Meet Our Level 3 Multi-Channel Marketing Tutor, Nicola Knight

Nicola Knight

As part of National Apprenticeship Week, we sat down with Nicola Knight, our incredible Level 3 Multi-Channel Marketing tutor, to talk about what apprenticeships really look like behind the scenes, and why they matter more than ever.

Here’s what Nicola had to say.

What attracted you to working with apprentices rather than traditional learners?

"It’s the stakes. Apprentices aren’t learning “just in case” knowledge. They learn something on Monday and apply it on Tuesday, sometimes brilliantly, sometimes imperfectly, but always visibly. There’s no hiding. It’s real businesses, real pressure, real consequences. That immediacy suits how I think and how I teach. I’m less interested in perfect answers and more interested in judgment, decision-making, and real impact."

How did you come into apprenticeship tutoring?

"Sideways. I didn’t come through a traditional academic route. I spent years inside businesses watching marketing done badly, and watching capable people get blamed for systems that set them up to fail. When I saw apprenticeships done properly, genuinely integrated with work rather than bolted on, it clicked. This isn’t just “training”. It’s a translation. It’s taking messy, real-world marketing and giving people the structure, language and confidence to do it properly. I’m not interested in producing marketers. I’m interested in producing thinking marketers."

What’s one thing people misunderstand about Level 3 Marketing apprentices?

"People assume it’s basic. It isn’t. It’s foundational. And foundations are harder than advanced tactics because they force you to confront how little you actually understand. Level 3 exposes gaps in positioning, customer understanding, measurement, ethics and judgement. It’s not about Canva templates and posting on social media. It’s about learning how not to waste money, time or trust."

How do you make off-the-job training meaningful rather than a tick-box?

"By refusing to let it float above reality. Everything comes back to the apprentice’s actual role, their organisation and their constraints. We don’t ask, “What does the textbook say?” We ask, “What happened when you tried this?” Off-the-job training becomes the thinking space, the pause button, where experience turns into insight instead of habit. When apprentices realise this is protected thinking time they don’t normally get at work, it stops feeling like a requirement and starts feeling valuable."

What’s the smallest intervention that can make the biggest difference?

"Helping someone understand that confusion is not incompetence. Most apprentices aren’t incapable; they’re overwhelmed. The moment you reframe “I don’t get this” into “I’m learning to see this properly”, confidence shifts. Questions improve. Decisions become more deliberate. The quality of work sharpens. Sometimes that mindset shift changes everything."

What do employers often thank you for that they weren’t expecting?

"Clarity. Clarity about what marketing is actually responsible for, what it isn’t, and where accountability really sits. Often, the apprentice isn’t the issue; the brief, expectations or structure are. That clarity alone can stop someone from being quietly written off and instead reposition them to succeed."

Why do apprenticeships matter, especially right now?

"We’re in a moment where businesses demand experience but rarely create the conditions to build it. Senior roles are being cut. Expectations are rising. Teams are stretched. Apprenticeships bridge that gap. They create structured development inside real roles. They turn pressure into progression. And they give businesses a way to build capability deliberately rather than hoping it appears. Right now, that matters."

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If you’d like to explore how the Level 3 Multi-Channel Marketer apprenticeship could support your team, or your own career, our team would love to talk.