After recently making the decision to invest £250k and expand to offer full digital marketing services, Europe’s largest affiliate marketing has conducted a study on Britons working in marketing and PR to find out about their plans for expanding their knowledge of the industry.
A team of researchers at Optimus Performance Marketing (uk.optimus-pm.com) polled a total of 1,293 UK workers for the purposes of the study. Each participant taking part was aged 18 or over and was employed full-time within the marketing and PR industry at the time of taking the survey.
Respondents were initially asked if they ever felt that their job role required them to possess certain skills or knowledge that they don’t have or have not yet been taught/trained in. Over half (52%) admitting that this had happened to them within the past six months, with the majority of these individuals (71%) confessing that they were wary of asking their bosses or senior members of their team for additional help and training within their working hours.
Next, all participants were asked if they were planning on enrolling in either an online or evening course focused on digital marketing during the remainder of 2015. Just over one fifth (22%) stated to researchers that were planning to do so, with 34% of these participants revealing that they had either already paid for their course or had begun online/evening tutorials and lectures.
In order to gain a further insight, participants were then asked to divulge the main reasons or incentives behind their decision to register for such courses, with the most commonly recorded answers emerging as follows:
- In order to increase my earning potential- (67%)
- So I can leave my current place of work/job role- (32%)
- To feel more confident and improve in my current job role- (18%)
- To refresh and increase my current knowledge of the industry- (13%)
- Other co-workers are also taking similar courses so I need to keep up with them- (9%)
When asked to disclose the amount of money they are expecting to spend on their educational courses, the average amount came to £1,650. ‘Savings’ (46%), ‘Monetary aid from parents’ (22%) and ‘Financial help from a partner’ (15%) emerged as the most common methods participants are using to pay for their courses, with just 4% being offered any monetary contributions for their course by their employers.
Mark Russell, CEO of Optimus Performance Marketing, made the following comments regarding the findings of the study:
“The fact that so many individuals currently working within the marketing and PR industry want to expand on their skill-set is, in my opinion, only a good sign. Perhaps they are looking to move on and experience a careers in a new sector of the industry, or maybe they just want to brush up on their knowledge of an ever-changing industry after many years away from the classroom.”
He continued:
“Having said that, the fact that so many respondents employers are unwilling to contribute to the financial costs of their courses is somewhat disappointing. By investing in a digital marketing qualification, bosses will have a much more engaged, motivated and happy workforce, which will lead to higher productivity. This increased productivity will lead to increased revenue, more profit, and higher staff retention rates. Everyone will be a winner!”