Creating video for social media can be a dynamic and effective way to reach an audience. Many organisations are now making this a key part of their communications strategy.
We’ve been busy helping the Woodland Trust / Coed Cadw do just that by creating video and animations to deliver key messages and policy to a variety of their stakeholders, providing the organisation with a powerful way to engage and raise their profile online.
Even though the current climate has seen our digital projects increase, our clients continue to invest in the creation of high quality magazines to reach out to their clients and service users.
More of our clients are also becoming increasingly aware of their environmental responsibilities and want their printed materials to reflect this commitment. As a result, this recently created magazine was printed with vegetable based inks onto sustainably sourced recycled paper. As well as designing and printing the publication, we also managed its fulfilment and distribution which enabled us to ensure the magazine was also dispatched in an environmentally friendly compostable outer enclosure.
In these times of uncertainty and lockdowns, here’s how we’re working with our clients to keep them in touch with theirs…
If you’ve read any of our recent posts, you’d know that we are big fans of print. We know that the benefits of communicating through the medium are vast, and the emotional connection which can be achieved between an organisation and reader are substantial – now possibly more than ever. Take a look at one of our recent blog posts if you’d like to find out more at https://bit.ly/3lup68v
However, we also know that in the current climate businesses and organisations are looking for a variety of new ways to communicate to clients and customers, and we have been helping a number of our clients do this through their digital communications.
Maintaining communications, whether that’s news, key messages or campaign material is vital, and letting customers, clients and stakeholders know that your organisation remains accessible can make all the difference to its continued success, now and in the future.
There are not many businesses unaffected by the current situation we find ourselves in, and when considering how to communicate we cannot ignore the effect the current climate is having on digital interactions. According to Ofcom UK, the recent pandemic has resulted in the UK’s internet use surging to record levels with adults spending a quarter of their waking day online during lockdown – a record high.*
Reacting positively to these findings is vital, and here at DWD we are working with our clients to help them navigate their way through the challenges that the current climate brings with it. We are creating infographics, video, video stories, articles and industry relevant content for our clients, working together to help them adapt, plan and implement their communications effectively.
We know that staying in touch is vital, never more so, and we are also helping our clients find new ways to do this. At this time, a valued client finds itself unable to maintain its commitment to the print production of their quarterly journal and so are working with us to create a new digital online magazine ensuring that they continue to reach and interact with their nationwide and European membership.
The new digital magazine will ensure that our client continues to provide essential industry relevant content, advice and support, thus maintaining and reinforcing the connection with their membership and preserving the relationship and trust which has been nurtured over many years.
We understand only too well that maintaining marketing and communications in times of upheaval and change can be very difficult. However, with considered planning, clear advice and management, positive digital engagement can ensure that you stay connected with clients and make the most of the opportunities to cultivate and nurture new ones.
If you’d like to chat more about anything you’ve read here, we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Louise or Ceri – and no, we don’t mind if you’re zooming from the garden shed!
*https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/media/media-releases/2020/uk-internet-use-surges
In our previous blog post, we explored how printed publications are an indispensable part of any effective communications strategy and how magazines are often used as a positive marketing tool, handed out and shared at every opportunity to increase engagement and generate interest. However, sustainability is also a big concern for organisations large and small, and businesses are seeking ways to highlight their messages through their printed materials as well as maintain their environmental credentials.
At Designworld, we are always exploring the ways our services and resulting solutions can be sustainable, from initial design concepts right through to distribution and end of product life.
Here though, we focus on some of the innovative ways we help our clients incorporate eco-friendly approaches into their magazine production and printed materials.
We always aim to work with local printers and suppliers to source paper and packaging materials with minimal environmental impact and a lighter carbon footprint, choosing environmentally certified and recycled papers from accredited sustainable sources. We prefer to use printers who have an environmental management system in place and are able to supply a great variety of recycled materials, all delivering excellent quality as well as green credentials for your project and organisation.
At Designworld, we are also able to advise on the impact various materials and print finishing can have on a products ability to be recycled, helping our clients make the best decisions for their project as well as their environmental responsibilities.
Our printers now use environmentally friendlier inks made using vegetable and soy-based products. As well as being more sustainable, they don’t cost any more than the traditional inks made from petroleum or mineral oil. They are also safer as they avoid releasing large amounts of VOC’s as they are drying.
The quality of these inks is just as high as their petroleum-based counterparts and they are also easier to remove from paper and other materials during recycling’s deinking process meaning less energy is required at this stage.
Many of our clients use our mailing and fulfilment services when distributing their magazines, newsletters and other printed communications. This is another area where we offer and encourage environmentally friendly solutions and work with mailing house partners who have a sound environmental policy in place.
We provide a variety of biodegradable and compostable options for mailings and packaging made from renewable corn/potato starch or cellulose that offer a green alternative to polypropylene and other non-recyclable materials. What’s more, these solutions offer a very visual statement to your audience about your environmental responsibility and credentials.
If you’d like to give your communications more environmental credibility, get in touch with us and we can work with you to deliver sustainable solutions for your design and print projects. Contact either Louise or Ceri – we’d love to hear from you and talk over your project.
25 February 2020
We’ve heard it said that print material is dead now that everyone has access to anything they could possibly want to read, right there in the palm of their hand. We disagree, it’s clear to us that magazines are still very important and there is plenty of research to back this up. People still really enjoy printed material, there is something comforting and relaxing about sitting down with a magazine and a cuppa. Research has shown that because readers make the choice to open up a magazine, they also digest the information within it at a slower pace than their digital counterparts, absorbing and paying more attention to what’s inside. When we do take the time to sit and focus on an article, reading a magazine is also viewed as being a far more positive and healthy use of time than flicking through digital media.
Importantly, magazines continue to be trusted by readers who perceive them as a high quality medium and a credible source of information gathering. In todays’ world of fast moving ‘fake news’ and information which disappears as quickly as it appeared, a magazine can provide the knowledge and professionalism that readers perceive as reliable and trustworthy having been written and produced by verified experts in their field. This relationship with the reader is invaluable for any organisation, and particularly important to membership organisations.
When members take the time to sit and read your magazine, they are making an investment to engage with your organisation, they are focused on the messages and information you choose to convey, and they have made a choice to engage. This means that your magazine results in quality engagement giving you and your organisation the opportunity to strengthen brand identity as well as cement valuable connections with your reader.
A recent report stated that ‘82% of readers trust what they read in magazines’ with 72% saying that ‘magazines are the most trusted context for news’. 1
Another report from Ofcom stated, ‘When scored by their users on measures of quality, accuracy, trustworthiness and impartiality (among other things) magazines perform better than any other news platform. Scores were lower among users of social media’.2
Although your membership magazine may not focus solely on the news, the relationship and trust gained from this more traditional medium remains.
Relationships are reinforced by allowing your membership to interact with you through your magazine. Contributions from members generate more interest and act as a conduit for meaningful and useful communications between you and your membership. Members will always be interested in what other members and colleagues are up to and what better way to find out and keep up to date than getting comfortable with a coffee and a magazine.
We could talk to you all day about the benefits a regular, high quality magazine could bring to your organisation. We work together with many of our clients to deliver effective and successful company and membership magazines, so call or message us today and let’s start talking about the best approach for your business.
1 Pay Attention! Magazines Role in the Modern Media Mix. Magnetic
2 Ofcom. News Consumption in the UK: 2018 Produced by: Jigsaw Research Fieldwork dates: November/December 2017 and March/April 2018
3 February 2020
Many of our clients value the benefits of having good quality promotional materials at their events. A branded item can be an invaluable way to keep your organisation in front of those you want to engage with. Promotional items are a very cost effective form of marketing as 87% of people will keep them for over a year. Our client, Cyfannol Women’s Aid, have recently launched a new service called Horizon and needed a ‘small, handy’ item to give away at an event. With only a couple of days turnaround time, the branded trolly keyrings we supplied them with ticked all of the boxes with the client tweeting…”Our fab design agency going #AboveAndBeyond again! Thank you @DesignworldLtd. So excited to pass these on to our @HorizonSvs team…”
8 January 2020
We recently completed a new logotype for FSB Cymru (Federation of Small Businesses) who are launching a new initiative throughout Wales this year. The new logotype was required to represent Wales in a visual manner whilst adhering to strict brand guidelines. It also needed to sit comfortably with the existing FSB branding. The logotype will be used on various materials, and will need to engage with a number of stakeholders, from Welsh government to business owners throughout the Country. The creative signified the fact that the FSB engages with SME’s throughout the whole breadth of Wales, and small business are, in turn unified under it’s banner. The client was delighted with their new logotype and will be using it at events throughout the year.
11 December 2019
It’s been feeling pretty merry around the studio this week as we completed the South Hook LNG end of year event materials. With a distinctly festive theme, our client required a variety of printed materials to support their event which saw employees and guests gathering together to celebrate the year end. Personalisation was required on the various pack items, with names and messages data merged throughout the print. Our client told us.. “Just want to say thank you – we have received all print, envelopes and welcome boards… everything looks great… we are very pleased.”
10 August 2019
Wales Biodiversity Partnership are launching a new logotype and we are delighted to have been involved in its development. The client wanted a fresh new look to the logo but was keen to maintain some aspects of the previous logo which they had been using for some time. The Wales Biodiversity Partnership (WBP) brings together key players from the public, private and voluntary sectors to promote and monitor biodiversity and ecosystem action in Wales and the new logo can be seen across all of their communication materials.
19 July 2019
The arrival of the annual Royal Welsh Show means that it’s been a very busy few weeks here in the studio. We have been working with the Woodland Trust to design and build their exhibition space at the annual event. Large format display material, brochures, guides, marketing collateral and promotional giveaways have all been created to help the organisation communicate and engage with a variety of stakeholders at the showground. The project presented us with tight deadlines and a number of on-site challenges during build, but our experience together with our commitment resulted in a successful event. We were delighted to see the stand bustling with interest and witness the Trust achieve their event targets over the week – we’re already thinking about the next one!
