When Vancouver Community College (VCC) Marketing Technology department head Jeremy White looks back on his first job out of business school, he realizes how little he’d been taught about the technical side of marketing, and specifically customer relationship management (CRM) software.
“When I started, I didn’t even know what a CRM was,” says Jeremy, despite his new master’s degree in business administration. In the years since, while Jeremy has become a marketing technology expert, he still notices that most people in CRM-focused roles start with no hands-on experience and must learn it all on the job.
This is why, when VCC began developing a new marketing diploma in early 2021, Jeremy and his team recommended going beyond standard curriculums to provide hands-on training in marketing technologies including the industry-leading CRM platform, Salesforce.
In short, CRMs track and organize every interaction a business may have with a client or potential customer, allowing the company to analyze, prioritize, and personalize sales and marketing efforts quickly and easily. According to Jeremy, in today’s business world, “CRMs form the backbone of most organizations.”
While students in a standard two-year marketing program would sit through numerous theory-based courses in accounting, math, and economics, VCC's industry consultations revealed that today’s employers simply want grads to have more job-ready technical skills. As such, our new diploma was designed with condensed theoretical courses and additional software-based certifications.
“When it comes to configuring a CRM, it’s more like a skilled trade than anything else,” says Jeremy. “It’s actually a great fit for VCC.”
In addition to preparing students for roles in CRM administration, VCC’s Marketing Technology students learn in-demand skills in Google Adwords, ecommerce, analytics, marketing automation, and finish with a portfolio-worthy capstone project.
Learn more about the program and apply now to join VCC’s next generation of marketing technology experts.
