Best MOOC Business Courses For June

To many, marketing seems like an art. You almost imagine a divine inspiration behind those clever narratives, slogans, and promotions. Like any art, there is a hard science behind marketing. Even in the Mad Men heyday, as Poets&Quants staff writer Jeff Schmitt notes, advertisers would comb through reams of research to find the right words and images for their audience.

These days, those focus groups have been replaced by analytics, where marketers can track consumers and predict their future actions. With every response or purchase, you leave a footprint – a data point that reveals your preferences and changing needs. And this data mass has created new marketing arts: Knowing the right questions to ask; identifying which data carries the greatest value; establishing relationships between data points; interpreting trends and opportunities; and applying what you’ve learned strategically across all touchpoints.

Beginning May 27th, Kevin Hartman will teach marketers how data events expose who their audience really is. A Google executive who has partnered with companies ranging from Anheuser-Busch to the Chicago Board of Trade, Hartman is launching a two-course series on digital analytics for marketing professionals that comes from the University of Illinois.

The first half will examine the theory behind marketing analytics, covering basics like choosing the right analytics tools, finding and extracting data, and using various techniques to better analyze and interpret data. In the second half, which launches June 29th, Hartman will show learners how to put these insights into practice, including how to data analytics to develop and measure marketing campaigns in various channels.

However, Hartman isn’t the only big name marketer teaching during the proverbial “June swoon.” On June 16th, Darren Dahl, ranked by the American Marketing Association as the world’s best professor for market research, will co-teach “Marketing for Non-Marketers,” covering marketing fundamentals for entrepreneurs, career changers, and those who understand that “every job is sales and marketing.” At the same time, the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School returns with its “Introduction to Marketing” course, part of the core curriculum for first-year MBAs.

If you’re gunning for management, you’d better understand basic finance. And June offers plenty of options here. On June 1st, the University of Michigan’s Gautam Kaul at the Ross School of Business returns for another incarnation of “Introduction to Finance.” Dubbed “the web’s favorite finance professor,” Kaul has already drawn hundreds of thousands of students to his course. While the subject matter may be difficult, students rave about Kaul’s passion and wit in keeping it interesting. Similarly, Wharton’s Brian Bushee is back with “More Introduction to Financial Accounting,” which focuses more heavily on how to read and interpret corporate statements.

Students can also advance to “Managerial Accounting: Tools for Facilitating and Guiding Business Decisions,” where aspiring CFOs can apply their financial accounting knowledge to help them make better company decisions. For a broader perspective, the University of Melbourne is introducing “The Role of Global Capital Markets” on June 6th. Co-taught by the school’s business dean, the course is designed to help financial leaders understand risk and investment strategy, along with framing the big lessons from the 2008 global financial meltdown.

If you’re looking for something off the beaten quant path, consider “A Life of Happiness and Fulfillment” from the Indian School of Business and the University of Texas’ Rajagopal Raghunathan (aka Dr. Happy-Smarts). No, this isn’t another motivational, rah-rah session. Instead, it is a scientifically-driven tour of what truly makes people happy – and why even the smartest and most accomplished people feel unfulfilled. If you’re looking to make more than a job or career change, this is the course for you.

To learn more about these courses and the rest of the best MOOC offerings in business for June – and to register for them – click on the links below.

DIGITAL ANALYTICS FOR MARKETING PROFESSIONALS: MARKETING ANALYTICS IN THEORY / MAY 27 / UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

AN INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING / JUNE 1 / WHARTON

MARKETING FOR NON-MARKETERS / JUNE 16 / UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

MORE INTRODUCTION TO FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING / JUNE 19 / WHARTON

INTRODUCTION TO OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT / JUNE 1 / WHARTON

THE ROLE OF GLOBAL CAPITAL MARKETS / JUNE 6 / UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE

INTRODUCTION TO FINANCE / JUNE 1 / UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

A LIFE OF HAPPINESS AND FULFILLMENT / JUNE 15 / INDIAN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS & UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS-AUSTIN

ENHANCE YOUR CAREER AND EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS / JUNE 1 / UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

CONTENT STRATEGY FOR PROFESSIONALS 2: EXPANDING YOUR CONTENT’S IMPACT AND REACH / JUNE 1 / NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

MANAGERIAL ACCOUNTING: TOOLS FOR FACILITATING AND GUIDING BUSINESS DECISIONS / JUNE 22 / UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

MODEL THINKING / JUNE 1 / UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

TECHNOLOGY ENTREPRENEURSHIP / JUNE 16 / STANFORD UNIVERSITY

THE SECRET POWER OF BRANDS / JUNE 1 / UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA

INNOVATION: THE KEY TO BUSINESS SUCCESS / JUNE 8 / UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS

INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTATIONAL FINANCE AND FINANCIAL ECONOMETRICS / JUNE 1 / UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

ADDITIONAL COURSES WORTH A LOOK