The British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG) is one of the most
preeminent medical organisations in British medicine. Its purpose
is to promote gastroenterology and the interests of its 3,000
members including physicians, surgeons, pathologists, radiologists,
scientists, nurses, dietitians, and others interested in the field
of gastroenterology.
Since 1937, the BSG has grown from a
club to be a major force and influencer within the British Royal
Colleges and therefore, the Department of Health and Government.
Merchant Healthcare Marketing was challenged to develop a new brand
and to build a more interactive and valuable website to propel the
BSG into the 21st century.
The healthcare sector has an abundance
of membership organisations ranging from the Royal Colleges,
through to
trade union bodies like the BMA and RCN, as well as
specialist societies dedicated to particular areas of medicines or
groups
of professionals. Although each organisation has a very
different set of goals, they all share some common obligations: To
communicate effectively with members and stakeholders, to share
information and to build member advocacy.
In order to deliver these obligations
it is vital for a membership organisation to fully maximise the
value of its website. It needs to become a tool that enhances the
organisation’s offering by allowing members to share information,
access support and interact with one another.
It was apparent from feedback from the BSG members they wanted a
clearly structured website that was simple
to navigate; where they
could share clinical resources, guidelines and information;
exchange comments; and view members details.
Working together with the BSG, we
modernised its image by developing a new brand identity that
accentuated the professional, expert, authoritative and pioneering
values of the organisation. The new brand was rolled out across all
printed material and the new website.
As the first step to developing the new website we undertook a
Discovery Day. This was an opportunity to gather together and
assemble the thoughts and opinions of the people who would
influence and be involved with shaping the new website. The process
helped define the business, user and functional requirements; the
information architecture; editor and administration requirements;
personalisation preferences;
and guide sitemaps.
The resulting website truly adds value
to the BSG membership by giving the site a clear structure and
effective search
function to deliver accessible and relevant
information. The homepage features page flake technology to allow
members
to personalise the content they view so that they only see
what is relevant to them.
A key feature of the site is ‘My BSG’
which is a private area for members. It offers great levels of
interactivity between members, enabling them to discuss topics
using the forum, as well as download all the presentations from the
previous Annual General Meetings. The website is a tool that
members can use to share knowledge, access business support,
interact with each other, impart research findings and download
training materials. In addition to this the member database is
fully embedded into the new website giving members control of their
personal details, and reducing the BSG’s administration costs.
The brand identity and website were
launched at the 2009 Annual Conference. It was received
exceptionally well by members and medical industry experts with the
overall consensus being that the BSG had effectively and accurately
positioned itself as a pioneering and innovative organisation.
The BSG successfully achieved its
objective to create a central hub of information for users with the
website attracting over 30,000 unique visitors within the first 4
months. The BSG is continuing to work closely with Merchant
Healthcare Marketing to develop the website further.
Tom Smith, CEO of the BSG says:
‘‘We wanted to create an inclusive
online environment where all
our different types of members felt
involved and valued. Our new
website has become a central hub
enhancing the value of the
BSG membership by providing instant
access to research, forums,
training and support collateral,
webcasts, directories and events.
"The new, highly interactive website
will let our members take control by customising the information
they view on their home page as well as updating their own details.
We are very excited about it as it will genuinely add value to the
membership offering."