Free Certifications to Make You a More Well-Rounded Marketer

One thing that gave me an unexpected boost during my job search? Certifications.

Hiring managers actually care about them now. It’s not just: “Can you work this program?” It’s more: “Do you know about all the latest features and will follow the same best practices with us?”

And since platforms and marketing channels change faster than we can keep up, certifications help you stay current and show receipts.

Here are some of my favorite free certifications to round out your marketing skills:

A quick win. Great for email basics, remembering the laws, and refreshing best practices. If you’ve ever been “the email person” on your team, no matter the software, this gives you a badge for it.

HubSpot loves marketers, and it shows. Their courses are practical, up to date, and actually respected by hiring managers. The Sales Management course is especially helpful for product marketers who haven’t worked directly on a B2B sales team. The fundamentals are familiar, but this course gave me the words, acronyms, and framework to better “speak the language” of sales and clearly show what I know from my years in B2C sales.

Think of these as speaking Google’s native tongue. Even if you don’t touch ads every day, understanding how Google frames the ecosystem makes you sharper. Plus, they change every thing all the time and the course is quick if you already have experience running ads. I plan to knock out the Search Ads Certification during lunch next week.

If you’re in cross-functional roles, this one helps prove you can set up systems, not just use them. I’ve used Asana to manage various projects and automations for years, I thought I was already an expert and this course would be boring. It wasn’t. I especially loved seeing the visuals of their Work Graph. And it helped me learn change management tips that would have made my job easier in the past.

Another great project management win. Good for showing you can adapt to different workflow tools quickly. I only did this course because a specific role that I applied to requested it.

When I was laid off, all the SOPs and training I’d built disappeared behind a company login I no longer had access to. No public proof. No receipts.

Now? Every time I upskill, I try to make it public and portable:

Right now I’m halfway through Google Data Analytics on Coursea and I’m not sure I’ll complete the remaining modules. And in my “after bedtime” project, I’m learning Supabase and Resend while building out apps. I might have to pause work and take a course.

If you’re in a new role (or between roles), try one of these free certifications. They’re quick, portable, and honestly, they might give you the same unexpected boost they gave me. You may find it annoying to pause or slow down on projects to learn, but I promise, you’ll work faster, and make fewer mistakes.

We’re building silly apps to grow serious skill.