10 Online Business Certificates to Advance Your Career

Are you interested in the creative side of business? Content marketers are the creative force behind branding and advertising products or businesses.

Content marketing courses center around learning the patterns of human behavior and creating a message that will sway people into buying a product or using a business. Classes include strategic content planning, branding and storytelling, and marketing with search engine optimization.

Depending on the program, you can focus on web design, digital marketing, written content, or advertisements.

With a content marketing certificate, you could pursue a career managing websites for businesses, writing blogs and web content for clients, managing social media or creating marketing strategies for products or businesses.

Finances are an important aspect of managing a business. A certificate in business finance gives you a broad understanding of the different financial components of business.

A finance certificate is not meant to prepare you to be an accountant but to assist you in making decisions based on financial reports and statements.

Courses could include financial accounting, financial decision-making, and financial statement analysis. You might also take courses in financial theories or investment strategies.

Completing a certificate in finance would be beneficial if you manage a business account or are in charge of making investment decisions.

Are you a business major with a love of data and spreadsheets? A certificate in business analytics prepares you to tackle the collection and analysis of business data. Depending on your role, you may also help compile and explain that data and its implications to others on the team.

Coursework includes material focused on gathering data and understanding what it means. You could encounter classes like marketing analytics, business analytics, and data mining. The program may cover other skills like coding and database management.

You can further your career as a market researcher, operations researcher, or financial analyst with a certificate in business analytics.

Operations management focuses on understanding how to turn labor and materials into services and goods in the most effective and cost-efficient way possible. A certificate in operations management gives you the broad knowledge to manage these intricate operations.

Many certificates in operations management programs include an introductory course on operations management. You might also take courses in management, principles in operations research, and cost estimation.

The coursework and the skills you learn within the program can prepare you to become an operations manager, production manager, or supply chain analyst.

Business communication is about more than customer service or being able to talk with coworkers. A certificate in business communication develops your ability to use a variety of business formats to communicate.

Programs in business communication teach how to effectively create and distribute different forms of business communication, from memos to presentations. Many certificate programs include coursework in email effectiveness, effective communication, and public speaking.

Pursuing a business communication certificate can help you improve communication with coworkers in written formats like email or memos. It can also help you run more effective, engaging meetings, helping you enhance your leadership skills or step into a new leadership role.