If you’re a business owner struggling to stay busy during COVID-19, now could be a great time to check out free marketing courses you can do to grow your business during this period of reflection. There’s a multitude of online marketing courses, resources and tools available right now totally free of charge, many of which were previously pretty pricey.
Read on to find out which are the best free marketing courses for anyone looking to brush up or learn something new during coronavirus-induced isolation.
Free marketing courses
Moz Academy online SEO courses
Top of the list of free courses you can do to brush up your digital marketing during lockdown is the Moz Academy suite of SEO courses.
One of the biggest names in digital marketing, Moz has released dozens of SEO courses and handy resources to users for free, potentially saving you thousands of pounds. To sign up to one of their free digital marketing courses, just use the code wegotthis at checkout, and off you go.
Good SEO will increase the number of visitors to your website, boost your Google ranking and ultimately lead to more conversions and sales – so put the work in, and watch your newfound SEO skills see your business soar!
Free coding course with Codeacademy
Diversifying your skills can only be a good thing, so if you’ve ever fancied learning how to code, check out the free coding course and resources available at Codeacademy.
Covering 12 different coding languages, Codeacademy has plenty of free online content to keep you busy during isolation.
Who knows, you could be setting up a brand new business peddling websites when you finally emerge from lockdown!
Harmon Brothers free video script writing course
Video content is an incredibly effective way to market your business online, so learning how to write a great video advert script is one seriously useful thing you could do during your COVID-19 isolation days.
Usually costing $197, US-based viral video specialists, the Harmon Brothers, are offering their 14-day script writing challenge for free right now.
The brains behind multiple viral videos will guide you through the process of writing a killer video script to promote your business, with daily homework tasks and support from company founder Daniel Harmon.
Once you’ve completed the challenge, you’ll have access to all the recordings for life.
Skillshare free premium access to online creative courses
Skillshare is offering free premium access to its online creative courses for two months.
There’s a plethora of courses on there spanning all types of creative disciplines, but the writing, design and affiliate marketing courses would be a great place to start if you’re looking to hone your skills to improve your marketing.
Ahrefs Academy free blogging course
If you’ve ever wanted to do your own blogging, or improve your writing skills, there’s now a free blogging course you can take during quarantine.
10 tutorials adding up to 5 hours’ worth of content marketing expertise is now available for free up on Ahrefs Academy.
Taking this free online blogging course will help you to hone your writing style, think of blogging ideas, optimise your content and come up with a foolproof content strategy. In short, it’s your one-stop shop to teach yourself how to blog for your business.
Class Central free online classes from Ivy League colleges
Right now, you can access a huge library of free online classes from world class US Ivy League universities like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Brown and Columbia on Class Central.
Just about every subject is covered, including many marketing-related topics like design, digital media, coding, advertising, web development, grammar and writing.
If you feel like upskilling in a totally different field, there’s no need to stop at the free marketing courses. Why not try a free course in something completely new, like textiles, philosophy or nutrition and wellness?
Mt Freelance free marketing masterclass for freelancers
Set up by two former Wieden+Kennedy creatives, Mt Freelance has released the first of its four-level video course, The Master Class for Creative Freelancers, for free.
Normally retailing at $257, it includes nine videos to get your started in the freelance world, totally free of charge.
This is a great opportunity to learn from two digital marketing industry stalwarts if you’re a newbie freelancer twiddling your thumbs during lockdown, or you’re considering freelancing due to job insecurity.
It covers setting up your website, promoting yourself on social media and developing your own freelance network.
Dash free coding course
If you haven’t got your own website yet, or you fancy building a new one from scratch during a prolonged quarantine period, check out Dash’s free online coding course.
Covering the basics of HTML, CSS and Javascript, it’s a great starting point for anyone keen to code their own site.
Google free online marketing courses
Of course, it wouldn’t be a blog on free online marketing courses without a shout out for Google Garage and Google Analytics Academy.
With hundreds of – mostly free – online courses available, there’s no better place to gen up on all things digital.
Browse online courses in PPC, SEO, data, coding, cyber security and much more – you can learn at your own pace, gain insight from leading experts and end up with something impressive to add to your CV and LinkedIn bio.
SEM Rush free online SEO courses
SEO software SEM Rush has plenty of online courses to help you learn more about search engine optimisation and how to use it to benefit your business. Many of the courses in its online academy are free to do, so whether you’re an SEO virgin or a seasoned pro, there’s bound to be something to pique your interest.
Plus, SEM Rush has released its popular SMM Toolkit for free for businesses suffering the effects of the coronavirus climate, so you can use this to improve and strategise your social media during the quarantine.
Free marketing resources
Hubspot free marketing tools to support businesses
Hubspot offers a host of marketing, sales and service tools for businesses to help them develop and grow. Right now, it’s offering a number of tools free of charge to help businesses move online during isolation, including quotes, e-sign and 1:1 video tools.
During COVID-19 lockdown, Hubspot is also offering a hefty discount on its Starter Growth Suite. Normally $112.50 a month, it’s been slashed to $50 a month. Although that’s not technically a free marketing resource, it’s an attractive discount if it’s something you’ve had your eye on for a while, or you feel it would help you steal a march on competitors during a tough trading time.
Adzooma free access to social media and PPC tools
Adzooma uses artificial intelligence software to improve Facebook, Google and Microsoft ads campaigns, eliminating wastage, setting up automation and optimising the number of leads.
Right now, it’s offering full access to its software for free from now until 1 June.
Saving you up to £799 a month, the free period is available for both new and existing customers. So, if you or your clients are still running social or PPC adverts during COVID-19, taking advantage of this could be a smart move to optimise your campaigns, and save you time and money.
Lab Plus digital marketing resources
Lab Plus released all of its digital marketing resources for free during March, but sadly this has now come to an end.
However, you can still do a 14-day free trial on their site, giving you plenty of time to learn from one of the world’s leading digital marketing giants by trawling through their marketing playbooks, templates and checklists.
The Drum’s Digital Transformation Festival – free marketing advice, tips and talks
Marketing bible The Drum is currently running an online digital festival full of information, advice and more from marketing industry giants.
It’s on until 24 April, so if you act fast, you could make the most of this fantastic opportunity to improve your marketing tekkers by getting stuck into daily doses of wisdom from the digital gurus.
But if you’ve missed it, don’t worry – all of the videos published during the digital marketing festival are available to watch online, free of charge.
GoDaddy free business resources for SMEs
Website building and domain specialists GoDaddy has set up a microsite called OpenWeStand to provide SMEs with useful advice, case studies and the opportunity to connect with other businesses.
GoDaddy has also slashed the cost of its email marketing packages, saving you up to 50% on keeping in touch with customers and colleagues during COVID-19.
Hootsuite free social media management tools
Social media management tool Hootsuite is currently running a special offer for businesses affected by the coronavirus outbreak. At the moment, you can access the Hootsuite Professional Plan free of charge.
Anyone who signs up to this plan will enjoy instant access to its social media posting and scheduling platform, enabling you to manage multiple social accounts. You can also tap into its back catalogue of social media courses for free, if you feel like now would be a good time to improve your social skills.
Promo.com free video building platform
Video making website Promo.com is offering a free Promo Plan for SMEs and NPOs, as well as a wealth of free marketing tools, including a social media calendar, video templates and useful blogs.
The free Promo Plan helps businesses to create five videos using Promo.com’s bank of free stock images and footage, which can be used to advertise your business or communicate with customers on your website and social media. The videos do feature the Promo.com watermark, but if you can deal with this then it’s a great tool to get you started on creating your own free video marketing content.
Canva free design tools to create your own content
It’s always free, but it’s worth mentioning Canva in any good list of free marketing resources available online. However much of a design novice you are, you can visit Canva’s user-friendly website and create your own designs with its handy templates and effects.
There’s also a range of free design courses you can do online at Canva.
Mailchimp free email marketing and resources
If you’ve ever used Mailchimp to design and send out emails to your customers, you’ll know it has a free version you can use if your database has 2,000 or fewer contacts.
But did you know Mailchimp has released loads of free marketing resources to help businesses through the COVID-19 crisis? They include tips on content writing and video marketing, as well as in-depth advice on increasing your email conversion rate.
Ubersuggest free SEO keyword planning
Neil Patel’s Ubersuggest is an SEO tool to help you find relevant keywords for your business, and plan how to integrate them into your marketing content.
Previously, there was a free version and advanced versions you could access by paying, but a number of the paid features have now been unlocked to help business work on their SEO strategy while in lockdown mode.
As mentioned earlier in this blog, SEO is a crucial tool to drive more traffic to your website and convert more leads, so if you haven’t got a clue where to start, this would be the perfect place to explore what you’re up against in terms of competitors, and which keywords will be useful for your business.
Unsplash royalty free marketing images
Another always-free site worth mentioning to help you promote your business during quarantine is Unsplash. Full of actually good, royalty-free stock images, it’s a valuable resource if you’re upping your social media or blogging game while on COVID-induced lockdown.
There’s no need to credit the photographers for any of the images on there, simply search, browse and download as you please. However, if you do want to support any of the snappers who have kindly donated their images for free, you can of course do so (a big thank you to Emma Matthews for the fabulous pic I’ve used on this blog).
Hopefully, this comprehensive list of free marketing tools, courses and resources will provide you with something to do, learn and achieve during COVID-19 isolation. There should be something in here to benefit every business owner, no matter what industry you’re in or what your grasp of digital marketing is.
Happy learning 🙂
