Learning Plan of a Marketing Trainee – Ellen Connolly

On Thursday 13^th June 2019, I met TrainingMatchmaker.com founder – Trainer – Chartered Marketer Christine Watson in the lobby of the newly refurbished Ivanhoe Hotel (one of Christine’s training clients) for a coffee and a chat. After a lengthy and engaging discussion, I came out into the Carryduff sunshine with my head swimming with possibilities. I want to enhance my skills and knowledge about the marketing discipline and industry and hope that the courses that I outline below, as part of my brand new learning plan following research on TrainingMatchmaker.com might enable me to do so. I am particularly interested in improving my awareness and abilities in relation to the online and social media aspects of marketing as I believe that these can play a very important role for businesses. Although I am slightly nervous for what is ahead, I am aware that everything I do in the next month, no matter how good or bad, will be a learning curve. Hopefully, these courses and this practical learning opportunity with Trainer – Chartered Marketer Christine Watson should allow me to put some of those terms that I recognise from my university marketing modules into practice. I am setting a target of 40 hours a week, akin to a full time marketing position, to allow myself to complete relevant courses and learn more about marketing in theory and in practice.                    

Here are some goals that I am committed to achieving within the next month:

I will learn how to use WordPress (Trainer – Chartered Marketer Christine Watson will schedule a quick demo and assures me that it isn’t too different than using microsoft word), and in turn, I will learn how to blog as this is an essential skill for modern marketers.

I’m going to undertake a free online course on Story Telling by Disney Pixar run by Kahn Academy, as it not only sounds enjoyable, but should be useful in improving fluidity in my writing. I will need to sharpen my social media skills and I’m going to complete Twitter’s Flight School course to do so. As someone who doesn’t use Twitter, I think that this course is a must for me. More and more firms, journalists and more are using platforms like Twitter to communicate and connect with customers/audiences so it’s imperative that I have some level of understanding. Following this, I intend to complete courses on Instagram and Snapchat, which should allow me to understand the full potential of these platforms for marketing purposes. Next, I will take a course on scheduling platform Hootsuite. As well as learning how to use Hootsuite to distribute content the platform also have free online lessons on social media marketing on various platforms – I trust that this will enhance my understanding of social media marketing. Whilst learning about Hootsuite, I also hope to learn about what a Content Calendar is and how to use one. Furthermore, I want to learn about the importance of hashtag marketing. I have signed up for two free face to face courses at Apple (in the Apple store in Victoria Square, Belfast) so far (they are branded Today at Apple). I anticipate that this time investment will enhance my photography and video skills. I am an amateur at this type of thing, so help from a professional will, with any luck, help me a lot! Courses on free graphic design platform Canva.com are next on my list, and these free online tutorials should allow me to delve into my creative side to design graphics, a vital aspect for any aspiring marketer. Here is the very first one that I have created below:                 I’m currently checking out courses run by Harvard, MIT and Open University. These are great opportunities to learn about something new from widely acclaimed brands and I fancy having a qualification from Harvard on my CV! The Google Digital Garage course also seems very relevant to my interests in marketing, with the most up-to-date and in-demand skills, hence I plan to complete this course online. It is free but involves over 100 different video lessons and 27 assessments. Once completed though I will be awarded a certificate to enhance my level of employability in the marketing field. Hopefully by the end of the month, having completed a number of these courses, I’ll be using them to perform some of the tasks expected of a junior marketer. Moreover I will be entering month two with a ‘To Learn’ plan for the future. Finally, my key goal is to ensure that I enjoy each learning experience and that these training investments will motivate me to get closer to my overall aim: to secure an exciting job role after my Graduation in Autumn 2021. I want to be inspired to learn new skills in order to develop and enhance future career opportunities in a landscape that has transformed from a career ladder to a career jungle gym.    

About Me

I am Ellen Connolly and I have just completed my second year of Commerce and Spanish in University College Cork. I have a keen interest in marketing and wish to improve my skills in the related areas. Using trainingmatchmaker.com, I hope to unlock my creativity by learning how to use digital platforms and through undertaking a number of online courses I aim to gain the vital expertise that an aspiring marketer needs and in the process enhance my employability. I am moving to Spain in August 2019 and, if all goes well and I “master” the art of blogging and using social media, maybe you’ll hear about my Erasmus experience away from Ireland! Courtesy of my first ever meeting with Trainer – Chartered Marketer Christine Watson you will now find me on LinkedIn.