Marketing is the planning, execution, and evaluation of efforts to cultivate positive relationships with customers to drive purchasing and satisfaction.

Step #1: Learn itStep #2: Apply itStep #3: Stay up-to-date

Access the following free resources from across the web. Note that the materials tend to focus on digital marketing specifically, although they have applications to marketing as a whole. Bootstrap Ed does not own any of the resources featured on this page. 

Marketing Overview, Campaign Planning

  • University of British Columbia (edX) – Introduction to Marketing, Lecturers: Darren Dahl, Paul Cubbon
    • Approximately 21-35 hours of work
    • Course content is free only without a certificate
    • Register with edX to enroll
    • Course page
  • Brooklyn College – Marketing Basics, Lecturer: Myles Bassell
    • 30 lectures, approximately 15-75 minutes each
    • Playlist
  • HubSpot – The Ultimate Dictionary of Marketing Terms You Should Know
  • MIT – Entrepreneurial Marketing (15.835), Lecturer: Jin Gyo Kim
  • HubSpot Academy – Innovative Marketing in 2018 and Beyond
    • 26 videos, approximately 5-60 minutes each
    • Playlist
  • SnapApp – Full Funnel Marketing: What It Is, And How To Do It Properly (With Strategies And Examples)
    • Focus is on digital marketing for Business to Business companies
    • Reading
  • CoSchedule – How To Create A Marketing Strategy That Will Skyrocket Your Results By 9,360%
  • Alaniz – The Ultimate Guide to Lead Generation
  • HubSpot Academy – Lead Generation: Cultivating Prospective Customers (for small to midsize businesses)
    • 19 videos, approximately 5-60 minutes each
    • Playlist
  • Neil Patel – Beginner’s Guide: 4 Essential Steps to Flawlessly Execute Paid Marketing Campaigns

..

Content Marketing

  • Neil Patel – Content Marketing Made Simple: A Step-by-Step Guide
  • HubSpot Academy – Content Marketing: Creating & Distributing Valuable Content to Drive Profit (for small to midsize businesses)
    • 8 videos, approximately 5-60 minutes each
    • Playlist
  • Copyblogger – Copywriting 101: How to Craft Compelling Copy
  • HubSpot Academy – Free Content Marketing Certification Course (for small to midsize businesses)
    • Approximately 4 hours of work
    • Requires your name, email, website URL, and company name to enroll
    • Course page

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Public Relations

  • Alaniz – The Ultimate Guide to Public Relations
  • HubSpot – The Ultimate Guide to Public Relations in 2018
  • Dummies – Public Relations for Dummies Cheat Sheet
  • Media Training – The 21 Most Essential Media Training Links
  • University of Houston – Media Training Guide

..

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

  • Backlinko – The Definitive Guide To SEO In 2019
    • Reading
    • Download for free with email address
  • Alaniz – The Ultimate Guide to SEO
  • Chase Reiner SEO – SEO Complete Guide 2018 (P1): SEO Basics

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Segmentation and Personas

  • Market Segmentation Study Guide – A Step-by-step Guide to Segmenting a Market
  • Digital Marketing Institute – Customer Segmentation & Targeting – A Guide
  • HubSpot – How to Create Detailed Buyer Personas for Your Business [Free Persona Template]
  • Buffer – The Complete, Actionable Guide to Marketing Personas

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Marketing Analytics

  • National University of Singapore – Marketing Analytics: A Practitioner’s Guide to Marketing Analytics and Research Methods (eGuide)
  • Columbia (edX) – Marketing Analytics; Lecturers: Kamel Jedidi, Asim Ansari
    • Approximately 96-120 hours of work
    • Course content is free only without a certificate
    • Check dates for course availability
    • Register with edX to enroll
    • Course page
  • Google – Analytics Academy
  • MIT – Marketing Management: Analytics, Frameworks, and Applications (15.810); Lecturer: John Hauser
    • See Readings, Lecture Notes, Assignments, and Tools
    • Course page
  • MIT – Strategic Marketing Measurement (15.822), Lecturer: Drazen Prelec
  • HubSpot – How to Start a Competitive Analysis: 57 Questions You Need to Ask [Free Kit]

..

Careers

  • Learn How to Become – MARKETING DEGREES & CAREERS: How to Work in Marketing
  • Agency Sparks – The Marketing Career Path: From Entry-Level to Chief Marketing Officer
  • Kristina Ericksen – 11 Things I Wish Someone Told Me About Pursuing a Career in Marketing
  • HubSpot – The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Interview Questions From HubSpot’s CMO
  • Wordstream – 31 Must-Ask Interview Questions for Marketing Jobs

..

Adobe Creative Cloud Alternatives

Complete the following exercises to apply your newly acquired knowledge.

  • CREATE: Customer persona development (2-3 pages double spaced)
    • Identify a product or service that you regularly use. Based on your own knowledge and quick research (examine followers on the product or service’s social media pages, glean insights about users through the product’s reviews, interview people you know who are users, etc.), construct customer personas. Include factors such as age, gender, personality traits, occupation, goals, frustrations, and preferred channels.
  • WRITE: Channel choice (1-2 pages double spaced)
    • Identify a consumer segment or one of specific personas you have developed in the activity above and discuss one or two channels you would prioritize leveraging and why.
  • DESIGN: Display advertisement (advertisement + 1-2 pages double spaced)
    • Design a visual advertisement using Canva, a free visual design tool. In a separate document explain the product or service being marketed, the marketing objective, the call to action or takeaway for the viewer, the target customer persona, and the channel where the display ad will appear.
  • WRITE: Evaluation plan (3-5 pages double spaced)
    • Identify a product or service that you regularly use. Briefly explain the business model of the product or service. Then identify a marketing objective that the product or service should execute against and two to three key performance indicators that should be used to measure the extent to which the marketing objective is met. Explain why the product or service should pursue the marketing objective you have identified and why the key performance indicators you have identified are appropriate.
  • WRITE: Marketing plan (8-10 pages double spaced)
    • Identify a different product or service that you regularly use and develop a strategic marketing plan for it. Discuss the market, the product or service, ultimate objectives for the marketing strategy, customer personas, tactics, and key performance indicators to measure its effectiveness.

Engage with the field on an ongoing basis. Note that Bootstrap Ed does not own any of the resources featured on this page. 

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