--- title: "Digital Marketing Foundations — free course with certificate" description: "Understand customers, choose the right channels and measure what matters, from funnels to ROAS" url: https://optimizeall.com/learn/digital-marketing-foundations updated: 2026-10-05 --- Marketing · Beginner · 367 minutes · free · updated Sep 2026 # Digital Marketing Foundations Understand customers, choose the right channels and measure what matters, from funnels to ROAS - **Lessons:** 15 in 5 modules - **Video lectures:** 15 lectures, 120 minutes - **Updated:** Sep 2026 ## Tools you'll use - Google Analytics 4 - Google Tag Manager - Google Consent Mode - Google Search Console - Google Trends - Google Keyword Planner - Campaign URL Builder - Google Sheets - Looker Studio - Meta Ads Manager - Meta Ad Library - TikTok Ads Manager - TikTok Creative Center - WhatsApp Business - ChatGPT - Claude - Gemini - Perplexity [Start the course](https://optimizeall.com/learn/digital-marketing-foundations/how-people-buy) ## About this course Build a solid, practical foundation in digital marketing that works whether you sell handmade products in Lahore, run a salon in Dubai or freelance from London. You will learn how people move from first discovering a brand to buying and recommending it, how to research customers (with and without AI), how to position an offer, and how to choose between search, AI answers, social, creators, email and WhatsApp. The course then turns to numbers. You will calculate **CPM, CTR, CPC, CVR, CPA, CAC, LTV, ROAS, MER and break-even ROAS** with worked examples, build a goal-based budget and a one-page weekly dashboard in Google Sheets. Finally, you will build a UTM tracking plan, understand attribution and consent (including Google Consent Mode and the UK's 2025 data reforms), use AI tools responsibly with the right disclosures, and finish with a 90-day marketing plan you can put to work straight away. ## What you will learn - Map a customer journey and funnel from real customer research and find the biggest drop-off point - Write a specific positioning statement and a benefit-led value proposition - Choose two or three channels, including search, AI answers, social and messaging, from demand and capacity - Build a goal-based budget and test it against contribution margin and break-even ROAS - Calculate CPM, CTR, CPC, CVR, CPA, CAC, LTV, ROAS and MER and build a weekly dashboard - Create a UTM naming convention and tracking plan and explain how attribution models differ - Apply consent, privacy and AI-disclosure principles across the UK, EU, US, UAE, KSA and Pakistan - Turn everything into a prioritised 90-day marketing plan with clear tests and decision rules ## Course content ### Customers, journeys and funnels Understand how people actually discover, evaluate and buy, research them properly, and position an offer so the right people choose it. - [How people buy: journeys and funnels](https://optimizeall.com/learn/digital-marketing-foundations/how-people-buy): 13 min - [Customer research and personas that actually help](https://optimizeall.com/learn/digital-marketing-foundations/customer-research-and-personas): 14 min - [Positioning and your value proposition](https://optimizeall.com/learn/digital-marketing-foundations/positioning-and-value-proposition): 13 min ### Channels and budgets Map the main digital channels, including search, AI answers, social, creators and messaging, to the jobs they do well, and build a realistic budget. - [The channel landscape: owned, earned, paid and shared](https://optimizeall.com/learn/digital-marketing-foundations/channel-landscape): 13 min - [Search, SEO and AI answers: being found when people look](https://optimizeall.com/learn/digital-marketing-foundations/search-and-ai-discovery): 14 min - [Social, creators and messaging: WhatsApp, SMS and communities](https://optimizeall.com/learn/digital-marketing-foundations/social-creators-and-messaging): 14 min - [Budgeting and planning a campaign](https://optimizeall.com/learn/digital-marketing-foundations/budgeting-and-planning): 14 min ### KPIs and unit economics Learn the core marketing metrics and formulas, use them together to decide what to scale or stop, and report them in a simple weekly dashboard. - [Funnel metrics: CPM, CTR, CPC, CVR and CPA](https://optimizeall.com/learn/digital-marketing-foundations/funnel-metrics): 14 min - [Unit economics: CAC, LTV, ROAS and break-even](https://optimizeall.com/learn/digital-marketing-foundations/cac-ltv-roas): 14 min - [Reporting and dashboards: a weekly view that drives decisions](https://optimizeall.com/learn/digital-marketing-foundations/reporting-and-dashboards): 14 min ### Measurement, attribution and privacy Set up trustworthy tracking with a UTM plan, understand attribution and its limits, and collect data lawfully with consent. - [Tracking and attribution basics](https://optimizeall.com/learn/digital-marketing-foundations/tracking-and-attribution): 14 min - [UTMs and a tracking plan you can trust](https://optimizeall.com/learn/digital-marketing-foundations/utm-and-tracking-plan): 15 min - [Privacy, consent and responsible data use](https://optimizeall.com/learn/digital-marketing-foundations/privacy-and-consent): 15 min ### AI-assisted marketing and your 90-day plan Use AI tools safely and with the right disclosures, then pull the whole course together into a 90-day plan with tests and decision rules. - [AI for marketers: faster work, honest results](https://optimizeall.com/learn/digital-marketing-foundations/ai-for-marketers-responsibly): 15 min - [Your 90-day marketing plan: from diagnosis to decisions](https://optimizeall.com/learn/digital-marketing-foundations/ninety-day-marketing-plan): 16 min ## Certificate: Certified Digital Marketer – Foundations The holder can research customers, map journeys, position an offer, choose channels including search, AI answers, social and messaging, and build goal-based budgets. They calculate core KPIs such as CAC, LTV, ROAS and MER, build a UTM tracking plan and weekly dashboard, apply consent and AI-disclosure rules, and produce a 90-day marketing plan. - **Final assessment:** 25 questions, 35 minutes - **Passing score:** 80%