Downtime? Up Your Digital Marketing Skills with these Free Resources

Last month, Digital Pi CEO Ryan Vong outlined the steps we’re taking to not only keep our team safe but to help support our clients and community during these trying times. In keeping with that theme, we are excited to share with you this extensive list of free virtual learning opportunities to help you improve your digital marketing skills—free of cost.

Please note that this list is entirely crowd-sourced from employees and internet searches; we’re not receiving any compensation from these organizations nor are we endorsing them. That said, whether you’re a life-long learner, concerned about increasing your skillset in a tough economy, or just trying to make the most of time stuck at home, we hope this list gets you started down a new educational path and furthers your future success.

To make it easier to find the subjects that interest you most, we’ve broken the list into the following groups:

CRM & Marketing Skills
Social Media Marketing Skills
Coding & Technical Skills
Events and Conferences
And a little bit of everything…

CRM & Marketing Skills

This is a great time to dive deeper into the platforms you’re already familiar with. While each of the following listings are platform-specific, many of the marketing skills and lessons transcend that boundary.

Trailhead for SalesforceStart blazing your trail today. Begin your Salesforce learning adventure with Trailhead.

  • Not only are Salesforce skills valuable, Trailhead, Salesforce’s learning and community platform, makes it fun with gamification, cute graphics, and badges to incentivize you to keep going.
  • Cost: Free—including an SFDC sandbox of your very own!

Marketo University

  • We’ve got a lot of great resources for Marketo users, but at Marketo University you’ll find short videos with actionable tips and skill-building lessons. Subjects include Marketo-specifics like instance-management as well as marketing fundamentals and cross-channel marketing.  Marketo Engage on-demand training for free
  • Cost: Free

Marketo On-Demand and Magento U Training

  • Ready to dive deeper in Marketo or Magento? Adobe is offering on-demand training for free through June 30. These self-paced courses are valued at $2,500, but are available to everyone when you create/use your Adobe ID—even if you’re not a current Marketo customer!
  • Cost: Free through June 30, 2020

ON24 Webcast Elite Certification

  • “Go from Webi-newbie to Webinerd, Fast” with the ON24 Engagement Hub. Choose the Getting Started Series or dive deeper with the Engagement & Interactivity Series. The trainings reference ON24-specifics, but many of the lessons can be applied to other webinar platforms and general strategy.
  • Cost: Free

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and Oracle Autonomous Database

  • Now until May 15th, Oracle University will provide unlimited access to their extensive library for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, Oracle Autonomous Database, machine learning, and multi-cloud environments such as integration with Microsoft Azure. That’s more than 50 hours of online training and 6 certification exams—all free.
  • Cost: Free until May 15, 2020

Google Skillshop

  • Sure, you know Google hosts a wealth of freely available marketing tools, but did you know they also have free e-learning courses and product certifications? Take a deep-dive into Google Analytics, Google Ads, Google Marketing Platform and other tools to develop skills you can apply right away.
  • Cost: Free

Adobe Solutions

  • For a limited time, Adobe is waiving the fees for certification and specialization exams. Schedule your take-home exam with an online proctor by June 30th to take advantage of this offer.
  • Cost: Free if scheduled by June 30, 2020.

Unbounce Academy

  • Hone your design, strategy, and testing online marketing skills with Unbounce Ecourses. Courses employ the Unbounce platform for example, but the lessons can be applied to nearly any marketing automation platform, landing page builder, or marketing strategies.
  • Cost: Free

HubSpot Academy

  • Don’t be fooled by the name, Hubspot Academy offers free educational programs on way more than Hubspot’s marketing automation platform. Engaging lessons on social media, sales, and, of course, Hubspot’s platform includes videos and quizzes followed by assessment exams to earn certification badges.
  • Cost: Free

Demandbase ABM Certification

  • If you’re new to ABM (Account-Based Marketing), check out Demandbase’s foundation course to get learn the fundamentals and develop the core of a successful ABM strategy. Dive deeper with the Advanced course, which will help you optimize your strategy, align your team, scale, and more. That’s over 11 hours of courses, valued at $675.
  • Cost: Free until July 20, 2020

Social Media Marketing Skills

In our increasingly virtual world, social media has established itself as a core principle in marketing strategy. Learn best practices for advertising, building your following, or creating original content through these courses.

Facebook Courses Directory

  • Learn Digital Marketing strategies and business best practices for Facebook Pages, Instagram, and Ads Manager in quick five-minute lessons, or check out the Facebook Bluprint certification series which covers advanced-level proficiency with Facebook’s family of apps and services.
  • Cost: Free

Twitter Flight SchoolTwitter Flight School is your place to learn everything you need to know about Twitter advertising.

  • Twitter Flight School can teach you everything you need to know about advertising on Twitter. More than coursework, Twitter offers live training, downloadable resources, inspirational success stories, and badges of recognition.
  • Cost: Free

YouTube Creator Academy

  • Whether you’re just getting started with video or are already a YouTube following, the Creator Academy will help you get the most out of your channel. Video lessons range from YouTube-specific guidelines to video production tips to ways to make money on the platform.
  • Cost: Free

Vimeo Video School

  • From DIY tripods and pop screens to Final Cut Pro X and After Effects, the Vimeo staff are here to help anyone learn how to make better videos.
  • Cost: Free

Coding & Technical Skills

If you’re more interested in the technical side of marketing, now is a great time to dive deeper. Learn a new language, explore machine learning, or develop your cloud computing skills.

Pluralsight

Pluralsight offers over 7,000 expert-led video courses to help you level up your tech skills.

  • Pluralsight offers over 7,000 expert-led video courses to help you level up your tech skills. What’s more, they can help identify your strengths and weaknesses to make content recommendations, and tracks outline which skills to focus on when so you’re efficiently using your time.
  • Cost: Free for the month of April, $29.99/month or $299/year

Codecademy

  • Codecadamy offers interactive lessons in web development, game design, data science and more, including over two dozen programming languages. Take the sorting quiz to find the best place to start or go Pro and build a solid foundation in the Career Path of your choice.
  • Cost: The Basic Plan is Free, while the Pro Plan is $19.99/mo with a 7-day free trial available

Dash by General Assembly

  • Learn the basics of web development including HTML5, CSS3 and Java with General Assembly’s free online course system, Dash. No additional programs required—the projects taught in Dash can all be completed in your browser.
  • Cost: Free

Exercism.io

Exercism includes a dedicated team of mentors to help you explore 50 different programming languages with over 3,000 exercises.
Solo online learning not your thing? Check out exercism.io for mentorship.
  • Exercism levels up the solo online learning journey with a dedicated team of mentors to help you explore 50 different programming languages with over 3,000 exercises.
  • Cost: Free

Events & Conferences

Pause that Netflix binge and check out videos from these major conferences and events now available virtually and free of charge.

Adobe Summit 2020

  • This year, not only did Adobe Summit go digital, access is totally free! Adobe Summit dives deep into new product innovations and features 100+ breakouts across six tracks.
  • When: Now!

MOPsCON

  • Etumos has made their 2019 MOPsCON—the conference for those that run MarTech— content available on-demand. Watch for free now until September 10th.
  • When: Available now until September 10, 2020.

Campaign Optimization Series

  • The 2020 Campaign Optimization Series has shifted its online curriculum to focus on how brands can pivot their programs and adjust to new realities following the COVID-19 crisis. Sessions will include inspiration and examples on content and messaging, direct mail campaigns, new data tools, and more.
  • When: May 11-15, 2020

#MarTechFest Dial-UpMarTech Fest Dial Up is the anti-conference for all things marketing technology

  • This self-described anti-conference is serving up 12 hours of content in 5, 15, and 30-minute sessions, plus games, competitions, and prizes. They’ve also got the best design theme I’ve seen in a while, so if you’re a sucker 90’s nostalgia, check this one out.
  • When: May 29, 2020

A Little Bit of Everything…

If you’re looking for more general certifications or even accredited programs, check out the following sites. E-learning not quite your thing? Several of these programs offer more traditional class styles, including audits of major university programs.

Udemy

  • Udemy is the world’s largest selection of courses with more than 100,000 online video courses and new additions published every month. That includes nearly 8,000 marketing programs, including over 700 free. We love that you can narrow your search by Level, letting you easily differentiate beginner courses from masterclasses for experienced professionals.
  • Cost: Free courses available, paid courses start at $19.99 each

Coursera

  • Join a community of 40 million learners from around the world on Coursera, which brings university education to your laptop through the magic of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses). You can audit thousands of courses from leading universities and organizations for free on your own timeline. If you’re looking for a certificate or degree, fees vary, but financial aid is available.
  • Cost: Free to audit any class, fees for certifications and degrees.

LinkedIn Learning

  • LinkedIn Learning describes itself as “Personalized learning experiences, courses taught by real-world professionals” and boasts over 15,000 courses. Moreover, each class includes exercise files, quizzes and a certificate upon completion for your LinkedIn profile.
  • Cost: Get a 1-month free trial, then $29.99/month or $19.99/month billed annually

Digital Marketing Institute

  • The Digital Marketing Institute is offering 3 months free Power Membership to help professionals adapt and overcome during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The free membership includes 4 modules from across our range of digital marketing courses as well as Full Member access that includes articles, webinars, podcasts, and toolkits.
  • Cost: Free 3-month membership, accredited certification program prices vary

Creative Live

  • If you’re looking to improve your photo, video, or audio skills (podcasting, anyone?), CreativeLive should be your first stop. But they’re also a great resource for freelance and other business classes, too (here are nearly 100 free business courses). Watch live on-air classes on a variety of topics free daily. Looking for something more specific or to replay an event? Individual class prices vary but start at only $9.
  • Cost: Free live classes daily, classes priced individually, or become a member for $39/month or $149/year.

Skillshare

  • Skillshare hosts a wide variety of classes, including over 200 free marketing-related classes covering copywriting, brand management, SEO, social media, e-commerce, and more. You can also sign up for two months of Skillshare Premium for access to thousands of classes by industry experts like Gary Vaynerchuk.
  • Cost: Free basic account, or get 2 months premium for free then $19.00/month or $99/year

Honorable Mention

While not a free resource, it’s worth mentioning that Marketo is offering discounts on their Associate and Expert certification exams. Schedule your exam by May 29, 2020, to take advantage of the special pricing.

  • Marketo Certified Associate – Limited Offer $75 – Standard Pricing $95
    • Discount code: SummitMCA
  • Marketo Certified Expert – Limited Offer $175 – Standard Pricing $225
    • Discount code: SummitMCE

Did we miss something? Let us know in the comments and we’ll update this list!

Our team remains committed to your success, so please continue to reach out for anything you need during this time. We are here to help at hello@digitalpi.com

Your marketing technology experts.

At Digital Pi, we use technology to connect revenue to marketing efforts. We fuse marketing strategies, processes, data and applications to make marketing technology solutions work for clients' businesses.

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