A SNEAK peek into the day-to-day life of Ulverston's St Mary's Hospice has been made possible thanks to an innovative partnership.
St Mary's has teamed up with marketing company, VidSmart, to create a series of videos that give an insight into the work they do.
What started with VidSmart hiring conference space at the hospice has grown into an opportunity for St Mary's to reach thousands of people online, showcasing their value in the community.
Sarah Simpson, marketing manager at the hospice said: “VidSmart approached St Mary’s Hospice to hire our professional education conference facilities at the hospice. As part of this course John McKeown (VidSmart's founder) has generously offered to create a series of 30 second videos to help provide an insight into our running costs and share the wonderful work and many ways our community supports St Mary’s."
Now more than ever, organisations such as St Mary's rely on reaching a digital audience in order to survive.
Advertising their services, spreading the word about fundraising events and raising awareness about the impact they have in the community is essential to maintaining the care they give.
Click here to visit St Mary's website
Mrs Simpson continued: "A key objective for marketing and for St Mary’s is to reach the right people with the right message, in the right way and at the right time. We need to ensure that everyone has access to our information and services, and raise awareness that our generous community enables us to continue our work."
On June 22, VidSmart will be leading a workshop at the hospice for small businesses and video enthusiasts who want to learn more about harnessing the power of video.
During that session, the attendees will be putting their newly-acquired skills to good use, creating short videos for the hospice's social media pages.
Mr McKeown said: "Social media and videos are an essential part of sharing our messages and thanking our supporters. If we can benefit our community and local businesses by doing this that’s even better.
“An online marketing strategy requires a lot of content and video is the most effective form there is, which is why Facebook is now a ‘video first’ platform.
"We decided to use St Mary’s Hospice, Ulverston as the venue for two reasons. One being the excellent facilities they have in the education room and the other was we could get the students to start the day by creating some short videos for the hospice’s Facebook page. This helps both the students and the hospice which is a win win."
St Mary's requires more than £2.5m per year to keep its services running. This latest initiative to reach more clients through social media is just one many that helps the staff continue doing their jobs.
For more information on the training event, click here .
Read more about St Mary's:
Hospice staff are thrilled to soon be offering care services in the heart of Barrow
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