Why Take General Assembly’s Part-time Digital Marketing Course?

Career opportunities in the marketing field are growing, and a recent LinkedIn study suggests that it is heading quickly towards a digital-first approach. Roles in digital and media marketing are leading the charge. The same survey reports that the digital marketing specialist role is the most desired marketing job based on the volume of job postings.

Other in-demand roles include the digital account executive, digital marketing manager, and social media manager, showing that digital marketing is no longer only an option for companies. Its incorporation has become a crucial part of company growth strategies.

If you want to upgrade your digital marketing skills, you should consider the part-time digital marketing course offered by tech bootcamp General Assembly.

An Overview of General Assembly’s Part-Time Digital Marketing Course

• Program length: 40 hours
• Schedule: 10 weeks part-time or 1 week accelerated
• Cost: $3,950
• Locations: On-campus and online (Find the latest updates on campus reopening here.) 

General Assembly’s online part-time digital marketing course is an instructor-led course that gives learners and entrepreneurs versatile tools to succeed as digital marketers. It offers a market-led curriculum that focuses on launching, managing, measuring, and optimizing digital marketing campaigns to drive business growth. 

Students take a deep dive into various channels and tactics such as search engine marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, content marketing, and A/B testing of advertisements. Students also experience hands-on practice with industry-standard tools such as Google Analytics, Google Ads, and Facebook Ads. Throughout the course, the General Assembly team provides personal guidance to support learning plans and career goals.

The coursework, which includes expert-vetted labs and lesson decks, is co-created by industry experts who make up General Assembly’s Marketing Product Advisory Board. 

The course caps with students creating a polished real-world project that requires them to apply digital marketing techniques and create a campaign across multiple channels to bring a product to market.

Students leave the program with the following perks: 

• An industry-recognized General Assembly course certificate that adds value to any resume 
• The opportunity to expand their professional network through access to exclusive alumni events
• A robust and versatile skill set that meets business goals and drives the bottom line

General Assembly Part-Time Digital Marketing Course: Student Review

Although General Assembly’s online digital marketing course is part-time, the learning and skills gained are comprehensive enough to get you started on a new career path. Just ask Melissa Barrett. 

Before attending General Assembly, Melissa worked in arts and events administration, working with galleries and museums to curate art shows and coordinate events. She handled the marketing as well, from print advertising to email marketing and social media management.

Melissa explains, “I had great experiences working in the arts, however, the pandemic really limited what I was able to do because the work is so dependent on bringing people together in a space.” This is when she decided to pivot and focus on primarily digital marketing and media buying.

Melissa started exploring General Assembly. She considered taking an on-campus course in the evenings after her day job, but then thought, “I’m just going to pull the trigger and do the one-week course. It is still the same amount of training just condensed into one week. Then in one week, I’ll have that certification,” Melissa said.

“I’m so glad that I did it. The course really gave me all the tools that I needed to excel and further my digital marketing career, including networking opportunities and professional resources. After earning my certificate, I started out by consulting independently with artists and brands. This then led to working with SLT Consulting, a boutique marketing consultancy run by Sharon Lee Thony, who was my professor at GA.”

“I was also hired by a co-working space. It was a small business, so I wore a lot of hats. But one of the roles that I filled for them was Marketing Supervisor. I was with them for a year, throughout the pandemic,” Melissa added.

Wanting to focus primarily on digital marketing, she sought more opportunities elsewhere. Today, she works for the global marketing agency Hearts & Science as Assistant Social Strategist on the Warner Brothers account.

“I’m so grateful to have landed my first agency job with Hearts & Science. It’s a really exciting account and it’s neat to still be working in a creative facet, even though it’s digital media. My goal is to continue to grow and move up the ladder in the digital marketing world and in my career,” Melissa said.

She also shared what she valued most from General Assembly and what she uses the most from the course in her day-to-day work life. 

“Something I found to be very beneficial from the course was the personalized and hands-on experience. My professor, Sharon Lee Thony, was really great. She would walk us through each segment. And what I found to be most valuable was when we went into a platform—Facebook, for example—she would share her screen and teach us how to create a campaign and demonstrate how to use the tools available in ad manager. That was very helpful and is one of the skills I use most in my current role.”

Melissa also appreciated the sense of community that the course provided, especially when everyone was on lockdown. 

“I really enjoyed talking with the other students. We would have these breakout rooms where we would practice what we learned in a segment with a smaller group. It was a highlight of my day to be able to have that community, and to be talking with people from all different backgrounds all over the country,” Melissa said.

After finishing the course, Melissa immediately put into use what she learned. “I was provided with helpful tools and resources that I still am able to look back on. Especially when I started consulting, I referenced my notes and my course resources on a regular basis. Attending General Assembly really gave me all the tools I needed, however, it was up to me to take the initiative to use those tools to further my career.”

For students considering taking the part-time digital marketing course to become a digital marketer, she has this advice: “If they want to invest in themselves, and they’re interested in kick-starting their career in digital marketing, then go for it. It really was a big game-changer for me. Just having that certification on my resume really helped open up a lot of doors. I would definitely recommend it.”

Melissa’s General Assembly review is a great example of how General Assembly’s part-time courses can bring people closer to their goals.

Upgrade Your Marketing Career

Digital marketing skills are valuable in today’s modern workplace. No matter the size, all companies and organizations benefit from digital marketing becoming an essential part of their business strategy. Thanks to this shift, people with digital marketing skills are highly marketable.

Whether you are planning to start a digital marketing career, aiming for a promotion, or an entrepreneur who wants to develop a well-rounded set of marketing skills, General Assembly’s part-time digital marketing course can help you gain these crucial skills.

If you’re curious and you’d like to start looking into the field of digital marketing, a great place to start is with GA’s Intro to Digital Marketing Class.