Marketing skills development guide and template

Employee development guidance and checklists for marketers and marketing teams

How will this resource help me and my business?

You will have no doubt noticed the unprecedented rate of change in the world of work, particularly in the digital marketing industry. Credible research sources suggest that the people who are most likely to succeed and progress during this time are those who invest in, and take responsibility for, their own continuous learning.

Our free guide and the accompanying template are designed to help develop marketing skills for the following two 'use-cases':

If you're an individual looking to improve your marketing knowledge, you will know it can be difficult to identify the best way to improve your skills, enhance your capabilities and broaden your ongoing employability options.
If you're a team manager or marketing leader, you will know the importance of being supportive of employees’ desire to develop their skills. The complexity and variety of digital marketing options demand sufficient time to plan development activities that enable learning and training opportunities for employees at different stages of their careers.

Creating a personal skills development plan will help you map out what you want to achieve and how you’re going to achieve it. That’s why we’ve created this template - to encourage you to look closely at your development needs, or the needs of those around you, and create a plan of action.

It can be used for annual development or performance reviews between managers and team members, and then reviewed during the year. Individual employees can also use it independently for their own development.

Getting to the core of your own development needs isn't always easy, and this is where our skills planning template will help you. It’s a single indispensable checklist giving you:

Prompts for individuals and their managers to investigate key areas for development
Ideas and guidance on selecting resources and activities that can support you to achieve your personal learning goals
A framework so you can organise your plan into an easy-to-read summary for discussion with your manager

Whether you are an experienced marketer looking to improve specific skills or new to the industry and looking for a head start in a new role, this template will help you investigate your learning needs and then summarize them into an action plan.

Our members who are consultants or work within agencies can use it to encourage their clients to incorporate learning and skills development into digital transformation initiatives.

Who is this template for?

This template is for anyone who is aiming to improve or develop their skills in digital marketing, including:

Marketers committed to developing their skills and expertise in marketing and digital marketing
Marketing managers and digital marketing managers
Business owners in smaller businesses
Learning and development or HR professionals reviewing how to best improve digital marketing skills in their organisation

How is the template structured?

We have structured the template around the popular GROW (Goal, Reality, Options and Way forward) model of development, with a section relating to each area so that you can clearly define a learning plan that fits with your own goals and those of the business.

The template is designed to be easily understood and applied:

You will be provided with questions to prompt your thinking in relation to your own development needs.
Your answers can then be transferred directly into the plan summary to create your learning plan as part of a planning discussion with your manager.

Once you have a plan in place, you can focus your efforts on achieving your goals.

Resource Details

Authors: Lyndon Baker and Dave Chaffey
Format: 14-page template structured around the GROW development model and two digital learning modules explaining the concepts of employee development for managers and employees
Related resources: Marketing careers and skills development workbook