Marketing Certifications That Get You Hired

Marketing certifications are essential proof that you have marketing knowledge. They can help you get a job, advance your career or help you learn a new skill.

You don’t need certifications to get a job in marketing, but they can help. Many certifications are accompanied by courses that teach you all the information you need to get certified, meaning you can start with zero knowledge and still go for certification.

Of course, with many certification exams taking place online, employers know that results can be faked, so don’t expect certification to carry you through a job interview. A certification should be used alongside other examples of your work to prove your skills.

Are Marketing Certifications Worth It?

There’s much discussion about whether marketing certifications are “worth it”. There’s no honest answer to this — it depends on what you want to get from a certification.

Improve Your Skills

Certifications help to prove your marketing skills, generally in one specific area, such as SEO, content or social media. Completing a certification shows you are a specialist in that area as you have the knowledge and skills to pass the certification exam.

Of course, many online courses do not include certification but still improve your knowledge. The benefit of certifications is that you often get both knowledge and proof of knowledge. Suppose you’re already considering taking a marketing course. In that case, you might as well invest your time (and money if it’s a paid certification) into a course with a certificate.

Expand Your Resume

If you’re looking to get your first marketing job, certifications are a great way to expand your CV and prove that you’re serious about working in marketing.

This is especially useful if you’re applying for entry-level roles where applicants are expected to have little to no marketing skills, as it shows you have a keen interest in marketing and could make a great career out of it once you got your foot in the door.

Prove Tool or Software Knowledge

Many certifications focus on specific tools, which let you prove you understand a particular tool deep enough to take an exam and receive a certificate. Many of the Google Analytics certification exams are at least an hour long, so only dedicated people with knowledge of the tool will pass these exams.

Get Certified as a Company

Companies can also become certified in specific skills or tools, which is especially helpful for marketing agencies, as being certified will build trust with potential clients.

Thinkplus is an accredited Google Ads Partner agency specialising in Google Ads, Google Shopping, Remarketing, YouTube Ads and the Google Display Network.

Now you understand the value of certifications, but you may be wondering if you can get the same value from completing an academic course.

Marketing Certifications vs Academic Courses

Marketing certifications and academic courses both result in a qualification at the end of your learning — so which is better? The truth is, both options are suitable for different reasons.

If you’d like to study a course full-time, an academic course could be right for you. If you’d like to fit your studies around a current job or other commitments, then certification courses may be better.
Academic courses always consist of study with a degree at the end, whereas some certifications only offer the exam and certificate, not the learning. You already need the knowledge.
You can complete a certification without needing to do the learning if you already have the knowledge. With most academic courses, you need to invest considerable time to get your qualification, no matter your skill level.
Academic courses result in a life-long degree, whereas many certifications expire after a specific time. This means you must actively improve your knowledge to pass the certification exam again once it expires, meaning you will be on top of current trends.
Employers are unlikely to treat degrees and certifications the same, depending on the level of certification. Degrees are usually considered above certifications if you don’t have hands-on experience.

It comes down to what you would prefer to do. If the thought of completing an academic course appeals to you despite more time and financial investment, you should go for it.

Certification may be the best route if you’d prefer to supplement your experience with certifications or use the learning from certification courses to get some hands-on experience.

If you decide to go for certification, you have a new challenge — which marketing certifications are best?

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Which Marketing Certification Is Best?

This depends on several different factors, including:

The type of marketing you want to get certified in
The level of your marketing skills currently
Your budget

Free Marketing Certifications

Many of the world’s biggest companies, including Google, Microsoft and YouTube, offer free courses and certifications to help you understand their platforms.

Not only will spending time studying these courses and receiving certifications expand your marketing knowledge, but it will also put you above other candidates when you apply for marketing jobs, especially at entry-level.

Despite these certifications being free, you’re still investing your time. When choosing a certification, you should check that it will:

Expand your knowledge
Help your career
Cater to your marketing interests and skills you want to improve.

If you want to become a copywriter and have no interest in running pay-per-click ads, then you shouldn’t spend the time on PPC courses just to get a certification, even if it’s free.

Google Certifications

Google has a lot of marketing courses, and several come with certifications. Google Skillshop offers courses and certifications for Google’s different tools, whereas Google Digital Garage covers marketing as a whole.

Google Ads Certifications

Google is extensive regarding its certifications and the learning material that goes with them. Some of the ad certifications it offers don’t just apply to Google ads — they can help with your ad creative and improve your understanding of how the marketing funnel works.

The current Google Ads Certifications are:

The learning time for these certifications is two to five hours per certification, and the assessments are at least an hour long.

If you already have experience with the Google Ads platform, you can skip the courses and get certified by taking the assessments.

Google Analytics Certifications

Google is not currently offering a Google Analytics certification because it’s moving from Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4. We expect it will create a new certification once Google Analytics 4 has fully rolled out.

You can get a head start on your certification by checking out our guide on Google Analytics 4 and watching this video on the key areas of Google Analytics 4 for marketers.

Google Digital Garage Certifications

The Google Digital Garage learning platform offers a Fundamentals of Digital Marketing certification, which focuses on marketing, not just Google’s tools.

This is the only certification on Digital Garage at the time of writing. Still, there are many courses on the platform, some marketing-related and others more career focused, such as Land Your Next Job and Intro to Digital Wellbeing.

YouTube Certified Courses

According to the website, YouTube-certified courses changed to only be open to creators and partners with a YouTube partner manager or with access to Content ID as of October 2019. However, according to Google’s Skillshop platform, these courses are still available to Skillshop users.

These courses focus on copyright, asset monetisation and navigating YouTube as a musician, so they may only be relevant to some marketers.

Microsoft Certifications

Microsoft offers three certifications covering different areas of digital marketing. You’ll become a Microsoft Advertising Certified Professional if you complete all three certifications.

If you’re already experienced with running Microsoft ads, you can skip the learning and jump straight to the certifications, which include:

If you’re using Microsoft Dynamics 365 as a customer relation management (CRM) system, you may consider the Microsoft Certified: Dynamics 365 Fundamentals (CRM) certification. It’s a great place to start if you’re starting a new role where you’ll use Dynamics 365 or if you want to learn more about how CRM systems work.

These courses take three to five hours to complete, though they might be faster depending on your knowledge level.

HubSpot Academy Certifications

CRM system HubSpot is a well-known name in the marketing world, mainly thanks to the educational content the company puts out for marketers.

The Hubspot Academy offers multiple free courses focusing on different areas of marketing, including email, content marketing and digital ads.

Although these certifications and course material are in-depth, those outside the marketing sphere may not see their value, unlike Google or Microsoft, where everyone recognises the company even if they don’t know about the certifications.

Use these certifications to gain essential marketing knowledge that proves your skills to potential employers by taking action. For example, if you complete a content marketing certification, you should back up this by starting a blog or creating written work.

Alongside certifications in using its software, HubSpot offers a range of marketing certifications, including:

Depending on the topic, studying for these certifications takes between one and eight hours.

Semrush Certifications

Semrush is another well-known name in the marketing world. Semrush offers an all-in-one marketing tool (which you can try out for free for 14 days using our link).

Semrush offers multiple free marketing and sales certifications in the Semrush Academy. As with HubSpot, Semrush offers certifications in using its software and many marketing courses, often with guest speakers from across the marketing world.

Some of the certifications you can get from Semrush include:

You can find a complete list of certifications on the Semrush Academy website.

Once you’ve got some free certifications to add to your CV, you may want to go for a paid certification.

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Paid Marketing Certifications

As you might have expected, some of the most respected digital marketing certifications come with a price tag. These certifications focus on specific areas of marketing and are intended to show you are very experienced in your field.

If you’re a beginner, you may want to explore free certifications to get a basic understanding of different areas of marketing before paying for certification. That way, you’ll get more out of your paid certification courses.

If you have a lot of marketing experience, you can forgo the learning materials provided with these certifications and go straight for the exam. Some certifications require a certain amount of study time as part of the certification process, so you might be unable to skip ahead for all of them.

Digital Marketing Institute Certifications

The Digital Marketing Institute offers internationally recognised digital marketing certifications.

According to the Digital Marketing Institute, 68% of those with a certification got promoted, and 62% received a salary increase.

You can study online with a partner university or sign up through your business. Each verification costs between £1515 and £4520, but keep an eye out for sales.

If you choose online study, you can filter the results by “professional certifications” to ensure you select a course that results in a certification.

Certifications offered by the Digital Marketing Institute include:

Most of these certifications and associated learning take around 30 hours to complete. The Expert-Level Certificate in Digital Marketing, which results in a postgraduate-level certification, takes 44 weeks to complete.

The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) Certifications

The CIM offers a wide range of marketing and digital marketing qualifications. To take these certifications, you need to find a CIM-accredited study centre, but in-person and online options are available.

The cost of these certifications varies, as you have to pay for the course at your chosen CIM accredited study centre, become a CIM Studying Member, which is £65 per year, and finally, pay for your assessment with CIM, which can range from £220 to £870.

CIM offers the following certifications:

OMCP Digital Marketing Certification

OMCP, short for Online Marketing Certified Professionals, is a certification body based in the USA. They offer certification but not courses, so they’re ideal for marketers with existing skills who want to become certified. If you’re new to marketing, you’ll want to gain some experience before pursuing an OMCP certification.

You can join for free and find out what certification is right for you before paying to take the exam. These certifications cost between $225 and $395.

There are two levels of certification you can get from OMCP:

OMCA — Online Marketing Certified Associate
OMCP — Online Marketing Certified Professional

According to the OMCP website, those who are OMCP Certified earn up to 26% more than those who are non-certified.

Hootsuite Academy Certifications

Social scheduling platform Hootsuite offers several social media-focused certifications as part of the Hootsuite Academy. This includes certifications to prove you can use the Hootsuite platform, as well as:

These certifications come with courses as standard, but they highlight “optional” modules if you already have some experience. Some courses also offer demo lessons so you can see if the course style suits you before you commit to buying. Hootsuite certifications cost from $99 to $999.

Meta Blueprint Marketing Certifications

If you plan to focus on social media marketing and want to get a paid certification, Meta certifications are the perfect fit, considering Meta owns two of the largest social media platforms.

Meta offers a variety of certifications to show that you have expertise in Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp and Messenger. They mainly focus on paid media and analysis but also cover community management and strategy.

Meta courses are free, but you must pay for your certification. Certifications cost between $99 and $150.

To find out the exact cost of the certification exam, create a Facebook Blueprint account and then schedule an exam. The price appears at the final step of this process, but if you don’t want to proceed with the exam, you can cancel the process.

(Meta could certainly learn a thing or two about how clarifying your prices at the start of the process would improve your conversion rate.)

It can be challenging to tell what the courses cover from their descriptions, so we recommend looking through the course study guides.

Depending on the level of the certification, you may need some additional experience before taking it. For example, the Meta Certified Marketing Developer Certification suggests you have one to two years of experience as a software developer.

Beginner

Intermediate

Advanced – Technical

Interactive Advertising Bureau Certifications

The Interactive Advertising Bureau, more commonly known as IAB, offers four marketing certifications that they cite as having the highest standards in the industry. They focus on online ad buying and are aimed at digital advertising professionals.

These certifications cost $500 each and are not accompanied by courses, although you can buy additional prep courses.

Once you have some marketing-specific certifications, you may get certified in other areas that relate to marketing, such as project management or market research.

Other Useful Certifications

Being a good marketer isn’t just about understanding marketing. You may want to focus on project management or leadership and get certified in those areas. Places you can find certifications are:

What’s Next?

Even if you don’t get certified immediately, knowing what marketing certifications exist is still good. Learning marketing isn’t a race, and there’s no single way to learn. It’s also entirely up to you if you want to get certified or not.

To learn more about marketing, check out our guide to marketing.