The Website and Video Effect
We recently helped Belfast based Workforce Training Services with branding, website and video solutions. We chatted to Deputy Manager Roisin McCabe about her role within the organisation and her experience of working with Aspect Media.
Can you tell us about Workforce Training Services?
Workforce is a vibrant, inspiring and creative environment for young people and adults to learn, achieve their goals and overcome barriers to their personal development and career mobility. At Workforce our learners are paramount, and whether they are engaged in vocational training or a work-based learning programme, Workforce will support them throughout the duration of their learning and through to their positive progression into further education/ training or employment.
What does your role involve?
As the organisation’s Deputy Manager, I am responsible for its continued success by ensuring that people know what we do, have a positive experience throughout their time with us and achieve their goals and aspirations despite barriers identified to their employment and learning.
Why did you want to replace the Workforce website?
Our website had become dated and was no longer fit for purpose. I felt that it no longer reflected our brand and failed to correctly detail what we offered. This was compounded by the fact that it could not be easily updated, and any updates resulted in a substantial cost.
What did you want from a new website?
A website that would represent our organisation well and ultimately support recruitment to the organisation’s programmes. We believed that online recruitment was the weakest element of our recruitment channels and a new website was the start of our expansion into the virtual environment.
What kind of advice did you receive from Aspect Media?
The advice, guidance and support we received from Aspect Media was very easy to understand, from our initial meeting and throughout the process.
The team at Aspect Media were able to direct us on the way forward based on their experience with similar websites which greatly benefited us and the decisions we made throughout the design process.
Why did you choose Aspect Media for the project?
Initial contact was made with Aspect Media following a referral. However, we ultimately decided to choose Aspect Media based on their design concepts, cost, and our positive experience throughout our first consultation.
The team at Aspect were easy to talk to and took the time to understand and get to know our organisation.
You had a few issues with your existing branding? Did Aspect Media help?
For no extra cost, Aspect Media provided us with different versions of our logo and tagline so that this could be used for online and printed promotional materials. The new website helped pull together what we wanted Workforce’s brand to be and this has become the design starting point for all promotional materials going forward.
How did you find the process of creating your promotional videos?
The promotional videos have really enhanced our website and been used at various recruitment events.
Aspect Media recommended these additions to the website and I am very pleased that they did as they greatly add to the overall experience for the website user.
They provided excellent advice on how to plan the day for the videographer and due to this planning, there was minimal disruption to the working day. The videographer came up with great ideas on how to showcase the facilities and maximised the use of his time on site.
Were you happy with the finished videos?
We’re really happy, both videos reflected the organisation well and showed the website users much more than any picture or text could have done.
The editing process was really simple as Aspect worked with us to achieve the end product that we wanted. No request was too much trouble and we felt we had real input into the final videos.
There’s a perception that websites and videos are expensive. Do you feel you received value for money?
We absolutely feel that we received value for money. We hadn’t anticipated that our budget could have achieved what it did. The videos were an additional cost to what we had initially planned but were very reasonable and have provided us with more use than the website alone.
Has there been much support since the new site was launched?
The aftercare and support have been second to none and in my view one of Aspect Media’s best features. Any issues or queries we have had regarding the website have been handled efficiently and effectively.
When we first went into lockdown in March 2020, we discussed adding a portal to the website that would support online registration for our main cohort of learners. We weren’t sure if this was possible, but Aspect Media made the whole process very simple and straightforward and offered to make this amendment to the website at a small cost.
With this addition to the website, the Aspect team has made our recruitment processes easier and more accessible and much more efficient for the organisation’s administration team. This will now stay as a permanent feature of our site and recruitment process as it has proved very successful.
Would you work with Aspect Media again or recommend the company to others?
Yes, I would absolutely recommend Aspect Media and intend to work with them again on an ongoing basis.
What’s next for Workforce Training Services?
Who knows what the ongoing pandemic will bring not only to our organisation, its learners and our community, but one thing is for sure embracing the virtual environment will be essential and this will be a key driving force in our development plans for the foreseeable future.