Top 10 Digital Marketing Courses in South Africa
In today’s world, for any business, it has become a crucial part to emphasize marketing strategies for your products or services to reach potential customers. Along with the quality of products or services, marketing has become equally important these days. If you are located in South Africa, learning digital marketing techniques is not rocket science. This article is about fundamental information about digital marketing, its advantages, its job prospects, and the best 10 digital marketing courses in South Africa.
After the birth of the internet in 1983 and because of its great affordability nowadays, most people have access to the internet. People spend a lot of their daily time on the internet. In these circumstances, marketing using the internet has become a successful, attractive, and affordable way to reach local as well as global customers.
What is Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing is a way of marketing your products or services or brands on the internet or other digital communication platforms. This is also called internet marketing and online marketing. Posts, blogs, promotional texts, audio, and videos on social media platforms are the best examples of digital marketing.
Types of Digital Marketing
Digital marketing can be roughly divided into eight categories.
Social Media Marketing
There is much beyond just posting on social media. Successful social media marketing requires consistent posts, coordination with company members for uniformity, and analyzing the results on how successful your social post was, and what changes to be made next time.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
The idea behind this type of digital marketing is to optimize your digital content so that it will rank on the first pages of google search engine results. For this, it is vital to search keywords related to your content that are mostly searched by people. Inserting these mostly searched keywords in your content, the well-structured design of your website and how is your website linked by other websites, etc. are the important attributes of SEO.
Pay-per-Click (PPC)
These are paid advertisements that appear on google search engines. When you search for something on google by typing some keyword, some of the results that appear on the top have written “ad” behind them. After clicking on those “ad” links and landing on their website page, the website owner pays some money to Google. Unlike SEO, it will stop appearing on the top, once the company/owner stops paying for it.
Content Marketing
In this type of digital marketing, contents from blogs, ebooks, whitepapers, podcasts, and videos are the platforms through which the product or service marketing is done. You can generate leads by marketing your content.
Email Marketing
Once you subscribed or installed apps of shopping websites or newsletters, you must have received regular emails from them. Personalized emails stating your name like “Hi Rina, this offer is only for our valuable customers like you…and so on..” definitely create a huge impact and are likely to gain leads. Moreover, customers can choose how frequently they want to hear from you and your offers through emails.
This type of marketing involves all the marketing strategies that go to mobile. These days people spend a lot of time a day on their mobile phones. So the marketing is made mobile-friendly for better reach, and to increase traffic and leads.
Marketing Analytics
The important advantage of digital marketing is to know the details of everything about marketing campaigns like how long a person has spent on your website, how frequently a person clicked on the given link, how many times a person has opened the emails sent by you, etc. This gives you an idea about the changing trends among the customers and how to cope with these changes. Google Analytics is a widely used popular analytics tool.
Affiliate Marketing
You may have seen videos by social media influencers marketing the products by some other company. This is also known as influencer marketing. This marketing type utilizes the popularity of social media influencers on Tiktok, Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, etc to promote your products and services. In the last few years, this kind of digital marketing has gained popularity.
Advantages of Digital Marketing
Better Reach
Digital marketing campaigns are not constrained by geography. They can be made global just by sitting in one place. If its target is local customers, even then digital marketing strategies work great based on local SEO.
Cost-effective
Digital marketing campaigns like SEO, SEM, etc can be run free of cost at least for the initial period. The social media posts will be visible locally as well as globally. The emails can be sent anywhere. This does not involve any printing, labor, or mail costs making it cost-effective.
Analysis
For every digital marketing campaign, it is possible to analyze its outcomes and success. Any skilled analyst instantly guesses if something is going wrong with the campaign and can fix it immediately. It is also possible to analyze the results and decide on better strategies for future marketing campaigns.
Easy to Learn
In the field of digital marketing, the marketing part is the same as traditional marketing. However, along with these marketing tactics, knowledge of the technology to implement these tactics is important. And these technical skills are quite easy to learn.
Multiple Media
You can run the same marketing campaigns using different multimedia platforms. For example, if you want to promote your newly launched product digitally, then you can post about it on different media in the form of blogs, videos, infographics, whitepapers, podcasts, emailers, etc.
Multiple Strategies
For your product or service promotion, you can apply multiple digital marketing strategies simultaneously. You can use SEO-based content creation, Search Engine Marketing (SEM), PPC marketing, affiliate marketing, email marketing, mobile marketing, etc at the same time. This ensures increased reach, increased traffic, and better results.
Difference Between Traditional Marketing and Digital Marketing
The rise in digital marketing does not mean that traditional marketing is outdated. Traditional marketing is still in great use. However, as compared to digital marketing, it has some limitations. So, with a little effort in learning technology, traditional marketers can also shift to digital marketing.
| Traditional Marketing | Digital Marketing |
| Limited by geography | Global reach is possible |
| Printing cost, labor cost, and transportation cost is added | Cost-effective, some powerful strategies like SEO, and SEM are even free |
| Comparatively hard to analyze the results. Coupons and offers through direct mail are some of the ways to analyze the marketing campaign results | Easy to analyze marketing campaign results and problems can be fixed even instantly or for better future campaigns |
| Examples: Flyers, direct mail | Examples: Social media like Facebook, Instagram Posts, blogs, e-mails, etc. |
Why Choose Digital Marketing as a Career?
Digital marketing is becoming a crucial part of business strategies. Businesses allot a significant amount in their budgets for digital marketing. For a successful and promising digital marketing campaign, businesses rely on skilled digital marketers. Hence the need for skilled digital marketers is rising and will keep rising.
It would be beneficial to have certification after completion of digital marketing courses in South Africa. There are no fixed eligibility criteria to opt for a digital marketing course. However, anyone with coding knowledge and interest, graphic designers, video makers, and editors, can take up digital marketing courses in South Africa.
Job Prospects After Digital Marketing Courses in South Africa
Here is a list of some of the jobs commonly available after completion of digital marketing courses in South Africa. However, many businesses also open different positions in this field according to their needs.
Digital Marketing Manager
Job Responsibilities
- To plan the marketing campaigns
- Coordinate the campaign results from the team to the head of the marketing department
- Coordinate all the digital marketing strategies for a campaign among the team members
- To study the analyzed data and plan future campaigns accordingly
SEO Expert
Job Responsibilities
- To study techniques, and strategies to increase traffic on a business’s website
- To study tactics, and plan keywords to rank the company’s page on search engine results.
PPC Expert
Job Responsibilities
- To plan and implement PPC campaigns across digital platforms available
- To get a budget for PPC campaigns
- To design engaging and attractive adverts
- To study competitors’ adverts and make necessary changes in PPC campaigns.
Website Designer/Developer
Job Responsibilities
- To plan, code, and design a website for the company
- To add engaging images, videos, and powerful CTAs to the website
- To update a website
Social Media Manager
Job Responsibilities
- To plan and manage engaging social media posts consistently by adhering to the company’s policies
- To automate the process using various tools
- To proofread the company’s social media posts
- To analyze the effect of social media posts and make changes in future posts accordingly
- To study the trends in customers’ interests, opinions, and behaviors and do needful changes in future social media posts
Content Marketer
Job Responsibilities
- To publish content for marketing company’s products and services
- To publish engaging content and proofread it
- To apply various appealing tactics while publishing the content
E-mail Marketer
Job Responsibilities
- To identify a target audience and prepare email lists
- To grow email lists
- To plan and run email campaigns
- To proofread the emailers in terms of grammar, spelling, etc
- To make attractive, engaging, personalized emailers using good graphics tools
- To maintain the list of emails of the target audience
- To ensure a prompt response to a customer’s query
- Data Analyst
Job Responsibilities
- To analyze the data collected from digital marketing campaigns using statistical tools
- To clean, filter the data and extract meaningful, useful data from the database
- To maintain the databases of various digital marketing campaigns
- To analyze the trends in customer’s behaviors, interests
- To report the outcomes of data analysis to the manager
Salary After Digital Marketing Courses in South Africa
Digital marketing jobs’ salary changes with qualifications, skills, experience, and hiring of companies. However, to get a rough idea about it, salary ranges are given in a tabular form for different job roles in the digital marketing field.
| Job Roles | Average Salary Range per Annum |
| Digital Marketing Manager | R 270k – R 4974k |
| SEO Expert | R 252k – R 2340k |
| SEM / PPC Expert | R 252k – R 2538k |
| Web Designer / Developer | R 174k – R 359k |
| Social Media Manager | R 210k – R 540k |
| Content Marketer | R 180k – R 712k |
| E-mail Marketer | R 228k – R 540k |
| Data Analyst | R 300k – R 6600k |
*R is the South African Currency “Rand”.
10 Best Digital Marketing Courses in South Africa
A lot of institutes and universities offer digital marketing courses and degrees across South Africa. Here is the list of the top 10 digital marketing courses in South Africa. It consists of offline as well as online courses. Anyone from South Africa can enroll in the online courses.
1. IIM SKILLS
It is a renowned government-recognized online education platform providing various courses in the field of marketing, writing, and accounting. Along with its headquarter in New Delhi, India, it has a presence across the world. Along with the best theory training, it focuses on detailed hands-on training in each module of the course. It offers the following online course on digital marketing which can be joined from South Africa.
Course Name: Master Digital Marketing Course
Duration: 3 months classes + 2 months paid internship
Mode: Online
Fee: 6,174.01 South African Rands +GST
Eligibility: Anyone can opt for this course.
Course Curriculum:
This course has the following modules:
- Website Development
- Social Media Marketing
- Micro Video Marketing
- Affiliate Marketing
- Email Marketing
- Google AdWords
- Content Writing
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Highlights of Digital Marketing Courses in South Africa:
- It introduces tools worth R16500
- Lifetime access to course material, presentations, and lectures
- Support to global placements
- Master certification from IIM Skills and preparation aid for other certifications from Google, Facebook Blueprint, and Hubspot
- This course comes with 60 hours of practical assignments
Contact Details:
E-mail: info@iimskills.com
Phone: +91 9580740740
Address: H B Twin Tower, Max Hospital Building, Pitam Pura, New Delhi 110034.
2. STADIO, Cape Town, and Pretoria
STADIO is a private educational institute in South Africa. It was formerly known as Southern Business School, Embury, Lisof, and Prestige Academy. It offers 50 different educational courses with certifications from bachelor to doctoral levels in the field of Arts and Design, Science and Technologies, Commerce, Law, Administration, Management, etc.
Course Name: Bachelor of Commerce in Digital Marketing
Duration: 3 Years
Fee: R 59000 for 1st-year
Eligibility:
- Degree Senior Certificate (SC)
- National Senior Certificate (NSC) with a minimum of 50% in 4 NSC 20 credit subjects and a minimum of 30% in English local language or first additional language
- Vocational Level 4 National Senior Certificate (NSC) with 60% in three fundamental subjects including English, minimum of 70% in three vocational subjects
- There are other access pathways also
The Curriculum of Digital Marketing Courses in South Africa:
1st Year:
- Business Communications Skills
- Euntreperenarship Skills
- Marketing Strategies: Promotions and Advertising
- Accounting
- Digital Marketing Part 1
- Economics Fundamentals
- Statistical Models
2nd Year:
- Marketing Strategies: Branding, Trade Shows, Promotions, Exhibitions
- Planning Strategies for Marketing
- Management of Marketing
- Micro and Macro Economics
- Digital Marketing Part 2
- Academic Literacy
- The behavior of Consumers Part 1
3rd Year:
- Planning Marketing Strategies
- Digital Marketing Part 3
- Research Methods
- The behavior of Consumers Part 2
Contact Details:
E-mail: hello@stadio.ac.za
Phone: +27 87158 5000
3. Red & Yellow Creative School of Business
It is a leading business school in Cape Town. It is established in 1994 and offers courses in marketing, management, and design.
Course Name: National Certificate in Digital Marketing
Duration: 1 Year full time
2 Years Part-time
Mode: On-campus: 1-year full time
Online: 2 years Part-time
Fee & Eligibility: Enquire at the contact details given below.
The Curriculum of Digital Marketing Courses in South Africa:
This course has the following four modules.
- To learn marketing strategy in the digital era
- To create assets from effective digital marketing
- To learn content marketing
- To study online advertising and relationship management
Highlights of the Course:
- This course is available online as well as in on-campus modes.
- This course includes written tests, assignments real-world problems, and research projects.
Contact Details:
E-mail: welcome@redandyellow.co.za
Phone: +27 872273283
Address: 97 Durham Avenue, Salt River, Cape Town, South Africa 7925.
In addition to this course, it also offers a 1-year online course in Advertising Specializing in Digital Marketing Course.
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4. University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa
UCT is one of the oldest public universities in South Africa established in 1829. It has 57 departments offering bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees. It has six campuses in suburban areas of Cape Town. It offers an online short-term course on digital marketing.
Course Name: Digital Marketing
Duration: 10 Weeks excluding the session of orientation
Mode: Online
Fee & Eligibility: You can enquire about fees and eligibility at the contact details given below.
Course Curriculum: It offers the following ten modules.
- Introduction of Digital Marketing
- Website Design and Development
- Website Analytics Tactics
- Online Copywriting Strategies
- Online Advertising and Pay-per-Click Strategies
- Social Media Marketing
- Email Marketing Strategies
- Mobile Marketing Strategies
- Digital Marketing Strategies
Highlights of Digital Marketing Courses in South Africa:
- It provides personalized online training
- The course is flexible yet well-structured
Contact Details:
Email: uctonline@getsmarter.com
Phone: +27 875518063
5. IT Academy, South Africa
It is a well-known educational institute in South Africa. It offers courses on various cutting-edge technologies that are in demand. It offers online, on-campus, and distance education courses.
Course Name: Digital Marketing Course
Duration: You can complete 30 hours of lectures in 12 months (Full time or part-time)
Mode: Online
Fee: R 6995
Eligibility: None
Course Curriculum:
- Management and Marketing of a Brand
- Press Release Writing
- Google Analytics Strategies
- Social Media Marketing
- WordPress Management
Highlights of Digital Marketing Courses in South Africa:
- It provides one-on-one mentoring
- It provides a certificate of course completion
- It provides free exam preparations
- It provides discounts on international exam vouchers
Contact Details:
E-mail: info@itacademy.co.za
Phone: +27 861663663
Address: Tygervalley Office Park, Durban Road, Bellville, Cape Town, 7550.
6. IIE – Vega School, South Africa
Vega school is a popular online, offline as well as distance education institute in South Africa. It is a brand by the Independent Institute of Education (IIE). The Vega school aims to keep South African people updated with changes going around the world in terms of technologies, business strategies, finances, etc.
Course Name: IIE BCom in Digital Marketing Degree
Duration: 3 years full-time
Mode: Online or on campus
Fee: Total R103000 for the first year. Payment in installments is also possible.
Eligibility:
- A Senior Certificate (SC) with a minimum of 33.3% in English, 40% in Mathematics in HG
- A National Senior Certificate (NSC) with a minimum of 30% in English, 40% in Mathematics, or 60% in technical Mathematics
- A National Vocational Certificate (NC V) with a minimum of 50% in English,60% in Mathematical literacy or technical mathematics
- USAF exemption certificate with meeting English and Mathematics requirements for international students
- There are other specific requirements for mature-aged and transfer students
Highlights of Digital Marketing Courses in South Africa:
First Year
- Introduction to accounting and management
- Introduction to applied communication techniques
- Website development techniques
- Mico and Macro Economics
- Introduction to digital marketing
Second Year
- Introduction to management of small businesses
- Introduction to financial management
- Introduction to quantitative techniques
- Introduction to brand activation strategies
- Introduction to data analytics in digital marketing
Third Year
- Introduction to strategic management
- Introduction to digital communication law
- Introduction to digital branding and challenges
- Practice the research techniques
Contact Details:
E-mail: vegaonline@vegascool.com
Phone: +27 873572808
7. Digital Business Academy, South Africa
It is an academy in South Africa that offers various courses on business marketing techniques like digital marketing, social media marketing, Facebook Advertising, etc.
Course Name: Digital Marketing Course
Duration: 3 days
Mode: Online or classroom
Fee: R 9000
Eligibility: None. However, it is recommended to have familiarity with basic computer skills.
Course Curriculum: This course offers the following ten modules.
- Introduction to principles and purpose of digital marketing
- To build and publish a well-structured, smart-performing website
- To plan and create content and marketing content strategies suitable for your target audience
- To develop, manage, and sustain active public on social media platforms and develop paid advertising campaigns on each of these social media platforms
- Introduction to SEO, how to rank organically on SERPs, competitor’s keyword research, keyword planning, etc.
- Introduction to PPC fundamentals, opening a Google Ads account, performing keyword research, creating and managing campaigns on Google Ads
- Introduction to basics of display and video advertising, account opening on YouTube, etc.
- Introduction to email marketing, tools for email marketing, creating a subscriber list, designing best emailers
- Introduction to Google Analytics and its users decide the success of your campaigns and accordingly make changes in future campaigns
- Introduction to digital marketing strategy and plan a budget for it, execute the strategies
Contact Details:
E-mail: admin@digitalbusinessacademy.co.za
Phone: +27 726513320
8. Digital School of Marketing, South Africa
It is a premier institute in South Africa providing digital marketing education. It is also an endorsed member of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) certification of the United Kingdom. Hence its certification is internationally recognized. It provides various courses on digital marketing, social media marketing, graphic design, and digital business.
It provides three courses on digital marketing: Advanced Digital Marketing Course, Intermediate Digital Marketing Course, and Basic Digital Marketing Course. Here are the details of the Basic Digital Marketing Course.
Course Name: Basic Digital Marketing Course
Duration: Approx. 2 months
Mode: Online
Fee: R9900
Eligibility: You can enquire at the contact details given below.
Course Curriculum:
This course has the following nine modules.
- Introductory Digital Marketing
- WordPress
- SEO and Website Analytics
- Social Media Marketing
- Copywriting and Content Marketing
- Paid Advertising
- Social Media Paid Advertising
- E-mail Marketing
- Mobile Marketing
Highlights of the Course:
- It provides downloadable ebooks
- Assessment throughout the course
- Certificate after completion of each module
- Unlimited access to live and on-demand sessions
- Interaction with industry experts
Contact Details:
E-mail: info@digitalschoolofmarketing.co.za
Phone: +27 861428710
Address: 292, Surrey Ave, Ferndale, Randburg 2194
9. Coursera
Coursera is a USA-based online learning platform. It is founded in 2012 by two professors from Stanford University, USA. It offers online courses through various global universities, institutes, and organizations. It offers above 4000 various courses globally. There are a lot of options available for digital marketing courses on Coursera
Here is the information of one the best courses as per reviews and ratings. This course is Google Digital Marketing and E-commerce Professional Certificate by Google. This is a series of seven courses. It is recommended to follow the order for the sake of continuity. These seven courses are as follows:
Course Names:
- Digital Marketing and E-commerce Foundations
- Attract and Engage Traffic with the help of Digital Marketing
- Interact Online with Customers to Shift from Likes to Leads
- E-mail Marketing
- Marketing Analytics
- Develop, Publish, and Manage E-commerce Stores
- Development of Customer Loyalty Online
Duration: Up to 6 months (as per your pace)
Mode: Online
Fee: Coursera membership fee (Financial aid is available)
Eligibility: None
Highlights of the Course:
- Hands-on projects
- Graded assignments and quizzes
- Separate shareable certificate after each course completion
10. Udemy
Udemy is a famous online education providing platform. It offers more than 213,000 courses on various topics like science and technologies, arts, designs, commerce, management, languages, religious studies, etc. There are numerous options available for digital marketing courses on Udemy. Here is the information on the top course as per the ratings and reviews.
Course Name: Complete Digital Marketing Course (Combo of 12 Courses)
By Rob Percival, Daragh Walsh, and Codestars
Duration: It provides 22.5 hours of on-demand videos.
Mode: Online
Fee: Approx. R 830
Eligibility: No experience is required and suitable for all kinds of businesses.
Course Curriculum:
- To do market research for the validation of business data
- To build a WordPress website without coding
- To develop a mailing list of 1000 people in 30 days
- To learn copywriting
- To learn SEO strategies and get free traffic to your website
- To learn Youtube marketing
- To learn social media marketing
- To learn 40+ ways to promote your app
- To set up profitable campaigns on Google AdWords
- To learn Facebook marketing
- To learn Google analytics
Highlights of Digital Marketing Courses in South Africa:
- Lifetime access to course updates
- It provides 8 downloadable resources
- It provides a certificate after course completion
- Fast response to QnA section
FAQs
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Is Content Writing and Content Marketing the same or different?
Content writing is writing any content. Whereas content marketing includes planning to write that content strategically, publish and promote it using various digital media tools, and keep track of its marketing results. Content writing can be part of content marketing but not vice versa.
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Can anyone opt for digital marketing courses in South Africa?
Yes, anyone can opt for digital marketing courses in South Africa. It is best suitable for those interested in marketing. Anyone who wants to switch to this field or upgrade their skills can enroll in digital marketing courses in South Africa.
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Are digital marketing courses in South Africa hard to learn?
Most of the fundamental techniques of digital marketing are relatively straightforward to learn. However, mastering these techniques can take considerable time. If you are unfamiliar with search engines, content and keyword management, data analysis, etc., you might feel overwhelmed initially. However, interest and desire to learn digital marketing will gradually overcome these difficulties.
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Can AI and machine learning replace the digital marketing field?
While marketing techniques can be automated using AI and machine learning to some extent, marketing still needs a human touch to connect with the customers. Creativity, invention ability, and originality are some of the human qualities that are very important in digital marketing. AI and machine learning can not automate these qualities. So, AI and machine learning have been adding value to the digital marketing field, but these technologies will not replace digital marketers.
Conclusion
The quality of any product or service and its marketing have gained equal importance these days. Marketing can be effectively done with the help of the internet, which is nothing but digital marketing. The scope for digital marketing is rocketed and is going to increase in near future, making it a great option for careers. Those who have a strong desire to learn marketing with an interest in technologies are the best suitable to enroll in the digital marketing courses in South Africa. I hope this article on the best digital marketing courses in South Africa will help aspiring candidates in digital marketing.