Dallas - Digital Marketing Institute (DMI), the global standard in digital marketing professional learning and certification, today announced that it had a record-breaking year in 2018, with its strongest customer growth, new content and new digital marketing certifications in the company’s nine-year history.

DMI expanded its global membership to 28,000 and added 254 new hours of original learning content from subject matter experts across the digital marketing industry. The organization also launched a comprehensive and innovative new membership platform that offers members access to exclusive content and other unique Continuous Professional Development (CPD) credit opportunities.

This growth was enabled by DMI’s global expansion and the opening of its first U.S. office in Dallas, as well as key leadership appointments in Human Resources and Marketing. DMI also expanded its 26-person Global Industry Advisory Council (GIAC), with the addition of The Coca-Cola Company’s General Manager, eCommerce China, Brian Chau, who joins the distinguished group of industry experts as the Council’s first member from the Asia market.

“2018 was a year of record-breaking growth for DMI and of great innovation on behalf of our members, who are transforming their digital skills and developing new ways to connect with markets and audiences,” said Ken Fitzpatrick, CEO of Digital Marketing Institute. “As marketers look toward the future, savvy leaders will continue to embrace workforce skills development to empower their teams and enhance digital capabilities to remain competitive in a constantly evolving world of digital disruption.”

Countering a Growing Industry Skills Gap

DMI’s CPD course offerings aim to close a growing skills gap that threatens to hamper the industry’s digital innovation and progress. By adding 3,300 certified and skilled new marketing members in 2018, DMI is contributing to the supply of qualified digital marketing professionals to meet hiring demands for digital marketing talent.

In fact, marketing leaders revealed that as digital technologies continue to evolve, the knowledge and capabilities of employees lags, leaving many organizations playing catch up. This presents a significant opportunity for DMI’s continued growth, to provide organizations with the staff training and continuous professional development to upskill or reskill their marketing teams and remain competitive.

Expanding Leadership to Achieve a Growth Mindset

DMI has invested significantly in its own team, to ensure the company can deliver the sharpest insights and expertise to the marketplace. The first leadership addition is Órla Stack to Human Resources Director. Prior to DMI, Órla spent six years working in training and development for one of the fastest-growing international hostel brands. Some of Ms. Stack’s first tasks at DMI were to staff the company’s new Dallas office, and use her deep experience in human resource management, training and development to continue growing the European headquarters team.

John Hurley was appointed Global Brand and Customer Experience Director, using his leadership experience to develop strategy, customer experience and transformational brand ideas. Previously, Mr. Hurley worked for British Airways, Disney and most recently, at DAA Group, where he led the B2B and partnership team that won the Best Airport Global Marketing Award.

**Increasing Value and Sharing Industry Expertise for the First Time **

To further increase member value in 2019, DMI has launched a comprehensive and innovative new membership platform experience providing access to engaging, digital-first content for marketers. This new content includes 64 modules, each three hours long; more than 300 videos or interactive topics; and updated six certification exams. Through these and other offerings, members can learn digital skills, improve CPD and become certified by DMI.

Beginning in 2019 and for the first time, seven members of DMI’s GIAC will become regular contributors to its membership platform, bringing decades of industry expertise and leadership ever closer to DMI’s members through webinars, white papers, market reports, and dynamic, educational videos to enhance the member experience. Specifically, members can look forward to David Moore, President and Chairman of WPP Digital, who will author a paper on marketers, and what they can – and should – do, to actively and continually improve their performance. Also, Brian Chau will contribute a regional report that offers a deep dive on digital innovations in the Asian market.

Finally, Mark Evans, Managing Director of Direct Line, will host a webinar with DMI called, Targets in Marketing: Short-term Delivery Versus Long-term Brand Strategy. The session will examine how digital marketers can deliver on goals, and how the evolving role of marketing and the growing importance of customer experience (CX) impacts the entire organization.

For more information, please visit: https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/en-us