Most In-Demand Marketing Certifications in 2021

 

 

 

 

Do I need certifications in digital marketing?

 

A shocking percentage of marketers - 53.8% - report that they have never gone for a marketing-related academic or professional degree. There are many different paths to get into marketing, and often marketers rely on their in-job experience as proof of their skills. However, if you’re thinking of eventually doing a job change, you’ll need more objective proof that you know your stuff. Especially regarding technical skills, like how to manage Google Analytics or measure the ROI on Facebook ads - you can’t just claim that you used it before. These days many companies consider these digital marketing certifications a mandatory qualification when hiring a new marketer.

 

Even if you’re not planning on leaving your current job any time soon, you can still use these accreditations to show your boss that you’re ready to put in the effort to take on more responsibilities, and you have the skills to handle them. In other words, certifications in marketing skills could directly lead to a promotion! You’ll also notice that the majority of these certifications are 100% free and can be completed in a matter of a few hours to a day. So if you set aside one afternoon a week, you could be on your way to becoming the CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) at your company.

 

 

What marketing skills are in high demand in 2021?

 

 

The above graph is from Marketing Week in February 2021, showing the rise in demand for various marketing skills (original data from LinkedIn). As you can see, paid social media and ad serving technology are both focused on online advertising. Then we have analytics, which refers to tools like Google Analytics and marketing automation. Content marketing also ranks high on the list, which goes hand-in-hand with SEO.

 

 

Google Ads Certification

 

 

There are a total of six different certifications: Google Ads Search, Google Ads Display, Google Ads Video, Shopping ads, Google Ads Apps, and Google Ads Measurement. By passing each assessment, you can get certified by Google as an expert in online advertising. You need a score of at least 80% to pass, but even if you can’t the first time, you can retake it the following day. Keep in mind, though, that Google Ads certifications only last one year, so you’ll have to retake the test again later if you want to remain certified.

 

Anyway, Google Ads as a skill is very high in demand, and on average, everyday, there are 220 new jobs posted on SimplyHired and 125 on LinkedIn Jobs that list Google Ads certification as a basic qualification. Getting Google Ads certified should be a top priority if you’re applying to jobs in marketing.

 

Google Ads Certifications

 

 

Google Analytics IQ

 

 

Google Analytics is another essential skill to have, and if you’re not actively using it to measure and analyze your site’s web traffic, this is a good place to start. Google has prepared an online course with videos and tasks that you can finish in a mere 4-5 hours, followed by a final test. The actual course material does get a bit technical, but if you can get through it, you’ll walk away with immediately useful knowledge and skills.

 

Google Analytics IQ

 

 

Google Tag Manager Fundamentals

 

Surprise, surprise, another Google tool. You’ll find that digital marketing has a way of revolving around Google services. But Google Tag Manager (GTM) is a tool that, if you take the time to learn how to use it, can help you gain more technical skills without having to learn coding. For example, with Google Tag Manager, you can easily add and update tags for conversion tracking, remarketing, site analytics, etc. on your website or app. By completing the Google Tag Manager Fundamentals Course, you will gain a better understanding of how to optimize the way tech and advertising tools are embedded in a website, and receive a certificate to show that you’re trained to operate it.

Google Tag Manager Fundamentals

 

 

Facebook Blueprint

 

 

Consider the fact that Facebook has 2.89 billion active users monthly, and the average Facebook user clicks on 12 ads per month. This is a huge audience that you can reach with inexpensive CPC ads, and a marketing method that can be tried at minimal risk. If you’re not already using Facebook ads at your company, then by learning how to do so with Facebook Blueprint, you’re opening the window to a very valuable marketing channel.

 

Facebook BluePrint is an eLearning center that offers more than 90 free courses on topics like Facebook ads, Facebook for business, social media marketing, and more. First, just try taking Facebook ads so you can obtain that skill, whether to try out Facebook ads at your current business, or to make your resume more competitive. Getting Facebook ads certified only takes a little longer than its Google counterpart at 5-8 hours.

 

Facebook Blueprint

 

 

Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) Certification

 

 

Microsoft Office, and more specifically Excel, continues to be used across all sectors. As a marketer, it’s crucial to learn how to manage data in Excel and fully utilize the features to conduct advanced analysis and measure the results of your marketing campaigns. There is an initial investment of $100 to take the exam, however, so if you don’t necessarily need the Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) certification but just want the skills, you can still access the official tutorial videos and do practice exercises.

 

Microsoft Office Specialist: Excel 2013

 

Also, if you want to follow a course more focused on marketing, try the Excel for Marketers course on LinkedIn Learning. In this course, you can learn “basic formulas for data analysis and how to build a data-driven marketing plan, including mapping out your marketing funnel, reviewing volume vs. cost tradeoff, and running A/B testing. You can take this course with the LinkedIn Learning 1 month free trial or simply purchase the course.

 

 

Hootsuite Social Media Marketing

 

 

Next, Hootsuite is the most popular social media management tool, so they’re kind of an authority on social media marketing, and they offer this certification at different levels, so you can choose to just take an introductory level course or go all the way to advanced social media strategy.

 

Hootsuite offers a free social media training course that you can take prior to the 60-question exam. To take the final tests and get certified, you can choose from a number of paid plans, which are listed on the Hootsuite site, such as:

 

• Social Media Marketing Certification ($199)
• Advanced Social Advertising Training ($249)
• Advanced Social Media Strategy Certification ($999)

 

 

Canva Design School

 

 

Design comes into play in creating web content, advertisements, emails, ebooks, videos, and much more. It’s a core component of marketing that can help you out no matter what channels you focus on. You can also use your design knowledge to make better powerpoints or slides to visualize your marketing campaigns and results in presentations to your boss or team, which can help keep everyone on board and secure your marketing budget.

 

Canva Design School is an online learning hub with free courses on topics like graphic design, creation presentations, branding your business, and more. The basic course “Canva for Beginners” will also cover the fundamentals of design and show you how to bring together text/fonts, images, shapes, and composition to create a visually pleasing piece of content.

 

Canva Design School

 

 

Codecademy

 

 

Codecademy is an online school for learning all programming languages, and the courses are designed so that even total beginners can get started learning on their own. The majority of the course content is accessible at no cost, but if you want to receive a certificate for finishing a course, you have to pay for a Pro subscription, which is generally $19/month and less if you’re a student.

 

The reason I’ve included Codecademy in this list is because coding skills are often the key to leveling up your capacity in digital marketing. While you can analyze marketing data to a fair extent in Excel, there are limits and this can be much more time-consuming. I recommend you study HTML → SQL → Python in roughly that order.

 

HTML first, since it’s the most basic and immediately useful in editing web-based content like email design. Also, HTML teaches you coding fundamentals that are relevant in all the languages, so it’s a good place to start.

 

Next, SQL, or Standard Query Language, allows you to do massive queries on huge datasets in Excel - so it can speed up your data analysis process.

 

Thirdly, Python is more difficult to learn, but is considered the most flexible language in what it can achieve, and happens to be the most widely-studied. With Python, you can conduct more complex data analysis such as predictions of client’s future actions using historical data.

 

Codecademy

 

 

To wrap up

 

Earning certifications or studying a new technical skill can do wonders, whether it means opening up doors to new career paths or taking on new responsibilities or projects at work. After going through this list of the basic, most-essential credentials for digital marketers, take note of the skills you still need to invest time in to study, and create a plan for how you can work towards them. Good luck in your journey to becoming a more competitive and specialized marketer!

 

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