MARKETING

Marketing is one of the most competitive and rewarding career paths, perfect for strategic and creative problem solvers. It is a diverse field with several career opportunities and consistent demand across industries, now and in the future. If you are looking to build a flourishing career in marketing, enrolling in a marketing course is the best way forward.

Top Marketing Schools

Section4 The Data And Analytics Essentials Sprint

The benefits of enrolling in a Marketing course

Marketing courses equip you with in-demand skills that help you unlock countless opportunities for professional growth.

Excellent and Varied Career Prospects

Marketing and skilled marketers are essential in every industry, from consumer products and e-commerce, to IT and healthcare. The marketing field has ample opportunities for strategists, management experts, data analysts, product designers, and other non-creative professionals, not just creative professionals, unlocking a sea of opportunities across domains and industries.

Learn Skills That are Always in Demand

Marketing courses don’t just equip you with in-demand, core marketing skills but also a range of transferable skills such as commercial awareness, communication, creative problem-solving, and strategic thinking. These transferable skills are applicable in functions outside the confines of marketing.

Strong Earning Potential

Given that marketing professionals are in high demand, taking a marketing course can boost your salary. The average marketing salary (base pay) is $74,464 per annum, and this figure will increase further as you grow within the industry.

Develop Business Insights

In addition to helping you understand consumer psychology and sociology, marketing courses also equip you with important business insights and commercial understanding. With this knowledge, you can help businesses build better products and services.

Grow with Tech

Marketing is a fast-growing field that has thoroughly leveraged the continuous advancement in technology. Marketing courses equip you with an understanding of the latest tools and techniques to market more effectively, allowing you to grow with the industry.

Featured Marketing Courses on Skill Upgrade

All You Need to Know About Marketing

What is Marketing?

Marketing refers to the activities undertaken by organizations to attract the right audiences (end consumers or other businesses) to their products and services. It involves researching the market, analyzing what customers need and want, and influencing customer behavior through high-quality, impactful messaging, advertising and promotions.

Marketing enables organizations to find the right target audiences for their products and services from the larger addressable market. Marketing also empowers organizations to enhance their product value, strengthen their brand image and loyalty, and ultimately, boost sales and revenues.

Marketing Career Specializations

Advertising

Advertising is focused on creating brand awareness, influencing target audiences, and improving sales. Organizations and brands pay for a space to promote their products, services, or causes through compelling messaging, leveraging a wide range of traditional and digital avenues.

Brand Management or Branding

Branding/ brand management deals with the creation of a unique identity, image, and persona for a company in the market. Effective branding helps brands to break through the clutter and noise in the market, leaving a lasting impression on target audiences. Brand managers also ensure that the unique voice and persona of the brand are consistently reflected across the company’s messaging.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is about creating succinct, relevant, and compelling content—any piece of consumable information. Content should not just promote products or create brand value; it must also generate standalone value to the target audiences and customers, addressing problems they may face or simply augmenting their knowledge base.

Demand Generation

Demand generation refers to the set of marketing activities that seek to drive long-term customer engagement. It includes activities such as lead generation, pipeline acceleration, demand capture, and inbound marketing, spanning multiple touchpoints and campaigns at different stages of the customer lifecycle.

Digital Marketing

Digital marketing leverages a wide variety of online platforms, channels, and outlets to increase brand awareness, reach wider audiences and bolster conversions. Digital marketing professionals use email, messaging, social media, websites, search engines and other platforms to run successful digital campaigns.

Growth Marketing

Growth marketing is a data-driven approach to retaining existing customers, acquiring new customers, and maximizing profits. Unlike traditional marketing, it doesn’t just look at the top of the funnel but also targets layers such as A/B testing, SEO, creative ad copy, content marketing, technical analysis, and so on.

Market Research

Market research involves gathering information and insights about target audiences, consumer behavior, current competitors, and the overall industry landscape. Market researchers examine and analyze the insights gathered to help marketing teams and organizations build better strategies and marketing campaigns.

Marketing Operations

Marketing operations (MOps) entails the implementation of systems that augment marketing teams to do their jobs better, increasing the chances of success. This includes end-to-end marketing optimization, digital transformation initiatives, budgeting, analysis, and so on.

Performance Marketing

Performance marketing entails brands working together with marketing service providers to ensure their marketing and advertising campaigns reach predefined, measurable goals in terms of clicks, searches, leads, etc.

Product Marketing

Product marketing is a specialization that is strategically focused on bringing new products to the market and strengthening product awareness. Product marketers are responsible for crafting the product messaging, positioning, and pricing, and it requires in-depth research into market trends, consumer needs, purchasing behavior, and competitor value propositions.

Revenue Operations

Revenue operations (RevOps) is about the maximization of the revenue potential of B2B organizations by focusing on people, processes and data. RevOps focuses on streamlining and aligning sales, marketing, renewals, and after-sales efforts in both the front and back ends to accelerate revenue growth and improve customer lifetime value.

Sales Enablement

Sales enablement is the ongoing, strategic process of augmenting sales reps with the tools, techniques, training, and content needed to effectively engage with and convert leads. It is an iterative process that leverages data and analytics to boost sales.

Search Engine Marketing

Search engine marketing refers to the activities that can improve the search rankings of an organization’s online properties. It is a broad area that comprises both Search Engine Optimization (SEO)–organic strategies to improve search results—and Pay per Click (PPC)–paid advertising efforts wherein brands buy advertising space on search engines.

Top Trends in Marketing Careers

Growth in Marketing Jobs

The marketing career landscape has grown significantly in recent years, with companies realizing the criticality of differentiating themselves in a cluttered and competitive market while reaching customers in newer ways over the pandemic. As per LinkedIn data, a 63% increase in marketing jobs posted in 6 months was observed across 2020-21.

Changing Nature of Marketing Roles

As technology and the internet continue to revolutionize the world, marketers now need to master and expand their digital skills and their toolbox. They need to learn how to reach and captivate wider audiences across the growing number of marketing channels while also being able to leverage data and analytics to boost outcomes.

In-Demand Marketing Positions

The most sought-after marketing skill is digital marketing. Some in-demand marketing positions today are media coordinators, search managers, social media coordinators, and search engine marketing management.

Flexible Work Solutions

Several organizations are shifting to more flexible work solutions, as seen by the rise in remote positions. There is also an increase in the number of contractual marketing professionals and freelancers being hired by companies and marketing agencies today. Overall, this has widened the hiring pool for companies, giving them greater scope to diversify their talent.

How to Launch Your Marketing Career

Apply to marketing jobs and internships

If you are a fresh graduate, start applying for jobs—even entry-level ones—to gain hands-on, practical experience in marketing and building your networks. If you are still in college, internships are great ways to build your skillset, gain experience, and improve your employability.

Build your portfolio by creating a blog or website

Creating a blog or a website allows you to demonstrate your skills in content marketing, SEO, ads, analytics, social media, email marketing, and so on. If writing does not appeal to you, you can also start a podcast, YouTube channel, or even an online shop.

Enroll in marketing courses and certifications

Enroll in marketing courses or certifications from reputable institutions/platforms to launch your marketing career. These should give you a solid theoretical foundation and practical skills to excel in your career. They should also offer opportunities to network with like-minded professionals and domain experts.

Why Should I Enroll In An Online Marketing Course?

Suited for Busy Working Professionals

Online marketing courses are perfect for full-time professionals—they don’t have to quit their job or take a sabbatical to take on new skills. The live sessions, tutorials, etc. are scheduled conveniently, and learners can pace the self-study modules around their busy schedules.

Short, Affordable Courses

Online marketing courses can be completed in weeks or months, unlike traditional marketing degrees that require 1-3 years to complete. Furthermore, they cost a small fraction of the tuition of a full-time program, while still offering the same rigor and intensity.

Learn Specific, In-Demand Skills

You can choose to study specific, in-demand skills such as SEO, marketing analytics, and social media management, with online marketing programs instead of having to take unnecessary classes to satisfy school credit requirements. This way, you can learn relevant and in-demand marketing skills without having to spend months out of the workforce.

Technology-Led Learning

Most online marketing degrees are equipped with advanced tech tools that ensure personalized and effective learning. They offer personalized content recommendations, and they leverage analytics to help improve learning outcomes.

What Should I Expect From An Online Marketing Course?

Structure and Format

Online marketing courses vary widely in structure and format—from cohort-based courses to self-paced programs with live discussions to massive open online courses (MOOCs). While MOOCs typically have pre-recorded lectures and course materials to study by oneself, the best online marketing courses incorporate live sessions with the faculty and the cohort. You should choose a structure and format that suits your learning style.

Learning Goals

The best online marketing courses always have well-defined goals and learning outcomes. They may include quizzes, self-assessments, projects, and so on. Make sure to choose a course that sets clear and measurable expectations.

Schedule

The self-study components of online marketing programs are self-paced—most courses require you to allocate just a few hours every week—and extend a great degree of flexibility and freedom to learners. Any live components are scheduled with the working professionals in mind.

Nature of Course Content

Most courses usually offer short, bite-sized videos, quizzes, learning materials, references, and other engaging content for their self-study components. The best courses keep refreshing and upgrading the content to keep pace with the marketing landscape.

Technical Support

All good online marketing courses offer 24/7 technical support to learners to ensure a smooth learning experience. Some e-learning platforms also have extensive documentation and thriving online support forums to help students out.

How to Choose a Marketing School

University Certificate Programs: Pros and Cons

Pros

Cons

Adds value to your resume, opens more lucrative career opportunities
Direct access and face-to-face time with the faculty
Networking opportunities with the cohort, guest faculty, and industry experts
Plenty of career growth opportunities, including internships and placements
The institution’s brand often adds value to your resume

May have to take a sabbatical or a break from work to gain the certificate / degree
Higher tuition fees – you may have to take student loans
Additional costs of relocation, accommodation, and conveyance

Online Courses, Nanodegrees, and Micro-Credentials: Pros and Cons

Pros

Cons

Intensive, focused training in specific marketing skills
Suitable even for busy working professionals
Affordable tuition fees and no additional costs for relocation, accommodation, etc.
Flexible and self-paced learning, often with live access to the faculty and a diverse, global cohort
Short course duration ranging from a few days to months
Technology-led courses that enhance the learning experience and outcomes

May not be as prestigious as a university-issued certificate and often doesn’t count toward a university degree
May not be recognized by all employers
Several courses are simply recorded videos without any live sessions or personal touch
Fewer networking opportunities with the cohort and the faculty

How Much Would It Cost To Study Marketing Online?

Here are a few sample costs from different kinds of online marketing courses.

Cost Of an Online Marketing Certificate Offered by An Ivy League University

Digital Marketing Analytics by MIT Sloan School of Management is a 6-week online short course that costs $2800.

The Digital Marketing: A Strategic Perspective from Yale School of Management is an 8-week online short course costing $2600.

Advertising and Marketing Communication Strategy from Kellogg Online is an 8-week online program costing $1950.

The Brains and Guts of Decision Making by Stanford GBS Online is a 4-day live and intensive executive program that costs $2900.

Cost Of a Marketing Course/Program Offered by An Online School

The Udacity Digital Marketing Nanodegree is a self-paced course spanning 3 months and costs $1017.

The Marketing Strategy Program from Reforge is a 4 to 6-week cohort-based program. Reforge charges a membership fee of $1,995 per annum and allows learners to take up to three live programs each year.

Cost Of Marketing Certifications Offered by Companies

Platforms such as Google, Facebook and LinkedIn offer a range of marketing certifications for individuals. Most of these are free, short-term courses or charge a nominal fee. For instance, LinkedIn Learning online courses cost between $20-50.

Top Jobs Available And Salaries For Marketing Graduates

Marketing salaries have seen upward growth, mainly because of the talent shortage in emerging marketing areas. For instance, with a shift toward digital marketing, there is a growing talent shortage in digital strategy, analytics, search advertising, and off-page SEO. This has boosted the salaries of experts in these areas.

Entry-Level Roles

Mid-Level Roles

Senior / Executive Roles

Digital Marketing Associate – $47,748

Marketing Executive – $61,214

Digital Marketing Manager – $ 123,899

SEO Analyst – $ 81,817

VP, Marketing – $149,982

VP, Brand Management – $197,696

How SkillUpgrade Can Help You In Your Marketing Career

SkillUpgrade enables you to find the best online marketing courses to help you launch your career in marketing. Leveraging our 15+ years of experience in online education, we find and review courses with real human interaction that help learners effectively upskill themselves in different aspects of marketing.

We don’t review courses unless we have taken them ourselves. And we interview at least two students who have taken the program before writing our professional course reviews. With SkillUpgrade, you can steer away from the multitudes of impersonal, generic, and lean-back marketing courses and identify the right ones.