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Digital marketing is a fast-growing and innovative area and forms an important part of the communications mix. Many disabled people, including those with sensory and communication impairments, have embraced new technologies as a way of overcoming communications barriers. This is true for younger disabled people in particular.
Examples of digital channels include:
The web is the most high-profile element of digital communications.
It's important to remember that fewer disabled people have access to the internet compared to the population as a whole and so for the moment there need to be alternative ways of communicating with government and accessing government information.
However, a fully accessible website is one very good way of communicating with people with a range of information needs. In addition to standard text, it is possible to have pages in easyread for people with learning disabilities and signed and voiced segments to communicate information to deaf people and people with visual impairments.
As long as websites are constructed to allow alterations by the user to the way they are viewed and work with various kinds of communications technology, a very wide range of disabled people can use them.
The best way of doing this is by ensuring websites meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0.
For an example of how websites can allow the user to alter colour and font size, visit the website of the British Dyslexia Association.
The section of this guidance on digital communications deals with the technical aspects of websites.
Social media are of growing importance, particularly but not exclusively among younger people. Sites like Facebook, Myspace and Bebo offer opportunities to engage with particular audience groups.
A report by Abilitynet has found that many social networking sites are inaccessible to some disabled users. Make sure that marketing using social networking is open and transparent. If you are going to set up a group within a social networking site you need to be very clear about why you are doing it.
Blogs are online journals in which people or organisations can build an ongoing narrative. Blogs could be delivered by a disabled member of staff and aid recruitment to a department.
It is important to ensure that blogs are created using accessible technology. There is no point in a disabled member of staff spending the time creating a blog if other disabled people can't access it. Find out how to create an accessible blog.
It is also worth thinking about how the blog is monitored if people are able to comment on it. Not all comments are welcome so unrestricted and anonymous comment should not be allowed.
A video blog, sometimes shortened to vlog is a good way to reach a range people, including those with communication impairments or low literacy. Vlogging in BSL can attract people from the deaf community.
Wikis are websites that allow visitors to add, remove or change content, making them an effective tool for collaborative authoring. Wikis could enable disabled people to add advice on getting and keeping employment, for example.
It is obviously crucial to keep official or legal information separate from collaborative information. One of the disadvantages of wikis is that confusing information can be posted. This can cause problems for many users but is a particular problem for people with low exposure to the internet.
Podcasts are audio or visual files that users can download from a website and play on their MP3 players and mobile phones.
Podcasts can be sent directly to people with visual or hearing impairments to convey information quickly and effectively.
Benefits include:
Keep podcasts relatively short, particularly if they are to be emailed. They should begin with a clear contents or theme list.
Text messages are useful for communicating:
While permission is needed to use somebody's mobile telephone number this way, many people with hearing impairments use mobile phones as a major communications channel and will be pleased to sign up for SMS messages.
Text messaging is a good way to reach people from the deaf community. Other groups, including some people who use assistive communication technology and some people with acquired neurological impairments, use text messaging as one of the main ways they communicate.
Many disabled people who use computers are keen to get information via email. As long as consideration has been given to online accessibility, email marketing can be a cost-effective way of reaching large numbers of people.
Email marketing gives individuals the opportunity to have a dialogue with you but you need to make sure that you have the resources to respond.
It is best practice to offer two options for email newsletters on subscription - plain text and HTML.
It is important to include the same content in a plain text version that you do in an HTML version. This means explaining any images containing words or descriptive graphics fully in the plain text version.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication or Really Simple Scripting) enables customers to keep up to date with any new content added to your website.
It is usually used to keep abreast of blogs and news sites. For example, to keep your website up to date with the latest news, you can add an RSS feed from BBC News to your homepage. Any changes to the BBC site are automatically reflected on your site.
The RSS feed should come from a site with content that will change often enough to make this worthwhile.
If you are embedding an RRS feed it is important to do so in a way that is accessible.
Viral marketing is usually an email or text message that is so funny, shocking or comment-worthy that it encourages users to pass it on themselves. These messages can be released without mailing lists.
Once a viral message has been released there is no way of stopping it. If your content is contained in an email or movie it can be changed. This also means control over the accessibility of the message.
The safest option for government viral marketing campaigns is to host the information on a secure government site and circulate an email link to the information.
It is also important to ensure that there is an explanation of the messages involved in the campaign that is accessible to all. What may shock one group into action may simply be distressing or inappropriate for another.
There are three main elements to this: online advertising, advertorial placement and search engine optimisation.
Digital TV and its interactive features offer another communication channel that is helpful to the channel mix in terms of communicating with disabled people.
Digital switchover started in the Autumn of 2007. It is being rolled out gradually region by region and is due to finish by 2012. However, digital TV already offers a potentially large audience.
Of course it is expensive to advertise on TV and because audiences are very broad, it can be difficult to reach the right people. However, producing signed and subtitled options is easier with digital TV and can be a useful way of reaching deaf people.
Digital TV can also enable users to access more detailed information on a subject. For example, a drama programme on a particular subject could be accompanied by advice on where the viewer could get further information.
DVDs and CD-ROMs are a useful way to share interactive content with specific audiences. They can be sent directly to those to whom your campaign is most relevant.
DVDs and CD-ROMs are useful for:
They allow you to provide long documents and/or a number of formats in a cost-effective way. For example, a CD-ROM could contain tagged pdf, plain text and easyread versions of a document along with a video of a sign language version.
Whether they are for public information, promotion or training purposes, DVDs should be accessible to everyone. It is essential that they can be understood and used by disabled people:
Using a USB memory stick means you can distribute large amounts of data on a tiny device. These make a good marketing product if the recipient can add some of their own data alongside yours (which should not be deletable).
Advantages include:
Like CD-ROMs, memory sticks allow you to provide a number of formats in a cost-effective way.
It is obviously good practice to clearly explain what the memory stick is for in any accompanying material.
For practical tips, visit the top tips section of this guidance.
For other information resources, go to the resources section of this guidance.
Page last reviewed: 11 August 2008