Marketing can be any way in which entrepreneurs and businesses seek to inform potential customers about their products. Here are some great free online resources to learn about marketing. Principles of Marketing course include:
- Marketing Philosophies and Ethics – Get an introduction to marketing terminology and the types of market orientation. Lessons also explore cause-related marketing and the social responsibility of corporations.
- The Marketing Environment – Learn how social values and beliefs factor into marketing strategies. Discover the impact of legal and political environments as well as foreign and domestic competition.
- Managing a Product and Product Retailing – Instructors discuss new product categories and their developmental stages along with product life cycles and classes of product adopters.
- Selling and Pricing Strategy – Discover factors affecting pricing strategies and objectives, and learn steps in the selling process. Lessons also explain such terms as pricing cost, price selection and price elasticity.
FREE ONLINE NON-CREDITED MARKETING COURSES
INNOVATION, MARKETS AND INDUSTRIAL CHANGE
Students taking this course from The Open University look at the roles of production and sales on shaping markets. Topics covered in the course include technology, costs, industry life cycles and network externalities as they relate to markets. Figures and short quizzes are used to help learners better understand course content.
ENTREPRENEURIAL MARKETING AT MIT
This course from MIT looks at the basic restraints facing entrepreneurs interested in marketing and selling products. In seven modules, students learn about sustaining competitive advantages, market research, creating a new market, overcoming market resistance, pricing tools and managing customers. This course employs various media for online students, including Web content, lecture notes, assignments and additional online tools. Students should note that all readings may not be available for free online.
MARKETING 101 COURSE
The course materials go over the basics of marketing, including the five P’s, product, promotion, price, place and positioning. These materials incorporate online tutorials, Web content and audio instructions to help students learn about the subject. Common course topics include goods, services, needs, wants, customer research, business research and estimating market size.
PODCASTS AT MARKETINGPOWER.COM
These podcasts, often sponsored by the American Marketing Association, allow online students to listen in on marketing insights from industry leaders. Students examine issues such as keeping sales up in slow markets, collaborative imagining, politics of selling and marketers as agents of change.
AMERICAN MARKETING ASSOCIATION TV EPISODES
Online episodes explore the most current themes in business, tourism and branding as they apply to marketing techniques and strategies. The episodes cover diverse topics such as celebrity sponsorship, sustainability, brand differentiation, tourism marketing and fundraising promotion.
OHIO DIRECT MARKETING PODCASTS
Podcasts offered through Ohio State University allow online students to gather expert knowledge on Ohio marketing trends and practices. Audio and video podcasts cover topics such as consumer trends, direct marketing strategies, forming cooperatives, bringing the customer back and responding to growth. Talks are often given by educators, specialists and directors.
HEALTH PROMOTION AND MARKETING PODCASTS
The University of California TV offers podcasts that allow online students to explore how marketing may affect health issues. Common themes from these podcasts include the effects of marketing on direct-to-consumer marketing, industry sponsored marketing and social marketing for health promotion in California and Mexico.
HOW TO CREATE ADVOCATES WITH LOYALTY
This podcast, offered through Pepperdine, looks at customer loyalty and branding issues. The talk discusses important issues such as the Socially, Environmentally and Ethically Responsible (SEER) model, implementing core values, maintaining loyalty and making emotional connections.
CHICAGO BOOTH SERIES PODCAST ARCHIVE
Podcasts from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago offer students the chance to listen in on many important talks about pressing business issues. Common issues related to marketing include podcasts covering topics such as the future of markets, media biases and the truth about marketing. Talks in this series are often given by CEOs and former governmental figures.
TWO GENERATIONS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP
These course materials from Stanford offer online students a generational look at entrepreneurship. The lecturers for this online podcast go over common topics for entrepreneurs through the lens of real company experiences.