For people in retail, hospitality, admin or a trade who want a desk job in marketing. What you will learn, how long it takes, what it costs and where to start.
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Quick answer: You can move into digital marketing from retail, hospitality, admin or a trade without starting again at university. Learn the core channels, build two or three portfolio pieces, collect the free Google and HubSpot certificates, then apply for assistant and coordinator roles. Our Essentials course covers the foundations for $499, paid once.
The skills you already have count. Customer service teaches you what people want and what puts them off. Hospitality teaches pace and working to a deadline. Admin teaches organisation and detail. A trade teaches quoting, reliability and explaining a job in plain words. Marketing uses all of them.
These are the tasks a marketing assistant or coordinator is handed in the first months of a new job:
Essentials, the foundations path: You will be able to audit a business's digital presence and write a 90 day marketing plan across search, social and email, which is the first task most employers and first clients hand a new marketer.
Deluxe, the job ready path: You will be able to plan, build and report on a multi-channel campaign across SEO, paid search, social and email, and show the finished plan and reports in an interview as evidence of the work a coordinator role expects.
Every lesson takes about 20 minutes. You have 12 months access from the date of purchase and can go at your own pace.
| Course | Lessons | Lesson time | At three lessons a week |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essentials ($499) | Over 50 | about 18 hours | About four months |
| Deluxe ($799) | 100 | about 33 hours | About eight months |
| A short course ($79 to $149) | 12 to 34 | About 4 to 11 hours | One to three months |
Add the time you spend on the portfolio brief at the end of each course.
| Option | Price | Recognised qualification | What it does better than us |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 Minute Marketing Essentials | $499, paid once, 12 months access | No. Certificate of Completion | Not applicable. Self paced, practical, with a portfolio brief |
| TAFE or RTO qualification | $634.90 (North Metropolitan TAFE, WA, Certificate IV core units at the concession rate) [1] to $3,550 (Monarch Institute, Diploma of Marketing and Communication) [2] and $5,535 (TAFE Queensland, Diploma of Marketing and Communication, 9 months) [3] | Yes | A qualification on the national register, VET Student Loans for eligible diplomas, and timetabled classes at many providers. Subsidised prices can be close to ours |
| Bootcamp or short course | $899 (Academy Xi, Digital Marketing: Foundations, self paced, 6 months access) [4] to from $8,999 (Academy Xi, Advanced Certificate, 24 weeks part time) [5] | No | Live teaching, a cohort, mentors and career services. Academy Xi's Career Growth Guarantee adds extra courses and career support if you are not hired within 180 days |
| Free platform certificates | Free (Google Skillshop foundational certifications [6], HubSpot Academy [7]) | No | They cost nothing and carry a brand employers know. Collect them alongside any course |
Competitor prices checked on each provider's own page on the date in the source list. Prices and inclusions differ, so check the provider's page before you decide. Your TAFE fee depends on your state and eligibility.
Read the full comparisons: vs a TAFE or RTO diploma, vs bootcamps, vs free certificates, or all options side by side.
For someone starting from zero. Over 50 lessons of about 20 minutes across websites, SEO, social media, email, paid ads and AI tools, ending with an audit and 90 day plan you can show. Paid once, 12 months access.
Deluxe ($799) is the job ready path: 100 lessons and one campaign across several channels, with reports. Not sure which fits? The course finder asks three questions and points you to one.
No. Our courses are not accredited and they are not a nationally recognised qualification. When you finish a course you receive a Certificate of Completion, which records that you completed a self paced online course. It claims nothing more than that.
What you can show an employer or client is the work itself: the portfolio piece you build from the course's practice brief. Alongside it, collect the free certifications from Google Skillshop and HubSpot Academy as you go. They are free, they prove you know a specific platform, and they sit well next to a portfolio.
If a job you want lists a formal qualification as essential, a TAFE or RTO course is the right choice. We explain why accredited courses update slowly in why accredited courses lag the platforms.
You do not need a business, a website or an ad budget of your own. Each course ends with a practice brief on an obviously fictional business, and you finish with a piece of work you can show an employer or a first client. Present it as a practice project, never as work for a real client. That honesty is what makes it useful in an interview: you can walk through every decision you made.
Digital Presence Audit and 90 Day Plan for The Wattle Spoon, a fictional regional Victorian cafƩ: a three to four page audit, a one page priority matrix and a 90 day plan laid out week by week.
Multi-Channel Campaign Plan for Tallowwood Electrical, a fictional Brisbane electrician: a campaign plan with the budget maths and a keyword map, a draft Google Ads Search campaign built without spending money, a four email follow up sequence and a monthly report template.
Every lesson is written by Adrian Prokopiec, who runs digital marketing for two national brands. We update lessons when Google, Meta and the AI tools change. You also get expert tutor support from the founder for your 12 months, so you can ask about a specific part of your work. You can see how he works in practice in our free SEO Lens Chrome extension, which lets you check any page the way Google reads it.
No course can promise you a job, and we will not. What you get is practical skills, a finished portfolio piece built on a fictional practice brief, and a Certificate of Completion. Those give you something real to show in an interview. Collect the free Google Skillshop and HubSpot Academy certifications as you go.
No. Essentials is written for someone starting from zero, and you do not need a website, a budget or a business of your own. The practice brief gives you a business to work on.
No, and that's a deliberate choice. 20 Minute Marketing is not a registered training organisation, and our courses are not nationally recognised training.
Accreditation adds cost, and that cost would put practical digital marketing education out of reach for many people, especially young people starting out. It is also slow. The national Certificate IV in Marketing and Communication hasn't been updated since October 2020, while Google, Meta and the AI tools change every few months. We update our lessons when the platforms change, and every lesson is written by someone who runs digital marketing for two national brands.
If you need a qualification on the national register, a TAFE or RTO course is the right choice. If you want current, practical skills, a portfolio you can show an employer or client, and a Certificate of Completion, you're in the right place. Many learners also collect free certificates from Google and HubSpot alongside our courses.
Essentials has over 50 lessons of about 20 minutes, so about 18 hours of lessons plus the portfolio brief. At three lessons a week that is about four months. Deluxe has 100 lessons, about eight months at the same pace. You have 12 months access from the date of purchase.
Essentials costs $499 and Deluxe $799, paid once, with 12 months access. Short courses cost $79 to $149. There is a 30 day money-back guarantee from the date of purchase.
Every lesson is written by Adrian Prokopiec, who runs digital marketing for two national brands. You also get expert tutor support from the founder for your 12 months.
Essentials is $499, paid once, with 12 months access, expert tutor support from the founder and a 30 day money-back guarantee from the date of purchase.
See EssentialsFind your coursePrices and course details were read on each provider's own website on the date shown. Prices change, so check the provider's page before you decide. Figures shown to the cent on a provider's page are rounded to the nearest dollar here unless quoted in full.
Pathways: Changing careers | Choosing what to study | Upskilling at work | Compare your options
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