What is Digital Marketing Certification?

What is Digital Marketing Certification? Is there such a thing?

There certainly is!

Digital Marketing is not only the fastest growing field in the world but it is also the future of marketing. It is ranked as one of the hottest career sectors to work in.

All the big digital marketing platforms – Google, Facebook, Bing, Youtube, etc – have certification programs and most of them are absolutely free.

In this article we are going to go over the Top 10 Digital Marketing Certifications out there today. Not only will these certifications help you to learn more, they’ll help you to grow your digital marketing agency, or get you a position with a rewarding career.

So here they are, the Top 10 Digital Marketing Certifications…

1. Google Ads Certification

This is a professional certification that Google offers to individuals who demonstrate proficiency in basic and advanced aspects of Google Ads. Once you have become certified, you will have gained a really great understanding of how to use Google Adwords professionally and cost effectively to grow any business.

Now there are 5 assessments based on which you can get certification and they are: search advertising, mobile advertising, video advertising, display advertising and shopping advertising.

You can get certification in any of these or all of these based on your interest. The exam duration, number of questions, and minimum marks to pass varies in all these assessments.

Cost: FREE
Click here to go to Google Ads Certification

2. Facebook Blueprint Certification

The Facebook Blueprint Certifications are designed to measure advanced-level competency in Facebook advertising. This means you will be learning the best practices required to manage Facebook Pages, create Facebook ads, AND purchase and manage Facebook ads.

There are 2 certifications in this Facebook Blueprint:

i) Facebook Certified Planning Professional Certification
ii) Facebook Certified Buying Professional Certification

The first (Planning Professional) covers how to manage Pages, deciding advertising objectives, targeting audiences for maximum impact, using Audience Insights, and optimizing reach and frequency.

In the Buying Professional certification, you will be learning how to manage, create and purchase ads, what are the various ad buying types, how to improve performance and delivery via the ad auction, troubleshooting ad issues, and mapping ad formats to advertising objectives.

The exam duration is 75 mins and there will be 50 to 60 questions and you need to score 700 marks to clear the exam. The certificate remains valid for 12 months.

Cost: $150 per certification
Click here to go to Facebook Blueprint Certification

 

3. Google Analytics Certification

This course helps you learn about Google’s measurement tools so that you can grow your business through intelligent data collection and analysis. In it you learn how to create an account on google, how to implement tracking code, analyze basic reports, and set up goals and campaign tracking. You will also learn advanced Analytics features including data collection, processing and configuration, and more complex analysis and marketing tools.

It is a self paced course. The exam duration is 90 mins and there will be 70 questions where you need to answer 80% correct in order to pass the exam. The certificate validity is 12 months from the date of exam.

Cost: Free
Click here to go to Google Analytics Certification

4. Manychat Messenger Marketing Expert

Manychat is one of the leading Messenger chat bot services in the market today. When it comes to generating quality leads on Facebook with a low cost per lead, Messenger bots work really well.

Manychat have a free course (available here) which show you how to use their platform most effectively with your Facebook ad campaign and nurturing new leads. For owners of Digital Marketing Agencies, you can apply for free to be a Manychat Agency Partner. Once you are accepted, you can then take a 20 question quiz to become a Manychat Messenger Marketing Expert. The pass rate is 80%.

Cost: Free
Click here to go to the Manychat Messenger Marketing Expert course

5. YouTube Certification

YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine. YouTube processes more than 3 billion searches a month and 100 hours of video are uploaded every minute.

As video becomes a preferred content medium, it is important to have a well-defined video content strategy. YouTube is a great place to start.

YouTube Certification will help you learn how to create a YouTube channel, how to grow it, how to optimize it, and how to monetize it. The certification is valid for 18 months from the date you pass your certification.

They also have company certifications so your organization can be a YouTube-certified company. To be company certified on YouTube, your organization must be a managed partner in good standing. This means that 75% of YouTube-focused employees* pass any one of the four certifications.

Cost: Free
Click here for YouTube Certification

6. Bing Ads Certification

Bing Ads certification helps you to learn how Bing Ads works. Bing is a search engine similar to Google where everyday millions of people type keywords into search engines, looking for products and services. So with search advertising, you can create ads and bid on keywords related to your product and service.

The course covers everything you need to know to become a Bing Ads Accredited Professional. From fundamentals of search engine marketing to start your first search advertising campaign to optimisation and managing your budget.

The time it takes to cover the modules is 15 to 20 hours. The total number of questions in the exam would be 100 and you need to answer 80 correct to get the certificate. The validity of the certificate is 1 year from the exam date.

Cost: Free
Click here for Bing Ads Certification

7. Google Tag Manager Certification

If you are a marketer, analyst, a developer or a beginner in digital marketing and you want to work on websites then this course is for you. In this certification course, you’ll learn how Google Tag Manager can simplify the tag implementation and management process.

It is a self paced course. To get a certificate you must get a pass rate of 80%. The certificate remains valid for 12 months from the date of exam.

Cost: Free
Click here for Google Tag Manager Certification

8. Hubspot Certifications

Hubspot have 3 main certifications:

i) Hubspot Inbound Marketing Certification
ii) Hubspot Email Marketing Certification
iii) Hubspot Content Marketing Certification

In the Inbound Marketing course you’ll learn techniques that include creating engaging content, using social media for promotion, converting and nurturing leads, and eventually marketing your product to your customers.

The course duration is 4.5 hours. There are 60 questions in the exam and you need to score 75% in order to get the certificate.

The certificate validity for this course is 25 months.

In the Hubspot Email Marketing course you will learn about what email marketing is, to creating email content, creating high performing emails, designing and analysing email marketing, sending it to right people and finally testing the performance.

The course duration is 218 minutes. There are 60 quesions in the exam and to pass the exam you need to get a mark of 75%.

The certificate remains valid till 25 months from the date you pass the exam.

In the HubSpot Content Marketing course you will learn different aspects of content marketing strategies which include storytelling, content brainstorming, content creation, content promotion and analyzation.

The course duration is 251 minutes and is self-paced.

Cost of all three certifications: Free
Click here for Hubspot Certifications

9. Twitter Flight School Certification

If you’re looking to make a good impression on more than 330 million Twitter users about your product or service then Twitter’s own Flight School can help you master the platform.

Twitter Flight School is an easy way to build a deeper understanding of how Twitter works, and how to use it to engage with consumers. You will learn how to build buzz, launch products, drive sales, and instantly connect with a highly engaged audience on Twitter.

This certification is self paced and the course material is provided by Twitter.

Cost: Free
Click here for Twitter Flight School Certification

10. Google Digital Garage Certification

Last, but not least, is Google’s Digital Garage Certification. This certification is designed to help you better understand the fundamentals of digital marketing.

You will learn how to build your web presence, how to plan your online business strategy, basics of SEO, SEM, social media marketing, how you can advertise on mobile, email marketing basics, and also how to sell your product online.

If you are a beginner in digital marketing this is the best digital marketing certification to go for. The course takes about 40 hours to complete. It is made up of 26 modules of video tutorials.

Cost: Free
Click here for Google Digital Garage Certification

 

What is Digital Marketing Certification? – What Others Are Saying…

A digital marketing certification tends to be focused on proficiency using specific online tools. I have gotten Google ads certifications and Bing ads certifications in the past, and to get them you need to have proficiency using the tools and be able to take and pass a test that shows you know what you’re doing.

Stacy Caprio, Accelerated Growth Marketing

As digital marketers certified in multiple areas including search and social media, our team understands that certification is critical for a number of reasons. First, certification ensures you have the tacit knowledge needed to manage client campaigns in accordance with best practices. Lastly, having certifications in-tow is table stakes for those looking to respond to proposal requests.

As for the types of certifications, there are many direct certifications available through Google, Facebook and Linkedin directly. However, there are also numerous third party courses and certifications through the likes of Coursera, Udemy and other online sites that can get you up to speed on what you may need to know. The courses cover some of topics that are massively broad, to others that are tailored and targeted to either a specific platform or audience. What marketers end up pursuing is completely dependent on the topics that matter to them.

Nate Nead, SEO.co

Ask in any public forum about digital marketing certification, and you’ll see the same cookie-cutter responses:

1. There is no certification. Only experience counts
2. You can take the [vendor of the month] certifications for free
3. I’m an expert.. take my new course I just put out at www….

It can be confusing for people who want to develop or verify digital marketing skills. So how do we know what the standard is? And how do we know what courses are reputable?

First, know the difference between a certification with a course completion. Both are valuable, but they are not the same.

An industry certification serves its industry by curating and reporting the standards that hiring managers and clients require. As a standards body, it will publish a role delineation study, setting out which competencies and practices the industry requires, and will record the ratios for use in accreditation and examinations.

An industry standards body will not sell its own training, but instead will help all reputable educators to teach to published standards, and accredit those who do.

For individuals and teams, it will verify a passing score on a proctored exam and will validate proof of experience, training, and education.

A certification is harder to earn than a course completion. Because it validates skills, experience, education, and if necessary, training, employers and clients tend to give industry certification more value than a course completion.

Courses are valuable and a great step towards certification. But which ones are valuable? Which ones are best?

As I mentioned before, some course providers will bill themselves as a certification in an attempt to sell more training. What they are offering is a ’course completion’ certificate. Your course completion certificate will be as good as the reputation of the institute or person behind the course you took. Hundreds of ‘new courses’ are published every year. Only a small percentage of courses have the resources to be kept up to date and to thoroughly cover the competencies required to practice.

One way to select a digital marketing course is to understand the intent and motivation behind the provider.

There is value in *platform courses* like Hubspot, Facebook, Google Ads, Adobe, or Hootsuite where learners can gain platform-centric knowledge on how to operate a tool, or target ads in a specific channel. This is useful when using a specific vendor platform. Some platform vendors are motivated to keep courses up to date and free so they can generate new leads, and increase usage of their platform. If the platform has majority market share and staying power (like Google) then this can be a good investment.

Then there are digital marketing skills programs like Circus Street, Simplilearn, Duke University, MindEdge, Bootcamp Digital and many, many others. The better ones teach best practices in digital marketing that prepare you for a professional role, *regardless *of the platform of the season (some will remember Myspace and Google+). Because learners pay for access, reputable training providers have the funding to keep the courses up to date. The more reputable training providers and universities go through an accreditation process to ensure buyers that the courses are authoritative, thorough, and up to date.

Tempting, but less certain, are ‘free’ courses put out by consultants and ad agencies. Many are insightful and useful for skills boosts and new practices. But most don’t thoroughly cover the industry requirements to equip a professional for practice and the majority fall out of date.

To know if a course is up-to-date, authoritative, and that it covers the spectrum of what hiring managers and clients want, you could look for an industry accreditation, like one from OMCP or some other independent industry association. Over 900 universities and training institutes teach to OMCP digital marketing standards.

Those certification standards currently set out the following areas of competency:

• Social Media Marketing
• Digital Analytics
• Digital Advertising (with PPC)
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Content Marketing
• Conversion Rate Optimization
• Email Marketing or Marketing Automation
• Mobile Marketing

OMCP surveys industry hiring requirements at two levels for digital marketing, so there are two digital marketing certification levels:

OMCA Certification verifies a conceptual understanding of primary components of five of the top eight digital marketing disciplines listed above. It is perfect for managers or those who must communicate digital requirements or concepts to others.

OMCP Certification verifies OMCA-level understanding PLUS the knowledge, experience, and education commonly associated with a professional performing at least two digital marketing specialties in a minimally-supervised position.

Education, training, and experience requirements are reported in OMCP’s role delineation study, which is freely distributed to education providers and in-house teams building training. The most current digital marketing competency standards are available from OMCP and are frequently used for foundations of training programs worldwide.

Michael Stebbins, OMCP

There are a variety of digital marketing certifications available for people to pursue and obtain. There are certifications that cover individual disciplines such as analytics, advertising, SEO, email marketing, and many more.

Two of the most comprehensive certifications are the American Marketing Association’s Professional Certified Marketer (PCM) and the Digital Marketing Institute’s Certification in Digital Marketing which covers topics like social media marketing, paid search marketing (Google Ads), email marketing, analytics, content marketing, search engine optimization, display and video advertising (e.g. YouTube), and strategy.

In addition to those well-known certifications there are a few others that are worth obtaining. These include Facebook’s Blueprint certification which will signify working knowledge of the Facebook ads platform, the various certifications by Google for tools like Analytics, Ads, and Google My Business and the very popular HubSpot Inbound Marketing certification.

Some of these certifications are free, some will cost you money to obtain but they’re all issued by organizations with a global reputation in the marketing industry.

Skyler Reeves, Ardent Growth

Hello, I’m Jennifer, Editor at Etia.com, where we aware the travel community with the latest information on Etias and other travel-related education.

As we all live in a world where online courses and learning are a concrete reality, digital marketing certification is one of them. There are so many digital courses available in the online market today. And the nest part is that many of them are completely free for digital marketers who are looking to get ahead with their personal brand in the constantly-evolving digital space. One of the main advantages of digital marketing certifications is that it helps in sharpening our skills and ensuring a leading candidate for a new job.

For example, just a few days ago, I completed a course on Media Relations and got certification for that. Similar to that, there are many wonderful courses available. The Google AdWords certification is a professional certificate for people able to demonstrate knowledge of Google AdWords. The certificate is valid for one year and is one of the best. Other example includes HubSpot Content Marketing Certification, Google Analytics Certification, Copyblogger Certified Content Marketer, and many more.

Jennifer Willy, Etia.com

The main motive to opt for any digital marketing certification is to create a reputation as most things people usually learn in practical than mere theory. Having relevant valuable certificates not only gives you an edge over your competitors but sometimes gets you deals that you can’t get otherwise.

There are certificates for Digital Marketing as a whole or separate for SEO, Social Media, Paid Marketing, affiliate marketing, email marketing, etc. In order to become certified digital marketer one must possess basic to advance knowledge of all the above concepts depending on the nature of the certificate. Certificate vary from basic crash course to digital marketing master. One must choose the certificate authority carefully and focus on strong course material as well as the reputation of the teaching faculty before enrolling for any course.

Jiten Thakkar, Marketing Digital Marketing

Digital Marketing Certificate: Digital Marketing certificates mainly focuses on teaching the following subjects in a simple & profound manner to execute any task for a website presence best online;

• SEO
• PPC Google Ads
• SMM
• Email Marketing
• Website CMS Execution for Content Addition & Changes
• Content Marketing
• Google Analytics

Affiliate Marketing, YouTube Marketing, ORM, Influencer Marketing are at different engagements with a brand online.

Google Certification Exam & Hubspot Inbound Marketing Certification would be the tow essential exams to be appeared by a digital marketing course students for confirming a digital marketing student.

Expected outcomes from a Digital Marketing course;

• How to create a website
• How to integrate Google Analytics & Google Search Console
• Strategize digital marketing plans on a daily/weekly & monthly basis
• Thorough in keyword Finalization & AdCopy writing
• Interpret data either in AdWords, Analytics or Search Console or SMM Platforms
• Good in Reporting Formats
• And confident in executing 3rd party tools
• Overall confident in budgeting plans for a website in digital marketing

Ali Rizvi, Dream Superhero

Digital Marketing Certification: Both Google and Facebook have digital marketing certifications.

Google Certifications are not only the professional accreditation that Google gives individuals / companies to show proficiency in using their products – but it is also gives you a good overview and foundational knowledge of some of the different advertising products that you can utilise as a business owner to meet your goals and objectives. However, their certifications only covers the fundamentals of each of the different advertising product in the Google Suite – in reality, there are a lot more intricacies that goes into developing a well built advertising campaign with good strategy supporting it.

Some key certifications include:

• AdWords Fundamentals
• Search Advertising
• Display Advertising
• Mobile Advertising
• Video Advertising
• Shopping Advertising
• Analytics

Each course will take you through various modules, and require you to take a test at the end that you have to get at least 80% in before you clear the unit and get certified!

At present time of writing, everything offered is Free. Each certification has a different length as to when it’s ‘valid from’ – as the nature of digital marketing is so dynamic and changing everyday. These courses helps you to keep up with the ever changing nature of Digital Marketing.

Similarly, the Facebook Blueprint certification aims to give a person a good understanding of the Facebook Advertising Platform, and the various things you need to consider before creating a Facebook Campaign. It is one of the most comprehensive guide to Facebook advertising, and it is offered by Facebook.

There are over 100 courses available covering a wide range of topics – giving you all the information you need to know about Facebook Advertising.

To get certified – Blueprint currently offers 2 Facebook certifications – buying and planning. They last for 12 months, and is not free.

Dave, Pathfinder Marketing

There are hundreds of digital marketing certifications for beginners on the market, although few can compete with Udacity’s Nanodegree program. Each of the various modules – SEO, SEM, Social Media, Email, Content, come complete with projects designed by industry experts, with feedback from trained mentors. Students who are relatively new to the field will, by the end of the program, have real world experience running live campaigns, as well as material that can be complied into a portfolio of sorts to show hiring managers.

Alice Bedward, ROOSH

I am a Digital Marketing Strategist who specializes in SEO, consumer behavior and loves to experiment with behavior economics to drive decision making.

I have a Digital Marketing certification and various certifications that fall into small segments of Digital Marketing as well because it is a field of continuous learning. Additional certificates include Inbound marketing, flywheel marketing, CRO (conversion rate optimization) and UX for marketers. For those interested, there are free lessons available on HubSpot Academy or if you are looking for an advanced course, you may check ConversionsXL.

The certificates you will need to become a digital marketing specialist includes:

• Customer Acquisition course at conversionxl.
• Inbound Marketing course by Hubspot
• Content Strategy course by Hubspot
• Google analytics and tag manager course at conversionxl

For SEO you can start with google search quality guidelines and then there are plenty of online guide there. These certifications are easy to get but it requires your dedication and hard work.

Shayan Fatani, PureVPN

Before starting my job as the CMO at my current company, I tried to get myself a few certifications, including a Hubspot one for marketers. If you want to get certified, there are a few things you need to know. First, it doesn’t take a lot of money and there are even free certifications like the one I did for Hubspot. Second, your best bet is going for a specialized certification such as those in PPC, SEO/SEM, content marketing, social media marketing, etc. Those will have more value in your potential employers’ eyes. Finally, most employers don’t pay that much attention to marketing certifications. They care about results and previous work experience and that’s all they want to know about. However, if you’ve just graduated from university and have no marketing experience whatsoever, definitely get a few certifications so you can stand out in the competitive job market.

Jane Kovalkova, Chanty

I’m Google Ads Certified and HubSpot Inbound Certified.

Certification is a stamp of approval on your marketing knowledge. If an employer or client is hesitant about working with you, a certification can be the edge that lands you a job or account.

I recommend pursuing more niche, advanced certifications if you can. More technical and sought-after certifications, like Google Ads, are difficult to achieve, but they speak volumes.

If you’re new to digital marketing, get more generic certifications like those offered through the American Marketing Association. Hone your skills from there and get certified where you excel.

Kenzi Wood, Kenzi Writes LLC

Digital Marketing Certification is a non-degree/non-credit certification that proves one’s skills to be hired as a digital marketer. Topics usually include units such as Marketing Fundamentals, Content Marketing, Email Marketing, Facebook Marketing, Google Ads, SEO, Google Analytics, Digital Creative, and eCommerce. Students go through various assessments such as tests and projects that can verify their knowledge and skills after every unit. Such courses are provided by many local and international academies, and require several months of commitment – up to 1 year, spending 6-10 hours per week on the course online or ‘in campus’. It is advisable to look for accredited academies which certificates are easily approved and trusted by companies.

Nikola Baldikov, Brosix

Digital marketing certifications come in many different types, and much like online degrees, some of them are widely recognized and highly valued and others are essentially worthless, and generally regarded as vanity qualifications or certificates for sale.

A meaningful digital marketing certification recognizes a number of vital and measurable competencies in its holder, such as a grounding in the basics of digital strategy, a working understanding of things like Google AdWords, SEO, and automated ad placements, and a basic foundation in the key principles of marketing as a whole.

Certifications that are widely respected and that hold value in the workplace are not those that can be completed in a few weeks, nor those that simply require the purchase of modules for the issue of the certificate.

To identify certifications that employers look for and that are well regarded, look for digital marketing courses that are offered by respected colleges, professional institutes, and known entities with a proven track record in their field.

Polly Kay, English Blinds

A digital marketing certification is a sign that you’ve passed a few courses and that you have the basic knowledge of marketing. There are lots of marketing courses to choose from and you can’t make a mistake if you pick a well-known one from Coursera, for example.

However, as a CMO that hired marketers before, I can tell you that courses are really not all that important. Digital marketing changes rapidly and trends that were all the craze six months ago are no longer valid or important today. One thing that matters more than certifications is the willingness to learn. If someone has work experience and they’re willing to learn new technologies and adapt, they are a much better hire than someone with a dozen marketing certifications.

Olga Mykhoparkina, Better Proposals

What is Digital Marketing Certification? Digital marketing certification can serve as a seal of approval demonstrating one’s proficiency at specific digital marketing skills. They can be used to build credibility and help you land a job or acquire new clients for your consultancy or agency. These certifications come in many different varieties. From paid certifications like Direct Response Copywriting Certification from Digital Marketer, Media Buying Certification from Facebook Ads to free certifications like Google Ads Search Certification, HubSpot’s Inbound Marketing Certification and SEMrush SEO Fundamentals Certification. They can relate to online advertising, SEO, using specific digital marketing tools, or cover broad digital marketing concepts. Typically, these consist of an online course or learning path, followed by an online quiz or exam. The exams usually include multiple-choice questions as well as specific scenarios where the candidate needs to demonstrate relevant problem-solving skills.

Djordje Milicevic, StableWP

If there are any other digital marketing certifications you’d like to know more about, leave a comment below. Also, if you’ve completed one of these certifications, we’d like to hear your opinion about it.