I am learning a new skill beginning this week. I say a new skill but what I really mean is that I am putting some academic learning to something that I have been doing for some time.
My wife is setting up a creative business, making Artisan jewellery, and I have been helping her where I can. One of the fun things is that I have been able to apply my skills as a photographer to the endeavour – taking pictures of the finished pieces, and creating “sneak peek teaser” images of the jeweller in progress. I have been setting up a website for her, which is an extension of my abilities, and I freely admit that it is still a work in process.
What I am now embarking on is an online course into Digital Marketing. It was a course that I found quite by accident while browsing the BBC webpages. It is setup by FutureLearn and is run by the University of Southampton in the UK. It is run alongside their MSC programmes and I am hopeful that I will gain extra insight into marketing as some of their MSc students are also enrolled on this course.
I am no stranger to continuous learning, having constantly updated my skills since graduating from university. This, however, is the first time that I have taken an online course with people from all over the world – there is even another student based in Tokyo!
It was fun last night logging in for the first few sessions, little more than an introduction to the course and the lectures. But it did paint a picture of the structure that the course will take, and it gave me some ideas as to where we would be going during our time together.
In my daily life, and with my interactions with customers, I always aim to paint them a picture, to tell them a story showing where we will be heading together. Now it seems that Digital Marketing uses the same principle – it “creates a digital story”.
So I think that I am going to enjoy this course – a skill for marketing appears to be something that I have been developing for some time!
Learning Till I Die 