No matter which industry you work in, you’re selling something. A strong background in sales and marketing has always been essential for growing a business or establishing yourself within a company; and with software innovation happening at such a fast pace, it’s become even more important to stay current on how to communicate with your customers. Luckily there are dozens of amazing online communities to help keep you up-to-date. You can search them all at ProjectRiser.com.

Not only are these communities available to teach sales and marketing, but you can now find a community that specializes in the exact skills you need. Whether you need a robust marketing strategy for your new start-up, or detailed training on Search Engine Optimization (SEO), there are groups dedicated to exactly what you’re looking for.

Let’s break this down into the most desired sales and marketing skills and the best communities for each skill.

• Strategy
• Community
• Content Marketing
• Branding
• SEO

Here are the 5 Best Online Communities To Learn Sales and Marketing:

1. Strategy - DigitalMarketer with Ryan Deiss

Whether you’re just starting out, or looking to overhaul your marketing strategy for better results, you’re going to need a strategy. There are hundreds of methods to reach your customer base, and it’s impossible to follow them all. Do you focus on gathering an email list, social media follows, website traffic? How much time and money should you spend when you’re just starting out? The answers to these questions can be complex and depend on your industry, product, and current assets; but that’s where DigitalMarketer comes in.

Ryan Deiss has been a top figure in marketing for the last decade and has grown DigitalMarketer into a premier marketing education site. With the vast amount of material available on DigitalMarketer, you can transition from being clueless to executing a robust, well-designed marketing strategy. The strategy lessons offered are a perfect way for you to direct yourself toward the right methods of reaching your audience. From there you can dive into DigitalMarketer’s other lessons and tools, and/or you can check out other communities on this list that specialize in the marketing methods you chose.

2. Community - First In Line with Gary Vee

A large part of learning new skills is having a group of people to share resources, bounce ideas off of, etc. The community aspect of the groups on this list is, perhaps, the most beneficial. Not only are the people in these groups great tools for building your own strategy, they also immerse you in a culture of constant improvement and motivation. Among these communities, the absolute best people are “First in Line with Gary Vee.”

If you spend any time on social media and have an interest in entrepreneurship, odds are you’ve seen some of Gary Vaynerchuk’s videos. His no-nonsense attitude has attracted a large audience, and he maintains it by providing tons of training videos on content creation. But the best thing about Gary Vee’s enterprise is the First in Line community full of his fans. There are over 64k people in this group, all sharing their success stories and ready to discuss strategy options and discoveries. If you have any interest in marketing a product, you should join this group now.

As an additional note, if you’re looking for a more tight-knit community where you can get to know the other members and possibly make a partnership, check out “Influencer Community” where Jason Stapleton has created a solid culture of personal development.

3. Content Marketing - The Content Marketing Institute

Building trust has always been the biggest part of marketing effectively. Customers expect to be given value for free before they trust you enough to purchase any of your products. This free content often comes in the form of blog posts, comparison videos, and podcasts; but what kind of content should YOU produce? And how do you go about hiring the right people to help you make it? There are a lot of groups on ProjectRiser.com that teach Content Marketing, but the best one out there is “The Content Marketing Institute” (CMI).

Joe Pulizzi started CMI as a how-to guide of content marketing. CMI was sold in 2016 and handed off to Robert Rose, but not before it gathered a team of amazing people to research and produce quality material. CMI and Robert Rose have developed a full curriculum and continue to educate thousands of aspiring marketing professionals. It takes time and money to create content that will bring you more customers; and if you want to make sure your effort is well spent, head to CMI.

4. Branding - Influencer Community with Jason Stapleton

In addition to the quality content you provide, you can build trust by creating the right brand image. By this point you should know to position yourself and your company as the guide who helps your customers achieve their goals, but how do you get this message across in a way that still feels genuine? This process can be tricky, but Influencer Community is the best community to help you build an attractive brand.

Jason Stapleton has established himself as a leader in several, unrelated industries over his career before starting Influencer Community. He has recently begun using his expertise to teach people how to develop a strong personal brand. Within this community there’s an understanding that, while every company has competition, your brand is really what your customers are purchasing. If you want to know how to set yourself apart and convince your customers you can help them, join Jason and the Influencer Community.

5. SEO - Neil Patel

The best strategy, content, and brand mean nothing if your customers can’t find your stuff. The customer’s journey-to-purchase always includes a Google search; and if you aren’t listed in the right search results, you’re losing a major competitive advantage. Luckily Neil Patel specializes in SEO and will help you come out on top.

Neil Patel has put a blog together with dozens of articles on SEO alone, not to mention his content marketing, paid traffic, and e-commerce posts. Keywords, tool comparisons, how-to guides and everything else you need to rank high in your customers’ search results...you need SEO info, Neil has it. And after you have the knowledge you need, you can take advantage of Neil’s SEO Analyzer and other tools. People are looking for your products right now; so make sure they find you, and use Neil Patel to show you how.

These 5 communities are excellent resources for learning sales and marketing, but there are plenty more options for you to discover at ProjectRiser.com. Some honorable mentions on the Riser platform are Grant Cardone, Jeff Bullas, and MarketingProfs...all expert communities for taking your skills to the next level.

We’re all here to improve the way we communicate and to connect our customers to the products and services that can change their lives. So if you’re ready...let’s do this!