Short courses are currently leading the way in marketing training and development / CIM

Marketers move to short courses to upskill   -  Tighter marketing budgets require marketers to become more versatile -  Businesses identify a need for broad generalists -        

Diversification of skills has tightened resources as teams ‘do more with less’  

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.

Social Media Benchmark*

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 greater demand 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.”   

For further information on the CIM Training Directory and new course listings, please visit www.cim.co.uk/training