What the RED Academy Bankruptcy Means for Digital Marketing Education in Canada

In March of 2020, RED Academy, one of Vancouver’s largest digital marketing and tech training schools, announced bankruptcy on a Zoom call with its staff. The school claimed pandemic strains were forcing the closure, although COVID shutdowns were only just becoming a reality.

RED’s demise brings to question a number of business decisions, transparency issues, and individual claims. Yet, the closure also left a large hole in the digital marketing education scene in Canada. Many young aspiring digital marketers are left wondering how and where to pursue their education.

Additionally, RED was an academy that only taught its own branded courses which were not supported by globally recognized certificates. Now that it’s closed and the brand value is lost, a RED Academy graduate certificate holds no real weight, furthering the loss for past students.

Now, the onus falls on the remaining Canadian training entities to focus on getting students globally recognized certificates. This more serious approach to digital marketing training is what’s needed to shape the future of our industry.

Why are globally recognized digital marketing certificates important?

While traditional careers have standardized benchmarks for knowledge, expertise, and training, digital marketing education has yet to infiltrate these markets. Because of this, many prospective digital marketing students don’t know how, where, or when to approach a more formal education process.

Though the obvious option might be to get a diploma from a well-recognized and traditional education institution, such as a college or university, many of these programs lack the skills-based, practical knowledge needed to excel in the industry.

For example, while it may be interesting to spend 3 months reading social media marketing theory, this approach won’t prepare you for the tools and programs you’ll need to truly move forward in a social media career.

In contrast, globally recognized certificates are usually offered by the software companies that create the tools future marketers will use. By getting formally-recognized granular training in these tools, digital marketing students can better prepare themselves for the real-life work they will be doing.

As well, because the world of digital marketing is constantly evolving, students should understand that a diploma earned in 2014 simply won’t be relevant in 2021, 2022, and beyond. Instead, students should focus on updating their tool-specific certificates on an annual or even bi-annual basis. By taking regularly updated courses from the companies that create the tools, students can get the most relevant, most industry-specific training available.

The other benefit of globally recognized certificates is that they are often free or inexpensive, which greatly decreases the barrier incoming students face when starting their careers. Conner Galway of Junction Consulting believes this is an integral part of shaping our industry education going forward.

“What's going to be important for digital marketing in the coming years is that we maintain a balance, where we don't build walls in the name of expensive, or exclusive certification programs, and we continue to evaluate new entrants to the industry based on their abilities, rather than solely on arbitrary designations.”

What kind of certificates should aspiring digital marketers focus on?

In Canada, the state of digital marketing education falls into two categories: traditional and non-traditional. In the traditional model, academic institutions, such as BCIT or the Toronto School of Management offer diploma and certificate options in 6-month to 2-year programs. The non-traditional model includes entities such as Brainstation, Jelly Academy, and Alacrity which offer boot camps and courses often in shorter, more flexible capacities.

Conner Galway says, “Look at your education as an ecosystem of complementary assets.... the question is simply: What are you working towards, and how can you build an ecosystem that will continue to build value for you as you build towards those goals?”

Ultimately, the best digital marketing certificates are the ones that are most relevant to your career path and that bring you the most concrete value. If you’re an aspiring social media expert, you may want to check out Hootsuite Academy, where you’ll find various courses and programs geared towards tools, methods, and metrics that will develop your career. Ryan Chynces of Hootsuite has this to say: “A Social Media Certification from Hootsuite is a highly visible and recognizable signal to potential employers that aspiring digital marketers have the skills needed to drive business results with social… Passing a Hootsuite Academy certification exam is also not simple! You need to know your stuff to pass. This rigor adds to the credibility of our Certification Program, and helps explain why we've become an educational leader in our industry.”

Facebook Blueprint programs also offer free online courses in Facebook and social media advertising. As well, the Facebook certificate programs offer advanced-level training for developers, media planners, and digital marketing specialists.

If you’re more interested in holistic training, you may want to jump into the Learn With Google Fundamentals of Digital Marketing course. This program takes students through 26 modules of in-depth learning on everything search, advertising, and content accredited by Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe and The Open University. "In an ever-evolving marketing industry, making sure you are up-to-date and trained on the latest products and tools is critical in order to remain competitive. Free programs like Google's Skillshop and Digital Garage help you do just that, and they are online, can be completed at your own pace and are designed by Google product experts." - Tristan Lee, Head of SMB Marketing, Google Canada

For students looking to develop knowledge in sales, CRM, and inbound marketing, HubSpot Academy certificate programs offer completely free training and certificates. Crystal King of HubSpot Academy has this to say about the programs:

“Tens of thousands of international learners take HubSpot Academy courses and over 1,700 professors across more than 1,000 institutions around the world use our lessons and certificate programs as part of their curriculum. We regularly hear from employers that they look for HubSpot certifications on resumes they receive… [our] lessons provide hands-on, actionable information that marketers and salespeople can immediately apply. [We are] genuinely invested in trying to help people build better businesses, and HubSpot Academy is one of the ways we can help fulfill that mission. ”

The best digital marketing education is the one that works for you

RED Academy’s bankruptcy left a black mark on the world of Canadian digital marketing education. Many past students are still left with unreturned tuition funds and holes in their resume from now-defunct branded certificates.

To ensure this kind of misstep does not happen again, prospective digital marketing students should focus on learning the practical skills and knowledge that will impact their day-to-day working life. If possible, take direct training from the entities that own the tools you’ll be using. You can also consider boot camps, courses, and programs that offer globally recognized certificates rather than their own branded certificates.

At the end of the day, the best digital marketing education is the one that works for you. As Conner put it, “Some people will tell you to get hands-on experience, and that is an asset for sure... Some people will tell you that online learning is the best way to get started… Others will advise you that certification is how to build your career... If you're able, find certifications that match your goals and build those assets into your ecosystem.”

Written by Hannah Macready