Why have a Bromford app?

We're pleased to say that we now have a free app available to download to your phones and tablets.

But why does Bromford have an app? Well, here’s a little bit of background that you may be interested in.

Our initial brief was to develop a range of marketing materials for colleagues to use at networking events so, working with Steve Barnes (our creative genius) and Michelle Fenn (team personal assistant), we developed ‘mock-ups’ of table-top stands and A5 size information packs.

These ideas were shown to colleagues throughout the business who liked the concept but a few questions were raised including the cost and value of having printed materials that could potentially be out of date very soon after going to print.

Bromford Lab

The lab is the creative network of Bromford. It's where customers, colleagues and external partners are brought together to explore, develop and test new ideas – quickly.

So with the feedback in mind, the lab was the obvious place to go to try and find the answer to the question of what marketing materials were needed.

We invited colleagues from various parts of the business to come along and tell us what they thought was needed to help raise our profile at the events that they attended.

In the initial lab session colleagues were encouraged to forget about practicalities and open their minds - you never know where that off-the-wall idea might lead to. After a really productive Friday afternoon session we came away with a whole range of ideas to work on including:

•    Interactive activities, such as crafts or health ‘kits’ at our networking stand to attract visitors
•    An off-line app to allow people at events to find out more about our business
•    Pre-loading customer stories onto tablets for colleagues to show at events
•    Selfies – posted to our website and social media channels
•    Good old fashioned ‘give-aways’ – bags, pens, key rings, sweets – you know the kind of thing
•    Oranges, yes you read that right – oranges with QR codes linking directly to the site…the link here is the orange ‘full stop’ on our new branding.

 Networking events

A number of conversations followed this initial session and it soon became clear that the question of ‘'what materials do we need for networking events?’' that we asked should really have been '‘do we need to go to networking events at all?’'

Some questions that were raised were:

•    Why do we go? – Is it simply because it’s something that we’ve always done or is it because everyone else is there?
•    Is it better to spend our time networking in different ways? For example hot-desking with agencies that we already work closely with (local authorities, social sevices, health centres etc…)
•    How many referrals are generated from attending these events?

Audience

There was another question that popped up in virtually every conversation that was had around networking and marketing – who is our audience and what do we want them to know?

Are we trying to attract potential customers, show partner agencies what we do or ‘sell’ ourselves to commissioners? The answer is ‘all of the above’ … and a bit more.

Our initial brief was to develop materials to help our support colleagues and customers  but as the project progressed it made sense to produce something that anyone could use.

It became increasingly obvious that there would be no one thing that would be able to cover all of the aspects of what we do. There are so many aspects to Bromford that the only way to do the business justice is to create a whole host of materials … which brought us full circle to costs and the risk of producing materials that quickly become dated.

With all of these questions in mind it was decided that one of the paths that we should take was to develop an information app. One purpose of this app would be to help colleagues explain who Bromford is and the work that we do. By creating an app which is essentially an extension of the website we have future-proofed the content as much as possible.

Especially in times where smart phones and tablets are becoming increasingly popular it makes perfect sense to have an online ‘leaflet’ available to download for free and that, no matter who the audience is, the information is relevant.

As with everything we do, the customer is central to the design and content of the app.

Useful links

In my opinion one of the best features is the ‘useful links’ page. Here you can find tools like a benefits calculator and direct links to the websites of organisations such as The Samaritans, Citizens Advice Bureau, NHS Choices, Tell Frank, GamCare, Mind and many others who offer specialist help, support and advice. The idea of this feature is to enable anyone to find help, support and information quickly and easily.

As well as the useful links page there are direct links into our website where, among other things, you can see how we help our customers, read our latest news or apply for one of our vacancies. You can also contact us, make a referral for support or search for a service in your area.

If social media is your thing, you’ll find our Facebook and Twitter accounts and you can view our YouTube films that include customer stories and really useful ‘how to’ videos.

Downloads

This is our first foray into the app market and no doubt there will be changes and updates as we realise what works and what doesn’t but now that we’ve started, who knows where it could lead so watch this space…

The free app is available for Android and Windows devices with a version for Apple coming soon.

In the meantime those of you with Apple devices can click on the image below and use the ‘Add to Home Screen’ function to create a shortcut on your device.

Please click on the relevant link below to be directed to the stores where you can download your free app. Please let us know what you think - and share with your friends, family and colleagues.