job well.
This advanced course educates students in the vital marketing strategies that influence product development, consumers, and sales that lead to the ultimate goal of building your company’s brand and meeting customers’ needs and wants. Students will learn how to utilize traditional and digital media channels, consumer behavior research, analytics, marketing methods, and marketing skills to identify target audiences, performance indicators, and marketing campaign strategies. They will also learn about their competitors’ function and brand position, giving marketing managers an advantage in leading their teams and competing in the market.
Marketing Week Webinars
For over 40 years, Marketing Week has been an essential resource for marketing managers and their teams. They provide necessary and “award-winning content,” support for every marketer level, and share the industry’s positive and negative sides so you can learn and grow. They offer several types of resources for marketers.
One of the free resources for marketing managers is Marketing Week Webinars. The webinars hit on various topics, including customer experience, digital advertising, AI, predictive analytics, marketing strategy, and digital transformation. Each one is sponsored by top companies like Nielsen, Dynata, Salesforce, and Uber for Business, and are available live at the event or on-demand after the event. One webinar explores how to use consumer insights and research to improve marketing campaigns. Another one talks about the importance of providing a verbal connection and personal experience in the buying cycle. Salesforce sponsors a webinar about the importance of understanding customer journeys and how it can help increase sales.
MozBar
Marketing managers work hard to understand consumer behavior, create marketing campaigns that reach and benefit consumers, and convert prospects into buyers and, hopefully, long-term customers. One of the essential aspects of a strategic digital marketing plan is the utilization of search engine optimization (SEO). SEO increases brand exposure, website visibility, and traffic to your website. An excellent free resource for marketing managers is the “all-in-one SEO toolbar” called MozBar. It is a Chrome Extension that provides “research on the go.”
The free version of MozBar offers incredible features. While on a website or search engine result page (SERP), marketing managers can receive immediate metrics valuable to their research. These metrics can be compared across pages simultaneously. You can run a custom search by city, region, country, or engine, highlight keywords, create page overlays, and determine a distinction between types of links, including external, internal, followed, no-followed. It also allows you to export your SERP data analysis report and utilize Domain and Page Authority to “quickly assess ranking probability.”
Sustainable Agri-food Marketing Course
Sustainable agriculture seeks to protect the environment and agricultural systems, expand our supply of natural resources, increase food production and farm profits, and improve the fertility of the soil. Marketing managers in the agri-food industry can help make it a successful venture. The Sustainable Agri-food Marketing Course offered through edX by Doane University is a self-paced, intermediate-level course. The eight-week class takes students around ten to fifteen hours each week to complete. This free online resource helps prepare marketing managers to conduct proper and successful marketing campaigns for agri-food companies.
Throughout the coursework, students will dissect the agri-food industry’s sustainable marketing practices, plans, strategies, and principles. They will study food innovation and learn which marketing approaches will promote sustainability. Students will examine how marketing creates connections with customers, manages long-term relationships, identifies target audiences, and performs effective communication strategies. The future of food will be discussed and promoted, along with how to formulate pricing strategies.
Next Steps
If you are a marketing manager or working towards becoming one, which resource in this list sparked your interest? Was it any or all of the five courses that covered sales and marketing fundamentals, marketing analytics, marketing in a digital world, marketing management, and sustainable agri-food marketing? Or, maybe the blog or podcast that offers perspectives and information from marketing experts caught your eye. You may have decided to start with the MozBar SEO toolbar or the new and improved Google Analytics 4.
As you formulate your plan to remain competitive in your field by enhancing your knowledge and skills, obtaining more education, learning from the experts, and acquiring more training, take advantage of all the free resources at your fingertips. Now, the critical question is, what step will you take first?
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