August 2, 2022 •Amber Peckham
Learning content marketing is a mixture of strategic thinking, creative skills, and technical capability. In a content marketing course, students get insight about how to run successful digital marketing campaigns. This includes what content to create, how to create it, and what you do with it once it’s done. You’ll also learn how to measure marketing outcomes to prove your success and celebrate your wins. All this sounds great, right? If you’re not 100% sure a content marketing course is right for you, keep reading as we take a deeper dive into what you can expect to learn and what courses you should start with.
How Can I Learn Content Marketing?
To successfully learn content marketing, you need to study strategy, content development, and technology.
- Content Strategy Elements: There are many elements of a content strategy. These include clear brand guidelines, an understanding of your audience, and the measurable goals and objectives you want to achieve with content marketing. The content calendar, creation process, and schedule are also part of the strategy.
- Content Creation Best Practices: High-quality content is the fuel which makes your content marketing work. That’s why learning to create content yourself may be a good idea. Even if you plan to outsource or delegate some content creation, knowing the best practices will allow you to give valuable feedback and critically evaluate the deliverables. You’ll also have a better appreciation and understanding of the amount of time and work that goes into content creation.
- Marketing Technology and Performance Analytics: The best marketing technology (MarTech) is usually very simple and intuitive to use, like DemandJump. While it won’t take you long to learn how to schedule social posts in advance or send out a mass email, these platforms do still require some training and understanding to get the best results possible. This is especially true so you can extract insights from the platform and report on the performance of your marketing efforts. You will also need to learn which content marketing KPIs and metrics connect to your goals, so you can represent progress and make a case for the next strategy. Then, the cycle begins anew!
If you’re thinking each of these is a field of study in itself, we agree with you. That’s why we created three tracks of study within DemandJump University. Strategists, content creators, and marketing analysts or tech experts can all pursue tailored study within the platform, or one go-getter can tackle the full program to get a crash course in all aspects of content marketing.
Shared Characteristics of the Best Content Marketing Courses
What defines the best content marketing courses online? There are a few features we think it’s important to look for.
- Learning in Context: No content marketing course happens in a vacuum. While platforms like Google, HubSpot, and DemandJump offer their own content marketing courses, these programs are also structured to give you value outside their platforms. A great content marketing curriculum is structured to make sense within the trends and audience preferences of the time, while also giving you foundational knowledge that will apply throughout your career.
- Go At Your Own Pace: Since you’re probably taking on a content marketing course for your own professional development, we think it’s important to be able to go at your own pace. Sometimes you want to practice the concepts you have learned and explore tools before moving on to the next lesson. In other cases, you might be ready to absorb it all and then revisit key sections later as you apply the tactics.
- Walk Away With Something Tangible: Lastly, it’s important to walk away with not just insight, but proof of completing the course. This could be a badge or certificate, as well as supplemental worksheets and materials to keep and put into practice. The tangible things you walk away with will remind you what you learned, and allow you to prove your experience to others on your resume or social profiles.
These are just some of the things to look for in a great content marketing course. Overall, the right choice for you will also depend on your level of experience, what you want to learn, how much money and time you have to spend...the list goes on! And we are here to help.
How Do You Become a Certified Content Marketer? DemandJump University Is a Great Option!
There are many pathways to become a certified content marketer, from the American Marketing Association’s PCM® Content Marketing exam to free options like DemandJump University. DemandJump University is a free content marketing resource library.
