What are the top 10 in digital marketing in India?

With the worldwide internet community at over 4.5 billion and rising at a steady rate, increasing number of customers now make their purchasing decisions online and swap online. Businesses the world over have started to take crucial note of this and are now carving out a niche for themselves in the digital world as well, to help them create their brand, improve their customer base and fascinate their clientele effectively. This has led to an enormous upswing in the digital media marketing services industry which in turn has spawned a new demand for trained professionals with knowledge and experience in the field. With the industry, especially in India, still in its beginning with a tremendous projected expansion potential and an anticipated paucity of trained professionals, many students, graduates and young professionals are looking to board on the digital marketing bandwagon. This has cultivated a need for courses in Digital Marketing to give the requisite knowledge and training to outshine in the field.


The rising popularity of these courses can be measured by the Search trend for the keywords “Digital marketing” and “Online Marketing” and "Social Media Marketing".

Globally, the search interest in digital/online marketing/social media marketing has been in a continuous up trend (or a secular bull market if you are a markets enthusiast) since the latter half of 2006. In India, the trend caught on late during the end of 2011 but since then, has seen a steady growth. With the rising internet penetration and social media rage, this can only be expected to soar further.


To cater to the thriving demand,, a number of organizations and institutions have started various courses on Digital marketing. Digital marketingm is a vast field and include several disciplines including Display ads, Search Engine Marketing(SEM) and Search Engine Optimization(SEO), Social Media marketing(SMM), Email marketing, Mobile Marketing and Affiliate Marketing. Each of these is an area in itself and there are field-specific courses being offered as well. Some of the courses come with certifications recognized by distinct bodies. Certification certainly cannot expedient for hands-on industry experience but, nevertheless, can add to the CV of a fresher making an entry into the field.


We’ll chart out some of the prominent websites/companies/institutes extending Digital Marketing courses (in no specific order) which will retain you a considerable amount of time in investigation if you’re looking for one for yourself:

1. Digital Academy India

Digital Academy is an endeavor to educate Indian students and professionals for career competitiveness in the Internet Economy. They provide a Professional Diploma in Digital Marketing, Certification in Social & Mobile Marketing and a Certification in Search Marketing each of which is powered by Digital Marketing Institute (DMI), Ireland. In addition, they deliver a Certified Internet Marketer course powered by the Internet Marketing Association (IMA), USA and an in-house Google Adwords 101 and 102 workshop.

2. Market Motive

Market Motive, co-founded in 2008 by American entrepreneur and Google Digital Marketing Evangelist Avinash Kaushik, empowers online education and certification in six disciplines – Search Engine Optimization, Paid Search Advertising, Social Media, Web Analytics, Conversion & Public Relations. The structured courses are web-based and are executed by bestselling authors and established industry professionals, through videos, weekly webinars, conference calls, and 24×7 Q&A. One can choose either a self-paced strategy where one can begin learning right away and progress at one’s own pace or a coached course which provides instant access to self-paced and includes 90 days of coached training. Market motive’s courses, though slightly costly by Indian standards, are assumed among the best in the industry and recommended by most industry professionals.

3. Digital Vidya

Digital Vidya is Asia’s dominating Digital Marketing training organization and the first to liftoff Social Media Marketing course caravan in India. Since January 2010, they contend to have had participations from over 4000 professionals (including CXOs) and students, from over 1500 organizations and institutions such as Philips, Google, eBay, Reliance, Star TV, Cisco, SAP, Naukri, Citibank, GM, Toyota, ITC, CNBC, NIIT, IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Lucknow, in more than 175 Digital Marketing training programs conducted by them. Digital Vidya also gives Social Media Certification program (CSMMP) in association with V-Skills, a Govt. of India initiative.

4. NIIT

NIIT in union with Digital Marketing Institute (DMI), Ireland offers a Certificate in Digital Marketing course for students and a Professional Diploma in Digital Marketing for graduates and working professionals. However, at present, these courses though web-based cannot be grabbed from home and have to be taken at an NIIT Imperia centre nearest to you.

5. Edukart

Edukart is a major Distance Education Company in India offers a six-month online Certificate Course in Digital Marketing certified by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). The course enables you to learn the rational perspectives of using online marketing technologies to effectively reach out to your internet audience while creating your brand and yielding sales.

6. Internet & Mobile Research              Institute(IMRI)

Internet & Mobile Research Institute, headquartered in Bangalore is a full-service international digital media training centre. IMRI conducts a one-month course in SEO, PPC advertising, SMM, Email marketing, Mobile marketing and Affiliate marketing, a three-month Executive Program In Digital Marketing (EPDM) and a 6-month Executive Program In Digital Analytics (EPDA).

7. Webnext Solutions

Webnext Solutions, founded in Lucknow in February 2011 by Vaibhav Jain, intends fo the best portal for all digital marketing needs. Digital marketing courses provided by Webnext Solutions have an extensive course structure designed by the industry experts certified from Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and NIIT Imperia. Webnext conducts Training courses on SEO, SEM, SMM, PPC and a complete Digital Marketing course.

8. Learning Catalyst

Learning Catalyst, based out of Mumbai, specializes in niche web/mobile/digital related programs directed towards a wide segment of individuals with marketing, design and tech backgrounds. They have centers in 7 Indian cities (Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad) where they conduct courses of various durations on SEM, SEO, SMM and a 6-week integrated digital marketing program.

9. Institute of Digital Marketing(IDM)

IDM offers courses in SEO, SEM, SMM, PPC, mobile and Email marketing.

10. Google Digital Marketing Course

This course, unlike all the others wrapped up above is a free course and covers SEM, Adwords, Display Advertising, Mobile, Social, Google Analytics and the Video landscape.


Apart from the ten listed above, there are several courses available on online learning sites like Udemy, Udacity, Coursera and Gyaanexchange. The Hubspot Academy also has a large library of digital marketing related video content.


Indeed, Digital marketing is a field where just taking courses alone will not make one an expert. Maximum knowledge can only be gained from actual hands-on, on-the-job experience. The success of these courses will ultimately depend on how they incorporate this practical training into their course curriculum and the quality of digital professionals they send into the industry.

Have you taken up any of these courses? I would love to hear your feedback on them.