How Do I Start Learning Marketing? (3 easy ways)

Are you interested in learning marketing skills -- working for someone else or for yourself?

Either way, marketing can help you successfully sell virtually any product or service.

So, if you have ever asked yourself, "How do I start learning marketing?", you have come to the right place.

The best way to start learning marketing is by focusing on these three activities:

1. Learn market research skills, starting with customer demographics and psychographics,
2. Study successful marketing campaigns, both online and offline, and
3. Learn how to track and measure marketing analytics.

Marketing may look easy on the outside, but there are basic rules of marketing every new marketer needs to know.

Let's now dig deeper and learn how to get started in marketing.

How to learn marketing in three steps

Words like strategies, plans, conversions, KPIs, analytics, and bounce rate may sound scary, but they are not when you keep them simple.

The first goal is to put marketing concepts like these in a proper perspective, and that is:

The only job of marketing is to gain a customer and keep a customer.

So, with enough practice, you'll learn how to define target markets, communicate the right message, and use the right marketing strategy.

You see, marketing is a set of skills that can be mastered with or without a college degree.

And in some cases, a college degree could actually pull you away from success in marketing because of an over-dependence focusing on accounting-like marketing data -- that is, too much focus on what has historically occurred, rather than focusing forward.

On the other hand, a great marketer focuses on creating new marketing campaigns that does these two things:

1. Brings in truckloads of new customers, and
2. Keeps existing customers coming back for more.

You can do the same.

Below is an additional, more-specific set of three activities that you can do right now to learn marketing, with some links to helpful resources:

You can start learning marketing these three ways:

1. Study successful online marketing strategies starting with Google, Amazon and Facebook. One of the benefits of learning from doing your own Google, Facebook or Amazon campaigns is the act of doing these campaigns forces you to have at least a basic understanding of market research.

Here is a valuable resource that can help you learn digital marketing:

Website marketing with helpful examples and a sample marketing plan

2. Study offline marketing strategies starting with direct mail, newspaper ads, radio and TV advertising.

Here is a valuable resource that can help you learn targeted direct mail marketing:

Targeted Direct Mail Marketing

3. Learn how to define the success and failure of a marketing campaign.

Here is a valuable resource that can help you learn to measure the success and failure of marketing strategies:

5 Important Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in Marketing

Can You Learn Marketing By Yourself?

Whether you are a business owner or a digital marketer, you'll need to learn the basics of marketing to maximize sales and profits for the organization.

This means you'll need to learn new skills. And yes, you can definitely conveniently learn new skills by yourself.

You can start with zero knowledge and expertise and build yourself into the most successful and established business person or marketing executive in your niche.

Here are 4 steps on how you can learn how to be a successful marketer on your own:

1. Learn from each platform and every resource you can find. The internet provides tons and tons of resourceful sites from where you can learn absolutely everything you need to know about marketing. Take advantage of social media posts, YouTube videos, tutorials, online webinars, podcasts, etc.
2. Read great books and resources. Our four favorites on marketing are:
   1. The Beginner's Guide to Million Dollar Marketing by Your Strategic Marketing Partner
   2. Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins
   3. Turn Words Into Money by Ted Nicholas
   4. The marketing tutorials found at Your Strategic Marketing Partner
3. Seek mentorship. Expert advice and insights from a marketing coach go a long way. You don't have to pay for such tips either. Simply follow marketing consultants like Your Strategic Marketing Partner and learn from the best.
4. Practice what you learn. Learning alone is not enough. Put into practice what you learn. Start a website or a blog either for your company or for yourself. Place test ads on Google or Facebook. Write a sales letter to gain new customers. Develop a postcard to existing customers. Track your results and study what you discovered. This will be the best and fastest way for you to learn, and you just might make yourself more valuable to the company you work for, andor build your own successful business at the same time!

Marketing For Beginner Courses

Before you venture into the world of marketing, you need to understand some basics. You can find most of the info you need online:

1. Youtube videos
2. online classes
3. marketing blogs 
4. e-books workshops, and
5. other learning resources.

The internet is a rich source for learning.  However, if you want a certification to look good on your resume, you should go for the most reputable learning platforms, most of which offer these certifications for free.

Here are 5 courses any beginning marketer will benefit from:

1. HubSpot Academy

Hubspot provides business and marketing resources, including software and customer service tools. HubSpot Academy is HubSpot’s online learning resource. Most of the courses offered here are free and cover different topics related to marketing. If you're a total newbie in the world of marketing, we recommend that you start with the Inbound certification: content Marketing, Email Marketing, and Social Media.

2. Google Analytics

Most prospective employers have websites with Google Analytics. This effective tracking tool from Google helps you monitor and track your website's performance based on visitor behaviors. So it's an excellent place to get started.

3. Google Adwords

If you are keen on running ads online, Google Adwords is the ultimate resource for that strategy. This online certification focuses on search ads, video ads, and e-commerce ads. It helps you understand the concepts of campaign optimization.

4. Facebook Blueprint

Facebook provides a powerful resource for lead generation. Most businesses depend on Facebook to target, attract and acquire prospects. This certification helps you learn how to create and manage Facebook pages and paid ads, among other topics.

All Facebook courses are free, but you'll need to pay to become a certified marketer, and a single exam costs $150. Also, the certification expires every 12 months. So it's not the most recommended certification for a beginner unless you can afford it.

5. Canva Design School

This is another innovative platform you can use to obtain a free certification in marketing and especially in design and Photoshop. Canva helps you create those Facebook cover pages, Instagram visuals, blog planners, and PowerPoint presentations. These platforms can be a good starting point to obtain certification in marketing, and they are also the most widely recognized by employers.

Now, consider sending direct messages to prospective employers on Twitter, LinkedIn, or email.

Being proactive demonstrates that you have the determination and persuasive skills, which are precisely the right qualifications for a marketing job.