A design partnership that contributed to 16% year on year growth
Key achievements:
- Over 1500 people trained since they launched in 2014 with the website as the main marketing tool
- Original, branded certificate designs significantly raised their credibility
- 170% increase in sales for online training programme and resources
- Launched a profitable national Story Massage conference in London and are set to run another one
The brief:
Qualified and accredited therapists, teachers and trainers, Mary Atkinson and Sandra Hooper, combined their expertise to write the book Once Upon a Touch… Story Massage For Children. The Story Massage Programme combines the benefits of positive touch with the fun and creativity of words – whether as story, rhyme or song together. The Story Massage Programme accredited training is for teachers, SEN staff, complementary therapists, coaches, parents/carers and health care professionals as well as for physiotherapists and psychotherapists. Mary and Sandra needed a website and promotional materials in order to launch their programme. The website needed to reflect the colourful fun of the book and the strokes but look professional to attract their specialist target market – most of whom are qualified and working in professional roles. It also needed to act as a sales tool for the book, resources and training programmes whilst simultaneously being an information portal to educate people about The Story Massage Programme with a clear and easy way to make contact.
The work:
The project consisted of branding design, illustration, artwork for business cards, flyers, roller banner, certificate design, email newsletter template design and a website. Since the launch of The Story Massage Programme, the website has grown significantly with more sections being added on, video integration and additional online booking pages with e-payment. We also created designs for their certificates and flyer design with print management for their training programme.
Working closely with Mary and Sandra, we helped to get their online training platform looking on brand and undertook the graphic design work for the training modules. We also manage their website ensuring it is up to date, providing them with regular back-ups and maintenance checks. We are always on hand to provide design and web work whenever they should need it and/or website training sessions so they can make changes to the website and keep their blog section up to date themselves.
The results:
Within a very short space of time since the website launch, The Story Massage Programme has grown significantly and both Mary and Sandra now spend 80% of their time on the programme with 20% on their day jobs (before the website, it was the other way around). There is a noticeable difference in interest and sales when they have been more active on the website and blog alongside other channels such as Twitter and Facebook. The additional resources which we provided the artwork for have contributed to their steady increase in sales and strengthens their credibility and reputation. Their brand is respected and their training programme is something to aspire to be able to achieve. The Story Massage Programme is ranked 4th in the top 10 UK Massage Blogs and Websites To Follow in 2019 by Feedspot. With the help of our design expertise and marketing guidance, The Story Massage Programme is a go-to training provider within the whole of the UK.
Mary and Sandra gain lots of value from our training workshops and our blogs as well and say that we have a very good working relationship.