In March 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic puts strains on businesses around the world. Like most, The B2W Group were forced to flex in new directions to ensure maximum efficiency and output. As a provider of education, all programmes were moved online and completely revised, from the sequencing of the curriculum to the resources used to provide a high quality of education to our learners.
By September 2020, we were in a position to grow our marketing team. Rather than employ a group of new full-time employees, we took the decision recruit Digital Marketing Apprentices.
“Hiring a team of Digital Marketing Apprentices was good business sense,” said The B2W Group Head of Marketing Dave Bailey. “We wanted to explore new marketing channels and double-down on our existing activity, but without the expense of multiple full-time employees. From the get-go, our Digital Marketing Apprentices delivered value to the marketing function. They’ve been involved in social media, emails, and lead generation, along with creative projects and video work. The team have proved to be invaluable and have generated a tangible return in investment for the marketing team.”
Larger companies are investing more and more into hiring apprentices. The likes of BT, ITV, Microsoft, Sky, Vodafone, Channel 4, McDonalds, BBC, BMW, The AA, Morrison’s, HSBC, and Pfizer are all among the UK’s top hirers of apprentices.
But any business can benefit from having an apprenticeship programme. A Digital Marketing Apprentice can be a valuable member of a large marketing function, or a key second-in-command to a small team.
AGE DOESN’T MATTER
According to the National Apprenticeship Service , 78% of employers said apprenticeships helped them improve productivity, and 74% of employers said apprenticeships helped them improve the quality of their product or service.
One huge misconception about apprenticeships, is that they are only suitable for school-leavers. This often leads employers to assume that if they were to recruit an apprentice, then they would need more management or hand-holding. This isn’t the case.
From 2018 to 2019, the number of apprentices aged under 19 decreased, while the number of those aged over 24 increased. In fact, in 2019, 46% of apprenticeships started were by people aged 25+.
A FRESH PERSPECTIVE
One of the benefits of a new employee is that they bring a fresh perspective to the table. This extends to bringing an apprentice into your business.
A Digital Marketing Apprentice’s job isn’t simply to take on the work the existing team doesn’t have time for. An apprentice can bring fresh ideas to your business, especially if they are younger and familiar with new technologies, or if they are older and have a wealth of relevant skills and experience to offer.
New digital marketing apprenticeship standards are industry-led and are developed by leading employers in the marketing sector, including Microsoft, Virgin Media, BT, HP, Fujitsu and IBM. The standard enables learners to develop and improve their knowledge, skills and behaviours through an ambitious and challenging curriculum. This means that bringing an apprentice into your business exposes you to industry best practice.
ADDING VALUE FROM DAY ONE
The first task we set our Digital Marketing Apprentices on day one was to research The B2W Group and its competitors. This gave the new team a good overview of our business offerings flagged some practices that our competitors were doing that we might want to look at.
From there, our new team quickly showed a drive to get involved in the bread and butter of marketing: writing SEO content, managing social media, running email campaigns, generating leads.
Since then, the team fell into roles of responsibility and took ownership of individual duties. The B2W Group have multiple company provisions, so it was important that the apprenticeship team flex across all disciplines.
DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES
All of our Digital Marketing Apprentices took responsibility for distributing leads to our various learner engagement teams. Their daily work is integral to the success of this provision and has helped maximise efficiency across the business.
“Over in Learner Recruitment we’ve seen the benefit of having Digital Marketing Apprentices in the business,” said The B2W Group’s Head of Learner Recruitment, Jamie Morris. “On a daily basis the apprentices manage lead distribution to our learner engagement teams, ensuring that they have tangible, qualified leads for work throughout the week. Having apprentices in place to cover this function has freed up valuable time for the Sales Team to focus on adding value to our customers and clients by providing detailed independent advice and guidance.”
Jacob (23) was keen to flex his video skills, so one of his first projects was to promote our Apprenticeship provision with an eye-catching and brand-building video.
Billy (22) identified that our Instagram presence had been neglected over the years. He quickly took full ownership of the channel and created a content strategy designed to build our brand and promote the various company provisions.
Meanwhile, Oliver (25) was keen to get involved in our Distance Learning offering. Oliver launched a new series of blogs designed to shine a spotlight on a different Distance Learning course each month. These pieces not only enhanced our profile in the e-learning space and provided useful information, but also generated qualified leads for our Learner Engagement team. Oliver also ran SMS marketing campaigns, which generated revenue for the business.
Jack (24) completed an SEO audit of our company website, and identified some areas for improvement. Thanks to his work, our website is now more efficient and user-friendly.
Simone (20), who only joined the business in March 2021, quickly started work on re-launching our Digital Takeaway marketing masterclass scheme, creating content, and building campaigns to promote this.
Throughout all of this, our team of Digital Marketing Apprentices wrote written regular content and launched ad-hoc campaigns to suit the needs of the business.
On top of their contribution to the business, having a team of apprentices willing and able to take responsibility for various functions has allowed the larger marketing team to focus their efforts on further business growth.
TURNING APPRENTICES INTO FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES
Besides the value that our Digital Marketing Apprentices have contributed to The B2W Group, it’s been incredibly rewarding to see a team of aspiring digital marketers grow into confident and analytical marketing professionals.
As our junior marketers neared the end of their apprenticeships, we decided it was the perfect opportunity to create full-time marketing roles for three of them within The B2W Group. Our three new junior marketers are now continuing their duties and been given more responsibility and ownership over everyday marketing activities, all while completing a Level 4 Marketing Executive apprenticeship with us
Without having first seen their performance as Digital Marketing Apprentices, we may never have been in a position to grow our team with fresh, young talent.
Typical job roles for qualified apprentices includes Marketing Assistant, Marketing Executive, Marketing Co-ordinator, Campaign Executive, Social Media Executive, Content Co-ordinator, and SEO Executive.
WHAT ARE THE INCENTIVES FOR HIRING AN APPRENTICE?
With an apprenticeship scheme, you can expand your business with new skills and training opportunities. It’s a cost-effective way for you to bring extra ideas and resources into your team or business.
In 2017, the Government introduced the Apprenticeship Levy. Since then, the benefits and incentives for hiring an apprentice has only improved.
For apprentices aged 19 and over the qualification is 95% funded by the government leaving you to only pay the 5% contribution which is £550 (paid in 6 instalments of £91.67, starting from the first month of the apprentice’s start date).
For apprentices aged 16-18 there is no contribution to pay (100% funded).
Businesses that are Levy payers will access their apprenticeship training and assessment via their online Digital Apprenticeship Service (DAS) account.
When compared to the onboarding and salary costs of a full-time employee, a Digital Marketing Apprentice is a great cost-effective way to grow your team with minimum expense.
