BBC Apprentice winner Mark Wright sets his own course

As one of the UK’s leading Ed-Tech companies we are honoured to be partnered up with Climb Online, the digital marketing agency founded by Apprentice 2014 Winner, Mark Wright alongside his business partner Lord Sugar on their new digital marketing course.

Read more to find out exclusive details about Mark’s new digital marketing course, that’s available now! Also, get an insight on our interview with Mark as he shares his secrets and tips on how to be a successful entrepreneur!

What are the challenges in Digital Marketing? 

Who is this course for? And why is this course the place to start?

MW: "This course is ideal for anyone looking to forge a career in one of the fastest growing and most exciting industries in the world right now! This course will teach you the most up-to-date and career-ready information you need!

This course will teach you all the essential Digital Marketing skills you will need to launch your career to a new level, and will cover 3 key areas:SEO, PPC & Social Media."

What can we expect from your course?

MW: "Well, that's the key question really, what's the fundamental thing someone could expect to learn from my course. When I looked at all the other courses in the market I just found they were just so big, and they talked too much. There was just too much content. It was too hard, and it was discouraging people from joining the sector. I stripped it back into three key areas: organic media (SEO), paid media (PPC), and social media. The three main fundamental areas which will make you have a successful career in digital marketing but also make your company more successful from applying them. It's key for digital marketing knowledge and it's key for business, and they are the things people can expect to learn in my course."

Why Climb Academy?

MW: "The one thing that sets Climb Academy students apart from the rest is that our course provides a practical business edge that no other course does. When I first researched the market with e-Careers, we looked at other digital marketing courses, and what we found is, they were too expensive, they were going into too much detail, and they weren't helping you as a business. I've designed a very low cost course that helps you get the fundamental basics in digital marketing but teaches you how to apply it in business. That's what every business owner is looking for to take their company forward."

Is it imperative to have staff that understand social media?

MW: "It's essential these days to have confident social media people in your business. Social media is becoming a large part of everyday life and it's becoming an even larger part of business life. It's no good holding on and hoping that it goes away because you'll just miss the bug, you'll miss customers and your business won't move forward. Get social media people in your business and make sure those social media people are confident by doing a course like the Climb Academy."

Tell us more about winning The Apprentice, setting up your own business and working with e-Careers.

MW: "Winning The Apprentice was one of the most amazing things that has ever happened in my life. I'm so grateful for the BBC and the TV show that gave me the opportunity, and Lord Sugar for picking me. The easy part was winning The Apprentice, the hard part was creating a business. Climb Online is three years old now and we've got over 400 customers in three cities in the UK and it could be going bigger. One of the things I identified as a key problem for my business, was it was so impossible to find the right staff. I was getting staff and they were just undertrained.

They didn't know anything about digital marketing and they didn't know anything about business. It was a huge risk for me and my company. What I did is approach e-Careers and said, "This is my problem," and they showed me a solution. They said, "Here is a system where you can upload the course." I wrote the course, we put it in their system and now it's fixed my problem of having undertrained staff on this. It's going to help so many other digital marketing businesses. Other than that, it's just going to help businesses. Having a marketing department that knows the fundamentals of digital marketing is essential. This is what e-Careers and the Climb Academy have done perfectly."

What are your 5 top tips on how to be a successful entrepreneur?

MW: "Okay. My five tips for being the most successful entrepreneur you is easy!

1. Go into a sector that you love, that you're passionate about. So many times, I run into people that are going into jobs they just don't like because they think they're going to make lots of money. The key is to find a job you love, something you get up and it doesn't feel like you're working.
2. Experience creates success. You need to study your sector, you need to learn everything you can, you need to learn from the best in the market to be the most successful. Experience creates success.
3. You need a market with demand. So many times, businesses are working in markets where there's just no other people that are interested. The key is looking for a market with demand.
4. You need to know your margins. You need to know your prices and have your product, no matter what it is, priced correctly. It needs to make sense for the customer, and it needs to make sense for you as the business.
5. Employ the right people. My mum always told me, 'If you pay peanuts you get monkeys.' You need a business that has the right employees working hard for you and making sure your customers have a great experience."

Is there a demand for digital marketers?

MW: "A lot of people have asked me if there is a demand for digital marketers. Think about how important the internet has become to everyday life and business. Everyone is holding a smart phone and everyone is looking for things online. I think the need for the internet and Digital Marketers for businesses are only going to grow in the years to come. We still live in a society where 40% of businesses don't even have a website, imagine when they all do, everyone is going to need a digital marketing team and that’s why we’ve put together the Climb Academy Digital Marketing course."

The Level 1 Certificate in Digital Marketing is now available.

Call us on +44 (0) 20 3198 7700 to speak to one of our Career Consultants today, to discuss your career goals or get started.