No Experience? Land a Remote Marketing Job With These Courses and Certifications

One of the most common questions I get when it comes to finding and landing a fully remote marketing job with no experience is what skills are required and, more importantly, what courses and certifications can I take to learn these skills. This applies to anyone who wants an entry level remote marketing role to get their foot in the door, or if you took a break from the workforce to raise a family and are looking to jump back in.

I personally went from unhappy in an office job to working full-time remotely in a fun, challenging marketing career while traveling the world the last six years. Working remotely in marketing changed my life, and I’m sharing these resources to help you do the same.

How to Land a Remote Marketing Job

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    With that said, to help you stand out from other applicants, I compiled the most highly regarded (and affordable or free) certifications and courses based on in-demand skills for remote marketing jobs. Better yet, most of these courses and certifications are free!

    1. Google Analytics

    Google Analytics is the go-to tool for businesses of all sizes and industries when it comes to reporting and tracking website analytics. Because this certification is well-known, it can help to include this on your LinkedIn profile and resume. It’s a free tool, so I recommend creating a Google Analytics account in addition to completing the certifications, and playing around with the different reports to get familiar with the platform.

    There are a few certifications in the Analytics Academy. I recommend starting with the Google Analytics for Beginners certification to learn basic features of the platform. Then, you can move on to the advanced certification(s).

    Cost: Free
    Estimated Time Commitment: 4-6 hours (Beginner Certification)
    How to Start: Go to the Google Analytics Academy and select which certification you want to start with.

    2. HubSpot Inbound Marketing Certification

    entry level remote marketing job

    HubSpot has a wealth of free resources and certifications that can help you whether you’re just starting to explore the world of digital marketing or you’re a seasoned veteran. Inbound marketing is a huge part of digital marketing, and will likely play a big role in your future job. It’s a methodology that centers around creating valuable content and digital experiences tailored to a target audience. The content a business creates attracts its ideal customers to them.

    They also offer the HubSpot Digital Marketing Certification Course at the same link below, which covers 11 lessons and takes about 5-6 hours to complete. I’d recommend taking both of these, as they’re free.

    Cost: Free
    Estimated Time Commitment: 6-8 hours
    How to Start: Create a free HubSpot Academy account

    Below are some additional HubSpot resources and certifications that you’ll find helpful:

    • HubSpot Email Marketing Certification

    • HubSpot Content Marketing Certification

    • HubSpot Inbound Sales Certification

    • HubSpot Marketing Blog — HubSpot's Blog for marketing, sales, agency, and customer success content has more than 400,000 subscribers and attracts over 4.5 million monthly readers. Tip: Subscribe to their email newsletter.

    • Free Marketing Template Library — Apply what you learn with HubSpot’s free digital marketing templates.

    3. The Strategy of Content Marketing by UC Davis (Coursera)

    Coursera offers many free courses led by top colleges and companies like Google. I recommend taking advantage of this 100% free content marketing course led by professors at UC Davis. The course will improve your copywriting and content marketing skills — two highly valued skills in digital marketing. I will drop the course description below to give you an idea of what it covers:

    “This course is a partnership between the leading content marketing authority, Copyblogger, and UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education. In this course, you will learn the core strategies content marketers use to acquire and retain customers profitably. Specifically, you will learn how to develop, organize and implement a content marketing strategy, analyze and measure the effectiveness of content marketing, write compelling copy, use a strategic framework when writing, and build your professional brand and authority through content marketing. You will also learn how to put the ideas presented to you into action and build your own personal brand through content marketing.”

    Cost: Free
    Estimated Time Commitment: 18-20 hours
    How to Start: Enroll for the next start on Coursera

    4. Unbounce Landing Page Course

    A landing page is standalone website page that is created specifically for a marketing campaign. Visitors “land” on this page after they click on it from an email, social media post, Google search result, or elsewhere online. The goal of these pages as the marketer is to convert these website visitors — Convert meaning to collect their information (name, email, etc.) from a website form or purchase.

    The Unbounce course is not only free but full of useful insight on how to actually create a landing page that converts. This is a key skill to understand and hone as a digital marketer.

    Cost: Free
    Estimated Time Commitment: 6-8 hours (self-paced)
    How to Start: Start the lessons on the Unbounce site

    5. Social Media Marketing: How to Create an Impactful Strategy for Any Business (Skillshare)

    There are countless social media and digital marketing courses on Skillshare. I am highlighting the Social Media Marketing: How to Create an Impactful Strategy for Any Business course by Maggie Stara because it will give you the knowledge you need to start using social media from a business perspective, and how to think about social media strategically.

    When it comes to implementing a strategy, you can take other courses, or better yet, apply what you learn to your own social media accounts. Or, offer to audit and make recommendations for a friend’s social media business accounts. This is not a course or certification that you’ll add to your resume, but it will help you gain the skills and knowledge you need to start building your skills in social media.

    Cost: Free
    Estimated Time Commitment: 2-3 hours
    How to Start: Create a free Skillshare account and register for this course

    6. Semrush SEO Toolkit Course

    remote marketing job entry level

    SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. Basically, it’s the practice of improving a website to help it show up more frequently and higher up in (Google) search results.

    Semrush offers some of the best and most popular SEO tools for marketers. The majority of agencies and companies I’ve worked with throughout my career have used Semrush, and understanding how to use these tools can give you a leg up over other candidates. Their free course is taught by SEO professionals, and helps you understand how to apply best practices and SEO tools to drive results for clients. If you are a bit more technical (or are willing to learn!), then SEO could be a great field for you to specialize in down the road.

    Cost: Free
    Estimated Time Commitment: 4-6 hours
    How to Start: Enroll on their website

    7. Google Ads Certification

    Knowledge of paid media tools such as Google Ads is in high demand for remote digital marketing jobs. The Google Ads Certifications are the most widely accepted certifications for Google Ads. There are several certifications available, so I will list below the order of importance for the few that I would tackle first:

    1. Google Ads Search Certification

    2. Google Ads Display Certification

    3. Google Ads Measurement Certification

    The others you can revisit or explore further if you are thinking about focusing on paid media jobs. The type of company you want to work for or end up applying for can also inform this. For example, if the job you apply for is a large direct to consumer brand that runs a lot of shopping ads, then Google’s Shopping Ads Certification should be more of a priority.

    Cost: Free
    Estimated Time Commitment: 3-6 hours per certification
    How to Start: Google Ads Certifications page with Skillshop

    8. Specific Skill Areas: Courses On LinkedIn Learning

    This is not a singular certification or course suggestion, but more a resource that has endless courses for brushing up on specific skills. As you dig into the free trainings and figure out where you want to dig in deeper and where you need to build up your skills, LinkedIn Learning offers tons of courses. They even have live office hours with instructors.

    You can take advantage of their 30-day free trial once you have a clear understanding of what kinds of skills you want to learn.

    Below are some examples of courses I’ve seen on LinkedIn Learning:

    • Creating Marketing Objectives

    • Marketing Foundations: Analytics

    • Building an Audience on Instagram

    • Learning Local SEO

    • Excel for Marketers

    Cost: 1-month free trial, then $19.99/month paid annually or $29.99/month paid monthly
    Estimated Time Commitment: Ongoing - This depends on which courses you’d like to complete
    How to Start: Go to LinkedIn Learning to start

    I hope you enjoyed this round up of the top courses and certifications that will help you gain the skills and confidence you need to land a fully remote entry level digital marketing job! Time to take it to the next level — Join the Free Mini Course on How to Land a Digital Marketing Job With No Experience by submitting the form above.