Coursera Digital Marketing Specialization is considered one of the best digital marketing courses you can find on Coursera and appears on the top positions of the results when you search for a digital marketing course on Google.
In this comprehensive review, you’ll learn everything you need to know about this Specialization. We’ve gone through the lessons and exams and we’ll show exactly what to expect when you register for Coursera’s digital marketing certification program.
The review was performed by a highly experienced digital marketing expert and trainer. By the end of this post, you’ll know if this is the right digital marketing course for you.
You should consider taking the Coursera Digital Marketing Specialization if you want to get an idea of what digital marketing is and how it works. All courses are comprehensive, easy to follow, and taught by experienced digital marketing professors.
What is Coursera Digital Marketing Specialization?
The Coursera Digital Marketing Specialization helps students build digital marketing skills through a series of seven courses. The lessons are offered by the University of Illinois and the specialization is part of their Masters of Business Administration degree program (iMBA).
The course is suitable for beginners and requires no prior experience. The time needed to become digital marketing certified is approx 8 months.
What You’ll Learn?
When you successfully finish all seven courses, you’ll learn:
- How the digital revolution affected consumers and marketers
- How marketing works in the digital world
- What data analytics is and how to use it to make informed decisions
- How a digital marketing campaign is structured from planning to implementation
- How to setup, execute, and monitor a digital marketing plan from start to finish
How Much Does Coursera Digital Marketing Specialization Cost?
The cost to finish the Coursera Digital Marketing Specialization and get certified is $592. On average it takes students 8 months to complete all seven courses. The course is offered through the Coursera plus subscription which costs $74 per month (8 x $74).
Coursera offers a 7-day free trial to review the course material before committing to a paid plan.
Coursera Digital Marketing Specialization Contents
The digital marketing specialization includes seven courses. You should follow the courses in the order listed below. Each course takes around 20 hours to complete.
- The Digital Marketing Revolution
- Marketing in a Digital World
- Digital Marketing Analytics in Theory
- Digital Marketing Analytics in Practice
- Digital Media and Marketing Principles
- Digital Media and Marketing Strategies
- Digital Marketing Capstone
Course 1: The Digital Marketing Revolution
The Digital Marketing Revolution is the first course in the digital marketing specialization. It’s a purely theoretical course explaining the differences between analog and digital marketing.
Upon completion of the course, you’ll be able to understand the differences between analog and digital and how these affect consumer behavior and marketing.
The course material is broken down into 4 weeks and the total time to finish all modules is 26 hours.
| Topic | Time to Complete | |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Course Overview and Digital Dominance | 8 hours |
| Week 2 | Analog Resistance | 6 hours |
| Week 3 | Digital & Analog Synergy | 6 hours |
| Week 4 | Analog Transformation | 6 hours |
Course 2: Marketing in a Digital World
“Marketing in a Digital World” is the second course in the series. According to Coursera, this is one of the most popular digital marketing courses on their platform with over 500K learners.
In this course, you’ll get a deep understanding of how digital channels like the Internet and mobiles are changing the world of marketing.
It’s a theoretical course that does not teach you how to do digital marketing but rather explains how the digital marketing evolution changed the way marketers approach production promotion, placement, and price.
The course material is broken down into 4 weeks and the total time to complete is 29 hours.
| Topic | Time to Complete | |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Course Overview And How Digital Tools Are Changing Product | 9 hours |
| Week 2 | How Digital Tools Are Changing Promotion | 7 hours |
| Week 3 | How Digital Tools Are Changing Placement | 6 hours |
| Week 4 | How Digital Tools Are Changing Price | 7 hours |
Course 3: Digital Marketing Analytics in Theory
The “Digital Marketing Analytics in Theory” course is taught by Kevin Hartman, Head of Analytics at Google.
As stated in the title, this is a theoretical course that introduces data analytics to marketers. It explains what data analytics is, how to choose the right tools and how to use the most effective analytics techniques to present your data.
It’s a fairly short course that can be completed in 20 hours. The table below shows the course topics broken down per week.
| Topic | Time to Complete | |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Course Overview and The Day The Geeks Took Over | 6 hours |
| Week 2 | The Consumer Brand Relationship | 5 hours |
| Week 3 | The Science of Analytics (Part 1) | 5 hours |
| Week 4 | The Science of Analytics (Part 2) | 5 hours |
Course 4: Digital Marketing Analytics in Practice
The “Digital Marketing Analytics in Practice” course is the second course about digital marketing analytics taught by Kevin Hartman, Head of Analytics at Google.
In this course, you’ll learn how to create meaningful data analytics reports using the techniques explained in both data analytics courses.
During week 3, you’ll work on a case study about a design and manufacturing company and learn how to plan, collect, analyze and report data.
The total time to complete this course is 21 hours.
| Topic | Time to Complete | |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Course Overview and The Art of Analytics | 7 hours |
| Week 2 | Storytelling with Data | 5 hours |
| Week 3 | Bellabeat Case Study | 4 hours |
| Week 4 | The Future of Analytics | 5 hours |
Course 5: Digital Media and Marketing Principles
The “Digital Media and Marketing Principles” course is the first course in the series that touches on some of the most important concepts of digital marketing. It explains how search marketing, content marketing, social media marketing, and mobile marketing can be used by marketers as sales and promotion channels.
The course is taught by Mike Yao, Professor of Digital Media and it takes around 20 hours to complete.
| Topic | Time to Complete | |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Course Overview and The Changing Landscape | 5 hours |
| Week 2 | Key Processes and Core Strategies | 4 hours |
| Week 3 | Smart and Social Media Channels | 5 hours |
| Week 4 | Mobile Media and Beyond the Screens | 6 hours |
Course 6: Digital Media and Marketing Strategies
The “Digital Media and Marketing Strategies” is the sixth course in your path to complete the Coursera Digital Marketing Specialization.
In this course, you’ll learn how to plan, execute and monitor a digital marketing campaign. It’s the most interesting course in this specialization and the one that touches the most important part of digital marketing which is no other than running targeted digital marketing campaigns.
If you don’t want to do all courses in the digital marketing specialization and you had to only choose one course, then this is the course to take.
Similar to the other courses, the total time investment to complete all lessons is 20 hours.
| Topic | Time to Complete | |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Course Orientation and Module 1: Setting Goals and Preparing Your Digital Assets | 5 hours |
| Week 2 | Online and Video Marketing | 6 hours |
| Week 3 | Social and Email Marketing | 3 hours |
| Week 4 | Putting It All Together for Your Digital Plan | 5 hours |
Course 7: Digital Marketing Capstone
The “Digital Marketing Capstone” course is the final course in the series.
It’s a practical course designed to give you hands-on experience with digital marketing campaigns.
Through an online simulation, you’ll be asked to play the role of a digital marketing manager for a firm selling digital cameras online.
As part of the project, you’ll have to:
- Create targeted ad campaigns after doing keyword research.
- Work on landing page optimization and SEO.
- Execute an email marketing campaign.
- Gather and analyze the performance of your campaigns
To access this course, you first need to successfully complete all six courses.
| Topic | Time to Complete | |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Course Overview & Module 1 Client/Brand Analysis | 6 hours |
| Week 2 | Module 2 The Consumer Decision Journey | 2 hours |
| Week 3 | Module 3 Collect and Analyze Data | 1 hour |
| Week 4 | Module 4 The Channel and Content Strategy | 1 hour |
| Week 5 | Module 5 Test and Control Plan | 1 hour |
| Week 6 | Module 6 Final Digital Marketing Plan Submission | 2 hours |
Coursera Digital Marketing Specialization Exams
To get the Coursera Digital Marketing Certification, you have to complete all seven courses and submit all graded quizzes and assignments.
Graded quizzes come in different forms. Some are simple question-answer format, others are simulation-based and some are multiple-choice questions. As part of the assessment, you’ll also have to evaluate the work of other students.
You can see below samples of what the exam environment looks like. All exams are taken online without having to go to a dedicated test center.
In case you fail to pass an exam, you can retake it again.
The exams are not hard. If you study the course material, you’ll have no problem passing an exam.
How Hard is the Coursera Digital Marketing Specialization?
The Coursera Digital Marketing Specialization is not hard to get. It’s an entry-level certification that introduces students with no prior experience to the world of digital marketing.
The total time investment is 140 hours which translates to 8 months (studying 4 hours per week).
Most of the courses are theoretical explaining the basic digital marketing concepts while the practical courses don’t cover advanced topics, making this a good course for beginners.
As explained above, the exams come in various forms but as long as you study the course material, you’ll have no problem passing all exams and getting certified.
Is the Coursera Digital Marketing Specialization Worth it?
The Coursera Digital Marketing course is worth it if you want to get an overview of how digital marketing works. This is not a course that will teach you how to use digital marketing to make more sales or get more traffic from search engines.
It’s an introductory course for people who want to get an idea of what digital marketing is. The course material was developed 7 years ago and does not include all the latest techniques and practices.
Out of the seven courses, only two courses go into practice without covering any advanced concepts.
You should follow this course if you plan to pursue the iMBA offered by the University of Illinois, as this course gives you credits towards obtaining the MBA.
If your goal is to learn how to take advantage of digital marketing to grow your business, then you should consider other digital marketing courses that are more practical, actional, and with up-to-date information.
Other Digital Marketing Certifications
Despite what you’ll read on Coursera’s sales page, this is not one of the best digital marketing certifications on the market today. Things have changed a lot since this course was created and students now have more reliable options to learn digital marketing. Some of the best Coursera alternatives are listed below.
Best Digital Marketing Certifications – includes a list of alternative accredited certifications you can pursue and get certified.
Google Digital Marketing Certification – Offered by Google (and free), is one of the best alternatives to Coursera Digital Marketing Specialization.
Digital Marketing Full Course – A complete and highly actionable digital marketing course. With this course, you will learn everything you need to know to become a successful digital marketing professional.
Best Coursera Certificates – A list of the best certificate programs you can find on Coursera.
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