Helpful links and courses
Marketing Resources
There's a real need for a central resource of training and education opportunities for marketing professionals in the area. At the same time, a lot of people are often left asking about which are the best podcasts to listen to.
We're delighted to provide the links and information below. If you need any further help, or you have some other suggestions for things to include, please don't hesitate to get in touch!
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Whitepapers
December 2023 - Program
February 2024 - AB Brand & Marketing
March 2024 - Optix Solutions
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Training and education
Content Marketing
Social Media
SEO Marketing
Email Marketing
Web Development
PPC / Advertising
Digital Marketing
AI Marketing Certificate
Marketing MBA’s
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Marketing Podcasts
Optix Talks
Strategy Sessions by Andi Jarvis
Azeem Digital Asks
Exposure Ninja
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Mental Health
Horizon Counselling
Emergency Support
Building Brands Whitepapers
We have some fantastic agencies and talent around the South West. We’re incredibly fortunate. We wanted to give these agencies the opportunity to share some thoughts with our members, some valuable, important, thoughts that can help you transform your business. And just like that, Hey Presto, the Building Brands Whitepaper Series was born!
If you’re in an agency and want the opportunity to contribute to the Whitepaper Series, please get in touch (click here)
Positive Impact Marketing - by Program
December 2023 - Time for Change: the case for positive impact marketing
Sustainable Marketing - by AB Brand & Marketing
February 2024 - 50 simple things you can do to make your work greener
(and your customers happier)
Brand Building For The Future - by Optix Solutions
March 2024 - Shifting focus from immediate ROI to long-term success
We’ve got some huge plans for events in 2024
Come check them out and see if you there’s something for you!
Training & Education
There are a lot of options available to you if you're looking for marketing courses that you can do. We’re tried to list the best of them below, but if you know of others, please let us know!
Your Digital Future Digital Academy
One of the best, is the Your Digital Future Digital Academy. As the name suggests, it’s run by Your Digital Future and is stuffed with great courses and learning opportunities.
SEO, Email marketing, Content marketing, Personas, Search network and PPC, Display network and remarketing, Local SEO, Social Media, CRO & UX - Click here for more information
Free Content Marketing courses
We recommend newbies start with the Copywriting Quick Start Guide from Udemy while more seasoned marketers will benefit from Coursera’s Viral Marketing course.
Internet Marketing for Smart People - Copyblogger - Click here
Viral Marketing and How to Craft Contagious Content - Coursera - Click here
The Strategy of Content Marketing - Coursera - Click here
How to Write Web Copy That Sells - Skillshare - Click here
Content Marketing for B2B Enterprises - Udemy - Click here
Copywriting Quick Start: Top FREE Writing Tools & Hacks - Udemy - Click here
Copywriting Quick Start: Top FREE Writing Tools & Hacks - Udemy - Click here
Free SEO Marketing courses
We recommend HubSpot’s SEO Training for beginners, but if you’re already familiar with SEO basics, try Udemy’s Moz course. If you’re already using Moz as your preferred SEO tool, this course will help you get the most value from it.
SEO Training Course - HubSpot Academy - Click here
SEO Training Course by Moz - Udemy - Click here
SEO - QuickSprout - Click here
SEO Specialisation - Coursera - Click here
Free Web Development & Site Design Courses
If you’re just getting started with web development, CodeAcademy’s Make a Website course is the most accessible for newbies. Got the fundamentals down? Try out their course on Ruby instead.
Make a Website - CodeAcademy - Click here
Learn Javascript - CodeAcademy - Click here
Learn Ruby - CodeAcademy - Click here
Learn Python 3 - CodeAcademy - Click here
Learn HTML & CSS - CodeAcademy - Click here
Learn to Code Awesome Websites - General Assembly - Click here
AI Courses
Google has released free courses to master AI. No Need To Pay Thousands To Learn. Here’s How To Access Google’s AI Courses And Start Learning Today:
Google’s Introduction to Generative AI - Click here
Google’s Introduction to Image Generation - Click here
Google’s Introduction to Large Language Models - Click here
Google’s Introduction to Generative AI Studio - Click here
Exposure Ninja’s Introduction to AI (Podcast) - Click here
Udemy’s ChatGPT, Midjourney, Firefly, Bard, DALL-E, AI Crash Course - Click here
Other Free Digital Marketing Courses
Canva is a widely used tool to quickly create visuals for everything from email campaigns, to infographics to resumes. Their course on Design Basics will help you become a better visual communicator and embrace your inner designer.
Graphic Design Basics - Canva - Click here
Graphic Design Specialization - Coursera - Click here
Photoshop 2020: One-on-One Fundamentals - LinkedIn Learning - Click here
InDesign 2020: Essential Training - LinkedIn Learning - Click here
Video Marketing Course- HubSpot Academy - Click here
Event Marketing Course and Certification - Eventbrite - Click here
Brand marketing: Planning a Successful Event - Skillshare - Click here
Free Social Media courses
We recommend Semrush’s Social Media Fundamentals to get started crafting your own campaigns, followed by Quintly’s course on Social Media Analytics.
How to Use TikTok for Business - Udemy - Click here
Diploma in Social Media Marketing - Alison - Click here
Social Media Marketing Professional Certificate - Meta BluePrint - Click here
Social Media Analytics - Quintly - Click here
Social Media Quickstarter - Constant Contact - Click here
Semrush Social Media Fundamentals Course - Semrush - Click here
Free Email Marketing courses
Our top pick is Google’s Email Marketing Course. It gives you a great foundation of basics and best practices to follow to craft a winning email campaign. The quizzes between each module will also help ensure that you’re retaining information along the way.
Email Marketing Basics – Google Digital Garage - Click here
Email Marketing Made Easy for Beginners - Udemy - Click here
Free Online Advertising and PPC courses
If you’re completely new to digital advertising, HubSpot’s What Digital Advertising Is and How to Do It is the perfect starting point. You’ll learn advertising fundamentals and a step-by-step guide for creating campaigns. Those wanting to dig deeper into PPC should opt for Wordstream’s PPC University.
What Digital Advertising Is and How to Do It - HubSpot Academy - Click here
How to Build a Paid Media Strategy - HubSpot Academy - Click here
PPC University - Wordstream - Click here
Advertising Your Business Online - Alison - Click here
Advanced Competitive Research Practices with Semrush - Click here
Copywriting 101: Crafting Your First Ad Campaign - Skillshare - Click here
Free Marketing Certifications
HubSpot Inbound Marketing Certification - HubSpot Academy
HubSpot Content Marketing Certification - HubSpot Academy
Semrush Content Marketing Toolkit Course - Semrush
Email Marketing Course - Sendinblue Academy
HubSpot Email Marketing Certification - HubSpot Academy
Mark Ritson’s Marketing Week Mini MBA's
Marketing Week Mini MBA in Marketing - Click here
Marketing Week Mini MBA in Brand Management - Click here
Join the Slack Marketing Community
Marketing Podcasts
There are loads of marketing podcasts around. But which ones should you spend time listening to?
Optix Talk
Do you find it difficult to stay up to date with the latest digital marketing trends? Optix Solutions have the answer as they have launched a new podcast, titled More Than Digital Marketing; a podcast about all things digital marketing and so much more.
Catering to all levels of expertise, the More Than Digital Marketing podcast covers a range of topics within the digital marketing landscape from the most recent happenings in the Metaverse to up-to-the-minute news from the world of SEO, PPC, and social media marketing (and everything in between!).
Spotify - Link Here
Apple Podcasts - Link Here
Google Podcasts - Link Here
Youtube - Link Here
The Digital Behaviour Podcast
This is a podcast about human behaviour in the modern digital world. If you are interested in understanding what drives online behaviour, how we can measure this, and the impact of technology use on the wider world, please subscribe to this podcast. In each episode, Dr Hanne Knight and Dr Tom Bowden-Green discuss the latest academic research in this area and chat to guests about how and why an understanding of human behaviour in the digital world is important. (These are two of our favourite people from two of our favourite institutions in the South West - go give them a listen!). They’re also going to be helping to promote Building Brands!
Azeem Digital Asks
The all-round digital marketing podcast designed to help people of all experience/skill levels become better at their jobs. Tips and tricks from top marketing experts delivered right to your ears. Welcome to the "Azeem Digital Asks" digital marketing podcast, hosted by Azeem Ahmad - one of our speakers at November's Building Brands conference. Throughout his podcast episodes, Azeem talks to some of the top marketers in the industry and learns more about them, at the same time, getting some really useful marketing tips from them to help you too! If you're interested to learn more from some of the top names in the industry - then listen to Azeem on the links below.
Apple Podcasts - Link here
Strategy Sessions by Andi Jarvis
The Strategy Sessions is a marketing podcast that drops every three weeks and can be downloaded from all your favourite podcast places. It features Andi Jarvis interviewing some of the brightest and best marketers from around the world, sharing their thoughts on their craft and tips for improving your marketing.
Digital Marketing Podcast by Exposure Ninja
An all-around marketing podcast with a heavier focus on SEO. This podcast is fast-paced and interesting. Tim is extremely excitable and really knows how to capture the audience! Each podcast has extremely easy actionable points to help you become a better marketer. If you want to mix it up, then you can watch some episodes on YouTube, where you can see just how animated Tim is!
Apple Podcasts - Link here
Spotify - Link here
Youtube - Link here
Over 900 marketing professionals!
Join the Building Brands community
Mental Health Support
There are some very good employment agencies, specialising in marketing roles, and then there are some others that are more generalist agencies. I'd 100% recommend using either of the companies below - Your Digital Future and Sarah West Recruitment.
Horizon Counselling
We are absolutely delighted to have Alan and the team at Horizon Counselling as our mental health and well-being partners. They’re all fantastic people and we’re very fortunate to have their support.
One thing in particular that the team at Horizon Counselling in Plymouth do, is provide people with the resources to start changing their lives for the better. And they’re always full of some great advice - you can check out a lot of their videos and blogs from the following links.
Check out Horizon Counselling’s videos here
If you feel vulnerable, please don't wait - speak to someone now. We've provided a range of emergency contact details below. Or you can give the team at Horizon Counselling a call and get yourself an appointment.
Emergency help and support
Where can you turn if you need help and support urgently? In truth, there are a lot of different places that you can turn. And if you don't feel like actually talking, you can talk to someone through text messages as well.
Here's more information about where you can turn if you need help right now.
NHS 24 hour helpline
Find your local NHS 24 hour support number. Through this service, you can get the following help:
24-hour advice and support for you, your child, your parent or someone you care for
help speaking to a mental health professional
an assessment to find the right care for you
Call 999 if someone's life is in danger or go to A&E immediately
Call 999 or go to A&E immediately if someone's life is at risk – for example, they have seriously injured themselves or taken an overdose
Or call 999 if you do not feel you can keep yourself or someone else safe
A mental health emergency should be taken as seriously as a physical one. You will not be wasting anyone's time.
24 hour mental health support by text message
You can text "SHOUT" to 85258 for free from all major UK mobile networks. You'll then be connected to a volunteer for an anonymous conversation by text message.
Confidential support from trained volunteers, 24 hours a day
Call 116 123 to talk to Samaritans, or email: jo@samaritans.org for a reply within 24 hours
Mental Health support for Under 19s
If you're under 19, you can also call 0800 1111 to talk to Childline. The number will not appear on your phone bill. You can also get help and support through the Childline website - send an email to a counsellor, or you can even chat live on the site on a 1-2-1 basis. Visit the Childline website here - Childline