News

03 May 2017 Christine

Support, training & community: can you get these in-house?

The internet is everywhere we go; powering our homes, in our pockets, tracking our health and everything in between. This means that fast, responsive and well-designed websites are becoming more and more valuable tools for reaching an audience; tools which need a skilful and dedicated hand to craft them and guide them to prosperity. Which is why it still comes as somewhat of a shock when we hear that for many membership and non-profit organisations, their website is all handled in-house. Often it’s by a small, highly qualified team, but occasionally we’ll hear that websites are maintained voluntarily by a member, or, even rarer still, it’s left down to that broad, evocative and slightly archaic role: ‘The Web Master’.

One of the biggest reasons why most associations and chartered societies outsource to digital and creative agencies is the level of support offered. To non-profit organisations whose time should solely be spent on gaining and supporting their members and representing the industry they're advocating, such support is essential.

We’ve outlined 5 ways in which a supportive and attentive agency can benefit you.

Ideas

It’s vital for any organisation’s success to represent their industry so that they can grow. Association teams have spent years of training and expertise in their field and have cultivated a strong passion for what they do. So spending time and resources on thinking of new and innovative ways to make your website and marketing campaigns stand out to current and potential members isn’t always top of the priority list. That’s where we come in! Outsourcing your digital marketing means having a team who knows what’s now and knows what’s next and can help keep your online presence fresh.

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Advice

In our experience it can take years from the moment you decide you need a new website to the moment it launches. After spending so much energy on it, wouldn’t it be nice to know it will go from strength to strength indefinitely? You need to find an agency who is open to staying close with your team to hand out advice from their wealth of industry knowledge. It’s also important to regularly check the health of your site and analyse this data to determine your next move. Non-profit organisations don’t always have the time to do this, which is where that extra pair of hands is essential.

Support

Sometimes, even in this modern world of smart watches and AI fridges, things go wrong and you may need a little help. There is nothing more frustrating than not being able to talk to someone when something goes wrong or you need a little bit of assistance. Unlike open source software, an agency is there to help you. If you called us for example, one of our team of 20 would be able to help you out there and then. We offer a ticketing system which ensures everyone gets their issue dealt with fairly and in good time.

Training

A good agency will make sure your team are as confident as they are at using their software. Andy, our resident tech coach, trains all our clients here in the office or via the power of the conference call in a session that serves to not only educate our clients on our company and our software but also open those lines of communication that are so valuable. We truly want to be an extension of your marketing and IT teams and these training sessions give us a head start on that.

Thank you for a very constructive [training] session. Really good to see it in bite-sized chunks.

PATOSS

Community

What makes an agency a worthwhile investment? Well we can only speak for ourselves on this one, but, when you sign on that dotted line with us you’re not just getting a (fantastic and beautifully made) website, CRM/CPD system or offline marketing piece. You are joining a community of 30 or more other organisations throughout the UK who have similar goals and interests to you. You’re joining a bunch of industry professionals who have chosen to work with us because we know what we’re doing and we do it really well.

So whether you decide you want to join our community and enquire about our services (which you can do by contacting one of our lovely team) or whether you want to look around a little more and see what’s out there, nothing beats the experience, guidance and hands-on help of a digital agency.

Agree? Disagree? Why not leave us a comment below and tell us what you think?

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