Background
This well-respected charity successfully provides free of charge palliative care for patients and families dealing with life limiting illnesses who live in the areas of Chester, Ellesmere Port, Deeside, part of South Wirral and Western Cheshire.
But in terms of their website and digital marketing communications, they were in need of support. And swiftly. So they approached Access - our relevant project experience in the charity sector meant we could hit the ground running.
The Question
Digital is now at the heart of many charities fundraising and marketing, and The Hospice of the Good Shepherd were no exception. So how could Access get the Hospice up to speed in all aspects of digital very quickly and effectively?
The Answer
Our experience in planning, designing and building websites in the charity sector proved invaluable. We were able to take their existing Wordpress development site and restructure, redesign and rebuild it in just four weeks. By understanding the needs of the market, we took into account the reliance on donations, the need for volunteers and the requirement for promoting events on a regular basis. As a result we built an online e-commerce shop and integrated third party applications, including e-marketing tool MailChimp and specialist charity donation direct debit system Rapidata. The new website also features a job board where users can browse, apply and set up job notifications for any interest.
Working with the client’s marketing team, we developed a clean, fully responsive and fresh-looking website that offers a digital insight into the Hospice, the great work it does in the community, its events and activities.
In tandem with the ability to donate, volunteer, shop and participate, we provided a range of online marketing initiatives to make sure the website attracted visitors from day one. A fully researched and integrated social media plan was drawn up and managed by Access; an email marketing campaign; event branding; search consultancy and a data profiling project was commissioned to determine who currently supports the charity and who else locally could support it in the future. And there’s still plenty more to do!
Results & Achievements
Even though it's early days, already visitor numbers have increased by over 100% with new visitors increasing by 30%. Organic search has gone up by 10% and the events traffic has doubled compared with last year.
"Everybody is really chuffed with the work that has gone into the website, newsletter and social media work. Thank you for helping me with this, there was no way we could have got the website and newsletter off of the ground without such a committed team."
Helen Booth - Marketing and Communications Manager
