How to Land the Job You Want with the Best Marketing Certifications of 2020

According to McKinley’s 2019 Marketing Hiring Trends Report, 62% of marketers expect to hire for growth in the near future. This means there is opportunity and it’s only going to rise!

In that same report, hiring managers said the most common challenge when hiring marketing employees was a lack of quality candidates.

With this need for talent and lack of valued candidates, how can you stand out and get the job you want? Enhancing your resume and LinkedIn with marketing certifications you’ve obtained can be the difference!

One hiring manager says “I’ve hired 10 or so marketing people in the last 5-6 years. I definitely value certificates because they show some familiarity with a specific discipline or skill, as well as an interest in learning and becoming more well-rounded.”

Earning a marketing certification shows you’re knowledgeable and committed to self-learning. It’s not just something that looks good on a resume either, you will actually get better at your craft by going through these courses.

Whether it is to grow your business, improve your department, personally grow or edge out competitors for a new position or promotion, marketing certifications can help. With the criteria of personal growth and improving your resume, let’s look at the best marketing certifications of 2020.

Best Marketing Certifications 2020: HubSpot Inbound Certification

This certification nails our criteria of benefiting your resume and expertise. If you scroll through Indeed looking for marketing jobs (specifically digital marketing or content positions), you’re guaranteed to see some type of HubSpot certification mentioned quite a bit as a requirement or preferred skill.

At the time of this article’s publishing, the keyword “HubSpot Certification” pulled in 405 jobs on Indeed, 361 jobs on SimplyHired and 135 jobs on LinkedIn.

Employers like this cert for two reasons—it tells them you’re knowledgeable about inbound marketing and have a base of knowledge that will benefit you if the company uses or decides to use HubSpot as a marketing tool.

This certification focuses on the ins and outs of building an inbound marketing strategy. The course covers content creation, social promotion, lead nurturing and much more. We recommend completing the HubSpot Marketing Software certification as well (if you or someone you know has a subscription) . This way you’ll know how to operate all the nuts and bolts of the software in addition to the strategy and creative. This combination will have you more knowledgeable and able to thoughtfully operate one of the largest sales and marketing software tools in the world.

Cost: Free

Link: HubSpot Inbound Certification

Best Marketing Certifications 2020: Google Analytics IQ Certification

Yes, the all-powerful Google. There is not a single industry that Google doesn’t touch. No matter what marketing position you hold, it is sure to be affected by Google in some way. Being found in Google is incredibly important for most businesses. Content creation, link building and other algorithm-pleasing tactics go a long way in contributing to this, but don’t underestimate the power of understanding Google Analytics.

There is a wealth of information in Google Analytics about your website visitors, their behaviors and interests. These insights don’t only help with SEO, they can help guide you with your email marketing strategy, paid ad strategy and nearly any other marketing avenue you can think of. It’s a great add to your toolbelt, and easy to see why it’s one of the best marketing certifications of 2020.  

Google recommends you go through the Google Analytics Academy to prepare for the exam.

Cost: Free

Link: Google Analytics IQ Certification

Best Marketing Certifications 2020: Hootsuite Social Marketing Certification

Hootsuite is an extremely popular social media management platform and for good reason. It helps you discover, schedule and track your social media marketing across multiple accounts and platforms seamlessly. A great tool for marketers. So, what better place to learn about social media marketing?

The Hootsuite Social Marketing Certification is described as an “industry-recognized certification that demonstrates your expertise with the essential elements of social marketing to clients and employers.” Hootsuite offers a free online Social Marketing Training course to prepare for the exam.

Cost: $199

Link: Hootsuite Social Marketing Certification

Best Marketing Certifications 2020: Stanford University’s Machine Learning Certification

You really want to impress your coworkers? This is the one. Yes, AI is indeed the way of the future (and the present in many ways as well). It’s never a bad idea to stay ahead of the curve. This is one of the most popular courses on the topic. Described as an introductory course, it touches on datamining and statistical pattern recognition in addition to machine learning. You won’t only get to learn about these techniques but also how to implement them—giving you the opportunity to start pitching exciting new ideas at work right away.

Cost: Enroll for free

Link: Stanford University’s Machine Learning Certification

Best Marketing Certifications 2020: HubSpot Inbound Certification

For those of you who are looking for something that covers a more broadscale of topics, The Digital Marketing Institute’s DMI Pro Certification is an excellent choice. The Digital Marketing Institute is a highly respected source for digital marketing training with a legitimate global presence. The courses cover Google Ads, social media marketing, SEO, analytics, and much more.

Due to its wide range and extensiveness, this is a very good choice for someone who doesn’t possess a marketing degree and is looking to make a career change into the digital marketing field.

Cost: $1955

Link: HubSpot Inbound Certification

Some other places to look for certificates to consider in 2020 could be at your local chamber of commerce, within your current company or at your alma mater. There are endless options out there to improve your skill set, knowledge level and resume. The certifications listed here as the Best Marketing Certifications of 2020 are an excellent start!