Funded digital courses – and a Smartphone app – offered to businesses in Dorset

Those who sign up to the nationally accredited course, Digital Promotion for Business, will also receive at no charge their own tailored free smartphone app worth up to £3,000.

Offered by Digital Dorset, a Weymouth College initiative, the course is part funded through the European Social Fund and Skills Funding Agency and delivered by working in partnership with SERCO in the Dorset Local Enterprise Area.

The programme aims to improve the skills needed to increase the competitiveness of businesses and give the best opportunity to grow the economy and create more and better jobs.

The Level 2 NCFE accredited distance-learning course aims to meet the demand for digital media for businesses and is online so employees can complete the course at their own speed.

Content includes help on how to use more effectively social networking sites such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to boost a business’s online presence.

The smartphone app complements the digital marketing strategy and offers a wide range of features to attract new customers and keep in touch with current customers.

These include push notifications – free messages sent out to people who have downloaded the app – and a loyalty scheme to retain custom and social media integration.

A spokesman for Digital Dorset said: “The UK leads Europe on tech, but we need to take concerted action to avoid falling behind online.

“We are all spending more and more time on our mobiles, tablets and laptops, while many of our working days are also spent in front of a screen.

“That’s why businesses need to understand how working practices are changing, and this course has been developed to meet this need.

“With this offer, not only does the business invest in its workforce by upskilling them, it also gets a free app to market itself using a medium that its customers are using more and more.”