How valuable are marketing apprenticeships?

When the team at ArrangeMY Escape in Worcester scooped the number one spot at
TTG Top 50 Travel Agencies 2022, their impressive marketing efforts were among the things that wowed the judges. Many of their ideas had been implemented as a result of a year-long marketing apprenticeship started by one of their team while he was on furlough. 

The agency secured a junior content producer apprenticeship for travel expert Ryan Sowney in February 2021, funded by the government and arranged via provider Train2Travel AS Training. 

Sowney helped general manager Jennifer Lynch dramatically overhaul the agency’s email marketing campaigns, including changing the content, creating templates and analysing results.

Lynch explains: “We had email databases before but we didn’t really see them as valuable. With Ryan doing the course we learned the importance of emails, as it’s free marketing. The amount of appointments that [now] fly in after a wedding email pings off is incredible.”

Sowney also produces videos for the in-store TV, co-hosts the agency’s podcast, drives the use of QR codes and prompted the agency to start collecting and sharing reviews. He has spent two hours a day doing online training, fitting it into his working day. “We’ve managed around it, as it’s so important he does it,” Lynch adds. 

Prior to Ryan’s apprenticeship, the agency spent £10,000 a year on local marketing, and Lynch planned to employ a third-party digital marketing expert. “Now we don’t need either, as we’re doing our marketing properly ourselves, earning more money and spending less on advertising,” she says.

“We’ve all learnt so much by listening to Ryan, by putting someone on [a marketing apprenticeship] it’s an investment in your business and team.”

LONG-TERM DEVELOPMENT 

Operations and sales manager Craig Hulme joined Thorne Travel as a digital marketing apprentice in 2015, before doing a higher level apprenticeship. In 2021, he completed a four-year graduate programme while working at the agency. 

In total, Hulme’s training has cost £50,000, half of which has been paid by Thorne Travel, with the remainder funded by the government and local council. Director Shona Thorne explains: “It’s a big investment, but for us it pays dividends, because he shares that knowledge with the rest of the team.”

Hulme’s varied remit includes email marketing, direct mail and out-of-home advertising, alongside developing the agency’s first bookable website this year. He also crafts the agency’s social media strategy, running training for the team. 

Thorne says: “Seven years ago we didn’t get any business from social media, and we weren’t sure what to do with digital. Today, 65% of our business comes through social media. Craig has made a massive impact.”

Two existing members of the team are now doing year-long digital marketing apprenticeships. Thorne had planned to also use an outside agency to keep up with the business’s marketing needs. Instead, in March, she chose to recruit another three apprentices, whose training will be funded by the local council, while they also work three days a week in the agency’s two stores.

"Outsourcing [marketing] can feel really corporate, and wouldn’t bring over the personality or the people within the business,” she explains. “In a year’s time, having those three apprentices, with the volume they’ll be able to put through and the dynamics they will bring to our marketing, will be far cheaper,”  she says. 

BOOSTING BUSINESS

In September, Advantage Managed Services member Beverley Travel appointed Chantelle Leskiewicz on a 12-month digital marketing apprenticeship, and Millie Notarantonio on an 18-month business administration apprenticeship.

Director Karl Douglas made the investment because social media was proving time-consuming for the agency’s sales consultants. He says they have both “added real value” to the agency’s marketing, explaining: “Training takes a bit of effort initially, but now they just need normal supervisory management, coaching and guidance. They’re really flying.”

The roles were advertised on Facebook, and the agency managed the process in-house. Their courses.are funded by the government and include a day of training each week, coordinated by Train2Travel AS Training.  

The pair have assisted on large projects, including the agency’s brochure, in-store events and redesigning the website.

Douglas says: “These projects wouldn’t have happened without them being in the business, as we wouldn’t have had the time. Now we have consistency and a marketing process.

For social media we review the offers, plan our social media posts each week and look at the stats, rather than having a haphazard approach.”

Douglas expects the pair to remain with the business at the end of their apprenticeships and says their marketing efforts have had a noticeable impact on sales.

He explains: “We’ve definitely gained customers and bookings because of the website, brochure and SEO. Without all those offers and posts going out on social media, I’m sure we wouldn’t have had as much business and such a strong first quarter. We probably would have dropped the ball on our social media and marketing activities without Chantelle and Millie.”