An award-winning digital marketing and advertising agency based in St Albans, near London, is leading the way in upskilling Britain’s next generation of brilliant business brains and digital savvy marketers, by announcing ambitious plans to help dozens more young people and businesses across the UK.
As part of National Apprenticeship Week (8 – 14 February 2021), Amber Mountain Marketing has revealed that despite the latest Government figures showing an 18% decline in apprenticeships* compared to 2019/20 figures, they plan to increase their Digital Marketing Apprenticeship scheme by 500% by 2022 due to the high demand of its apprentices. The ambitious plans involve increasing its number of digital marketing apprentices from 6 to 30 in just over 12 months.
Emma Ellis, Founder of Amber Mountain Marketing, set up the apprenticeship scheme in 2019, said:
“Despite the latest Government figures revealing an 18% national decline in apprenticeships*, we’re seeing a surge in youngsters keen to avoid a huge university debt and, instead, opt for real-life business experience. Equally, we’re seeing a demand from businesses who want help from digital savvy marketers to bridge their skills gap – helping to boost their business and drive sales online, particularly after the devastating effects of the global pandemic and uncertain economy. These businesses also get a dedicated Marketing Manager focused on their business too, helping them to grow and expand.”
Despite only starting the apprenticeship scheme in 2019, they have already started to see success stories from former alumni, with one of their first apprentices, Tia-Lily Girdlestone, who recently completed her qualification after 15 months with the programme.
“At school there was so much encouragement to go to university,” said Tia-Lily. “But in my heart, I knew it wasn’t the right thing for me. I wanted to gain qualifications, but I was keen to get some real experience too.
“Through the Amber Mountain Marketing apprenticeship, I’ve become confident in so many areas of marketing and business, and have gained a sought after qualification whilst working with businesses from across the country. I’ve also been lucky enough to secure a job with Amber Mountain Marketing and the team are continuing to support me with my long term career plans.”
Emma, who founded the marketing and advertising agency in 2018, is incredibly passionate about helping young people achieve and also volunteers at a local school. She added:
“When I left school, I had no idea what I wanted to do. Creating an apprenticeship programme at Amber Mountain Marketing was really important to me as I can totally relate to those young people who don’t want to go down the traditional route of attending University but also want a qualification whilst gaining hands-on work experience. It is amazing to witness the personal and professional transformation in our apprentices in such a short space of time. Watching their confidence and knowledge grow as they blossom into professional digital marketers makes me incredibly proud.”
But it’s not just the apprentices that get something out of the popular scheme, Emma added:
“Some of our clients have been so impressed with what our apprentices have achieved for their business that they are looking to take on their own apprenticeships in their business. It makes me incredibly proud that I’ve played a part in creating more job opportunities for young people. I am currently reaching out to the Education Board and schools to let them know of our plans for our apprenticeship scheme and am looking forward to welcoming our next batch of apprentices”.
The young apprentices, who are mainly school leavers, are trained in all aspects of digital marketing – from email marketing and web development to social media and SEO. They get the opportunity to practice what they learn in a live environment when they are placed with an Amber Mountain Marketing client. On completion of the programme, they get a digital marketing qualification worth £12,000.
For further information on Amber Mountain’s Digital Marketing Apprentice Programme please visit www.ambermountainmarketing.co.uk
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Contact: For further information or for interviews with Amber Mountain Marketing Founder Emma Ellis or apprentice Tia-Lily Girdlestone, please contact Laura Perkes at Laura@prwithperkes.com or 07748 141453
Notes to editor:
Amber Mountain Marketing
Established in 2018 by founder Emma Ellis, Amber Mountain Marketing, is a digital marketing and advertising agency based in St Albans which offers affordable, outsourced support for businesses across the UK.
The team is led by Director Emma Ellis and Marketing Manager Tamzin Klyen, who passionately believe that businesses should be communicating effectively with their audience without it costing a fortune. The team has an innovative, budget-conscious way to make marketing services available to all small/medium businesses. They achieve this by recruiting the very best local raw talent from around St Albans for the Amber Mountain Apprenticeship Programme. Each apprentice runs their own portfolio of clients whilst receiving full training and mentoring from Emma and Tamzin. In conjunction, Amber Mountain sponsors each apprentice to study and achieve their professional qualifications in marketing.
National Apprenticeship Week (8 – 14 February 2021)
The theme of this year’s national apprenticeship week is ‘Build the Future’, with a focus on how employers train, retain and achieve with apprenticeships and mentoring.