How to Keep Your Team up to Scratch in a Fast-Paced Digital World

It’s no secret that digital marketing is a fast-paced industry and it can be hard to keep on top of changing trends if you’re not immersed in digital day-in day-out. But, it’s not just how marketing is done that is developing, but how much time and money is being spent too.

According to Statista, US digital advertising spend in 2015 totaled $59.82bn, but by 2020 it’s forecasted to almost double. Then there’s global digital ad spend which is estimated to reach $229.25bn in 2017 and grow to $335.5 billion by 2020.

With such money being spent, you’d assume most marketers know their stuff. However, a study by Adobe has found that just 48% of digital marketers feel highly proficient in their fields and only 40% think their company’s marketing efforts are effective. Ouch.

As an ambitious digital agency, we have to stay up-to-date in order to provide for our clients. So, we thought we’d share our tips on how we keep up to scratch.

Innovating in Internal Training Sessions

It’s likely you have many strengths within your organisation. There may be ‘The Closer’ who masters marketing sales, the ‘Content King’ that conquers wordy woes, or an SEO specialist that smashes technical problems, but what happens if one of them falls ill, goes on holiday or (god forbid) leaves for a job elsewhere? Who’ll take the reins?

Internal training is an effective way of ensuring everyone is the best they can be. It’s where senior marketers share their knowledge and help hone junior staffs’ skills.

At Liberty HQ, we hold monthly innovation sessions where we all sit down together for a hearty lunch before an afternoon of company updates and training presentations. We cover everything from the latest clients to come on board and retention targets to how we’ve achieved great case study results or what we’re planning for upcoming campaigns.

Attending Exciting Educational Events

Educational events are a great way of breaking out of routine, shaking things up a bit and learning new skills, and although we’re more used to presenting at these kinds of events these days, many of us are still keen to attend as audience delegates.

Whether its small roundtable events or some of the country’s largest conferences and showcases, events are a great coming together of minds where the best case studies and most effective methodologies are shared.

Getting Competitive with Certifications

Just because you’ve finished your degree and got a job in marketing, it doesn’t mean your education should stop. Studying for and completing industry-specific certifications are an effective way of expanding your work-related education and ensuring you’re up-to-date on the latest knowledge.

Within the digital marketing industry there are many courses you can sign-up for. One of the best for beginners is Google Squared, whereas existing industry professionals may choose to expand their skills with training from the Chartered Institute of Marketing. Plus, we work with online learning providers (like Udemy and Lynda) to offer thousands of training options on all kinds of topics.

Our PPC team has added a competitive edge in order to keep them motivated by creating a Google Exam Leaderboard. The PPC team update their Google qualifications annually and the person who completes all of them in the shortest amount of time and with the best overall score wins a prize.

Reading Banging Blogs

While this may be a bit obvious, we have to highlight a number of blogs and websites to learn from. The digital marketing community is very generous and open, so there is a plethora of top quality marketing resources.

Here are some of our favourites to learn about the latest and greatest in digital:

• Moz
• Search Engine Watch
• Viper Chill
• Content Marketing Institute
• Think With Google
• State of Digital (check out the SoD articles written by our very own Marketing Manager, Paul, here)

Calling in the Experts

Sometimes the best or only way to learn is to call in the experts. In the past, we have had a number of specialist trainers visit our team to talk to us about time management and how to become a high-performance team.

In turn, we’ve also trained teams in all aspects of digital. We’ve spent a few days at the London HQ of our client notonthehighstreet training their team on everything from content to PPC, and also recently worked the University of the West of England, Bristol, and Universal Music.

We believe every business is different and tailor training to your needs. We’re known for our no-nonsense approach that cuts through the gumpf and airy-fairy theory to get down to the nitty-gritty. If you want practical and actionable techniques, then you may like to read about our digital marketing training.

Creating a Positive and Inspiring Culture

Ultimately, if any of the above are going to have a lasting impact on improving your team’s skills, the culture of your organisation must support and encourage continued professional development and value the impact that it can have.

We aim to make Liberty an enjoyable place to work, so our staff genuinely look forward to coming into the office in the morning. How do we do that?

Well, first off there’s free healthy snacks and breakfast treats every day, as well as the odd office beer (we’re in the process of building an office bar – watch this space). Then there’s our complimentary subscriptions to Netflix or Amazon Prime, our fancy new coffee machine and all the great elements shown below…

Get to Know Liberty… or Join the Team

Want to know the secrets to our success, where we’re presenting at events next, or simply what our ugly mugs look like?

Explore our Liberty news, About Us and Meet the Team pages. Or, if you’d like to join our growing team, check out our latest vacancies here.