For many of us, swotting up on a new skill has become something of a go-to lockdown boredom buster. But put down the banana bread, that dusty musical instrument, ’revolutionary’ exercise ball, and the cold, heartless Duolingo bird, let’s do something worthwhile with our time. Let’s instead earn ourselves some industry-recognised B2B marketing certificates.
We really believe in the value of learning (we even have our own Brand to Sales Academy). So from in-house to internationally recognised, here’s some we’d recommend, starting with three that we all do at Octopus Group as part of our learning and development.
Let’s start with the biggest no brainer: a free certification from Google, yours in about half a day’s work (ish). It’s a step up from the regular Analytics qualification, and can only be achieved once you’ve nabbed that already.
The Analytics certification is all about numbers and reporting: finding out what works where and why. So get to know your KPIs, your metrics and your data – harnessing all that juiciness is an invaluable skill that your boss will really love you for (more than they did already, of course).
Being Google-certified can do no harm to your CV or your marketing swiss army knife, and it’s easy to get started. There’s two courses to help you prepare for the 90 minute test, one for beginners and one for pros, and you can try and pass as many times as you need.
If you’re in marketing and haven’t come across Hubspot..well, I can’t really imagine this being possible, so let’s assume you have.
Hubspot is a marketing mecca. Socials, comms, CRM, inbound marketing, sales stuff, SEO, analytics, reporting; there really is an abundance of stuff to take advantage of.
But with all its power and cross-medium marketing goodness, it can be a bit overwhelming and has a lot to get to grips with. Hubspot has its own Academy, just like Google, with pages of lessons and certifications to earn. We recommend their Inbound Marketing Certification, which consists of 12 lessons, 56 videos and 11 quizzes, equating to about 6:20 hours of learning to earn the pass.
Any B2B marketer new or old should be familiar with Google Ads. But of course, knowing about it and knowing it inside-out are two different things.
The Ads Certification is a free qualification designed to teach you all there is to know about Search Advertising, Display Advertising, Mobile Advertising, Video Advertising, and Shopping Advertising. As well as campaign setup and management, measurement, and optimisation.
Start by signing up for an Academy for Ads account.
With its masses of advertising space, it’s no real surprise that the B2B world is really beginning to take advantage of Meta. And that’s much of what the certificate surrounds: advertising on Meta. Blueprint also covers managing a Meta page and the keys to delivering successful campaigns.
There are two certifications from Meta: the Meta Certified Planning Professional and the Meta Certified Buying Professional. The former looks closely at (you guessed it) planning, and specifically the reach, cadence and impact of a campaign. The latter focuses on specific aspects to Meta marketing including the Pixel, Pages and Ads.
It’ll set you back £150, but as the only certificate of its kind, there’s only way to get this sort of recognition.
Who’s got the hours to sink into Photoshop or InDesign? Do you really need to know about layers or paths? Adobe Illustrator is how many GBs to download?! Enter Canva: the solution to all of these problems.
Canva is a free, web-based graphic design tool that is near-enough foolproof. But don’t let this downplay Canva’s capability. It’s surprisingly powerful and versatile, so much so that it has a catalogue of courses and lessons you could be learning.
Free up your designers and creatives and add some design skills to your repertoire. There isn’t anywhere easier to do it than with Canva.
Hootsuite is one for the social media management guys, or for anyone looking to further their social standing or strategy. The basics are easy to get to grips with. But don’t get it twisted: it’s still a powerful bit of kit with lots of features and functionality, one that can really supercharge your social status.
There are three certifications you can earn via the Hootsuite Academy, all of varying prices and difficulty. The entry level certificate ‘Social Marketing Trainer’ will have all you need to know about gaining followers, maximising engagement and developing a comprehensive social strategy.
On the other side of the spectrum, the Advanced Social Media Strategy Training is an industry-leading certificate delivered in partnership with Syracuse University’s Newhouse School.
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