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Internal comms work – a refreshing change

It’s been a nice change recently to have been asked to work on a series of internal communications projects for Exemplar Health Care.

So many organisations don’t apply the same care and attention to their internal communications as they do to their external communications and marketing. This is a real shame, as the same principles of good communications apply to both. In many cases organisations have a communciations and marketing team that could provide valuable support to internal communications strategy, but they simply fail to ask.

In the case of Exemplar, they don’t need us to explain the need for a careful approach to internal communications, but they did need a bit of extra capacity to supplement the existing marketing and HR functions. They had a number of projects planned which we’ve helped implement:

1. Content creation for internal comms app

We were really impressed that Exemplar had taken the decision to create an intranet in app form, that staff can access via their phones or desktop. We helped create content for the app, in particular creating short ‘friendly’ versions for a large number of HR policies and procedures.

2. Editing of staff guides and toolkits

Though the HR team were full of ideas and had a clear picture of the messages they wanted to get across, they needed support in distilling down those messages and shaping the content of materials they wanted to produce. We edited and wrote new content for a new retention toolkit as well as a guide for new starters called ‘My Exemplar’.

3. Staff survey

With over 2,500 employees, their first ever full staff survey was a big undertaking. We edited their survey questions, providing guidance on best practices, and built their survey in SurveyMonkey. We also created a series of communications to staff to encourage completions and supported the process along the way. Following the full staff survey we also built further smaller surveys in SurveyMonkey, which the team were then able to replicate and reissue themselves.

It’s been really enjoyable working with Exemplar on these projects. If you have similar internal communications projects you’d like to talk to us about then please do get in touch.

Data4Good Conference a sold-out success

Last week Birmingham saw the first ever national conference for people in the UK working with ‘data for good’.

We were very pleased when our regular client Data Orchard asked us to provide all the communications and marketing support for The Data4Good Conference 2018. We’re still recovering from it to be honest, but what an exciting thing to be part of!

a packed room at the UK Data4Good conference 2018Around 250 people attended, with representation from across the not-for-profit, social enterprise and public sectors, as well as private sector providers. There was a real buzz of excitement about the conference, as people with a shared interest in using data for good finally had the opportunity to get together in one place to share, learn and network.

Having been quite deeply involved in the planning and organisation of the conference, managing promotion and ticket sales, and being there at the conference to support the organising team, we really felt more than ever like we’d morphed into being de facto members of our client’s team.

So we were truly emotionally invested in this one, and it was such a good feeling to be able to confirm that the tickets were sold out, and we were set for a full house.

Being at the event and managing the live-tweeting was a little nerve-racking but we needn’t have worried – the social media buzz about the event before, during and after was great. It was a real testament to the hard work put in by Data Orchard and the rest of the organising committee to create something really unique for the not-for-profit community in the UK.

Read all about the event in more detail. 

Together we can make sparks fly

Announcing our range of affordable, mobile-ready websites for small businesses… with added sparkle.

Kindlemix Communications has recently launched a new sister site, Spark Sites, promoting our range of web packages aimed at small businesses and start ups. This is in addition to the online work we already do through Kindlemix, where we work with a range of bigger clients across the UK.

New customers who book a Spark Sites web package before Christmas 2016 can benefit from a massive 25% discount.

Spark Site’s ethos is simple: we want to help small businesses flourish by providing affordable, mobile-ready websites that are beautifully designed, with sparkling copy.

We build sites in Squarespace and WordPress (using professionally designed templates and themes) and use our wealth of experience and knowledge to help refine and develop your content.

Spark Sites is the brainchild of Kindlemix’s Creative Director, Anne Tregoning. ‘I just really wanted to develop a simple offering that was affordable for small businesses, but meant they would still be able to benefit from our knowledge and expertise,’ she says. ‘Using Squarespace templates as a starting point saves a lot of time meaning we can put together sites quickly for businesses and add value in the copy, imagery and SEO.’

Spark Sites has already produced new sites for local businesses in mid-Wales, including Brecon Milk, Data Orchard and the Hours Cafe and Bookshop. Watch out for several more currently in the pipeline.

Visit www.spark-sites.co.uk to find out more about the web packages and see examples of sites we’ve done so far.