case studies

business gateway marketing toolkit

Business Gateway was set up in 2003 to help people starting up - and running - a business in Scotland. However, they had to adapt their strategy for the mass market because of the increasing popularity of the services. Now, Business Gateway offers a range of free local workshops and free online tools via their website. The workshops cover a variety of topics, anything from helping start up, and existing, businesses with their taxes and payroll to sales and marketing. The website offers a wealth of information and advice about starting and running a business and offers a range of interactive tools.

the brief

Earlier this year, Business Gateway decided to give Local Gateway managers greater control of their own local marketing activities.  Crucially, following this decision, Business Gateway had to provide the correct tools to ensure this was a successful venture; one that would support the 32 Scottish Local Authorities to successfully promote their services while preserving the integrity of the Business Gateway brand.

our idea

In response to the challenge, LEWIS Creative Consultants developed an indispensable online solution in the form of a password protected extranet.  Working with the client alongside their brand guardians, The Leith Agency, LEWIS developed the Business Gateway Marketing Toolkit which allows users to easily find information about the Business Gateway brand and guide them through its application throughout all marketing materials.

The Marketing Toolkit provides everything a local team needs to successfully promote Business Gateway services.  From complete information on brand guidelines to details of recent national marketing activity and providing downloadable logos.  Every useful tool is at the user's fingertips. 

However, the real innovative star in the Business Gateway's Toolkit is the Marketing Template Builder which allows users to create, amend, save and export their own bespoke marketing materials from a range of pre-designed templates.  This simple and intuitive procedure is complete in five easy steps. 

Step 1 - Selecting a format

Users select the type of material they want to create - a poster, leaflet and/or press advertisement. 

Step 2 - Selecting a size

Each user can choose from a range of size options for example an A5 leaflet or an A3 poster.

For press adverts, advertising spaces in key local publications were pre-booked spanning a six month period so LEWIS tailored the Marketing Toolkit to show the specification sizes relative to the publications in the user's local area.

Step 3 - Choosing a design

At this stage the user can choose from a wide selection of template designs. The designs reflect the Business Gateway brand and include an extensive range of photography and layout options. In total there are over 350 templates to choose from - offering something to meet any marketing objective.

Step 4 -Tailoring content

The templates include default text options to help local users of the site.  However, they can over-write this if they wish to create bespoke material which promotes services within their own local area.

Step 5 - Saving and publishing templates

Finally, the completed template can be saved and stored awaiting approval before exporting.  A copy of the template is automatically stored within the Marketing Toolkit's Content Management System while an alert message is sent to the Business Gateway Marketing team requesting that they access and approve the submitted marketing material.

the outcome

The complex development techniques invested by LEWIS has ensured the Business Gateway Marketing Toolkit is a simple and intuitive tool that not only saves budget and time but also preserves their brand and helps to make the working day of its users that little bit easier.

The Toolkit has become a key channel allowing Business Gateway's Marketing Team to support the local areas and promote the ‘national' brand internally to local authority contacts and contractors.  It has received extensive positive feedback from Local Authority users.

“The Marketing Toolkit supports local flexibility and maintains control over local marketing material whilst at the same time protecting the Business Gateway brand values. It is a one stop communication shop that’s easy to use, succinct and relevant”

Brenda Burke

Business Gateway Manager

Renfrewshire Council.