Short courses are currently leading the way in marketing training and development allowing businesses to upskill their marketing departments on a smaller training budget, The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) has found.
The Institute’s single or two day courses in particular are rapidly gaining popularity as the recession busting alternative for staff development. Short courses now account for almost 81 per cent of all training provided by CIM showing that businesses are recognising the value of condensed and intensive training. Online qualification programmes are also proving a popular alternative as students opt for distance learning and companies bring CIM training modules for in-house delivery. For businesses keen to reduce their outlay on training, online or onsite learning offers an ideal alternative that enables businesses to reduce costs and maintain their training record.
Tightened resources and the exponential growth of digital marketing have led to a growing need and desire for more versatile marketers. The industry is now seeking broader generalists rather than single area specialists as more than ever today, marketing managers need to be able to adapt to increasing responsibilities on a smaller budget.
The diversification of marketer’s skills is in turn reflected in the growth of digital marketing courses. According to the latest results from the Institute’s Social Media Benchmark* released this month, over 90 per cent of UK marketers say they lack the skills or the competencies to implement their social media strategies successfully. Marketing departments are therefore seeing the value of digital training as it provides a way for more senior and experienced marketers to incorporate the latest trends in marketing into their portfolio.
David Thorp, director of research and professional development at The Chartered Institute of Marketing, said: “Digital marketing has seen the largest growth and remains the discipline with the greatest uptake of courses. As marketers work harder to glean intelligence from data sourced through the ever-growing number of digital channels, there is a greater need for data analytics skills. It is important that marketers incorporate these skills into their portfolio to ensure that the business is not needlessly replicating functions and wasting money.
“Businesses are increasingly realising that digital marketing is an essential skill that all marketers must possess to effectively carry out their job. It is not just for specialists but an area open to all marketers and this trend looks set to continue in 2012 with CIM increasing its digital training portfolio in addition to the already substantial digital offering. We have introduced four new digital courses:
- DIY Digital – campaign planning, managing the risks of social media and how SMEs can tackle the digital world.
- Marketing through a Digital Lens – addresses the importance of combining new media into the overall business plan.
- Managing the Risks of Social Networks – how to develop a legally compliant social networking strategy.
- Google Analytics – how to navigate Google Analytics, track search – paid and unpaid, analyse Google Adwords position and analyse your website data for performance improvements.”
Daniel Rowles, course director at The Chartered of Marketing, also commented: “There is a danger that businesses view digital as just another channel, however digital can strategically change businesses. The digital strategy is not only the realm of the digital team - it should be part of a company's larger business strategy. It is therefore vital for managers at all levels of the organisation to understand the implications of digital for the business and the broader need for digital marketing training across an organisation.
“While The Chartered Institute of Marketing has a seen a growth in the uptake of digital training courses across the sector, there is a greater demand from large businesses using digital agencies, as they need to train their staff in order to pro-actively drive their agency campaigns, and maximise their budgets and ROI.”
