5 Popular Marketing Certifications

Marketing involves the promotion of a brand, product, or service. You may market anything in various ways, including through digital approaches, such as social media or email, or physical advertisements like billboards and flyers. 

If you’re considering a career in marketing, a marketing certification may help you expand your knowledge and career prospects. With a certification, employers may see you as a valuable asset to their team and acknowledge your commitment to keeping up with the latest marketing trends and sought-after skills.

Learn more about popular marketing certifications, including topics ranging from a focus on content marketing to social media marketing, that may help you stand out to future employers, increase your earnings, and advance in your marketing career.

5 popular marketing certifications

With marketing courses and certifications on your resume, employers may find you have the skills and knowledge they value for a specific marketing position. Explore five popular marketing certifications, some of which require no prior educational requirements or cost, and how they can prepare you for your next role.

1. HubSpot Content Marketing Certification Course

Requirements: No prerequisites required

Cost: Free [1]

The Content Marketing Certification course, offered by HubSpot Academy, teaches aspiring marketers how to advance their SEO skills and marketing strategies. To complete this certification, you’ll watch video courses and take quizzes at a self-guided, personalized pace. HubSpot Academy estimates that this certification course takes users nearly nine hours to complete, though you may take more or less time depending on your preference. You may add this certification to your resume and LinkedIn account upon completion.

2. AMA Professional Certified Marketer: Content Marketing

Requirements: No formal prerequisites; however, the American Marketing Association (AMA) recommends a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and years of experience before enrolling in this certification

Cost: $1,295 USD for AMA members; $1,395 for non-AMA members [2]

If you want to become an AMA Professional Certified Marketer (PCM) with a focus on content marketing, consider exploring the American Marketing Association’s partnership certification with the Content Marketing Insitute (CMI). This certification helps prepare you for the exam and focuses on subjects such as storytelling through marketing, content marketing guidelines, and product development.

To gain this certification, you must complete and pass a 100-question exam with a score of 80 percent or higher within three attempts. The American Marketing Association requires you to renew your certification every three years.

3. Google Ads Certification

Requirements: No educational prerequisites; Must have a Google Skillshop account

Cost: Free [3]

Google Skillshop offers many free Google Ads certifications for you to explore, including Apps Certification, Creative Certification, Search Certification, and Video Certification. Each certification course highlights a different element of Google Ads for you to expand your knowledge in, and typically takes anywhere from an hour and 15 minutes to four hours to complete. To become certified in each area, you must take and pass an assessment showcasing what you learned.

4. HubSpot Email Marketing Certification Course

Requirements: No prerequisites required

Cost: Free [4]

This free certification course offered by HubSpot Academy focuses on creating email marketing campaigns and analyzing their performance. If you’re interested in a role with email marketing at the forefront, consider enrolling in this 12-lesson course. To complete this certification, you’ll watch video lessons and complete quizzes and exercises, as well as a 60-question exam that demonstrates your understanding of the subject matter.

5. Social Media Marketing Certification

Requirements: No formal prerequisites; must score 50 percent or higher on the exam

Cost: Free [5]

The eMarketing Institute offers a free certification and eBook on social media marketing for beginners. This course focuses on social media marketing, website performance, and blogging as a means to increase brand awareness. You must pass the 50-multiple-choice question exam in 60 minutes to earn this certification.

What jobs can you get with marketing certifications?

With a marketing certification, you may qualify for one or more marketing careers, depending on your area of interest. As a marketing professional, you may choose to go the managerial route or choose a specific niche, such as digital marketing or social media marketing. Discover some roles you may apply for upon completing a marketing certification:

Marketing manager

Average annual US salary: $81,338 [6]

Requirements: Bachelor’s degree in marketing

As a marketing manager, you may oversee and work alongside a team of other marketing professionals and focus on tasks such as budget management, creating new marketing campaigns, and developing strategies to engage with new and pre-existing customers.

Digital marketer

Average annual US salary: $70,490 [7]

Requirements: Bachelor’s or master’s degree in marketing

Digital marketers work to establish a brand’s place online so that advertisements and marketing campaigns will reach the largest audience. As a digital marketer, your tasks may range from analyzing the performance of a previous marketing tactic to understanding current trends and other popular brands and their role in the market.

Social media marketer

Average annual US salary: $50,091 [8]

Requirements: Experience working with social media

As a social media marketer, one of your responsibilities may include engaging with customers on social media channels, such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or LinkedIn. Once a post goes live on a social media channel, your job may be to dissect its performance, such as how many likes, comments, or shares it received. If a post doesn’t perform well or performs better than previous posts, you and your team typically will analyze various factors to determine why.

Prepare for marketing certifications and build skills with Coursera.

Marketing certifications may help you learn more about the field you want to work in and create more career opportunities for your professional future.

Consider pursuing a Professional Certificate on Coursera to enhance your marketing skills further. Explore the Meta Social Media Marketing Professional Certificate to learn more about social media management and its role in marketing. If you’re interested in digital marketing, discover the Unilever Digital Marketing Analyst Professional Certificate, designed to teach you how to analyze data and create marketing strategies based on your findings.