A guide to the Apprenticeship Reform for SMEs Animation video
Success achieved
An engaging and informative video created for members to learn about the new apprenticeship reform- Website
- www.theBESA.com
- Project dates
January - March 2017
Project team
Claire Short, Marketing ManagerTools & Systems
As the video was produced by Morph we didn’t use any particular tools, systems and platforms to produce the video ourselves.
Morph used the following software and tools to create our video:
- Mac OSX Workstations
- Adobe Illustrator - for producing all the assets and graphics
- Adobe InDesign - for putting the storyboard together
- Adobe After Effects - for the animation
- Adobe Audition - for the sound edit
And we use:
- Mailchimp - for email campaigns
- Survey Monkey - for online surveys
- Hootsuite - for social media management
Introduction
BESA Training, the training arm of the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA), wanted to create a number of resources to help explain the apprenticeship reform ahead of its implementation in April 2017.
In January 2017, we approached the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) with a proposal outlining how we wanted to produce a short video to help explain the new apprenticeship reform to SMEs within our membership and the wider building services sector. We were pleased to receive full endorsement from the SFA who gave us the funding to create the video along with an infographic.
Feedback from our members and the wider industry suggested there was a lot of confusion about the apprenticeship reform, in particular, changes to funding and the mandatory apprenticeship levy.
The video needed to be informative but concise, providing the viewer with a better understanding of the apprenticeship reform overall and if further detail or advice was required they knew they could visit our website or give us a call.
Discovery
We have informed our members of the apprenticeship reform over the past year through presentations at BESA regional meetings, editorials in our member magazine and trade press, BESA e-news and website content. We found through conversations that our members were still confused and unsure how the apprenticeship reform would affect them and their business. We faced a constant battle as the government and apprenticeship landscape was changing rapidly. We had to send out numerous communications to our members.
Through Survey Monkey, we compiled a short member survey to ask what aspects of the apprenticeship reform they wanted to know more about. The survey was sent out via email campaigns through Mailchimp and was accessible within the members’ area of our website. Over 76% wanted to know more about funding and 62% wanted to know more about the new online Apprenticeship Service from the SFA.
Our statistics show that videos are popular with our members across all our group websites. They gain high engagement taken from Google Analytics and can be reused across multiple marketing streams, increasing our reach. We ensure all our videos have mobile optimization, as our website visitors are a mix of desktop and mobile users. We wanted to keep our group company branding consistent so we used the same design agency that created our websites and other animation videos.
As the apprenticeship reform details were finalised at the start of this year, this was the perfect opportunity to create our video. This timing allowed us to heavily promote it during National Apprenticeship Week (6-10 March 2017) and leading up to the implementation of the apprenticeship levy on 6 April 2017 and whilst remaining relevant, used throughout the foreseeable future.
Objectives
- Inform and educate our SME member companies about the new apprenticeship reform
- Promote the benefits of apprenticeships to our members and employers in the building services sector
- Raise the profile of BESA Training
We set ourselves a number of realistic targets and broke them down by marketing streams.
Video
On average our videos across the group companies are viewed 16 times a week so we set ourselves a target of 50 views for National Apprenticeship Week
Social media:
We doubled our average stats for engagement on Twitter and set the following target for our tweet during NAW:- 1,400 impressions
- 20 likes
- 10 retweets
- 34 engagements
Email campaigns:
Our email campaigns are above the industry average for open and click rates. We set ourselves a target of 20% open rate and 2.6% click rate for the BESA Training email that would go to members and employer contacts regarding the apprenticeship reform update alongside the video.
Activities
A culmination of feedback from members suggested there was still confusion surrounding the new apprenticeship reform. This was fed back through BESA Association Managers and BESA Training Account Managers so we decided to conduct a survey for our members and training employers to find out what it was about the Apprenticeship Reform they were struggling to understand. We had a great response (132 respondents) and results showed that the apprenticeship levy and the new online payment system were the top 2 issues for our members and employers.
As the training arm of the Association, BESA Training is a training provider and like many other UK training providers, government funding had been severely delayed. We had a limited marketing budget so to try and produce something which was both educating and engaging with limited budget was going to prove quite difficult.
As part of a wider marketing strategy we wanted to launch a campaign for National Apprenticeship week to raise the profile of BESA Training and promote the benefits of apprenticeships in building services to members and employers, whilst educating about the impending apprenticeship levy on 6 April 2017.
The Skills Funding Agency had previously commented in the past on how they liked our style of videos across the BESA websites. With this in mind, we contacted Morph who quoted £5,000 to create an animation and infographic. In January, we created a proposal to deliver resources to promote apprenticeships to SMEs in the lead up to, during and after National Apprenticeship Week. We presented this to the SFA who were happy to fully fund the video and infographic. This gave us three weeks to compile a brief, write the script and create the animation.
Due to the very tight timescales we had a stringent schedule which required full commitment from both the BESA Marketing Team, BESA Training Director, Skills Funding Agency and Morph. Everyone knew it was all hands on and amends had to be fed back quickly as to not hold the project up. With both internal and external stakeholders involved, it was imperative that all communication channels were clear from the start so everyone knew what was happening and when they needed to contribute.
When BESA Marketing initially wrote the script, there was over 950 words and this needed to be streamlined down to 200 -300 words. To decide what to edit out, we had to remember that the purpose of the video was to provide a brief overview of the apprenticeship reform process with the call to action for further detail to either visit the website or give us a call.
Morph helped us cut down the script but leave enough information in. As they have no knowledge of the apprenticeship reform, they were great at explaining it in layman terms so members were be able to grasp it.
Everyone stuck to the schedule outlined below and the deadline was successfully met. We created a dedicated Apprenticeship Levy webpage and embedded the video there and the BESA Training home page. An email campaign went out on Monday 6 March, highlighting all the apprenticeship reform changes and including the video and supporting infographic. We also ran the social competition on Twitter and LinkedIn to increase engagement and views of the video and driving traffic to our website. This was a huge success and succeeded anything else we have previously done through social media.
Innovation
Creating an animation video to explain complex subject matter was a creative and innovative approach. The video allows us to bring the content to life and enable people to engage and share it in ways which are not possible with printed materials. It also allowed us to measure the success of the video, as printed material can simply be lost or thrown away, or five people might read the same leaflet. The video gives us analytics and allows us to share on social media, which gives us accurate insights.
We had never created a video which was fully funded so having the SFA fund and collaborate on the video was a new approach. Their backing and support gave the video and campaign more prestige and authority, reassuring the sector that BESA Training is an established training provider.
Running a Twitter competition was another novel approach for us. We picked a prize – a £100 Red Letter Day voucher, to appeal to a wide audience. The response to the competition exceeded our expectations. It set a bench mark for other campaigns across the Group companies and will encourage us to do more social competitions.
Marketing
The building services sector is made up of a staggering 99% of SMEs and our membership reflects this with 95% of members predominately SMEs - so it was obvious our marketing strategy would be to target the video at smaller businesses. We didn’t want to dismiss our medium and larger members who would also be affected by the apprenticeship reform, so included content which would be relevant to them too.
We decided to launch the video as a part of a wider marketing campaign during National Apprenticeship Week. Training provider BESA Training recruits apprentices on behalf of BESA members and the industry. The video needed to be part of a wider campaign promoting the benefits of apprenticeships to both members and employers.
We decided the most innovative way to promote the video, would be alongside a competition on Twitter. The campaign was called #USEITORLOSEIT, as we wanted to encourage all members and employers to use their levy funding, otherwise risk losing it as the Government planned to take it back in April 2018.
Digital content marketing has grown rapidly over the past decade with social media being the most popular. Video makes up 82% (Content Marketing Institute) of content shared on social so this was the perfect channel to promote our video.
In order to create more engagement and views for the video we ran a Twitter competition during National Apprenticeship Week, where people had to watch and retweet it with the hashtags #USEITORLOSEIT and #NAW2017 for a chance to win a £100 Red Letter Day voucher. The video was also pinned to the top of our Facebook and LinkedIn page. We had a dedicated web page for the apprenticeship levy which featured the video and detailed information. We sent regular email campaigns to members featuring the video and links to our web pages. We ran a number of Apprenticeship Levy seminars, which were well attended and again the video was used and well received.
Challenges
Short timescale and tight deadlines:
- Less than 3 weeks
- Write a brief for Morph
- Learn about the Apprenticeship Reform and convey the info in simplistic terms
- Write a short and concise script
We overcame all these issues by ensuring we worked with a design agency we had already used so they knew our style and way of working. We made sure all communication channels were open and everyone was kept in the loop as to what was going on at all times.
Budget
We had a very limited marketing budget so overcame this by seeking funding from elsewhere, which was the Skills Funding Agency.
Complex content
Producing a video covering a complex topic, which would have longevity – we overcame this by outing enough information to cover the overarching reform but left the greater detail to be covered on the website and in email campaigns.
Stakeholder Management
As we were dealing with both internal and external stakeholders who wanted to make various amends, it was important we reiterated the deadlines and schedule whilst managing their expectations and keeping all communications channels open.
Achievements
We exceeded expectations of our original objectives which was a great achievement by everyone involved!
During National Apprenticeship Week (6-10 March 2017) our video was viewed 154 times with 92 finishes.
Our competition on Twitter increased our engagement during National Apprenticeship Week:
- 16,116 impressions
- 176 likes
- 642 retweets
- 1,649 engagements
Email campaigns:
- 24.2% open rate
- 4.6% clicks
We educated and informed many SME members and employers within the sector. Although some now fully understand it, a number of people are still perplexed, so further work needs to be done by us as part of an ongoing campaign. A training representative may need to have a face to face conversation with them and explain in further detail. The video is one piece of a huge puzzle so without all the pieces we don’t expect everyone to fully understand straight away. Hopefully it gives them the incentive to trust us as a training provider and get in touch for further guidance. This enables us to promote the benefits of apprenticeships. We know we have raised the profile of BESA Training because we have been asked to work on further projects with SFA, trade press contact us regularly for editorialsand our social media grew rapidly due to the #USEITORLOSEIT competition.
As we were dealing with confusing subject matter, it was important to ensure the information was broken down into the most straightforward terms without being patronizing to the viewer. To maximize engagement, our video has a total running time of two minutes and thirty- three seconds.
We wanted the video to be visual and engaging. Through an animation and voice over we highlighted important facts and parts of the process which viewers should take note of. We recognise that some people prefer to absorb information either through visuals or listening so it was key for us to include important messaging in both ways.
All BESA Group animation videos are hosted through our Vimeo account and uploaded onto our website through our CMS (Umbraco). This is a simple free video sharing website. After watching a video, it then automatically offers another BESA video, encouraging engagement across the Group of companies. Viewers can like, share and comment and we are provided with analytics and statistics about the video. We ensure all our videos are optimized for mobiles and tablets.
We ensured the running order of the video told a story with a clear start, middle and end. The start is a simple overview of the apprenticeship reform and how the levy would affect SMEs and larger businesses. The middle is a simple demonstration of the online Apprenticeship Service. The end is our call to actions – for more information visit our website or give us a call.
Targets & Statistics
We set ourselves a number of realistic targets and broke them down by marketing streams.
Video:
On average our videos are viewed 16 times a week so we set ourselves a target of: 50 views for National Apprenticeship Week
Social:
Twitter - We doubled our average stats for engagement on Twitter and set the following target for our tweet during NAW:
- 1,400 impressions
- 20 likes
- 10 retweets
- 34 engagements
Email campaigns:
Our email campaigns are above the industry average for open and click rates. We set ourselves a target of 20% open rate and 2.6% click rate for the BESA Training email that would go to members and employer contacts regarding the apprenticeship reform update alongside the video.
Actuals
During National Apprenticeship Week (6-10 March 2017) our video was viewed 154 times with 92 finishes.
Our competition on Twitter increased our engagement during National Apprenticeship Week:
- 16,116 impressions
- 176 likes
- 642 retweets
- 1,649 engagements
- Email campaigns
- 24.2% open rate
- 4.6% clicks
Financials
There was no financial investment made by ourselves as the animation was fully funded by the Skills Funding Agency, which cost £5000. We did invest a lot of internal time and resource to get the video ready, especially as we had less than one month to complete it in! We also bought a £100 red letter day voucher as the Twitter competition prize.
All interest gained through the video was a great return on investment, our main objective was to educate and inform members and employers about the apprenticeship reform. It wasn’t seen as a sales tool, so website referrals or telephone calls for more information about apprenticeships were a huge bonus. We were up by 24% for enquires via telephone and website referrals from the video through social and email campaigns was up by 15% for the month of March.
Not only have we added value to the membership for current members but we have further strengthened the BESA brand as a voice of authority for the building services sector. We listened to our members and sector that there was ongoing confusion surrounding the apprenticeship reform so we did something about it. Collaborating with SFA, enabled us to achieve this without membership money having to be spent on the project, which proves we are resourceful and considered a strong partner. As the video was deemed a huge success, the SFA want to further collaborate with us on future projects and have invited us to join them in exhibiting at the National Skills Show at the NEC Birmingham in November.
What would we do differently?
Ideally, we would give ourselves more time so the whole process wouldn’t feel rushed and people would be given more time to process and review the script, storyboard and animation.
If we had more budget we would like a series of videos explaining each element of the apprenticeship reform, broken down into bitesize chunks but this could be something we could look at for the next financial year.
It would have been beneficial for BESA Training if the SFA had put the video on its website but I suppose they wouldn’t want to be seen as favoring one training provider over another.
Feedback & Testimonials
We have received a lot of good feedback from members, employers, staff and people within the industry.
“The video was really informative and helped explain the apprenticeship reform in a clear and concise way. It is refreshing to see information presented in such an engaging format and is a real credit to the Association and the BESA Training team, well done!”
Tim Hopkinson, BESA President 2017/18 and managing director, E Poppleton and Son Ltd
“It was a real pleasure to collaborate with BESA on this animation. We had seen previous BESA videos and loved their style and format. We provided the information regarding the new online Apprenticeship Service and they turned it into this wonderful video. It is a great tool for SMEs to get to grips with the apprenticeship levy and really helps promote the benefits of apprenticeships. We look forward to working with BESA in the future!”
Bev Moxon, Intermediaries Team – Manager, National Apprenticeship Service
“The BESA marketing team always do a great job but I was a little bit skeptical that they would be able to turn the video around in less than a month. Not only did they meet the deadline but they produced an exceptional tool for my team to go out to members and employers to help promote the benefits of apprenticeships and explain the reform to SMEs.”
Tony Howard, director of BESA Training
“The video was easy to follow and helped explain the new funding in a simple way. I have forwarded it to colleagues and other employers within the sector. I would highly recommend it and looks great on my mobile when I’m out on site.”
Malcolm Thompson, managing director Enigma Environmental Services
Wider impact
The video has had a positive impact on our members. Our telephone enquiries and website traffic increased. We received positive feedback not only from our members, but also staff who said they now had a better understanding of the apprenticeship reform. It was a huge success within the building services industry. When it features in our regular e-news, it receives the most clicks. When shared through our social media channels it received a large number of likes, shares and comments from various people throughout the sector. The Skills Funding Agency were really impressed with the impact it had on the sector and they continue to use it as a tool to engage with SMEs and want to work with us on further projects.