Digital Marketing Specialization Review: Knowing More About Coursera’s Popular Course

Digital Marketing Specialization Review

The overview and rankings

What is Digital Marketing Specialization about?

The Digital Marketing Specialization course helps people establish digital marketing skills through a series of 7 courses.

The lessons are provided by the University of Illinois. Aside from that, the specialization is part of the school’s iMBA (Masters of Business Administration) degree program.

Digital Marketing Specialization is ideal for beginners. You don’t need any experience in digital marketing to enroll in this. According to the course itself, you’ll need at least 8 months to finish it.

This specialization examines various areas of the modern digital marketing environment, including digital marketing analytics, social media marketing, search engine optimization, and 3D printing.

After completing the digital marketing specialization, you will have a comprehensive awareness of the integrations of the new digital marketing landscape and the new concepts, stories, and tools required to digitally produce, distribute, promote, and price products and services.

Based on enrolment, this course was among the most popular specialties. In addition, it was one of the 10 Most Popular Online Courses for Professionals in 2015.

This course placed among the top five. In 2015, the Digital Marketing Certificate was the most sought-after certificate on Coursera.

When you finish the course, you’ll have better knowledge of the fundamentals of digital marketing and acquire a new set of tools, ideas, and stories to help you price, promote, distribute, and create products digitally. 

Check out this 30-second video to know more about this course... 

Let us then know who started this all...

Who is Coursera

Coursera is not a person. It’s a popular learning platform on the internet that offers thousands of various courses.

It was established by Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller in 2012. Their goal when creating Coursera was to offer a life-changing learning experience to students across the globe. 

Today, Coursera is a well-known online learning platform that provides any person, anywhere, access to online degrees and courses from leading companies and universities. 

In February 2021, Coursera obtained B Corp certification. This means that they’ve got a legal responsibility to create a positive impact on society. 

As of today, Coursera works with more than 275 leading companies and universities to offer job-relevant, affordable, and flexible online learning to people around the world. 

How does Digital Marketing Specialization Work?

For those who don’t know, a Specialization from Coursera is a series of courses that can help a person master a particular skill.

Coursera Specializations are collections of courses designed to help you become an expert in a certain field. 

To begin, either sign up for the specialization or look over its courses to see which one best suits your needs.

If you sign up for one course that's part of a specialization, you'll get the specialization for free. If you only want to take one class, that's fine; you may suspend your membership at any time, and there are no penalties for canceling early.

As the course progresses, you may always check in on your learner dashboard to reflect and adjust as necessary.

Every Specialization requires the completion of a hands-on project. You must complete the project(s) to get your certificate and complete the Specialization. If the Specialization contains a separate course for the hands-on project, you must complete all other courses before beginning it.

When you finish every course and the hands-on project, you'll get a certificate to share with potential employers and your professional network.

Whenever a student enrolls in a specific course that’s part of the Specialization, that student will be automatically enrolled in the complete Specialization.

Of course, you can simply finish one course and end your subscription if you don’t want to complete the entire Specialization.

All Specializations include a hands-on project. You will be required to complete the project successfully to finish the Specialization and get your certificate.

Inside Internet Marketing Gold

If you’re curious about this online training program, you might be wondering what’s inside it. 

As mentioned earlier, Coursera’s Digital Marketing Specialization consists of 7 different courses about Digital Marketing. 

Here are the different courses that you’ll get inside the Digital Marketing Specialization.

Course 1: The Digital Marketing Revolution

This is the first course in the Digital Marketing Specialization program. The Digital Marketing Revolution is completely theoretical. It explains the differences between digital and analog marketing.

Once you finish this course, you will understand the differences between digital and analog and how these influence marketing and consumer behavior.

The total time to finish all lessons in this course is 26 hours. However, it’s broken down into 1 month. 

Course 2: Marketing in a Digital World

This is the second course of the Specialization program. It’s also one of the most well-known courses when it comes to Digital Marketing on Coursera. It has more than 500,000 students enrolled.

In the Marketing in a Digital World course, you will get a deep understanding of how digital channels, such as mobiles and the Internet, are transforming the world of marketing.

Just like the first course, the second course is completely theoretical as well. This means it won’t teach you how to do digital marketing. However, it only explains how digital marketing changed the way businesses approach price, placement, and product promotion.

You’ll need at least 29 hours to finish all the lessons in this course. The course material is broken down into 1 month.

Course 3: Digital Marketing Analytics in Theory

This course is being taught by the Head of Analytics at Google, Kevin Hartman. Just like the first two courses, the Digital Marketing Analytics in Theory course is completely theoretical.

It will teach you data analytics. It explains what data analytics is, how to utilize the most effective methods to present your data, and how to pick the right tools.

You can finish all the lessons in this course in under 20 hours.

Course 4: Digital Marketing Analytics in Practice

This is another course that is being taught by Kevin Hartman. It’s the continuation of the 3rd course. 

In the Digital Marketing Analytics in Practice course, you will learn how to produce meaningful data analytics reports utilizing the methods explained in both data analytics courses.

During the 3rd week, you will work on a case study about a manufacturing and design company and learn how to report, analyze, collect, and plan data.

You’ll need at least 21 hours to finish this entire course.

Course 5: Digital Media and Marketing Principles

This course is the first course in the Specialization program that touches on some of the most crucial topics of digital marketing.

In the Digital Media and Marketing Principles course, you will learn how mobile marketing, social media marketing, content marketing, and search marketing can be utilized by marketers as promotion and sales channels.

Mike Yao is the instructor for this course. He’s a professor of Digital Media. You’ll need at least 20 hours to finish this course. 

Course 6: Digital Media and Marketing Strategies

This is the 6th course in the Specialization program. Here, you will learn how to monitor, perform, and plan a digital marketing campaign.

It is the most interesting course in this whole specialization program. It’s also the one that touches the most vital aspect of digital marketing, which is running targeted digital marketing campaigns.

If you don’t have a lot of time to finish the entire Specialization program, then you should choose this course since it’s the most useful one.

You will also need at least 20 hours to finish all the lessons in this course.

Course 7: Digital Marketing Capstone

This is the last course of the Specialization program. It is a practical course created to provide you with hands-on experience with digital marketing campaigns. 

The course will let you play the role of a digital marketing manager via an online simulation. You will handle a company that sells digital cameras online.

In this course, you will need to:

• Do keyword research and make targeted ad campaigns
• Work on SEO and landing page optimization
• Perform an email marketing campaign
• Collect and analyze the performance of each campaign

Keep in mind that you won’t be able to access this course unless you finish all 6 courses in the Specialization program.

Check out this 1-minute video that gives you a glimpse on this course...

How to Join Digital Marketing Specialization

If you want to join the Digital Marketing Specialization of Coursera, you don’t have to worry about anything. It’s quite easy, especially if you follow the steps below.

First of all, you need to open your favorite browser and head to any search engine. Next, type “Coursera” in the search bar and hit enter.

Once you’re on the search result page, click on the first link you find. It should be from “Coursera.org”. 

After clicking the link, you should be on the homepage of Coursera. You’ll also find a search bar on the top left of the website. There, type in “Digital Marketing Specialization” and hit enter.

Then, click on the first result. It should be Digital Marketing from the University of Illinois. Lastly, click on the “Enroll for Free” button and fill in your personal information and you’re good to go.

Digital Marketing Specialization cost to join

The Digital Marketing Specialization program by Coursera is a subscription-based course. This means that you’ll have to pay every month to gain access to the course. It’s not a one-time fee.

The cost to join Digital Marketing Specialization is $74 a month. According to students, it takes an average of 8 months to finish the entire course. 

So, if you want to finish the whole specialization program, it will take you 8 months to do it. Then, your total cost will be $592.

Fortunately, Coursera provides a 7-day free full access trial to the program. This will enable you to check the course first to see if it fits your needs before you pay the monthly fee. 

Digital Marketing Specialization reviews online

Digital Marketing Specialization is a online course by Coursera that teaches you all there is to know about digital marketing and how you can use it to earn passive income online. 

But is it any good?

The only way to know this is to read reviews from people who have tried it by themselves...

Common positive Digital Marketing Specialization reviews

• Highly recommended for beginners
• Equips you with a Hands-on practical project
• Helpful in developing basic knowledge in digital marketing

The following comments below are the common positive reviews you’ll find online:

• “Highly recommended course for all beginners in the digital marketing field. And Coursera offers a great platform for all those candidates worldwide with the best refined study materials. Excellent support from the technical team who is there to help candidates throughout the course. One of my suggestions is that the new mobile version is not as good as the previous version. But I think they make it more user friendly.”
• “This is a great course that equips you with a hands-on practical project where you can put together all the research skills and knowledge you have acquired in the other previous six courses. I would recommend everyone involved on the Digital platform to do this course.”
• “The course was so helpful for me because I am a marketing student and I don't have prior knowledge of digital marketing, this course helped me a lot in developing basic knowledge in digital marketing.”

Common negative Digital Marketing Specialization reviews

• Very basic
• More on theoretical based approach
• The course is outdated

And here are the best negative reviews I seen:

• “I found this course to be very basic. I appreciate that Marketing requires a broad interaction, but a course designed to take 4 weeks (with 2~3 weeks of actual content) is too much. I need to learn about cost-per-click, impressions, ROI on ad spend - that sort of thing. I don't see how 3D printing is relevant to the majority of people in marketing today.”
• “I had great expectations for this course. The syllabus seems to be outdated and no more relevant. It's more of a theoretical based approach and not much practical. Things like customer co-creation were explained really well. The most distracting and irritating part during the video is the professor trying to keep holding his spectacle.”
• “I have to apologize that this course was so out of date. Yes, I learned a few things, but the recommended reading was from 2010 and 2011. One of the assignments was about an app that no longer exists. Had I not already purchased multiple classes I don't think I would continue on. I hope the next classes are more up-to-date.”

Is Digital Marketing Specialization a scam?

The simple answer is no. This is not a scam. Coursera is a well-known online learning platform. They offer thousands of various courses that are legit and valuable.

Aside from that, Digital Marketing Specialization is a course provided by a real university. Every instructor in that program is an expert when it comes to Digital Marketing. 

So, if you’re wondering if Digital Marketing Specialization is a scam, the answer is no.

Digital Marketing Specialization pros

Here are some of the best things that I discovered when reviewing Internet Marketing Gold...

#1 Beginner-friendly

The Digital Marketing Specialization program is extremely beginner-friendly. The first 3 courses in this program are all theoretical. 

It will first teach you everything you need to know about digital marketing before you can even perform any hands-on projects. This is particularly useful if you don’t have any idea about digital marketing.

#2 Every instructor in the program is an expert

One of the biggest advantages of this program is its instructors. Every single one of them specializes in Digital Marketing. 

Most of them are professors as well. This means that they know how to properly teach students to help them learn effectively. 

#3 Full access 7-day free trial

Another major advantage of this training program is the free trial. As a student, paying $74 a month can be a bit expensive. Because of this, you want to spend your money properly.

With the 7-day full access free trial, you can easily check all the courses in the program to see if it fits your needs. If you don’t think it’s worth it, you can look for another course. 

If you think it worth it, you can proceed and pay the monthly fee.

Digital Marketing Specialization Gold cons

And here are some of the things I find off in Internet Marketing Gold. So take note of these...

#1 Some courses are outdated

This is the biggest drawback of the training program. Some courses in this Specialization are outdated. All the methods and techniques are already replaced with new effective strategies. 

#2 It takes too long to finish

As mentioned earlier, you’ll need an average of 8 months to complete all the courses in the Digital Marketing Specialization program.

If you think about it, it’s extremely long for a digital marketing course. This is particularly true when you know that there are other courses out there that will help you learn Digital Marketing for a short period.

#3 Creators don't provide a refund

The Digital Marketing Specialization program by Coursera does not offer refund.

So, if you pay $74 and don’t want to proceed with the course, you won’t get your money back.

That’s why it’s important to use the 7-day free trial first.

My opinion - Digital Marketing Specialization

This Specialization program is worth it if you want to know how digital marketing works in theory. Unfortunately, you won’t learn how to utilize digital marketing to get more traffic or make more sales.

Because of this, I only recommend this course for beginners who have zero knowledge about digital marketing...

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