Hey friends. Welcome to the very first post of an epic series written by yours truly.

Today’s post is about my thoughts on Week 1 of training. Without further ado..

4 Commandments of Training – Week 1

1. Thou Shall Register for a Marketing Webinar

The marketing webinar I chose is Understanding Content Marketing in 2015 hosted by Innovation Enterprise . Given my writing background, Content Marketing has always piqued my interest. If you don’t know what Content Marketing is, see yourself out. Kidding. Seriously though, you should probably register for this webinar – but in case you’re too lazy: Content Marketing is basically an exchange of really awesome content for someone’s attention (don’t sue me for the use of layman’s terms, please). I’m super pumped for this webinar because it will cover all the best practices for Content Marketing. The website also listed a bunch of other buzz words like “engagement metrics” and “content retention”, and those sound pretty important so I signed up.

2. Thou Shall Finish 50% of Codecademy

So I’m feeling pretty cool these days because I (lightly) know how to code. Codecademy is awesome, especially for beginners. If you’re looking to learn how to code, in any of the languages, I HIGHLY recommend Codecademy . Prior to knowing Craig, I can honestly say I knew jack-spit (am I allowed to cuss on here?) about coding. I’m so glad Craig is putting us through this training program. Best.Boss/Mentor.Ever. It’s kind of cool to look at websites now and think about them in a completely different manner. And it’s also really cool when I’m talking to an attractive tech dude and I casually drop that I “know” how to code. Give me some more time and I’ll be an expert..

3. Thou Shall Read 1 eBook Related to Digital Marketing

I’ve decided that I really really enjoy reading eBooks. It might be because the content is so concentrated on something I enjoy, or because they are so visually appealing. Whatever the reason, eBooks are an awesome way to educate yourself on your choice of topic without some dry, dull explanation from a website that tries too hard. The eBook I read was 2015 State of Digital Marketing . A+ for this eBook. Without commenting on the actual content, the layout was extremely organized and easy to navigate. The “user experience” was top of the line, as us tech folks like to say. What makes this eBook so awesome is all the data. Anyone can write a compelling eBook, but a rockstar writes one with metrics for validity. Some key takeaways I got from this ebook:

• Email is not at all outdated, it is “the only channel where a majority of B2Bs can prove ROI”.
• Linkedin is the best social channel for driving revenue. (I feel like this should go on the cap of a Snapple bottle, no?)
• 60% of marketers at B2B companies blog a least once a week.
• VIDEO is the most widely used and most effective content marketing strategy

This eBook is a bit lengthy, but full of rich information. Luckily, they utilized the titles for the most important stuff, so it allows for skimming.

4. Thou Shall Look at the Digital Marketer EP

Okay so the last part of Training Week 1 was to look at the Digital Marketer (EP) – Social Selling How to Generate Leads and Sales From Social Media. This particular EP was a bit redundant to what I already know, but still very very valuable. Digital Marketer is a gold mine of information on how to make your marketing successful. There are so many “Execution Plans” for every topic you can imagine. I think this might be my favorite part of trainings right now..

Alright folks – that’s all for now. If you made it this far, bless you & see you next week.

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Elyse June