Money is often cited as a barrier by arts charities and smaller cultural businesses to having a winning content marketing strategy. The truth is, you don’t need to be a big flashy company with a sizable marketing budget to grow online. In this post, we’re showing you how impactful marketing is not about the amount of spend — it’s about thoughtful, high-quality content.
How will we do that? By shining a light on Kazzum Arts, a creative charity based in East London. Their community-driven, passionate approach to digital storytelling exemplifies how smart investment in the right content can really pay off.
Read on to discover:
- How Kazzum Arts’ website is optimised for its users
- What makes an effective, informative news page
- The power of a comprehensive about page
- How online resources retain visitors’ interest
- Why a strong social presence is the cherry on the content cake
Let’s dive into Kazzum Arts’ website and the importance of creating a user-friendly website.
1. User-friendly website
If you focus your energy on one page of your website, make it the homepage. Kazzum Arts is a great example of an informative and engaging homepage: there are high-res photos in a scrolling banner, clear links to find out more about the charity, powerful testimonials and statistics with corresponding graphics for digestibility, and — the icing on top — a professional introductory video to the charity.
Having quality content is essential, but so is being able to find it. Kazzum Arts’ website has a clear, concise navigation bar broken down into straightforward menus so users can easily find exactly what they are looking for. The pink ‘Donate’ CTA is conspicuous and accessible from the navigation bar on every page of the site, which helps drive donations at every point of the user journey.
2. An outstanding news page
Depending on the type of business or charity you run, you can choose to have a news or blog page — or a combination of the two. Kazzum Arts has gone with the former, and posts relevant news content on a regular basis to keep its audience informed about what’s going on at the charity.
The news articles are well-written and include topical, compelling images and relevant hyperlinks, which not only improve the user experience but also help with SEO ranking. Kazzum Arts has gone a step further by including bespoke, branded illustrations in some of its articles, which not only add colour and a multimedia element, but encourage readers to share out the content and resources.
Whether you structure your written articles as a blog or news page depends largely on the type of business you are.
If you regularly host events, hold meetings and roundtables, or run clubs for your community, a news page may be the best way of keeping your audience informed. If you aspire to be a thought leader in your industry, conducting interviews and writing think pieces on topics relevant to your field, a blog-style page might be a better fit.
Either way, it should be consistent in its posting schedule and in the quality of content. Remember, sharing content promptly on social media and in newsletters will help maximise engagement.
3. Illuminating about pages
About pages are your chance to tell your story in a personal, succinct way that will draw visitors in. Many choose to have one About page, but Kazzum Arts has elected to segment its About section into five pages.
There is a general About page, a ‘Meet the Team’ page with clickable headshots and individual bios, a ‘History’ page detailing the timeline of the charity, and separate pages for impact reports and partnerships. Users don’t have to hunt around the website for this information: it’s all neatly packaged within the About section in a concise and accessible format.
4. Helpful online resources
To engage with your website visitors and get them to remember you, you need to provide useful, preferably downloadable resources on your site. Bonus points if these are resources people will refer to time and time again, such as white papers or activity packs.
Also important to bear in mind, while visitors may not buy from you, donate money or sign up to your events straight away, they will remember you and think of your solution when they become more active in the market.
Kazzum Arts’ resources have their own landing page under the ‘Our Work’ tab and include downloadable activity packs, animations and training resources. These are especially useful in the current climate, where at-home projects are more viable than in-person events, and they help the charity to continue its work remotely through free solutions.
On the homepage, Kazzum Arts’ Impact Report is available in a downloadable format — great for visitors to easily access statistics, reports and testimonials in one document. (Note: the 2019-20 report is not yet available, however the 2018-19 document is a good indication of the charity’s recent success).
5. Stellar social media presence
Kazzum Arts’ social media accounts are, quite simply, exemplary. Content is consistent across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, tailored to each individual audience and covering the same overarching themes and subjects.
Their Instagram grid is well laid out, sharing photos from events and activities alongside quotes, illustrations and images of art created by the event or club’s participants.
On Twitter, Kazzum Arts keeps its community informed on current events, retweets relevant content and actively engages with followers. Facebook is much the same, sharing photos, graphics and text-based posts relevant to its audience — some of which overlap with other platforms, creating a sense of consistency and coherence throughout the charity’s social media presence. Kazzum Arts is also hot on tagging partners, related charities and sponsors in its posts, which is great for spreading awareness and creating links on social media.
In summary
Kazzum Arts’ website and social media content really ticks all the boxes.
✓ Consistent and regular
✓ Relevant and useful
✓ Adapted for each platform
✓ Clear brand identity
✓ High-quality content
If you’re feeling inspired by Kazzum Arts and want to replicate its strategy, start by writing a clear content plan. This way, you’ll have a framework for what, when and where you will share articles, images, videos and short-form content, ensuring it’s consistent and relevant. To jump-start your plan, make sure to download our free Content Map template when you sign up to our newsletter. It streamlines the content creation process, from audience research to scheduling posts.
Another great way to boost your content strategy is by repurposing content across platforms. No new material needed: an existing video can give you photos, audio content, summary tweets and written articles, with consistency and brand adherence pretty much built in.
If you’d like to find out more about how you can emulate Kazzum Arts and make your content strategy the best it can be, don’t hesitate to get in touch. We can help with everything from ideation to planning, creation to analysis – helping your arts or cultural heritage business get the online recognition it deserves.