To attract customers to your site, you must arm yourself with marketing strategies. Learn the most effective strategies for promoting a small business by utilizing free online sources like Hubspot Academy, MailChimp Academy, and Google.

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Grow your small business: 4 free ways to learn digital marketing

BY SERENA O’SULLIVAN, KOMANDO.COM

JUNE 30, 2022

You can have the best product in the world, but that won’t mean anything if you don’t know how to market your business. To attract customers to your site, you must arm yourself with marketing strategies. Luckily, there are tons of free ways to learn digital marketing.

That’s right — free. Put away the wallet because you don’t need to spend a fortune to learn the most effective strategies for promoting a small business. Speaking of spending, here are five small business tips that will save you time and money.

In this guide, we’ll share some of the best online marketing strategies for small business owners. Some of these are courses, while others are fantastic resources. Others will provide marketing ideas that could help you innovate and make more money than ever before.

1. Head to Hubspot Academy

If you want to learn marketing, Hubspot is the place to begin. It teaches you how to market your small business on social media. It can answer your most pressing questions, like “What are the most effective strategies for promoting a small business?” or “What are the best free marketing courses for small business owners?”

Plus, it offers certification! This is huge. It means you’re standing out from the crowd. Certifications can also help you access specialized funding and scholarships. It looks fantastic to potential clients since it shows you’re a passionate business owner willing to put in the time to improve your skillset.

Hubspot is a great place to learn about SEO, content marketing, marketing abroad, social media ads and more. It focuses on aligning content with your buyer’s search habits. This level of detail helps you create effective inbound campaigns. 

As with all digital courses, it’s a bit of a time sink. But you don’t have to do it all at once. You can stop, save your progress and come back later. Free digital marketing courses like these are great for those with busy schedules.

2. Google is great, too

Ever heard of the Google Digital Garage? It’s a great place to start if you know nothing about digital marketing (along with many other skills). You can take over 30 classes to learn more about digital marketing alone.

Here are some of the free online marketing classes you can take:

As you can tell from the screenshot, you can even get certified. Spend 40 hours on Google’s Fundamentals of Digital Marketing class and you can wow anyone who sees your resume. Of course, you’re also investing in yourself by growing knowledge.

3. Mailchimp Academy is an excellent source for free digital marketing courses

Sure, Mailchimp is a resource people mainly use for email marketing. But it has a lot of helpful tips for learners, too. This is a good place to start if you want to hone your digital marketing skills or learn the basics.

The courses on this site focus on email marketing, which fits the Mailchimp brand. If you want to learn through Mailchimp Academy, you need to:

  1. First, create a Mailchimp account. 
  2. Then, you need to join Mailchimp & Co with your Mailchimp account.
  3. After signing up with Mailchimp & Co, you can finally join the Mailchimp Academy. 

Although you need to take a few extra steps, it’s worth the effort. This is the best place to go if you want to master email marketing for free. Plus, you can get certifications after completing specialized courses and tests. You’ll earn virtual badges you can brag about online.

Just be warned: Its offerings are sparse compared to Hubspot Academy, which has a vibrant diversity of free marketing and sales courses. But if you’re a freelancer or part of an agency, you can squeeze a lot of value from these free interactive courses.

4. Neil Patel has you covered

Never heard of him? Forbes calls Neil Patel one of the world’s 10 best marketers. So if you want to learn digital marketing, you might as well go straight to one of the world’s masters. Neil has a ton of resources, from his free instructional YouTube videos to online marketing courses:

In addition to the many free marketing courses you can take, there are also a ton of free tools on Neil Patel’s website that can help optimize your digital presence. Check them out:

Oh, and we didn’t mention the eBooks, guides and templates you can use. Patel’s website is a utopia for young digital marketers who want to learn new skills and save money.

Liked learning about digital marketing? Here’s another important tip

Digital marketing can be challenging if you don’t have the right equipment. Being internet-savvy helps you stay on top of trends. Then you can capitalize on these trends to make more money for your business.

A solid internet connection, powerful hardware and hefty storage spaces are essential for small business owners. You need a solid set of equipment to learn marketing for your business. An old, slow, out-of-date computer simply won’t do.

Get great computers at affordable prices by shopping with our sponsor, Dell. The great thing about Dell is you’re getting more than hardy gadgets. You can also talk to talented advisors with the tech advice you need to navigate whatever challenges you’re up against and get you safely to where you want to be.