Apprenticeships UK

Level 3 Leisure Duty Manager Apprenticeship

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Do you enjoy leading a team, supporting customers and health and fitness? If this sounds like the career for you, a level 3 Leisure Duty Manager apprenticeship is a great way to start, read on for more information about the apprenticeship.

Key responsibilities of a leisure duty manager

The role of a Leisure Duty Manager is to manage the effective day to day frontline operation of a leisure facility. These facilities vary in size and offer services such as swimming pools, multi-functional sports halls, fitness suites, crèche, children’s soft play, health suites, climbing walls and outdoor sports tracks. 

The Leisure Duty Manager is responsible for ensuring the facility is prepared for use as part of the activity programme and that all areas are maintained to the highest possible standards of safety, cleanliness, security and operational effectiveness. Typically, the Leisure Duty Manager will provide visible leadership to a diverse range of staff such as lifeguards, receptionists, sports coaches, fitness teams and crèche workers. Their responsibility is to manage staff performance and on-going development to ensure staff are motivated, efficient and operate at a high standard.

The Leisure Duty Manager typically reports to a Leisure Centre/General Manager and assists in implementing management systems, maintaining operational standards records, and financial procedures in accordance with regulations and industry guidance whilst ensuring compliance with all organisational policies and procedures. 

Leisure Duty Managers’ typically cover a seven day week resulting in shifts that include weekends, early mornings, evenings and public holidays.

Level 3 Leisure Duty Manager Core Competencies

As part of your job role, you will carry out duties that will satisfy a number of competencies. Some examples are:

  • Curiosity: an eagerness to learn and understand why / how things work and might be improved
  • Skilled Influencer: able to positively influence and convince customers and colleagues in positive ways
  • Decisive Thinker: not afraid to make decisions, explaining them and standing by them when needed
  • Driven to Deliver: to achieving agreed standards every day
  • Collaborative: shows willingness to work with and co-operate with a diverse workforce, customer base and assist the team
  • Personally Credible: truthful with customers and colleagues and treats others fairly and equally
  • Role Model: leads & Inspires through great communication and being a team player – always projects a positive happy, inspiring role model

As part of the apprenticeship, you’ll need to achieve the First Aid at Work and Pool Plant Operator qualification. 

Conclusion 

The Level 3 Leisure Duty Manager apprenticeship is a brilliant way to launch a career in the leisure industry and can lead to more senior management roles such as Centre Manager. Completing this apprenticeship also means becoming a Member of the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA).

Apprenticeships UK, Digital Apprenticeships 

5 Easy Ways to Generate Website Traffic

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The more people who reach your website, the more potential customers you have. Everyday 250,000+ websites are launched worldwide according to Siteef. As this space becomes ever more cluttered, it has never been important to ensure your message gets through. If you don’t generate website traffic, you won’t have any potential customers.

An image of someone working on a laptop, using a data tool to track the growth of web traffic

1. Social Media

There are multiple different social media and all have a different user base. These are the main ones:

  • TikTok: You have the ability to reach millions of people for free. 60% of all TikTok users are aged between 16-24 according to a social media research firm Wallaroom. A good example of a company who have used TikTok well is the Irish airline Ryanair, who have amassed 1.3 million followers. From every post you make you could recieve thousand of additional hits to your website. The more you post, the more views you get, giving you more chance to increase profits.
  • Instagram: Similar to TikTok, Instagram’s main demographic is 18-29 year olds who make up 59% of all users according to The London School of Economics. Instagram gives you more freedom than TikTok because with Instagram you can post picture, videos, stories and more but TikTok can only be a video. A good example of a company who have used Instagram well is Starbucks who have 18 million followers. The American Coffee giant have transformed themselves from just another Cafe chain to a status symbol.
  • Twitter: You can reach thousand of people with just one post. Unlike TikTok and Instagram you can actually put a website link in the description of a post which means it is easier for people to click on to your website. A good example of a brand who do well on Twitter is H&M the high street fashion retailer with 8.4 million followers. According to the same London School of Economics report 37% of Twitter users are aged 18-29.

2. Reviews

Reviews help sell product but what most people don’t know is reviews also generate website traffic. It does this in a few different ways:

  • Referrals: People who have bought something are likely to tell their friends about it if they like it. According to a study conducted by Big Commerce only 25% of people trust adverts, but 92% of people believe the recommendation of a friend or family member and 75% of people believe the reviews of previous customers.
  • Search Ranking: If you have reviews on your website you will rank higher on google. If your previous customers leave reviews, the Google algorithm can improve its ranking of your website.

“Google itself has made it clear that reviews can influence local search rankings — and are factored into its algorithms for determining where businesses appear on Search Engine Result Pages”

Review Tracker

3. Paid Advertising

Paid advertising is a brilliant tool, but only when it is planned out well and constantly reviewed. Failure to manage paid advertising well can turn it into an ineffective money pit. The best methods for paid advertising are:

  • Paid Search Marketing: This is the most popular type of paid advertising, according to a study done by PPC Protect, 45% of small businesses used Paid Search Marketing in 2018. This method is good because you only pay for clicks onto you website after someone uses your search term. The Paid Search Marketing price is dependant on the competition for search terms, if you pick to many mainstream terms, you will find your paying a lot more per hit then they are worth to you. If this happens you should pick some more niche keywords and under used ones. You can research keywords using Google Trends, Semrush and many other programs.
  • Display Advertising: This is where you have a pop up advert on different websites, whos viewerbase you want to target. An example of a website you would see Display advertising on is the Daily Mail website. According to research firm Sumo only 3% of people click on these kind of adverts, but it is a good way to build brand awareness.
  • Social Media Advertising: This is where a post on social media is promoted to reach far more people than it ever would have. You can generally pick the locations, ages and interests of people you want your campaign to reach. The idea is to generate website traffic from only people interested in your sector. The average cost of social media advertising per 10,000 impressions are (according to Bark a marketing firm):
Social MediaCost Per 10,000 Impressions
Facebook£54.20
Instagram£59.60
YouTube£73.00
Twitter£48.70
Tik Tok£75.60

4. Email Marketing

Email marketing is a fantastic, cost effective way to drive traffic to your website, because you are emailing people who have already registered an interest in your company. The best time to do this is when you have a new product or your have a special offer, to entice these people in.

5. SEO

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) in simple terms is optimising content on your website in order to rank higher on search engines. Things you can do to improve your SEO include:

  • Use Alt tags on images
  • Update content regularly
  • Keep Meta description to no more than 70 characters
  • Start regularly blogging
  • Fix or remove broken links
  • Use Keywords
  • Benchmark your site against your competitors using Google Page Speed

Fast-Track Into Your Career as an Associate Project Manager – Level 4 Apprenticeship

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Paid Social Media Advertising

Do you see yourself developing and pitching project’s across diverse industry sectors? Do you enjoy being a part of a team to achieve project outcomes? If you have identified with any of those, then you are in the right place. What better way to fast-start your career than diving straight into an Associate Project Manager Apprenticeship. Utilise and develop your transferable skills to help companies succeed in a substantial project.

What is an Associate Project Manager?

Behind every company’s success is a well-rounded Project Management Team. Projects can be developed and presented across many industry sectors. Large and small – they are all significant.

Covering everything from developing and pitching your project’s business case, managing budgets and risk management. An associate project manager understands what is required to be achieved and how it will be done.

With this Apprenticeship, you will be able to fast-track your career and develop skills in project management. You can use those skills to take on many job roles in this sector.

Is this role right for me?

All job roles require a specific level of knowledge before diving deeper into the role. A successful associate project manager utilizes resources with suitable skills, experience, and knowledge to work together in a motivated and well-rounded team, with clearly defined reporting lines, roles, responsibilities, and authorities. Here are the required pieces of knowledge to become an Associate Project Manager Apprentice:

  • Project governance
  • Stakeholder management
  • Project communication and context
  • Leadership
  • Scheduling, Budgeting, and Cost Control
  • Consolidated planning
  • Business case and benefits management
  • Project scheduling
  • Resource management
  • Project risk and issue management
  • Project quality
Man women reporting project planning analysing management

What skills am I required to have?

In this apprenticeship, it is expected to have a range of skills that are relevant to this job role. These skills can also be developed and worked on. Being trained by experts in the project management field will put you ahead of the competition for future job roles you take on. The required skills and behaviors are listed below:

Skills:

  • Project governance – Project monitoring, reporting cycle to track, assess and interpret the performance of projects.
  • Stakeholder and communications management – Communicate to a variety of different audiences. Contribute to negotiations relating to project objectives.
  • Budgeting and cost control – Develop and agree on project budgets, monitor forecast and actual costs against them, and control changes.
  • Business case – Contribute to the preparation or maintenance of a business case including achieving required outcomes.
  • Scope management – Determine, control, and manage changes to the project, including assumptions, dependencies, and constraints.
  • Consolidated planning – Monitor progress against the consolidated plan and refine as appropriate.
  • Schedule management – Prepare and maintain schedules for activities aligned to project delivery.
  • Risk, and issue management – Respond to and manage issues within a defined governance structure.
  • Contract management and procurement – Facilitate a procurement process, contribute to the definition of contractual agreements and contribute to managing a contract.
  • Quality management – Develop a quality management plan, manage project assurance, and contribute to peer reviews.
  • Resource management – Develop resource management plans for project activities.

Behaviors:

  • Collaboration and teamwork 
  • Leadership 
  • Effective and appropriate communication
  • Drive for results 
  • Integrity, ethics, compliance and professionalism
Project planning teamwork collaboration management

What are the entry requirements to become an Associate Project Manager Apprentice?

Individual employers will set their own entry requirements for their apprentices. Typically candidates will have achieved a grade C or above in at least 5 GCSEs including English and Mathematics. And, hold a minimum of 48 UCAS points or equivalent.

Additional Details

The typical duration of this apprenticeship will be 24 months.

Either before or during the apprenticeship, apprentices will be required to achieve level 2 qualifications in English and Mathematics. Prior to taking the end-point assessment (EPA).

Conclusion

When you complete the course, you’ll have many opportunities in project management. From working as a dedicated project manager to related roles such as program managers, project planners, and more.

If you’re new to project management and looking to develop your existing career with practical, widely valued skills in this essential discipline, this apprenticeship program is for you.

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Want to find out more about the current apprenticeships we offer? Feel free to take a look at our other posts here: https://www.apprenticetips.com/

10 Pro Email Marketing Tips for Beginners

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email marketing, email creation, women, laptop, notebook

Whether you are a new Digital Marketing Apprentice ready to take on Email Marketing or simply want to know how to develop your content as a starter, here is your guide to ensure the maximum results from your campaigns. By creating email marketing campaigns, you can reach more customers and grow your business heavily by putting your company’s name on the radar. In order to achieve your desired results, here are the Top 10 Email Marketing tips which new email marketers should take into consideration.

1. Pick a suitable email marketing platform

The first and probably most obvious would be to decide on which platform best suits your email marketing requirements. The things to take into account are your budget, recipient size, email design and so much more. HubSpot is an amazing tool that allows you to easily redesign and configure your emails for your audience, however, it is a paid feature. A free version that would be suitable for large email lists and designing opportunities would be MailChimp. So as previously mentioned, research heavily into which platform is the best for your company.

2. Segment your audience

Segmenting your audience is the practice of grouping customers who have certain attributes together. You may ask why this would be beneficial, the first reason being personalizing content becomes much easier for future campaigns. Also, measuring results for particular contacts is more accurate and precise.

3. Designing your content

It is extremely important that your email campaigns reflect a similar style to your brand colors and website design. This as a result creates more brand awareness surrounding your company and makes your content look professional and easily identifiable.

Ways to Improve SEO content writing

4. Personalisation

Personalizing aspects such as Subject Titles/Lines, Intro Texts and more, causes higher open rates as recipients are more likely to open emails that are addressing them directly. This tip also aligns closely with Segmentation as you can increase the relevancy your emails have to your receivers by making your content more personal for different groups.

5. A/B Testing

Also famously known as split testing, A/B testing allows you to test certain elements of your content to help improve your campaign as a whole. Changing small things like one word in your Subject Line can go a long way in terms of measuring the results and seeing which performs better to adapt your future campaigns and see which best suits your audience.

6. Optimising campaigns for Mobile Users

Considering the percentage of users who are more likely to check their emails on their phones, it is crucial to make sure your content is optimized for their device. 70% of users are more likely to open emails on a mobile device so make sure your links work, your font size is readable and your email loads quickly on mobiles.

young woman using laptop, email creation, marketing tips

7. Make sure you have an unsubscribe button

As soul-crushing as it can be to have a dedicated contact unsubscribe from your content, it is crucial you give them the option to opt-out. This ensures you stay in GDPR regulations and also makes sure you stay on the good side of your target audience.

8. Do not spam

Creating a marketing campaign plan before releasing your batch of emails over the next month is very important. This ensures you are not overloading your recipient’s inboxes whilst also creating excitement for your next campaign release. Weekly campaigns are a great way to dive into the email marketing sector as a beginner.

9. Make your CTA contextual

Recipients should know exactly what action you are pushing them to take with one small message as your CTA. Clearly defining your wording such as ‘Read More’ or ‘Buy Now’ pushes the reader to take those desired actions. Another benefit is, good CTAs will drive traffic to your other platforms if the links work correctly.

10. Measuring Metrics and KPIs

The top 3 email metrics to look out for are: Open Rates, Click-Through Rates, Bounce Rates, and Conversion Rates. By measuring these KPIs over a period of time you can develop reports to see which campaigns settled better with the recipients and what sort of content pushed for the best results. With this information, you can cater your future campaigns for their stronger interests.

email creation, women typing on laptop

To reach customers in the most effective manner, follow these tips so you can ensure you get the maximum results for your company – whether you are an apprentice for a start-up or large organization. New and improved email campaign platforms make it easier for you to personalize your content, so you ensure CTAs are perfect and your content focuses on what your audience wants to hear rather than what you want to tell them. See better results, reach more potential customers around the world, and make a memorable impression with our top email marketing tips.

Keep up to date with our new apprenticeship roles or even blog content that will push you in the right direction as an aspiring apprentice, Sign Up to our mailing list and be the first to be alerted.

Alternatively, you can follow us on Twitter or Linkedin.

Want to find out more about the current apprenticeships we offer? Feel free to take a look at our other posts here: https://www.apprenticetips.com/

Privacy compliance for digital marketers (and 5 tips for staying compliant)

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Working with personal data is an daunting task. In this blog post we will aim to ease your mind on handling data, and make sure that you are informed about privacy compliance.

Whether working on email campaigns, with contact lists, or on social media. There are many times in the world of digital marketing where you may come into contact with personal data. It’s key that you are aware of the law in place, and that you are aware of best practice, as to avoid any potential privacy breaches.

Disclaimer: this post is not legal advice, it is for general information purposes only.

GDPR & The Data Protection Act

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and the Data Protection Act (DPA) are the two (main) pieces of law that cover data protection, privacy, and information handling. There are small, yet important details separating the two acts. The only differences that have been included are those which are relevant for digital marketers. GDPR is an EU piece of law, and applies to anyone who deals with/shares content with somebody living in the EU. Whereas the DPA is a UK law, and applies to anyone who deals with/shares content in the UK. Furthermore, GDPR states that all subjects have rights in terms of data processed about them. For the full list, click here.

Why is privacy compliance important?

It’s important to remain compliant on data security. Both GDPR and the DPA have punishments for people/businesses that break the rules on the law. GDPR sets a €20 million, or 4% of global turnover (whichever is greater) fine. However, the DPA sets a maximum fine of £17.5 million or 4% of global turnover- again, whichever is greater. The highest fine ever paid was by Amazon, who paid a whopping €746 million for GDPR breaches.

Despite this, there is a lot of leniency in the laws. However, fines may not be the worse punishment. If a business is responsible for a privacy breach of its customers data, it’s going to severely impact their reputation. Therefore it’s important to make sure that data is well looked after.

Keeping data secure is a key consideration for those handling personal information.

Our top 5 tips for privacy compliance:

Review all current data

Most businesses store data in some way. Therefore, it is suggested that a business takes the time to look at their processes, and see where data is used and stored. This way, changes can be made to improve the security and relevance of the data in question. For example, a business may use customer data in an email list. The action that they can take from this is to make sure that all the data in said list is accurate. This means making sure that it’s up to date, as well as not storing too much data.

Look at how data is gathered

Alternatively to reviewing data, it’s much easier to make sure that data is accurate and stored correctly when best practice is applied from the start. Therefore, make sure that when data is gathered it is as intended for purpose- this will save time and effort in data cleansing later. This allows data to be used straight away

Make sure that subject reason and consent is documented

This is tied in with the previous point. It is important that the reason for the data to be collected, and that the subject has given consent. This is done when the subject gives their data, and usually takes the form of a tick box. Furthermore, it’s beneficial to make a clear note of the reason for processing data, so that it is not used in a way that is outside of the reason it was collected for.

It is important to keep data secure, as this prevents it being leaked and used maliciously.

Make sure people in your business are aware

Most breaches are by people who were ignorant of the laws, not necessarily intending to break them. That is why it’s important to make sure that people in your business who may touch personal data are aware of the affects of a privacy breach. This will help to avoid losing reputation with stakeholders in the business.

Appoint a data protection officer for privacy compliance

This is the easiest way to guarantee that GDPR and DPA requirements will be met. A trusted, senior employee who can thoroughly check data and inform others of the laws. It is currently mandatory if you monitor the activity of a large number of individuals.

How privacy compliance applies to digital marketers

Digital marketers work with people’s data day in, day out. Avoiding a privacy breach and staying compliant should be the top priority when doing so. When conducting email campaigns, it is important to make sure that the sender list has been cleansed, and that all contacts have given permission/or fall under legitimate interest. Furthermore, this will help avoid spam blockers, because the inboxes will be expecting it. On site, GDPR/DPA compliance can be met through the use of opting in/out of cookies.

It is important to keep these in mind when conducting any marketing activities, as to avoid a privacy breach and potential punishments.

Improvement Leader Apprenticeship Level 6; a Worldwide Opportunity!

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Who in the World would employ you?

With the rapid growth of multinational companies and the globalisation of every countries job sector, it has never been more important to stand out from the crowd. A level 6 Improvement Leader Apprenticeship could be exactly what you need.

The UK’s biggest company (BP) which according to the Global 500 is the worlds’ 8th biggest company has the total workforce of 70,000 but only 15,000 are based in the UK. This means the most successful UK company only has 21.4% of its workforce based in the UK. This fact isn’t unique, the world’s biggest company (Walmart) the well known American supermarket chain have 700,000 of their total 2,300,000 employees working outside of America, which equates to 30.4% of their employees. So it is no longer a case of just competing with people from your town or county, you are competing against your continent and the World!

It is important to realise this mass globalisation of jobs isn’t a bad thing, in fact it is a positive. There are almost 200 countries worldwide and now you have a chance to work for any company, from any of these countries, so you are no longer limited to a job in your local town you have the ability to find the job that fits you worldwide.

What will you gain from this apprenticeship?

From this apprenticeship you will gain a level 6 qualification, which is the equivalent of a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree from University. According The Guardian Only 27.2% of UK adults aged between the age of 16-74 have a qualification of this level, so based on qualifications you will have an advantage against 72.8% of UK adults. According to the HuffPost only 6.7% of the world have a qualification of this level so you are putting yourself ahead of 93.3% of the world’s population with this qualification.

As well as earning this Improvement leader apprenticeship qualification you will gain many skills, including:

  • Improved Strategy Development: You will learn how to develop and adapt your plan and your ability to implement your plan.
  • Team Formation & Leadership: You will learn how to best form a team and the most out of each member of the team
  • Voice of Customer: Understanding and explaining to a team the thoughts of a customer
  • Process Mapping and Analysis: Improving your ability to spot new opportunities from analysis, leading to an improving cycle
  • Data Analysis: The ability to interpret data, and work out how you and your team are performing, and if there are any improvements needed
  • Project selection and scooping: Establishing guidelines for a project you have identified for your team to work on
  • Benchmarking: the ability to compare your company to rivals
A level 6 Improvement Leader Apprentice with the ability to work for any company in the world
Learn how to get the best out of every member of the team

Drive for results

You will develop your drive for both sales and customer experience, inturn inspiring your team to follow suit. As you become successful you will become more passionate in your work creating a positive loop.

Team Working

You will learn you can’t be the best in every field, it is important to create a strong team mentality. You will be responsible for improving team performance and resolving any issues.

Professionalism

You will learn to work to the highest standard, no regardless of any issues. This is desirable to both customers, company owners and members of your own team. Professionalism displays personal resilience to any challenge and shows you aren’t swayed in decision by pressure.

Strategic Thinking

Instead of just planning for today you will learn to plan for different future eventualities. This could involve:

  • Diversifying range of product for if one range becomes unpopular. For example Amazon started off selling books but now they sell groceries, host websites and create TV shows
  • Finding new tools and planning how they could help and be implemented
  • Planning new sales campaigns

Safe Working

Recognising opportunities to improve safe working conditions

An Improvement Leader Apprenticeship, delivering you to your destination
Apply for the Improvement Leader Apprenticeship now and see where in the world it could take you.

Chartered Management Apprenticeship (Degree)

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Chartered Management Apprenticeship (Degree): Role Overview

The Chartered Management Apprenticeship (Degree) is for anyone who wishes to take the lead on projects, take responsibility for co-workers with the aim of delivering success, however that may be measured. The chartered manager should be an exemplary figure to those below them, and live and breathe the company ethos.

There are chartered managers everywhere. In the public, private, engineering, business, governance sectors. Their nature makes them suited for tackling challenges in any sector. A cool head and a capability for managing multi-faceted projects, and the ability to break down interpersonal problems that may arise. This allows them to get their team(s) back on track to the common goal.

Technical skills

Top-down view of strategy: Knowing the overall objectives of the business. Keeping these in mind, and applying it in day to day activities. Keeping on top of risks, monitoring progress, and forecasting growth, are all cornerstones of the role.

An eye for sales (and marketing): Being able to fully understand the product or service that you sell should be a given. Understanding the marketing mix, (place, price, product, promotion), and how it applies to your offering is key.

Digital, and an awareness of new technologies: This is important in any role in the digital age. If a piece of software can make you do your job quicker, or better, it should be used. Being able to spot ‘weak points’ in your processes, and strengthening them with tech.

Understanding finance: To be able to create budgets and financial reports, such as tax administration. Furthermore, to be able to wisely spend, negotiate, and procure as necessary. Finally, to conduct all of this whilst keeping clear, transparent records.

Managing projects: The most important skill that the a Chartered Manager should possess. Consequently, they will understand how a project moves forward, and at times, will need to push it in order to meet deadlines.

A person sat at a desk using a calculator, with several computer monitors around them.
A Chartered Manager will be comfortable being responsible for large budgets, and showing the returns against these.

People skills

Communication: Different platforms require different etiquettes and language. Identifying the difference and knowing what tone of voice or structure to use is key. Furthermore, an ability to use different forms of language such as persuasive language, and being able to use it to generate sales.

Managing/leading people: There will always be disagreements, in any workplace. Therefore, a good manager will take control of these situations, and work towards a resolution in a calm manner. Furthermore, being able to manage expectations of staff, and set realistic targets that challenge staff, not overstress them. Finally, to be able to understand company culture and reflect it onto staff.

Building relationships for the future: Long lasting relationships are beneficial to any business, regardless of their involvement (stakeholder, supplier, customer). Hence it is important that a Chartered Manager does what they can to increase the lifetime value of anyone who touches the business.

A sports coach instructs a team huddled in front of them. It shows how managers are the same no matter where they are.
Management is the same anywhere. Instructing your people and leading by example.

Self management and behaviours

Accountability: Mistakes will be made, there will be times when questions will be asked, as is natural with senior roles. Therefore, it is key that post problem, what went wrong has been examined. Additionally, you take what is learnt and apply it to situations in the future to avoid the same mistake.

Personal management/Professionalism: To lead by example, you must be seen to be proficient in your role to ensure confidence from your staff. Hence, being on time, organised, and appropriately dressed goes a long way.

Flexibility: When approached with a problem, being agile and adaptable to overcome it, with a considered solution. Furthermore, responding to feedback from clients/customers, changing your processes to suit. As well as being open to fresh ways of working. Additionally, actively seeking the views of others helps those who touch the business feel valued, be it workers, clients, or suppliers.

Decision making: Tied in with flexibility. Such as, how it is important to be able to consider contrasting views on reaching a well-informed, unbiased decision. Furthermore, using evidence to support decisions, and being able to forecast the outcome of your decision.

Entry requirements and qualifications

Different employers will have different requirements for entry. It is suggested that the apprentice would have A-Levels and/or Level 3 qualifications. Furthermore, functional skills, such as Maths and English should also be completed. Despite this, good experience may also be considered in place of existing qualifications.

Upon completion of the Chartered Management Apprenticeship (Degree) (four years, can be altered dependent on experience) the successful apprentice is awarded a degree in management and business. This will be a BA (Hons), a BSc (Hons) or a BBA (Hons). Furthermore, there is also the option to be assessed to become a fully Chartered Manager.

Chartered Management Apprenticeship (Degree): In conclusion

The Chartered Management Apprenticeship (Degree) is a brilliant opportunity to get a foot in the door of project management and working at a wide-scale. It is a role that suits someone that is eager to build their skillset across a variety of competencies. Additionally, someone who is well organised, can keep a cool head, and is comfortable managing numbers. It is a great role that leads to a rewarding career.

What makes strategic marketers so successful?

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strategic marketer

Strategic Marketers directly influence the marketing plan to improve long term growth. The strength of your marketing plan is highly dependent on the business. How well everyone functions as a team helps strategic marketers to refine plans and outline paths to successful growth.

“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.”

Peter Drucker

Execution and organisation determine the effectiveness of the marketing plan.

Questions strategic marketers ask themselves

These are questions strategic marketers ask before developing a marketing plan:

  • What is the objective?
  • Do you have a comprehensive marketing strategy?
  • What are the costs of the compared to the prices of products / services?
  • Who are the team leaders and teams responsible for aiding in the marketing plan?

Making an effective marketing plan

Competitor Analysis

Effective strategic marketers utilise competitive analysis and analytics to drive success. These tools helps provide search engine research and provides organic search marketing opportunities. Through well defined strengths and opportunities; a successful marketer will define the best possible way for a product or service to stand out.

Goals and Objectives

Clear goals and objectives remove the ambiguity from the plan. A well thought out plan will include deliverables alongside a clearly defined roadmap. Fine tuning these goals whilst working will ensure flexibility in the market.

Market Segmentation

Through segmenting the target market, customers can be targetted based on conversion success rates. Time and money are valuable assets and not to be wasted targetting the wrong customer segment. Determine who the product or service will be serving, and determine the demographics of this segment.

Multi-channel strategy

Developing your multi-channel strategy will drive a variety of traffic to your site, increasing the likelihood of conversion. Strategies can include email, websites, social media, SMS messaging, apps, SEO content marketing, and many more. These channels provide the strategic marketer with golden opportunities based on the situation and target segment. Having a flexible strategy allows you to adjust for success and maximise returns faster.

Budget Planning

On the topic of maximing returns, we come to budget planning. This step in our outline impacts the investment into your business. Having a well thought out budget allows you to reposition yourself in the market quickly. This improves cost-efficiency and reduces unnecessary expense.

Managing Data

From Social follows to email open rates, data can help inform your strategy. Driving an effective campaign takes effectively monitoring goals and tracking landmarks to achieve success. Using the AGILE methodology, we can determine effectiveness by pioneering new approaches.

Starting out your Career as a Strategic Marketer

Strategic Marketers understand their value extends beyond just their company. Finding the best career progression options can be a minefield. Specialising in your niche will improve your chances of success.

Starting out your career, consider a degree if you haven’t already got one. Alternatively, there may be more value in considering vocational routes depending on your situation.

A Level 3 Digital Marketing Apprenticeship may offer better experience in an increasingly hostile academic environment. For Strategic Marketers, further education is fantastic for demonstrating knowledge. However, becoming a Strategic Marketer is more than studying hard for exams!

Find out more about becoming an apprentice

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Level 4 Community Energy Apprenticeship

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community energy apprentice

Becoming a Community Energy Apprentice will prepare you to handle the future of renewable energy projects on a local level. Community energy specialists work with energy-efficient technolgies to proactively engage with local communities to provide youth education.

Building a sustainable future, one community at a time

Around 5000 groups across the UK have been working to tackle climate change on a community level. Working to provide energy security and affordability to those who will be most affected by climate change and decarbonisation efforts.

What it takes to be a leader in Community Energy

Training as a Community Energy Apprentice is a huge opportunity to work on the future of sustainable energy projects. Excellent leadership skills, a keen eye for detail, and an ability to modelling financial feasibility is hugely beneficial.

Working with low income and vulnerable households, the future of affordable clean energy, is dictated by the actions of today. Training as a Community Energy Apprentice, you receive the skills necessary for sourcing low carbon heat and power opportunities.

As a Community Energy Apprentice, you will be expected to be able to:

  • Identify renewable energy options and efficient technologies for buildings, sites and customers.
  • Work with low income or vulnerable households. Provide council on low or no cost measures / behaviour changes that will save energy.
  • Model financial feasibility of projects. Assess opportunities and risks. Manage funding required for projects e.g. community shares / bonds, social loans, state aid compliant grant funding.
  • Lead a team of volunteer directors to secure funding for the project. Oversee the marketing plan to ensure that sufficient funds are raised.
  • Organise the tender for the installation work. Liase with the contractors and members of the community to develop project plans compliant with co-operative principles.
  • Ensure that the necessary sector-specific legal agreements and contracts are put in place. This is between the energy organisation the owners, installers, and all the relevant authorities before commencing with projects.
  • Use sector-specific expertise to manage the ongoing functionality of the project. Manage maintenance, the financial performance of the organisation. Manage compliance with FCA requirements, investor returns and the community benefit pot if applicable.
  • Engage in the community and youth education around community energy (assemblies, lessons, presenations at youth organisations and community centres).
  • Assist in delivering the purchasing initiatives.
  • Assess the social impact of the various projects and potential for the community.
community energy apprenticeship

What you will gain from a Community Energy Apprenticeship

Technology

You will gain a strong understanding of the technology driving renewable energy. Using this understanding, you will be able identify appropriate low-carbon solutions for individual situations.

Energy Efficiency

Understand measures relating to home and business energy efficiency. Determine the impacts on fuel poverty and bring about real change to communities affected by it.

National and Local Grids

Gain an understanding of the national grid and energy generating technology. Apply this knowledge of local grids to improve performance and functionality.

Legislation, Guidance and Policy

You will be able to review energy policy framework and legislature surounding community energy initiatives and energy production / sale.

Financial Support

You will be able to manage financial, administrative and advisory support products for community energy.

Project Management

You will have working experience with project management. Responsibility will include managing the costs of energy schemes, operation of these schemes, and presenting delivery models. Through effective team management, projects will be run efficiently from start to finish.

FAQ

What will I receive at the end of my apprenticeship?

A level 4 qualification equivalent to an Foundation Degree. You will also receive a good salary and on-the-job training and experience, working for community energy projects.

Will I be able to progress onto higher education after qualifying?

Absolutely! A level 4 qualification will show your technical knowledge and an affinity towards education standards, allowing you to progress onto a degree course if you wish.

How long will I study for?

The length of the apprenticeship will be 24 months (not including the end point assessment).

What qualifications do I need to apply?

Outside of the minimum English and Maths level 2, you won’t need any prior qualifications to apply. It is down to the employer as to whether they feel you are a good fit.

Do you have what it takes to become a Community Energy Specialist?

Read more on the benefits of community energy projects at https://communityenergyengland.org/pages/benefits-of-community-energy

The COP26 summit saw leaders from around the world come together in Glasgow to tackle Climate Change. Law-makers are under increasingly large amounts of pressure to support the development of local projects. This is with the aim of improving the living standards of communities who will be hardest hit by climate change.

To find out more about becoming an apprentice, visit our homepage.

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Beginners Guide to SEO – Digital Marketing

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Beginners Guide to SEO 1

When you’re a beginner to the world of digital marketing one of the most daunting things is getting to grips with SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). In this article I am going to explain not just how to get good at SEO but how to move from crappy SEO to building habits to consistently Ranking page 1 on Google Search.

Even if you are following all the basic advice of ‘creating great and engaging content’, ‘adding keywords to your website’ and you’re even ‘making sure your website loads fast. It won’t alone make your website shoot to the 1st page of Google Search. So let’s break down 5 steps.

SEO Step 1 – Find Three Keywords

These are words that you will create content around that is relevant to your intended target audience. For example, if my audience is Gen-Z female gifters then there is no point in me creating content that would resonate with Generation X male gifters. A way to get around this is by using a site like ‘answerthepublic.com’. This site shows questions, prepositions, comparisons that people post on forums, blogs and social media. This content in turn will influence the content you create but also act as long tail Keywords being an easy way for our site to start appearing number one in less competitive searches. This will also have the added benefit of allowing our content and website appeal to the terms our target audience actually want to see.

Another option for finding Keywords is ‘explodingtopics.com’. This is another free tool that lists a bunch of Keywords for new topics in your chosen topic of exploration. Because all the topics are new current trends it usually means that the Keywords associated with them are less competitive than the standard ones. You can even head to this site first and then put the topic into ‘answerthepublic.com’ to get even Long tail Keywords.

SEO Step 2 – Create Epic content

Once you’ve chosen your three Keywords now it’s time for the fun part, now it’s time to make content around these three key words. This step is very important. The internet is full of amazing pieces of content that people have the luxury of picking up for free to assure you content is one of the lucky ones chosen, you are going to have to make the content captivating. I can’t tell you exactly how to make your content stand out, actually If I had the answer to that I’d be a millionaire but what I can do is give some key pointers as things you can do when you onto something to make your content more shareable and linkable.

  1. Publish content that is long and in depth. This will mean there are more touch points for other sites to want to link back to as it increases the likelihood that you have something shareable.
  2. Add something to hook your audience into the content that would make them want to share or link to it. examples of these could be:
    1. Statistic or Data Visualisation
    2. Example Case Study 
    3. Unique Strategy
    4. An innovative brand new tool

Anything that will make someone feel the need to link back to your content.

  • Beginners Guide to SEO 2

SEO Step 3 – Optimise the Keyword for you Content

No longer is Keyword optimisation all about stuffing your page with Keywords, now the goal is to help Google’s algorithm understand what topic your site is about. 

The first step is to include your target Keyword in a few important places on your webpage.

This are but not limited to:

  • Title Tag
  • In the first 100 words on the page
  • in the image alt text
  • In the H1 Tag and in the H2 & H3 Tag
  • In the Last 100 words of your page

The next thing to do is to add a little something called LSI Keyword. Without sounding too simplistic LSI Keywords are terms closely aligned with your main Keyword. For example if my Keyword is gifting then my LSI Keywords would be Birthday, presents, christmas and more. Doing this will reinforce to the Google algorithm that your website is about your chosen Keyword Topic. The easiest way to find this is by searching your keyword, heading to the bottom of Google search, and using the ‘Search Related to…’. This brings up a list of potential LSI Keywords for you to use and add your webpage.

Step 4 – Optimise your content for users

Backlinks alone are not enough for your content to rank well in Google’s search algorithm, it must  be optimised for your users. This is because the algorithm pays attention to how users for lack of a better term use your website. If the users click onto your page and then straight off it then it will start to push it down the search rankings. The opposite though is true, if users click and stay on your page then a Search ranking boost shall come your way. 

Here are some tips on how increase the time spent on your site by users:

  1. Front load the important information. 
    1. Don’t buy into the long introduction slow burning the information people are seeking. Give to them upfront so they’ll actually read it and then have the rest of the content be more depth on the topic being discussed.
  2. Make sure the visual design of your site is simple and easy to digest for audiences to consume. This will mean that your great content actually gets viewed as there is nothing distracting the user from what they came for.

Step 5 – Build Backlinks

A backlink for the uninitiated is simple: it is the link on another site that sends users to your webpage. All the best practises discussed above leave you in a good position for backlinks to be made to your site. A great proactive way to build backlinks is to find ‘broken links’. A broken link is as it says on the tin a link that doesn’t lead to a page anymore. These offer the opportunity to message the author of the site with the dead/broken link to replace the link with similar if not the same content on your webpage.

If all these steps are followed this should set your web page and content well on the way to landing on the first page of Google search and you’ll have fantastic SEO. If you found these SEO tips helped and are looking for more support, please head to https://www.apprenticetips.com/ for more content just like this and much more.