Can you introduce yourself and let us know your job title and what your role involves on a day to day basis?
Hi, I’m Bertie. I’m Assistant Director of Services (Information & Multimedia) at Breast Cancer Care. I’m responsible for our patient information strategy, publishing, libraries and digital activity including, online communities and social media. My team operates like an internal agency providing strategic and practical advice on editorial, design and web across the organisation.
I’m also a freelance photographer. I’m passionate about technology and the charity sector.
I’m really pleased to share my personal thoughts with you.
How did you first get involved with the internet?
I was 23, in Dijon (France), trying to make a living as a music journalist and photographer. It was 1996. I had read about the “information highway”. When I realised there wasn't a web agency in Dijon, I wrote a business plan, found several companies willing to sponsor me and won a prize for young entrepreneurs, which gave me enough cash to buy a computer, get an internet connection and start creating websites. I didn't know what I was doing but I knew this was the future. Sadly a few old, and not so old, French managing directors kept telling me the internet would disappear within two years, so their lack of vision prompted me to look further afield across the channel. My biggest dream was to live in the UK.
I moved to London in 1999 during the dot com boom. I worked for an internet B2B start-up, with promises of shares, travel etc, but never left zone 1! This was, ironically, my first “not for profit” experience.
My first job in the charity sector was for the British Heart Foundation. I joined them in 2001 as their first online manager. After developing several sites, implementing e-fundraising tools and some very successful campaign microsites, I moved to Breast Cancer Care in 2006 to further develop the charity’s online presence. From directors to trustees, everyone is very receptive to new ideas and fully back our use of digital to support people affected by breast cancer. I recently moved into a new role at Breast Cancer Care where my remit has been expanded yet still includes digital.
What is the next trend on the horizon that digital communicators need to prepare for? / What can we expect in 2009/10 for online media?
I think social media and online communities will reach maturity. That means it will be more difficult to make noise in social media spaces as users are likely to be more focused and will start ignoring most virals, advertising etc. (just as it happened on websites).
We should see a wider reach of mobile web among our core demographic (50+ women). More mobile apps will be developed. For many organisations, this is the financial incentive they’ve been waiting for; applications like The Guardian, web based tools like Remember The Milk (to do list) or working across platforms like Evernote will develop fast. We should also slowly see Android (the Google mobile operating system) gaining market shares.
Free expert content will be sought after so there will be more opportunities to syndicate information to both commercial and public organisations.
And maybe BBC News will finally embrace social media; it’s one of the very few remaining news websites which restricts comments from users (but it’s been refreshing to hear candidates mentioning sites that aren’t the BBC as their favourites during job interviews!).
What is the single biggest challenge facing charities in the next 12 months?
The single biggest challenge I believe is for them to adapt. Convincing senior managers it is time to stop planning for tomorrow with yesterday’s attitude. There are many talented staff and too often they don’t get the voice, space or freedom they need within their organisation.
The economic climate focuses senior managers’ minds on Return On Investment and digital should be regarded as a mustdo, not a nice to have and certainly not an area where investment should be postponed.
This change of attitude should bring the teams raising money and the teams delivering services closer together.
How do you stay on top of trends in digital marketing and campaigning?
I’m an insomniac and spend a couple of hours, several nights a week, reading blogs and clicking “stumble” on my stumbleupon toolbar.
I also use every opportunity to network; I believe the more ideas you share the more ideas you can generate. I try to help smaller charities and get involved with innovative projects wherever possible
Besides staffing, what are some of the other organisational shifts in marketing driven by social media / community that charities need to address?
Actually I am not sure staffing is that much of an issue. I have talked to a few charities who are now changing staff roles and making digital part of the job description. At Breast Cancer Care, we are working more closely with our press team both on reactive and pro-active news, preparing news statements in audio and soon video format in addition to traditional press releases. Our events team is engaging with events participants and potential participants across social networks and every team is using the web more actively. It is very positive and we have a recently recruited social media & community manager who ensures our core message isn’t distorted. It’s another good opportunity for organisations to develop a cross departmental strategy.
How does your online presence influence life offline and how do you get the media involved in issues?
Off line and online have to work together. With the current economic climate, it is cheaper to retain new donors than to acquire new ones.
Retention can be carried out offline and acquisition online as the ROI can be monitored. With online, there are more opportunities to innovate without a great investment and the return can be higher.
Recently, we merged our print and digital functions to deliver our services better across all platforms (i.e. offline supporting online and vice versa). I want to be in a place where we can talk about the tools we have to support our users, not in which format they’re available.
Traditional media is still interested in good stories but some of our resources have shifted towards social media (e.g. Twitter) which is starting to bring in healthy traffic.
What do you see happening with mobile technologies and how do you think they will impact on you strategy for 2009/10?
Thanks to services like Twitter, Google map etc mobile technology has become indispensable. We are working on an interactive UK map of all breast cancer services andwe are also planning to test a few things. I’d love to have enough budget to develop a brilliant mobile application. Maybe in a couple of years.
What is the hardest part about marketing a non-profit website?
(pause)
It’s a difficult question. Everyone I meet in the sector is very dedicated but being passionate is no longer
enough. We are careful about how we invest our supporters’ money and that means we don’t have much room to innovate
and can’t afford to fail. I believe we have some fantastic advocates: our users; but we also need to let them know
how much we need them, which is the hardest part.
What is your current digital “soap box topic” what are you really into at the moment…
Online collaborative tools. I use a few and find it frustrating to still have to use old software linked to a closed network.
Who should we interview for the Becauseitsgood blog next?
Clay Shirky (my favourite digital thinker), Simon Berry (Colalife.org) and Claude, my mother-in-law who went from no computer to Skype, blogging and editing short videos in just 6 weeks (without my help!).
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