We’ve seen a huge increase in online marketing courses in the past few years. Educational platforms like Coursera, edX, and Khan Academy are becoming increasingly popular.
According to Credence Research, the global market for online marketing courses will skyrocket. It will reach a valuation of $3.16 billion in 2030, with a CAGR of 13.5%.
This isn’t surprising. Why? The query “digital marketing courses” also receives the most search traffic.
Students and professionals are investing precious time and energy into these courses. But this begs the question: Are these online marketing courses worth it?
Not all courses are created equal. And it’s difficult to ascertain which ones are trustworthy and which aren’t.
Also, what kind of impact do these courses have (regarding the talent and content they attract)? Has their influx impacted (directly or indirectly) the way we conduct digital marketing?
We got in touch with a few marketing experts to hear their thoughts on these and other questions. They shared their insights on the impact of these online marketing courses on the digital marketing landscape. We’ll also hear about their experiences and the changes they’ve witnessed.
Let’s dig in!
What experts have to say about the impact of online marketing courses on the digital marketing landscape
Truth be told, we got a mixed bag of responses. Like everything else, these courses have their fair share of pros and cons.
For the pros, marketers are happy that the incoming talent is at least a little acquainted with:
- Marketing processes
- Marketing strategies
- Marketing jargon
That way, they don’t need to train them from scratch about the basics.
Robert Rodriguez, the Head of Marketing at Slipintosoft, a retail company, says:
“Thanks to these courses, fresh talent comes equipped with a comprehensive understanding of digital marketing tools and strategies. This has catalyzed a shift from ‘learn on the job’ trajectories to more hands-on roles from day one.”
Besides, these courses are not there to only help marketers alone. Freelance creatives and SEOs also benefit from these courses in the same way. How? Freelance creatives work with marketers. Many small businesses have to manage their own digital marketing channels.
Not only do they understand the challenges marketers face, but they also learn how to:
- Create campaigns
- Run them on different platforms
- Identify metrics to ensure the said campaigns are a success
This is no small feat. Why? Small businesses and one-person teams have limited resources and budgets to upskill.
And since these courses are usually free or minimally priced, they offer knowledge at a fraction of the cost as once before.
We also know that marketing is a forever-shifting industry. We never know which trends and platforms we’ll need to monitor to truly succeed in our efforts.
For example, just in the past few years, we saw:
- Customers shift from Google to social media channels to look up new queries;
- Generative AI platforms became increasingly popular;
- Search engines like Google and Bing cannibalize existing content to push answers on AI Overviews/Co-Pilot;
- Google launched core updates to its algorithm, which affected site traffic, etc.
All of these shifts led marketers (even those with decades of experience in the industry) to seek advice on how to proceed. That’s another case in which online marketing courses were helpful.
These courses are not only helpful for beginners. They’re also essential for digital marketers with years of industry expertise.
For example, if digital marketing companies want to offer services for new platforms (e.g. if LinkedIn wasn’t already part of their service offering), they can use LinkedIn Learning to learn how to run campaigns on the platform. Similarly, other platforms have courses that teach users how to use their tools.
On the other hand, there are plentiful cons to online courses. According to marketers, the biggest problem is that they can lead to a false sense of competency.
Kayden Roberts, the CMO at CamGo, a video chat application, says:
“The saturation of courses also means a wide variance in quality. Some courses offer deep, actionable insights and real-world applications. While others provide surface-level overviews that may mislead participants into thinking they’re experts. This inconsistency has led to a rise in the number of marketers with theoretical knowledge. However, they have limited hands-on experience, which can dilute the effectiveness of campaigns when execution is lacking.”
Others believe the same courses have devalued marketing expertise amongst end-customers, too. This has led customers to think digital marketing is an industry that can be grasped and learned within a few hours.
However, the good news is that there are solutions to both problems.
Problem #1: Marketers have theoretical knowledge but limited hands-on experience, which impacts campaigns.
Solution: Marketers who take these courses would need to combine their learning with real-world experimentation (according to Kayden). She says they can do this by creating new campaigns (based on their theoretical knowledge). Additionally, experienced marketers can collaborate to refine those campaigns.
Problem #2: Clients devalue marketing expertise.
Solution: You could help clients by becoming strategic partners. Aka, folks who can interpret data and shape their marketing direction instead of creating surface-level campaigns that can be replicated by studying online marketing courses for a few hours. (Insight sourced from Sandy Meier, the Head of Marketing at Contentellect, a blog management service.)
However, this is not where the problems with online marketing courses end. Amongst its list of “other problems,” a big one is a rise in cookie-cutter digital marketing strategies.
That’s to say since most beginner-friendly online courses have similar course materials, they also touch upon the same strategies and templates. This can, unfortunately, cut creativity and inspiration in an industry like marketing, where creativity is absolutely needed.
The worst part? Most people taking these courses are fresh talent — creative minds who understand the latest trends. However, giving them the same strategies, examples, and ideas over and over can stifle their thinking. This can also make them less likely to take risks or try something new.
Aaron Whittaker, the VP of Marketing at Thrive Agency, a marketing company, says:
“Online courses have led to what I call ‘template marketing.’ This is where everyone follows the same playbook, making it harder to stand out. For instance, we recently noticed dozens of competitors using identical email marketing sequences they’d learned from popular courses, effectively canceling each other out.”
On a personal front, we’ve seen some marketers using the same strategies from these courses and pairing them with tools like ChatGPT for outreach and lead generation.
Here’s how it goes:
Step 1: The same playbook of strategies goes into ChatGPT
Step 2: ChatGPT spits out content based on what’s already online
Step 3: Everyone gets the same campaigns with the same wording
Step 4: No company stands out
Truth be told, as an SEO content marketing agency, we get it — making bold decisions is scary. You worry about wasting time, money, and resources on something that might fail.
And even with the understanding that great marketing is risky as hell, we highly advocate for it because it helps you stand out from the crowd. In fact, here’s a case study on just that!
The above list of pros and cons covers the main trends we heard from marketing experts. But they also shared a few more that are worth mentioning.
Pro: Online marketing courses help you build a strong network. You can learn from your instructors, other students, and collaborators in the course.
Con: Course certifications can confuse clients about a marketer’s skill level. For example, a beginner with a shiny certificate might seem as experienced as a veteran. While this may concern some, we’re not sold on the argument. We believe clients are smart enough to discern talent, skill, and experience and decide on the best-fit candidates.
Pro: These courses have raised the bar for marketers. If someone can learn the basics easily, you must bring something better.
Con: They used a standardized, one-size-fits-all learning technique. There’s no way to customize learning based on the student’s industry or background.
Top online marketing courses (as recommended by our in-house experts)
Alright, we’re through the nitty-gritty bits. To make this article more helpful, we’ll share a few online courses that might benefit you. The recommendations apply regardless of where you are in your career.
We understand that a wide range of courses and certifications are already available. So, we asked our in-house industry experts to help us choose a few they believe would be the best fit.
Beginner: Simplilearn’s Introduction to Digital Marketing Fundamentals Course
Simplilearn’s Introduction to Digital Marketing Fundamentals is one of the best beginner-friendly, short, and comprehensive courses out there. Here’s why we say this:
- It covers all aspects of digital marketing. This includes SEO (search engine optimization), social media marketing, keyword research, setting up Google Ads, and uncovering which analytical tools to use to strengthen your campaigns.
- Since Simplilearn is a well-renowned educational platform, its certifications hold value. Besides, the platform itself is very learner-friendly. That’s to say, you can take notes within the course, track your progress, etc.
Duration: 5 hours (self-paced)
Price: Free
Intermediate: CXL’s Digital Marketing Minidegree
CXL’s Digital Marketing Minidegree is one of the more popular courses, especially for intermediate and mid-level marketers. Here’s what makes the course stand out from the crowd:
- You get trained by industry experts (i.e., topical experts teach you their subject matter). For example, you’ll find the content lead at Shopify, Derek, teaching you content marketing.
- This mini-degree covers all the key digital marketing concepts and strategies you need to succeed. You’ll learn how to master paid ads, landing pages, email marketing, content marketing, and more.
- At the end of the course (and your test), you’ll receive a professional certification, which you can display on your LinkedIn profile.
Duration: 56 hours (self-paced)
Price: $999 for the entire course
Advanced: DMI’s Advanced Course in Digital Marketing
The Digital Marketing Institute (DMI) is a pioneer in all things digital marketing (no surprises there; the name gave it away!). But its Advanced Course in Digital Marketing is worth all the hype (especially for advanced marketers). Here’s why we stand by that statement:
- The top 1% of industry experts (e.g., Neil Patel and other marketing experts from LinkedIn, Microsoft, IBM, Google, Hubspot, etc.) teach this course.
- It not only uncovers marketing concepts and strategies but also focuses on topics like elevating customer experiences, building/managing a digital team, data-driven decision-making, etc. — aka, all the skills you’ll need in a leadership marketing position.
- You get the resources you need to excel (a network of industry experts and DMI alumni, hands-on learning templates and toolkits, access to new learning resources for a lifetime, etc.).
Duration: 44 weeks (self-paced)
Price: $5,310 for the entire course
Next steps
Before we part, here’s just one more thing: If you wish to improve your marketing knowledge, you’ll need to find a niche. To enhance your skills, you can take case-specific courses.
For example, courses for:
- Landing page optimization
- Setting up paid ads
- Copywriting
- UI/UX
- SEO
On that note, if you are interested in a niche-specific course, may we recommend the Copywriting Course by our founder, Jeremy Moser?
Here’s why we recommend opting for it:
- Not only is it taught by an industry expert, but other industry experts have learned from it, too. (E.g., Amanda Natividad, Samantha Teal, Logan Swift, Kjell Vandevyvere, etc., are our alumni!)
- Jeremy has used this course’s learning models and guiding principles to run successful campaigns for Freshworks, Hotjar, Monday.com, ActiveCampaign, etc.
- It contains 70+ frameworks and formulas, plenty of landing page templates, and comprehensive video learning that helps you create content/offers that sell.
We’re happy to offer you a sneak peek at Jeremy’s Copywriting course — Access it here!