Content Marketing Certifications and Certificates

If you’re looking for a way to demonstrate your skills in content marketing, you might be overwhelmed by the different certifications and certificate programs available. You might also have a lot of questions, such as what is the difference between a certificate and a certification? How do I earn a certificate or a certification? Do I have to be certified to work as a Content Marketer? This article aims to answer these questions so you can efficiently choose the right path toward a content marketing certification. Keep reading to find out more.

What is Content Marketing?

Content marketing relies on content created with a specific audience in mind and designed to appeal to the interests or problems of that audience. This could be blog posts, articles, reports, ebooks, videos, podcasts, or other media. The content builds and supports a relationship with the audience through social media, email, or websites.

Content doesn’t push a product, service, or brand. It focuses on what the audience is interested in, and Content Marketers learn that through data analytics. The content is relevant and valuable to the audience and rarely mentions the brand or product. Relevant content tells consumers a relatable story and gives them a sense of belonging to a group.

Read more about what content marketing is and why you should learn it. 

What Can You Do with Content Marketing?

Content marketing helps you connect with your audience, improve brand loyalty, generate leads, and increase sales. Unlike traditional marketing, which makes a direct pitch for products, content marketing is based on storytelling and rarely mentions a brand or sales. The content appeals to readers by helping them with a problem or issue. 

The first step in content marketing is to determine your audience and what they care about using Google Analytics and social media analytics tools. Once you know your audience’s interests, you can begin to draft content that addresses those needs. This helps build a relationship with your readers, which is crucial to improving brand loyalty. 

Although content rarely mentions the brand or product, relevant content tells a story that consumers relate to best. It gives them a sense of belonging to a group. Content marketing creates more customers than traditional marketing, and these customers are also more loyal. They feel connected to the company or brand and are more likely to buy again. This connection develops through storytelling that resonates with followers.

Content marketing also generates more leads than traditional marketing. Consumers prefer to learn about companies and products through articles and blog posts rather than advertising. Finally, content marketing costs less than traditional marketing and leads to higher conversion rates.

Certifications vs. Certificates: What’s the Difference?

You do not need any formal certificate to work in content marketing, but most people choose to sign up for training classes, some of which lead to certification. You can get a college degree in English or marketing to prepare for a career in content marketing. Still, four years at a college or university can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, so many people choose to earn a professional certification instead. Certificate programs take only a few months, while college degrees take years. Intensive content marketing courses focus mainly on the latest content marketing best practices.

After completing the course, you will get a certificate you can attach to an online resume or LinkedIn profile. This demonstrates to prospective employers that you have been trained in the latest techniques in content marketing, such as keyword research, search engine optimization, publishing schedules, and analytical tools. The Instructors working for training programs are marketing professionals who are more familiar with the rapidly changing internet landscape than college professors.

You earn a certificate at the end of a class and a certification after passing a competency test to prove that you know a software tool or process. Sometimes the test is given at the end of a training course, so you have both a certificate and a certification. Some certifications, like Google, have an expiration date and need to be renewed.

Top Certifications & Certificates for Content Marketing

Noble Desktop offers a Digital Marketing Certificate program that includes a Content Marketing Bootcamp covering content creation and promotion, as well as digital marketing strategy, SEO, Google Ads and Analytics, email marketing, and social media marketing.

Other content marketing certifications include Hubspot’s free Content Marketing Certification Course. This on-demand class covers storytelling, planning a content strategy, repurposing content, and other topics. The American Marketing Association administers a Content Marketing Certification Exam testing Content Marketers’ knowledge of planning and administering a content campaign. You can take the test to become a Professional Certified Marketer up to three times and must pass with a score of 80% or higher. The test costs $249 for AMA members and $349 for non-members.

Should I Get Certified in Content Marketing?

Taking an exam and earning a content marketing certification is optional if you want to work as a Content Marketer, but having a certificate shows that you are committed to your field and are willing to work to show that. Certification signals to employers and colleagues that you are knowledgeable and proficient in content marketing.

How to Get Certified in Content Marketing

If you want to get certified in content marketing so you can change to a new career, you can sign up for a class either on-demand or live online. Hubspot has an on-demand class on content marketing with videos you can watch at your own convenience. Noble Desktop offers a live online Content Marketing Bootcamp that covers an introduction to content marketing, including content creation and promotion. 

Learn Content Marketing with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

You can learn content marketing with hands-on classes at Noble Desktop. Taught by expert instructors, class sizes are small and give you ample opportunity to interact with the instructor and the other students. If you want to learn more about content marketing, sign up for Noble's Content Marketing Bootcamp. This course covers an introduction to content marketing and techniques for content creation and promotion, including how to measure the success of your content marketing.

If you want to go a step further, try Noble's Digital Marketing Certificate course. It covers email marketing, SEO, Google Analytics and Google Ads, and all major social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and LinkedIn Marketing. You also get a Streaming for Social Media course and a portfolio class. If you want, you can retake any class for free for up to a year. To find out more about content marketing and change careers, visit Noble Desktop's digital marketing page.

Key Insights

• Content marketing helps you connect with your audience, improve brand loyalty, generate leads, and increase conversions.

• Certifications come through taking a class, while certificates are earned by taking and passing an exam.
• You don’t need a certificate to work as a Content Marketer, but it shows your commitment to your career.
• You can receive comprehensive content marketing training through an in-person or live online course with Noble Desktop.