Digital training in the UK gets a boost

London’s first monthly growth marketing course launches to address UK’s digital skills gap.

Spotting a gap in the market, within a country currently facing a major digital skills shortage crisis, GrowthTribe has brought its practical two-day growth marketing course to London.

Backed by Facebook and already having trained experts in growth marketing for the likes of ING, Booking.com and Catawiki in the Netherlands, the first of its kind, two-day growth marketing course will be held monthly, beginning March (now sold-out).

A parliamentary report commissioned last year revealed that 90% of all jobs in the UK require digital skills and the digital skills gap is costing the economy £63 billion in lost additional GDP.

>See also: Digital training officer: the new must-have role for 2017

It also asserted the need to invest in digital training to increase productivity and stimulate innovation, or we risk the UK being left behind. The report further found that there was a specific gap for those able to interpret and apply relevant insights from data analytics – one of the key skills growth marketers need today.

Growth Tribe co-founder Peter van Sabben said that UK employers have a responsibility to provide continuous opportunities for their staff to digitally upskill.

“It’s crucial not to let employees’ skills become redundant. This isn’t just for the benefit of society and the economy, in light of the government’s findings. Ensuring that your company is staffed with people who have cutting-edge knowledge and skills will both boost productivity and in turn, help run your business to peak efficiency.”

“Unfortunately, the future is uncertain for Europeans living in the UK – and Britons living elsewhere in the continent – post-Brexit. Therefore, it’s more important than ever for companies in the UK to be ensuring they’re doing what they can to bridge this gap on an ongoing basis,” said van Sabben.

TechCity UK partnerships manager, Kristina Tauchmannova, says their organisation and Growth Tribe share a common goal.

>See also: British businesses at risk of disruption

“Tech Nation 2016 found that the UK’s Digital Tech Industries are growing 32% faster than the wider UK economy. We are committed to ensuring that there is enough tech talent in the country to maintain this growth.”

“It’s fantastic to see initiatives – such as Growth Tribe’s two-day growth marketing course – available to help people gain the growth skills necessary to fuel the digital business ecosystem in the UK. Growth Tribe’s two-day growth marketing course is the perfect example of how training in the future should happen.”

Hugo Raaijmakers, global head of innovation management at ING, also said they see ongoing value return from investing in their employees’ attendance at Growth Tribe’s courses.

“Growth Tribe is part of our digital transformation program. The training they have provided to teams are of extremely high quality and cater to our business context. I highly recommend them to anyone looking to transform their organisation through education.”

With a background in analytics, growth and digital marketing, Growth Tribe co-founder David Arnoux describes the practice of growth marketing as “80% cutting-edge, 20% subversiveness” in this one-minute introductory video.

“By subversiveness, I mean that there is a requirement to throw out older ways of looking at things or certain processes which exist simply because that’s how things have always been done. The primary concern for marketers has always been focused around: how do you acquire users, activate them and retain them.”

>See also: The government’s post-Brexit digital strategy

“Growth marketing is the bridge between code, marketing and analytics. It’s a technology and data-driven approach that encourages practitioners to just “get shit done” in a pragmatic way.”

“It’s about digital hustling using the right tools and skills. The practice focuses on measurement, testing, refining…the entire customer journey, from that first time someone visits your product to turning them into a loyal paying customer.”

The course, which has so far had more than 1401 graduates, lasts two days and attendees will be active participants – using more than 60 tools and completing 32 practical exercises along the way.

Coming away with powerful network connections and exclusive online content, the course will benefit anyone who recognises that whilst traditional education lags behind, technology is evolving at an unprecedented pace.

Avatar photo

Nick Ismail

Nick Ismail is a former editor for Information Age (from 2018 to 2022) before moving on to become Global Head of Brand Journalism at HCLTech. He has a particular interest in smart technologies, AI and...

Related Topics