Being successful in the workplace isn’t only about acting as a subject matter expert in your field.  A diverse skill set not only gives you the power to open up new opportunities, it also makes you even more appealing to potential employers. Plus, it can give you an advantage when going after internal positions.

An ideal way to go beyond your area of expertise is by building relevant business skills. Here are five online classes to help you get started.

Choosing Your Online Business Classes

Even if you’ve graduated with an in-demand degree or certification, having additional business skills can set you apart from the competition when searching for a job or chasing that next promotion. Quickly build your skills by choosing online business classes that can be completed within a few months.

Growth and Acquisition Strategy

This course is designed for people with product management experience who are looking to refine their growth and acquisition skills.

You’ll learn the fundamentals of acquisition and growth loops and identify the KPIs for acquisition strategy focused on optimizing performance. Plus, you’ll explore the application of behavioral psychology in customer buying decisions and learn how to apply the principles of A/B testing. Put your new skills to the test as a growth product manager and build an acquisition strategy from end-to-end in the final project.

Activation and Retention Strategy

If what happens after acquisition in the customer lifecycle for product management is more appealing to you, consider taking online business classes that focus on activation and retention strategy.

This course, which covers digital marketing practices, helps you learn how to optimize the flow of customer sign ups to move users through the activation funnel as quickly as possible. You’ll also discover how to identify key events that lead to long-term activation, and how to analyze the performance of users. Finally, you’ll master the essentials of user retention by increasing engagement and you’ll do a deep dive on how churn rate impacts different aspects of a business.

Business Analytics

This course provides foundational skills that can translate across multiple industries and business functions. It has no prerequisites, and is suitable for those new to business analytics.

At the heart of this online business class is learning how to understand data dashboards, strategies for communicating insights through the use of visuals and statistics, and building models in Excel. Plus, you’ll also explore the use of SQL to extract and analyze data and how to implement the principles of data visualization with Tableau.

Marketing Analytics

Marketing analytics provide critical data for guiding overall business strategy, so this is another set of skills that can be helpful no matter your other areas of expertise. This training teaches you both marketing and Google Analytics, while allowing hands-on learning with Excel, Data Studio and Tableau.  

It walks through the key fundamentals of data dashboards, analysis, and visualization, as well as reporting techniques to optimize results, and how to evaluate the effectiveness of marketing efforts.

AI for Business Leads

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a growing field. With more engineers and specialists in these roles, leaders need to bridge the gap with a stronger understanding of the AI sphere.

As just one of many AI-focused online business classes, AI for Business Leads provides business leaders with basic knowledge of the principles of machine learning and related business applications. 

Learners use case studies to discover answers to strategic questions, how to formulate and evaluate machine learning opportunities, and how AI technology can be incorporated into overall business strategies. Leaders solidify their learning with a capstone project where they create a strategy backed by AI.

Online Business Classes For All Career Stages and Skill Sets

Whether you’re looking for online business classes that cater to beginners or you’re more advanced, the opportunity to learn something new is at your fingertips online. You can get started quickly and learn skills that you can apply to your current position within a matter of weeks or months. 

By choosing something that builds on or complements your existing skills, you’ll be better positioned to stay competitive in a changing job market. 

Looking for online business classes to expand your skills and learn something new? 

Check out the Udacity School of Business to learn more about the courses above and additional options.

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