With the current COVID-19 pandemic upon us, many will be finding they have a lot more time on their hands as we are stuck indoors, so what better way to utilise your free time than to expand your knowledge and skillset and open up your career options. There is a vast array of FREE, yes that’s right complimentary, on the house, gratis … online and offline marketing courses available on the internet.
So if you are a marketing novice or a learning junkie we thought we would put together a guide to the best out there!
Oxford Home Study College are offering a range of fully endorsed and industry recognised marketing and digital marketing courses, with expert tutor support, which you can study in your own time from anywhere in the world and won’t cost you a penny.
These include courses on:
Internet marketing – This course provides an overview of internet marketing and is aimed at those wanting to improve themselves as well as business owners who want to develop their knowledge and understanding of digital marketing.
Social media marketing – This is a great introductory course and focuses on successful social media marketing strategies and why social media marketing can be so powerful.
Digital marketing – This explores the key areas of digital marketing from SEO, email marketing and social media through to web development.
Learn digital are offering free online learning digital marketing courses designed to help grow businesses or kick start careers. You can learn by selecting individual modules, or take an entire course end-to-end. This includes certification.
Google Online Marketing Challenge
What better way to learn about online marketing than Google itself! Google’s Digital Marketing Course has everything from video tutorials on everything from SEM, Google Ads, social networks, video networks, mobile strategy, and more.
Constant Contact’s Social Media Quickstarter & Social Share
This collection of online marketing guides and easy-to-use tools will help you master social media marketing and email marketing in no time and is designed for beginners or those wanting to extend their marketing reach.
Hubspot Academy are offering numerous industry recognised marketing courses and training programmes with free certification. You can learn anything from SEO, how to become an effective content marketer, social media, website design, marketing automation, email marketing and more.
ALISON offers a wide range of free online business courses with certificates, from social media marketing and marketing management courses to public relations tutorials and digital marketing lessons. So if you are looking to master your marketing, build effective strategies, attract new customers or convert leads these are great.
WordSteam’s PPC University is a great one-stop shop for learning everything about PPC. With easily accessible lessons for beginners and advanced PPC users, everyone is catered for.
Marketing
- If you are looking for an introduction to marketing, want to know more about marketing management, the strategies and tools used, or you wish to understand your audience look no further than Alison. They have 17 different free marketing courses
https://alison.com/courses?&category=marketing-management&query=marketing
- Reed are also offering a 6 hour beginners guide to marketing – Learning the importance of offline marketing in this digital age and understanding how it can be done to reap the highest benefits. This isn’t free but has a reasonable cost of £28 and can be done at your own pace. A Certificate of completion available and is included in the price
https://www.reed.co.uk/courses/offline-marketing/202203
- Skillshare are offering 2 FREE months of unlimited classes here you can learn the basics on all aspects of marketing including branding, content, social media, digital marketing and business development
PR
- If you are looking to become a PR guru then once again Oxford Home Study come up trumps with their free PR Courses which can be found online.
https://www.oxfordhomestudy.com/courses/online-pr-courses/free-public-relations-courses-online
This is a short introductory 20 hour course, but Oxford Home study also offer 6 other PR courses ranging from PR certificates, diplomas and awards. These are not free but some are quite reasonably priced – costing between £85 – 645 depending on the level and length of the course.
www.class-pr.com/ are offering a free 8 part PR Course. This is basically PR training for marketers. Learn how to connect with journalists and influencers. Learn how to write a press release, put together a PR plan and guarantee media coverage
The PR Academy are offering a free introductory course to PR which you can study at your own pace https://pracademy.co.uk/course/introduction-to-pr-free-course/
The Brentwood open learning college https://www.bolc.co.uk/free-pr-courses-online.html
Alison are also offering a number of FREE online PR and communications courses, whilst most seem introductory there is a Diploma in PR.With this free online Diploma in Public Relations course, you will learn the importance and best practices in PR. https://alison.com/courses/Public-Relations
Internal Communications
· If Internal comms is your thing Reed https://www.reed.co.uk/courses/internal-communications/201605 are offering an Internal Communications tutorial at the very cheap price of £10 if you book before 26th May (it is normally £120)
This professional tutorial is ideally suited to business owners, managers and those working in PR or HR settings. Discover what it is that makes internal communications so important,
- The institute of internal comms are offering a number of virtual learning programme throughout May and June on writing Skills for the Internal Communication Professional, crisis communications, communicating change and more. Standard price
£350.00 + VAT Members Price £280.00 + VAT https://www.ioic.org.uk/professional-development/ioic-training/training-courses
- Finally if you are looking to splash out on an Internal comms course and would like to learn about employee engagement and delivering effective communications, The PR Academy are offering a CIPR Specialist Certificate: Internal Communication, this is a 6 month course which will involve around 3-4 hours a week of study. This is CIPR accredited and costs:
PR Academy fees: £1,340 (+VAT)
CIPR Awarding body fees: £345 (no VAT)
Total: £1,685 (+VAT) (This can be paid in instalments)
DesignSkillshare are also offering 2 FREE months of unlimited classes on all aspects of design from photoshop and illustrator to user experience tools such as XD, UI, UX design www.skillshare.com/
These courses are a mix of short & in-depth courses
Alison once again are a winner on all things design! Learn about the theory, principles and practices involved in graphic design with a free online course at Alison https://alison.com/course/graphic-design
If you are looking to fast track your design skills Canva are offering tutorials to take you to the next level. There is also an introductory to Graphic Design course www.canva.com
Udemy has a fantastic range of online courses including learning Adobe Photoshop from scratch, learning logo design in Illustrator – whilst not all free, they are very reasonably priced starting at £11.99 www.udemy.com/
Finally, for anyone who is struggling a bit right now Linked In are sharing 6 FREE courses on managing stress and building mindfulness into your ‘new normal’! https://learning.linkedin.com/blog