CIMCIG Chairman Mike Lomax reflects on the new CIM training course for the construction sector

I am absolutely delighted to see the new CIM Level 3 Marketing qualification, specifically designed for people working in the construction sector, being launched this month.

There are fundamental marketing skills, of course, that can be applied to any sector but construction is an idiosyncratic industry.  Without some guidance it can be difficult to apply broad principles to this diverse, dynamic and highly individual market sector.

This is not a new issue, but a lack of investment across the board in developing in-house training since the 2008 recession has resulted in an acute lack of the skilled marketers that our industry needs.

It’s easy to identify a problem, but tackling it takes a bit of commitment and a lot of enthusiasm.  Fortunately, the CIMCIG committee has quite a lot of both and our volunteers decided it was time to address the issue.

The result is a marketing qualification that combines the established expertise of the Chartered Institute of Marketing with the practical experience of professionals working in the construction sector.

I could not be more pleased to see the first course being offered to participants from March 2017.  Course students will not only benefit from the excellent course structure, but will also be paired with a mentor and provided with the opportunity to engage with and learn from marketing professionals working in the construction industry.

It’s an excellent response to a keenly felt skills gap and would not have happened without the dogged enthusiasm of the CIMCIG committee, but particularly of Charmaine Petty, Marketing Manager at Catnic and Chris Ashworth of market research company Competitive Advantage.

Students enrolling on this qualification can be sure of an academically rigorous programme combined with practical and immediately relevant insight into how to apply up to date marketing principles to the construction industry.

Anyone interested in finding out more should visit the CIM Academy website to find full course details and information on how to enrol.