Three marketing leaders discuss why it's important to invest in training

Marketers are used to proving return on investment. It is essential to the work of modern marketers.

But do marketers need to prove ROI on training?

This is a battle for marketing leaders who want to improve the skills and capabilities of their marketing teams while simultaneously convincing leaders to invest money to do so.

Zaid Al-Qassab, outgoing CMO of Channel 4, says he is a “big believer in measurement”. As companies measure everything from profits and margins to how often people swipe their badges to come into the office, they also need to measure learning and training, he says. He made the comments earlier this month while participating in Marketing Week's sister brand Econsultancy's inaugural Marketing Capability Leaders Forum.

“If you don't have metrics, there's no way the organization you lead will think you care about learning and development,” he asked.

One-third of marketers aren't offered upskilling opportunities But measuring learning isn't easy. In its simplest form, managers can ask whether an employee has completed a course. However, development is not always easily quantified.

“I don't tell people what to do,” Al-Khassab says, instead offering marketers a variety of courses to choose from with the hope that “everyone does it once a year.” There is.

Measuring learning is good, but ultimately what businesses care about is the bottom line, he added. So where does training fit into this? He suggests organizations conduct surveys to find out how employees think training improves these areas. .

If you can't convince the company that it would be better to hire someone with more skills, it's probably best to leave.

Zayed Al-Qasab, Channel 4

But even that may not convince brands to part with training costs.

However, Al-Qassab said: “If you can't convince the company that hiring more skilled people is a good thing, you should probably leave.”

Julia Bramham, director of global marketing transformation at Diageo, shares the view that proving the ROI of training is difficult.

“The key is to achieve sustainable value growth, which is difficult to prove,” she said.

At Diageo, building capacity isn't about measuring training; it's about achieving great work and making decisions that drive growth. “It's very hard to prove with data, but I think it makes sense,” she said of developing marketers.

Specsavers talks about plans to escape the “squeeze” of marketing talent

Specsavers is an example of a brand that puts development at the forefront of its strategy. The company's management team has worked hard in recent years to ensure talent pipeline and professionalism in the marketing department.

Abi Willstead, head of brand and marketing excellence, said the company blocks marketers' diaries for a few hours every Friday afternoon to signal to employees that it's time to spend time building. They say they are sending it.

However, she agreed with Al-Kasab and Bramham that it is difficult to provide tangible ROI for training and skills development. At Specsavers, we are committed to “unleashing people's curiosity and love of learning.”

“Each week we give people permission to expand their knowledge and get interested in things that they don't often have the brain space for in everyday life,” she added.

Headspace is important, and so is interest in your work and a desire to improve and learn.

Regarding this, Mr Bramham added: “The idea of ​​curiosity is one of the most important skills we have as marketers, and I think it’s the one we lose the most because we’re busy hitting the rubber and tightening the moon. .Quarterly, [it stops]”

Over the coming weeks, Marketing Week will have a series of exclusive news and features based on our 2024 Careers and Salaries survey, including how marketers view their skills and whether upskilling is an option. is scheduled to be published. Click here to see all the content we've published so far.