Business Sheffield helped consultant Brian Lawson to develop a digital strategy to reach new audiences

Change management expert Brian Lawson knew that he needed to make a change in his own organisation:

“I realised that if we kept on relying on word of mouth to promote our services, we would stay within the same circles and we wanted to reach new audiences. I knew we were sitting on some great stories but hadn’t found a way of telling them online. For example, we helped to move an international charity operation from dependency on grant funding to one that could bid successfully for tenders. We were also failing to convey some of the niche work with which we’re entrusted – very delicate situations that require particular skills, such as serious case reviews where there have been incidents with children or domestic homicides."

“Given our track record, we felt we could be working more ambitiously with bigger organisations and maybe working more internationally. We also wanted to make people aware that the company has a broader portfolio of skills and a larger team than they might think.”

Brian had identified that his current website and brand, ‘Consilient’, was a large part of the problem: “The brand was confusing and outdated and we never really used the website to drive traffic. The website was there as a brochure for people to look at but that’s all it ever really was. We wanted to attract people to our website and tell them stories based on our experience, so that through a growing set of online connections we could attract the kind of new customers we were looking for.”

Brian applied successfully to Digital Direction, the specialist IT support programme from Business Sheffield. This enabled him to choose a digital marketing company to partner with from an approved range. The result was a new brand, ‘Lawson Thinking’, developed to work well with a digital strategy, and a new website. Brian went into the process wanting to move away from an emphasis on his own profile as an expert consultant to get across the wider team. Working with digital experts, The Engine Room, challenged that thinking and helped Brian to realise that his reputation for delivery had to remain the springboard for developing broader relationships online and building trust in a wider team of associates.

Reflecting on the process, Brian says, “It’s all about reinforcing reputation. Nowadays people gauge what kind of company you are from the style and quality of your online communications. We have a reputation for authoritative delivery – for knowing what we’re talking about and being able to take people with us through a facilitation process. I think that is now reinforced by our digital marketing. We needed a smart and authoritative digital strategy to help us tell compelling stories about our skills and experience.

“The whole Digital Direction process was really quite agile, so you got this sense of momentum. There was clarity and flexibility to fit with what we needed. The communication all through the programme was better than good - it was really pro-active – and I liked the option to see several proposals before selecting a supplier because it made us look at different types of ideas even for future projects."

“It’s really important for small businesses to invest in a digital strategy. Having a good website is an anchor to good marketing – it’s like handing a business card out to everyone in the world. The website that we had three years ago was state-of-the-art for its time but the way in which people use and interact with websites and integrate with social media has moved on so much in the last three years. Our new website is part of a broader digital marketing strategy that we’ve adopted. We are currently in the first phase of implementing it – we’re preparing a second phase of content for the website around blogs and tweets to help attract more visitors.”

“Nowadays people gauge what kind of company you are from the style and quality of your online communications.”

Lawson Thinking

Strategic change and development consultancy working across public, private and third sector

www.lawsonthinking.com