Developed Digital Marketer Apprenticeship Program
A Registered Apprenticeship Program with U.S. Dept of Labor
I’ve always been interested in developing a curriculum for agency life or even social media life. As an advisory board member, I’ve had a voice in re-shaping digital and marketing majors in higher education. It was a fun project to be involved in but I really believe that there’s a lack of comprehensive tracks for someone to really dedicate and develop their own vision and voice in the space.
In 2020, I was made aware that Future Ready Iowa received funding as a part of a Corona Virus Relief fund to increase the number of Registered Apprenticeship Training Programs in Iowa high schools, non-profits, and small businesses (less than 50 employees), post secondary education institutions and the healthcare industry. This grant could be used for purchasing equipment, developing related training instruction, leveraging federal curriculum or develop your own to create a new Registered Apprenticeship program.
We decided to give it a shot. This was an opportunity for Chatterkick to build a podcast studio, invest in more innovative and creative technology, and gain access to courses and learning opportunities from industry experts. The combinations of environment, technology, and expert learning opportunities set a really solid foundation for a registered apprenticeship program at the organization.
Anyone who has ever had to experience grant writing know that it’s a challenging process. This grant had an insanely tight turnaround so I wasn’t sure if we really nailed it when we sent it off, we always wish we had more time, right? I had to develop an entire equipment list and intention for the apprenticeship outline and training fast!
Chatterkick Acquired $50k Coronavirus Relief Grant
Nailed it! Chatterkick was awarded a $49,860.36 grant to fund a new Registered Apprenticeship Program in the field of Digital Marketing. This was one of two Digital Marketing apprenticeship programs in the state of Iowa. The application process was over, but the hard work on developing this program and getting an apprentice in the program on a short timeline started!
In completing this program the apprentice would receive a certificate of completion from the U.S Department of Labor, a Facebook Digital Marketing associate certification, Google Analytics for Beginners certification, and HubSpot Content certification.
Schedule US Dept of Labor Digital Marketer Work Process Schedule
The Digital Marketer Apprenticeship program is a Federal Registered Program. The program required tasks learned on-the-job in which the apprentice must become proficient before a completion certificate is awarded. The learning must be through structured, supervised work experience.
Because of the timing of the apprenticeship, I leveraged the pre-defined Digital Marketer work process schedule as a year 1 test with intention to document and adapt the program in year two.
There were 58 competencies overall to be completed in 12 months time. The overarching job description was extremely broad, someone completing this program in it’s entirety would be able to perform almost all role functions of the Chatterkick agency, including knowledge areas that the agency did provide as solutions.
The digital marketing industry is still in hyper-growth mode, but this growth isn’t just broadly sweeping as new technology is developed. These roles are getting deeper and deeper, especially with the emphasis on “big data.”
If I were leading this program in year 2, I would have completely re-written the apprenticeship program into a more narrow, achievable competencies that align with a specified career track in the digital marketing industry instead of crossing creative, community development, operations, analysis, and web development all in one.
Develop 144 Hours of Related Instruction (Online Courses & Trainings)
Developing a specific course of study was a project that I really loved developing. There are a million courses out there, but I wanted to put together courses, certification, and video instruction that was up-to-date, included philosophy and big picture approach to the digital world, and specific technology demos and tutorials. I identified 17 courses totalling the required 144 hours of learning for the apprenticeship. These courses ranged from specific Facebook Blueprint Courses with corresponding certifications, podcast basics, Squarespace basics, analytics insights, to new camera equipment training.
Designed Flexible Podcast Studio
Designing and building a fully-functioning and flexible podcast studio was an awesome experience. This project included taking over and re-designing a conference room and all new podcast audio and video production and editing equipment. If you ever want to talk equipment purchasing, I can assure you making 97 purchases in 30 days doesn’t make me a pro, but I’ve been through some things. In fact, the fact that I wasn’t an expert in audio, photo, and video meant many conversations with buddys, long calls with b&h photo and video, and many discussions started in Facebook groups. It all came together, I would definitely love to go back and switch up some of my selections!
A lot went into this project but here are some of the highlights! I partnered with Lisa from ModHouse to determine the buildout and proper furniture for the space. My original vision boards 👇
Studio development progress in action! At one point we kind of had to throw the equipment in for an impromptu shoot. The studio ended up looking insanely cool, but I really failed on taking some photos of the final days on developing the studio because my time at Chatterkick ended mid-development. Aside from missing the incredible humans, not begin able to really complete this project and see this studio come to life bums me out the most.
