According to the American Marketing Association, marketing is the process of creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. The 4 Ps of traditional marketing are: Product, Price, Promotion, and Place, although these have been transformed with digital marketing and innovative audience research and targeting methods.

There are many exciting fields to explore if you want a career in marketing. These include:

• Digital Marketing
• Marketing Management
• Public Relations
• Social Media Marketing
• Search Engine Optimization
• Search Engine Marketing
• Email Marketing

Find out about Careers in sales and marketing in our dedicated careers section.

A career in sales can take many forms, from planning and management to dealing with customers. It may be as straightforward as working in retail or as complex as building a long-term relationship with a client with tailor-made, technical solutions. With sales, you can use your personal strengths and interests to forge a successful career that will stand the test of time. 

Find lots of useful information in our Careers in sales and marketing section.

Free online courses at Alison are developed by experts and universities to ensure you’re learning the most current skills in both sales and marketing. We offer free sales and marketing courses that can be taken at your own pace. Whether you’re interested in earning a certificate within a specific skill set, or you’re looking to deep-dive into a sales or marketing subject with a diploma, Alison has you covered. 

Alison's free online sales courses are designed to teach you how to attract customers and close sales. We have short certificate courses that will introduce you to different sales techniques such as Sales and Negotiations Skills and Retail Management: Merchandising, Sales and Customer Communications. We also have a more comprehensive Diploma in Sales Management course that teaches the principles, practices, and tools involved in all aspects of the selling process. All these can be conveniently completed from the comfort of your home!

Alison’s free online marketing courses can help you spread the word about your product or service. If you have invested time, effort and money into your business but the return is not what you expected, a course like Alison’s Diploma in Marketing Management could be the answer. It covers everything from marketing theories to data analysis and should help you devise a strategy for success. The retail sector requires particular marketing acumen and we suggest the  Diploma in Retail Management for an overview of everything from paid advertising to creating a marketing plan and more. Even the smallest business can reach a global audience with the right digital marketing tools. We recommend the Diploma in Social Media Strategy for expert teaching on maximising the potential of online channels and platforms to improve your business’s or your client’s brand profile.

Master the art of persuasion, lead generation, and making sales calls with Alison's free online Sales courses. Each of our certificate courses can be completed in as little as 3 hours. We recommend you start with our Sales and Negotiations Skills and Customer Care Skills and Telephone Etiquette classes to learn some great sales techniques. You should also check out Alison’s Retail Management: Merchandising, Sales and Customer Communications and Retail Management - Merchandising, Distribution and Marketing to help your online or physical shop succeed.

There are so many ways to promote your products or services, one of Alison’s free online certificate courses in marketing can help you decipher which is best for your business or for making a career in this exciting field. We suggest The Complete Social Media Marketing Course for a practical guide to success using platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest and LinkedIn. Also, Marketing Through the Internet and Social Media is packed full of guidance for SWOT analysis in marketing, defining a social media policy, and the rules for posting. Alison also provides courses for particular sectors, such as its popular short course Tourism - Marketing and Promotion.

Learn the fundamental concepts and principles of the selling process with Alison's free online Sales Management courses. We highly recommend our Diploma in Sales Management course, where you will be guided through the crucial processes, techniques, and strategies of sales management in a commercial and business enterprise. We also suggest Alison’s Diploma in Retail Management for you if you are selling products rather than services. By the end of these courses, your sales management skills will be at the next level, and you’ll have given your sales career a real boost.

Get in-depth training with Alison’s free online certificate courses in marketing. For anyone wanting to forge a career in the industry, we can recommend the Diploma in Marketing Management which gives an overview of the theory and practice of marketing and the Diploma in Social Media Strategy for comprehensive training in making the most of the vast marketing opportunities offered by each of the social media platforms, including using funnels to convert lookers into buyers. There are many facets to success in the retail industry and we suggest Alison’s Diploma in Retail Management for in-depth training in every aspect of the trade, including the essentials of marketing and promoting goods and services. 

Alison has many free online marketing courses that can help you begin a career in marketing or progress further in your field. Read our blog to find out how you can get into marketing without a degree.