At Touch Design we have recently been carrying out a series of one-to-one interviews with health and local authority communications leads, asking them about the challenges they face and some of the potential solutions. In our first blog post based on these interviews, we examined what our contacts were saying about artificial intelligence and its adoption within in-house public sector communications teams.
In this second post based on those interviews, we consider a subject that existed pre-AI and new technology, the challenges of creative and campaign development, often made more difficult in recent times with small or reduced budgets, and reduced staffing. Communications leads told us of the lack of skills available in-house, that it is sometimes difficult to find the time to act strategically in this regard, and that evaluation and measurement is often a forgotten art in the rush to jump onto the next project being asked of them.
The surveys were carried out on an anonymous basis and we would like to sincerely thank everyone who took part. Responses on this theme included:
Lack of resource
“One of the biggest challenges is getting asked to do quite low-level stuff, like posters and stuff for Facebook. I don't know which is worse, being constantly asked to do it and having to do it. The alternative is that you get a business support person with absolutely zero skills doing it, and it’s just awful. We try to create templates for them and they don’t use the templates properly.”
Lack of budget
“We have a really high proportion of patients who speak English as a second (or third!) language and we’re not communicating with them as effectively as we could. I’m just starting to work on this now, but we have no budget so it’s taking me some time.”
Lack of time
“I don’t feel I get enough time at the end of a campaign to see what’s worked well and what’s not worked well. Sometimes I feel like I’m kind of flying by the seat of my pants.”
Inappropriate use of skills
“Another one of the things that I have been asked to do, that I don’t class as comms, is that because I can do Canva, I get these reports that need to have some nice diagrams in them, and it’s just one thing that’s been on my ‘to do’ list. I did a version of it and they didn’t like it, and I was like, it’s just not my job. But when you’re in a small team, there’s kind of an expectation that you go outside your job a little bit.”
Learning new skills
“I think Canva is one of those things that has really levelled the playing field for NHS comms when it comes to design – especially as you get the free pro package as a not-for-profit organisation. That said, like any software it is limited by the confidence and skills of the person using it. I’m a huge advocate for Canva and I’ve used it for a number of years. I’d like to think I’m pretty good with it and can develop a good range of assets, but I’m totally self-taught and haven’t had any formal training so I suppose there’s a gap there.”
There are a lot of issues that have been raised here, and each issue could be analysed in far greater depth, but one common response from us at Touch is that we’re here to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.! We have been supporting communications leads in areas such as campaign planning, creative development, campaign implementation, and campaign measurement. Some councils use us as their outsourced in-house design team, others call on us for occasional projects. Some health organisations use us for support on major change programmes or corporate re-brands, others for ad hoc creative including a single poster or banner stand for example. Whether the ask is big or small, we can step in and produce the perfect creative and campaign, leaving you more time to focus on your other priorities.
Give us a call on 0115 950 9394 or email info@touchdesign.co.uk