These resources include social media marketing, content marketing, email marketing, website design and development, and more.
BY ELIZABETH BREEDLOVE
Say you’ve spent most of your life inventing new products, but you’ve hit the jackpot with your most recent idea and you’re ready to take it to market.
You’re putting together your online marketing strategy. You’ve built a small website, set up social media profiles and read some articles about marketing, but you’re ready for the next step to ensure you’re able to effectively promote your product, launch your business and grow your company.
If this is you, you’re likely looking to learn all you can about marketing a product online so that you can rapidly grow your new business. Here are a number of resources for learning more about digital marketing—including social media marketing, content marketing, email marketing, and website design and development.
Alison
Alison offers free online courses taught by experts, with a focus on topics related to professional development. For example, you’ll find classes about social media marketing, public relations, digital marketing and much more. This is a great place for inventors to start learning more about marketing their inventions.
Canva
designschool.canva.com/courses/
If you want to improve your graphic design skills, consider Canva’s Design School! An online graphic design platform, Canva offers a handful of classes designed to help users learn how to make the most out of their software as well as become better, more creative graphic designers. These short, free courses are a great place to begin improving your design skills.
Codecademy
This is a great place to start if your marketing strategy for your invention involves any coding or web development. The platform is free, though paid options are available, and it is designed to give you plenty of hands-on experience writing real, working code and then testing it to ensure you are on the right track. From basic HTML and CSS to Python and SQL, Codecademy is where to begin if you want to learn to code.
Constant Contact’s Social Media Quickstarter
blogs.constantcontact.com/social-media-quickstarter/
If you’re just beginning to build out your invention’s social media presence, don’t overlook this resource. It contains detailed, step-by-step instructions, with examples, for how to best use each of the major social networks. Essentially, this is your one-stop social media cheat sheet. If you want your invention to have success on social media, this is where you should start.
Coursera
Coursera provides access to courses from the world’s top universities and organizations. Many courses cost less than $100, and it is possible to earn a Master’s degree from an accredited university through Coursera. Here, you’ll find courses with titles such as Social Media Marketing, Marketing Strategy for Entrepreneurs, and much more.
edX
edX is a platform founded by MIT and Harvard University that offers free and paid courses in a variety of subjects—including marketing— from some of the world’s best universities. This platform offers courses on nearly every marketing topic available. Some courses are self-paced and last just a few weeks; others follow a schedule for an entire semester. Regardless, you’re sure to learn something new that will help you launch your product when you enroll in an edX course.
HubSpot Academy
An inbound marketing software, HubSpot has its own “academy” full of courses and training videos to help people become better, more effective marketers. What sets HubSpot Academy apart from many of the other platforms on this list is that it also offers certifications in subjects such as social media, email marketing, content marketing and more! These free certifications are well worth your time if you want to ensure that you are able to successfully launch your invention.
LinkedIn Learning and Lynda.com
Formerly Lynda.com, LinkedIn Learning is a paid subscription service that offers professional and career-development courses from instructors with real-world experience. From “Writing a Press Release” to “Creating and Managing a YouTube Channel,” you’ll find the courses you need to make your marketing efforts a success. Bonus: If your LinkedIn profile is up-to-date, the platform will suggest relevant courses to you, making it even easier to find the content you need.
MIT OpenCourseWare
MIT publishes nearly all of its course content on this platform, which means you have free access to more than 2,300 courses! You’ll find courses that include business, marketing and communication. This is another place to find college-level information on the marketing topics you are most interested in learning more about to launch your invention.
SEO Learning Center by Moz
Moz is an SEO (search engine optimization) software company that many say is the world’s top SEO thought leader. If you want to learn more about SEO and how to make sure your invention’s website shows up at the top of the search engine’s search results, Moz’s SEO Learning Center is a great place to begin.
Udemy
udemy.com/courses/marketing/digital-marketing/
Udemy is a community that connects students with instructors in a wide variety of subjects. Within the marketing category, you’ll find courses covering topics ranging from Google Ads to the basics of LinkedIn to Facebook Messenger chatbots and everything in between. If you want to learn about many different subjects, Udemy may be the best place to start. Note that course prices vary, and some courses are free.
Wordstream’s PPC University
Wordstream is a company that offers software to make all kinds of pay-per-click advertising easier. Its PPC university includes PPC 101, PPC 102, Advanced PPC and Social Ads 101, along with a large variety of webinars, whitepapers, tools and resources. If you’re hoping to use online advertising to grow your business, this free online course is a great place to start.
YouTube
You may have to do a little digging to find what you need, but YouTube can help you learn something new without paying for a course. Just search “how to [topic]” or “[topic] course” and see what you can find.