DestiNet helps council scoop top UK award
By admin
Specialist software designed and developed in Devon has helped Devon County Council win a national communications award for the second successive year.
The Keeping Devon Intouch e-magazine, which won the e-Newsletters and Magazines category at the Chartered Institute of Public Relations’ annual Excellence Awards, is not printed but emailed to subscribers using the NewZapp email marketing software developed by Exeter-based specialist DestiNet.
The e-magazine is sent each month to 700 people in the local community, as well as Devon’s MPs, MEPs and county councillors, the editors of all the county’s parish magazines and other interested subscribers. It was devised to keep these key stakeholders informed by combining strong imagery, clear headlines, summaries of articles and simple links that enable readers to click-through to more detailed information on the Devon County Council website.
And using the NewZapp software, the council team is able to track each email it sends to see exactly who opens the e-magazine, when they open it, which articles they read and how many times they read them. Then, armed with this invaluable insight into the interest the different stakeholders had in each story, the team is able to shape its future editorial policy to make each newsletter more relevant and informative.
And that’s exactly what the CIPR judges recognised, stating that Devon County Council which won the award with Keeping Devon Intouch in 2007, has “further developed its knowledge and understanding of this medium”.
The award citation added: “This is a great example of what can be achieved by combining good design with the latest technology.”
DestiNet marketing manager Ian Creek said: “Email marketing is the most cost-effective form of marketing there is and with our help, Devon County Council has really excelled at it.
“The benefits are numerous – it encourages interactivity between senders and recipients and provides simple but invaluable feedback on who’s interested in what, which can save businesses a great deal of time and money. Of course, being an electronic publication there are no printing or postage costs and impact on the carbon footprint is negligible.
“More and more businesses are turning to it and we’re particularly interested in the smaller businesses where this kind of marketing can make such a big difference. We now provide our NewZapp system to more than 730 firms across the UK which makes us one of the five biggest companies of our kind. We’ve recorded growth of more than 30% for the last three years and as business has continued to grow over the last 12 months we expect this year to be even more successful.”
Devon County Council marketing manager Sam Hill said: “Devon County Council is always keen to make best use of the latest technology to improve the way we communicate with people and keep them well informed and engaged.
“Web-based e-zines distributed by e-mail are a really efficient and cost-effective tool to help us talk directly with our staff, partners and other stakeholders. The reaction to the e-zines has been tremendous and we are very pleased to have our work in this area recognised for the second year running.”
Tags: award-winner, CIPR, DestiNet, Devon County Council, e-magazine, e-newsletter, email marketing, In Touch, NewZapp software
