Field Marketing News

08 May 2012

News: FieldStar & Derby University launch new qualification for field staff - 200 scholarships available

News from FieldStar.jpgFieldStar, the professional membership body for field marketing and promotional staff, has formed a partnership with Derby University to produce the UK’s first certificate in face-to-face marketing. This substantial training course is designed to help field staff responsible for delivering field sales, field marketing and experiential marketing activities to develop their skills and become better at what they do. Agencies and brands are encouraged to nominate staff for one or more of 200 fully-funded scholarships that are available to mark the launch of the course.

The training builds on the online ‘Industry Induction’ course developed and launched by FieldStar in 2011. The new course starts with a 1-day workshop followed by a series of online, interactive modules to enable students to learn at their own pace and study flexibly around their work commitments.

The 40-credit ‘Certificate in Face-to-Face Marketing’ will contain over 40 hours of online study, accompanied by reflection and on-the-job learning tasks, backed by continual assessment and feedback from the course tutors. Students will complete 12 modules over 5-6 months covering subjects including communication and influencing skills, using and interpreting body language, customer targeting, dealing with difficult people and legal essentials. Each student will also receive a tailor-made personal development plan containing practical advice on how to continue to develop their skills and behaviours to maximise their effectiveness.

The course costs £500 per student; however government funding has been secured to provide 200 fully-funded scholarships for the 2012 course. These scholarships are available for staff or potentially entire field teams who are nominated by their agency or brand. Due to a quirk with the conditions of the funding staff may not nominate themselves and so any field staff interested in a scholarship are encouraged to contact their agency as soon as possible to ask if they would consider putting them forward.

Course enrolment closes on the 15th of July with the first 1-day workshop taking place in London on July 18th. However the course schedule has been planned to take account of the busy summer season and a series of alternate workshops will take place across the country in September.

Steve Radford, CEO of FieldStar said “Our goal is to provide training that makes a measurable difference to the return on investment brands receive from their face-to-face marketing activities. The online nature of the course coupled with the scholarship opportunities also reaffirms our commitment to providing training that is not only effective, but also affordable and readily accessible by field staff, agencies and brands.”

Agencies or brands who want more information about the course or scholarship opportunities are encouraged to contact Steve Radford at FieldStar (steveradford@fieldstar.org / 0844 879 7951) as places are limited and are expected to fill up quickly.

Full details about the course and scholarship opportunities can be found on the FieldStar website here: www.fieldstar.org/training/face-to-face-marketing-certificate.