A Derby-based marketer has called for the discipline to be placed at the forefront of the UK’s skills revolution, saying it could be a key driver to boosting the country’s productivity “across the board”.
Claire MacDonald, director of teaching and learning at city-based The Marketing and Leadership Academy (TMLA), says raising the profile of marketing as a key subject for school pupils and encouraging more young people to explore it as a career would benefit firms operating in every sector.
Claire was speaking after the Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced his national plan to put technical education on an equal footing with academic study in England in order to get more young people into work and plug a national skills gap.
It would enable pupils to study employment-linked courses from age 14 alongside core subjects such as English and science, backed by careers advice and work experience placements, all with a view to equipping students with qualifications and skills that are more aligned with the needs of their local industries.
TMLA is accredited by the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) and works with hundreds of marketers every year on a range of courses.
Over the last 12 months it has delivered three sell-out digital marketing bootcamps, covering topics such as branding, audience insight and campaign planning, to in-house marketers representing a wide range of industries, from hospitality to manufacturing.
And it is this, says Claire, which demonstrates the need for marketing to be given a high profile within the Prime Minister’s plans because, although there are specific industries which need an influx of talent, such as construction and IT, marketing is hugely under-utilised.
She said: “Marketing is so often the Cinderella department at a company – under-resourced and under-appreciated, with figures showing that 58% of UK SMEs spend less than £250 a month on marketing.
“This is despite the fact that it’s a fundamental strategy to growing a business and should be a long-term investment.
“So often the reason for the shortfall is that companies lack marketing skills in-house or their marketing team does not have the up-to-date knowledge of what is an incredibly dynamic and fast-changing discipline.”
The Prime Minister’s plan is based on his previous Greater Manchester Baccalaureate, which he launched when he was the city’s mayor.
It was based on seven different gateways, namely health and social care, digital and technology, engineering and manufacturing, construction and the green economy, financial and professional, education and early years and creative, culture and sport.
Although marketing could find a home in either the creative or the financial and professional gateways, it was not offered as a discipline in its own right – and Claire believes this should change for the national version.
She added: “I think everybody who works in business agrees with the need to teach more young people specific work-related skills and I think those skills should include marketing.
“The feedback we get from everyone who has been on our bootcamps indicates that they feel empowered in their roles and have been able to make a direct impact on their businesses marketing results, thanks to the knowledge and skills gained.
“That’s why I believe that if we could teach marketing as part of a young person’s technical education, it would boost the UK’s productivity across the board.”
TMLA, which is based in Derby, is owned and run by a marketing agency, MacMartin, and accredited by the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).
It offers a range of training courses for different levels of experience, from an eight-week marketing accelerator bootcamp to a CIM Level 6 Diploma.
To find out more visit www.tmla.co.uk
