A couple of weeks ago I had the distinct pleasure
Despite a Dublin bus that drove by me and momentarily caused the day to become night such was the
In spite of the
We jumped right into it.
Q: Tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do here at the IRC?
LB: I’ve been with the Irish Red Cross for 2 years now and I look after all digital marketing aspects of the society. At times, my role extends into digital fundraising and communications as well. We have several audience types, I myself deal on a daily basis with activities that involve first aid training customers and donor fundraising campaigns.
Q: What does an IRC digital marketing exec do on a daily or weekly basis?
LB: The IRC has monthly communications campaigns, and I support each through the most appropriate online activities, depending on the type of campaign: online ads, SEO, email, video production etc. Also, each year we have new digital goals, of which this year I’m working on getting our websites and email templates in web-responsive format, and to increase our content marketing activities. The app is part of the content marketing strategy. Should there be an emergency and the
Q: We’re chatting today because IRC have just launched a first aid app, tell us a little bit about it and how that came about…
LB: The app is part of a wider Universal App project launched by the International Red Cross. It was built around the principle of ‘everyday first aid’ – We believe that everybody can learn basic first aid and we’re trying to make FA more accessible to the general public, more
Q: What is the Red Cross hoping to achieve with this app?
LB: We have 4 objectives: One is, as I mentioned earlier on, is to make First Aid (FA) more accessible. Not everyone can afford a First Aid
Second-increase brand awareness about the IRC providing first aid training courses. Last year we trained over 10k people in Ireland and we are one of the main First Aid trainers in the country.
Third – get sales leads for our First Aid Training Department and get contacts for people who want to do a full First Aid course
Lastly to get a broad base of people to download the app and whom we can talk to when the next emergency happens and we launch a fundraising appeal.
Q: What are the benefits of having an app like this for the IRC?
LB: One of the main focuses of the Red Cross is to bring aid to the public when needed. Through Push Notifications the app enables us to have real-time communications with the public, which is a fantastic feature for us. We can now send timely alerts of floods in an area for example. On the other hand, the app is an additional channel for our comms on First Aid training courses and offers.
The approach kind of follows the freemium
Q: So tell us a little bit about what went on pre-launch of the app?
LB: The app was launched as part of our First Aid Day campaign, which this year was on the 20th of September. The project had started 2 months prior to this date and
It was very tedious but we got it all done. Even
Q: Any pointers for other marketers out there who are considering launching a mobile app
LB: Apps are not for everybody. The app stores are so crowded that the app needs to be either unique
Also before you launch, make sure you test, test, test.
Q: Any really useful things you have learned from being involved with the creation of a mobile app that as a marketer you didn’t know before?
LB: Well, especially on my inbound marketing strategy, I made a mistake. I was so much into having the product finished, perfect functionality, delivered on time etc, that
I think it’s important that we keep our focus at all times and ask ourselves ‘why am I actually developing this?’ So now I will work on adding a screen within the app with an easy to fill
Q: I’m really passionate about Inbound Marketing and how it can help organisations be more successful, do you see any opportunities in mobile apps to help with inbound marketing specifically?
LB: An app can be an amazing tool if used in the right way to improve all other online and communications activities. I’m big into analytics and learning from it as fast as possible. For
Bleeding and Burns. So this was passed onto communications, who put out on Facebook and Twitter more content about these emergency situations.
Q: And to finish things off: If you had a superpower, what would it be and why?
LB: It would be to be able to
Conclusion:
Unlike the Dublin Bikes mobile app, the software created for the Irish Red Cross is top drawer stuff. The app is really fast and has mega useful information that could make a big difference in an urgent first aid situation. I’d highly recommend you ditch the Old Wives Tales and get the real thing today. Sure
You can download the app here