The New Year is a great opportunity to improve your digital marketing skills. It is a billion-dollar industry that is ever-changing and growing. Therefore, you must continue learning to stay on top of new marketing trends and updates.
To have an excellent marketing strategy in 2025, it is essential to learn from experts. That is why we compiled this list of free online marketing courses you can take this year.
We based our recommendations on…
- The most pressing marketing skills you must have to succeed.
- The instructor or company’s expertise on the subject.
- Overall quality of content.
How to Improve Your Marketing Strategy in 2025
Most Important Marketing Areas You Should Know
SEO
Search Engine Optimization, also known as SEO, has always been a crucial marketing skill. However, with the growth of artificial intelligence (AI), in 2025 it will be a must to understand how AI-generated content influences search results.
A new acronym is already in use: GEO, which stands for Generative Engine Optimization). It means optimizing your online presence and content for tools like ChatGPT and Gemini. These new systems are changing how we search online.
Why should you learn SEO in 2025?
The online searching habits have changed considerably in the past few years. According to Gartner, by 2026 the traditional search traffic will decrease 25%.
To ensure your business’ success and client satisfaction, all marketing professionals and business owners must stay current with the latest trends. By doing this, they can adjust their strategies accordingly. Learning SEO, regardless of the current changes, is an essential step of that process.
Social Media Management
Nowadays, no industry or company can ignore the power of social media. In 2025 you must know how to harness their potential to reach new clients and grow your brand awareness.
Why should you learn Social Media Management in 2025?
Since 2020, social media platforms have changed drastically when it comes to regulations, content consumption and trends. To get the best results from your social presence, you must learn the current trends, content style and audience behaviours on each platform.
Content Marketing
Content Marketing is one of the most relevant and impactful marketing areas over the past few years. From blog posts to short and long-form videos, Content Marketing will be an undeniable force to drive results in 2025.
Why should you learn Content Marketing in 2025?
According to the Content Marketing Institute, in 2025, it will be essential to focus on the value of strategic content tailored to your audience’s needs. Also, in the creative process while automating tedious repetitive tasks using AI. This combination will give you better results and increase productivity.
Email Marketing
One of the digital marketing trends for 2025 states that personalization will be an important step to stand out. Email marketing is an easy and efficient way to make that happen.
With data privacy and consent regulation (CASL, Quebéc’s Law 25 etc) becoming stricter, and the constant evolution of social media algorithms, all companies must have a reliable and direct way to reach their audience.
Why should you learn Email Marketing in 2025?
Email marketing has one of the highest returns on investment (ROI) in digital marketing. According to several studies, the average ROI of email campaigns is between 32 and 45 dollars per US dollar spent.
Various email marketing features—like email automation and segmentation— can help you strengthen your relationship with your audience, grow their loyalty and greater results. Also, email gives you total control (and responsibility) over your client’s data. A large social media following looks great and it is a great place to grow awareness. Nevertheless, if Instagram or Tik Tok shuts down or is banned—as we’ve seen happen in the U.S. recently—, you have no way to reach your community.
With email, you own the contacts data. You reach them where they access easily every day—their inboxes. Therefore, email is an essential part of your marketing strategy in 2025.
For Whom Are These Marketing Courses?
- People who don’t have formal training in marketing but wish to change industries, or whose current role requires some marketing skills.
- Business owners or managers who take care of the marketing demands.
- Marketing professionals who want to improve their skills.
6 Best Free Online Marketing Courses For You
Learn the Fundamentals of Digital Marketing with Google
Before jumping into advanced marketing subjects, and learning the subtleties of search engines, you must start at the top. To become a marketing expert, first master the fundamentals.
In this free online Digital Marketing Fundamentals by Google, you will learn the basics that all businesses must know. Plus, you will get to know all the Google tools that can increase your company’s reach.
Learn SEO with Yoast’s SEO for Beginners
Organic search is a long-term game, but it is well worth it. With a thorough strategy, SEO can generate constant web traffic and an incoming lead flow.
There is an absurd amount of online information about it and “things you must do” regarding search optimization. But we have chosen Yoast’s course for beginners as a great starting point for anyone.
Learn Graphic Design at the Canva Academy
Developing a quality marketing strategy for 2025 requires a strong skill set, including graphic design, which many marketing professionals don’t take the time to develop.
You don’t have to be a great designer or a natural artist. However, it is important to master the basic design concepts to create interesting content that aligns with your brand identity and catches your audience’s attention.
Without a doubt, the best place to do so is the Canva Academy. Canva has changed how the industry creates content over the past few years.
In this course, you will learn to create interesting content focused on social media, how to build a mood board for your campaigns or brand, and understand the basics of colour theory.
Learn Email Marketing at the Cyberimpact Academy
The goal of a marketing strategy is to get results for a business. We believe there’s no better way to do that than email marketing. When you use it wisely, you can achieve great new things with email campaigns. That’s why we launched the Cyberimpact Academy.
The Academy is here to help all companies and professionals to improve their marketing strategies. It contains several courses to introduce you to email marketing and digital marketing.
Also, you can learn about advanced topics such as KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), marketing automation, and landing pages—all the tools you need to upgrade your customer experience and increase loyalty and sales.
The best part is that the Cyberimpact Academy is free and available to all—you don’t need to be a Cyberimpact client or have an account. But you can always create a free account to try out all the features mentioned in the tutorial classes.
After completing some courses you can get verified certifications. Share these on your LinkedIn or add them to your CV to showcase your marketing expertise.
Learn Social Media Community Foundations at the HeyOrca Academy
Building a community, whether that is of followers or clients, is a great achievement for any brand. Several marketers would agree that it is no easy feature, but when you look at HeyOrca’s community, they make it seem easy.
So we were glad to find them sharing all their tips and experiences in this Social Media Community course.
You will learn the foundation of building a community, hear about their experience, how to plan your community, the success metrics you must know, and more. If you feel unsure if this topic is for you, watch our 1-hour webinar with HeyOrca’s CEO Joe Teo, where he talks about the impact of community on the company.
Learn Content Marketing with SEMRush’s Building a B2B Content Strategy
As mentioned here, Content Marketing is on the rise. 58% of B2B marketers who used content marketing noticed increased sales or revenue. It’s no longer optional for businesses to have a content strategy. Nevertheless, you must learn how to use it for your business needs and clients.
With the right strategy, it can do wonders. About 42% of B2B marketers who see little to no results from their Content Marketing strategy say that happened due to a lack of goals. That is why this course from SEMrush is a great choice for all.
Take Action and Learn by Doing
For a successful marketing strategy in 2025, you must develop your skills, draw inspiration from industry experts and, above all, learn from experience.
The best way to learn is by doing it—apply what you learn from these online courses and put it into use in your marketing plan for this year. Then, make informed decisions on what to change and what to keep. After all, nobody knows your business and context better than yourself.