Opening up new horizons with The Curious Academy’s Bootcamp
At their best, training courses not only teach specific skills but can change your outlook on what you can achieve and how to go about it. The Curious Academy’s 12-week Digital Marketing bootcamp is such a course which I’ve thoroughly enjoyed and it has taught me so much!
It all started when I felt dissatisfied with my role as social media co-ordinator with a local organisation – Reading Green Wellbeing Network (RGWN) – which seeks to promote gardening to improve mental and physical wellbeing. Communicating this message is an important goal of RGWN but I wasn’t convinced that my weekly Facebook posts were being read, let alone changing awareness and interest in gardening for wellbeing within Reading. A friend told me about the Digital Marketing course she was taking with The Curious Academy and I thought this might at least tell me in theory how to make an impact using social media.
As it turned out, the course was a revelation in how to use the tools of Digital Marketing to communicate not only with the general public locally, but on a regional and national level. Rather than just telling people about local activities, I realised that RGWN could aspire to be a regional or national leader in teaching the benefits of gardening and nature connection to the individual and society as a whole. And just as my vision for the RGWN was expanded by the course, so my personal vision of what I could do also grew in response to all that I was learning. By the end of the course, instead of being hesitant about trying out new software programmes or IT platforms, or dabbling with AI, I was and still am keen to try out new potential solutions, rather than just sticking to what I know.
Course Director, Louize Clarke, made it clear from early on in the course that social media is not the key to communication with the general public. Instead, an organisation’s website should be much more influential if well-designed and well-written. I therefore turned my attention to the RGWN’s website and realised that this largely described the activities of its member organisations but said very little about what RGWN is and does.
Redesigning the RGWN website seemed the obvious way forward, but this would require convincing the RGWN chair and members that this would be a good idea and to trust me to do it. With no prior experience in website design or development, convincing the RGWN chair and members would have been difficult without Louize’s expertise and encouragement. I could have taken the cautious approach and presented the RGWN members with ideas for improving the website. Then only if they had shown interest would I have proceeded with developing a new version of the website. Instead, Louize encouraged me to take the more daring approach and actually design a new website to share with the members.
With Louize’s weekly advice, suggestions and encouragement I had developed enough of a new website by the end of the course to convince the RGWN members to go for a relaunch of the website. It has taken me another 5 months to complete the new website and have it ready to launch to all those who subscribe to the RGWN newsletter. This has included getting members to find the time to review at least parts of the website and many have got back to me with very positive comments. Louize has kindly kept supporting me beyond the course to complete the website – in as much as it is ever finished – I’m told this is just the beginning of the life of a website! I look forward to developing it further, and know Louize will be there to support me until I feel confident to manage it alone. So now, instead of being social media co-ordinator, I’m RGWN’s website editor and believe RGWN is well placed to spread the message “Gardening is Good!” to Reading and beyond.