Equipping Malaysians With World-Class Digital Marketing Skills

NEXT Academy, the top coding school in Malaysia recently launched Malaysia’s first ever expert-led digital marketing bootcamp. The programme aims to help SMEs and MNCs spur innovation and stay competitive in today’s global landscape.

The NEXT Academy Digital Marketing Bootcamp was officiated by Cheryl Yeoh (Founding CEO of the Malaysian Global Innovation & Creative Centre) and Khailee Ng (Managing Partner of 500 Startups) alongside Josh Teng (CEO of NEXT Academy) during their launch event last Tuesday.

With a 6-digit USD capital injection from 500 Startups early this year, NEXT Academy has plans all set to accelerate its’s goal in preparing 1 million individuals with the skills to build and grow home grown global technology companies. The digital marketing bootcamp is initiated by NEXT Academy on top of web development and iOS mobile development bootcamps, thus expanding its domain of expertise from coding to marketing.

The digital marketing bootcamp aims to reach out to Malaysians from all levels and organizations – MNCs, SMEs, NGOs and individuals, to educate them on leveraging digital marketing strategies to accelerate growth.

The program curriculum is led by Ng Khai Yong, head of growth at NEXT Academy who has over 5 years of experience in digital marketing strategies and has previously worked at world-renowned digital companies such as Mindvalley.

“In the last decade, digital marketing has become an essential component for any business to succeed in the new digital age where consumers are spending more and more time on the internet. This is how people consume information and businesses need to be there to stay competitive” said Josh Teng, CEO of NEXT Academy during the launch.

During the panel discussion, Cheryl Yeoh pointed out that the current tertiary education, especially in the field of marketing focuses overly on concepts rather than practical knowledge such as digital advertising, data analysis, content marketing, SEO, copywriting and so on.

“In fact, marketing has changed so much that in Silicon Valley, marketing personnel are essentially engineers (people with technical skills) with the marketing mindset. That’s the future of marketing”, Khailee further explained. Malaysian companies large and small need to upskill their teams, or risk getting disrupted.”

Ross Cheong then further emphasised the importance of digital marketing, citing that being data driven is the core of any marketing initiative and digital marketing is the means to achieve that. “This is how iMoney makes informed marketing iterations and decisions.”

There is severe shortage of talent in areas such as digital marketing and coding, not only in Malaysia but regionally as well. NEXT Academy, staying true to their vision of impacting 1 million people in South East Asia through coding and marketing, hopes to produce more digital marketers with their newly launched Digital Marketing Bootcamp.