How we do marketing and comms at dxw
We’re open about our values and the way we work in dxw
It’s over 3 months now since I joined dxw. Having spent a lot of that time encouraging my colleagues to blog more, it’s about time that I did.
A bit about me
My career has mostly been in and around central government. I started in some policy and ops roles, but have spent most of my time doing communications of one type or other. My last 2 jobs were in the Government Digital Service (GDS) from 2012-2017 where I was Director of Digital Engagement and Creative, and then Co-op (my first venture into the private sector).
I’ve always wanted to work in places that work for the public good and where I feel I can make a real contribution, which brings me on to…
Why I wanted to work at dxw
dxw does lots of great work. We help build things that make a difference to people (we help with strategy and capability building too) and you can see the positive impact that has. We also have a very talented and diverse team, and a refreshingly open and inclusive culture.
Like so many others, it felt a natural place for me to come to.
Telling our story
People who know dxw and work with us usually think we’re great. But we need to tell our story better so we can keep growing and make more impact through our dxw companies. That’s about showing the thing and working in the open (I’m a big fan of the GDS design principles).
It’s also about continuing to be an active part of the public digital community – sharing our ideas and learning, and continuing to support and form new networks. Increasingly it’s about working in partnership with like minded allies – our extended family – working across the public sector. The work we recently kicked-off with @itsallgonewrong and @ContentDesignLN on a project with UK Research and Innovation is a great example of that.
Why the dxw playbook is important
I love the dxw playbook. It’s a great reflection on an organisation to work in the open. It makes you accountable and means you’re confident and open minded enough to bear your soul and invite people to scrutinise your culture and how you do things.
All the teams and professions here have worked on the principles that guide how we work, explaining what good looks like for our different specialisms. They were published in the playbook earlier this year as soon as they were finished. Pointing to our comms and marketing principles is probably the best way of explaining how we will do our comms at dxw and why.
Our approach to communications
Our comms and sales principles are combined. I guess that could have felt a bit alien to someone like me with a largely public sector background, but it’s a natural fit. Our sales approach at dxw is about finding work that’s the right fit for the team, explaining how we can help and managing an open, honest and productive relationship with our clients. So we have a lot in common.
Everything we do in the dxw marketing and comms team is motivated by one of these three things:
- showing what we’re doing – so potential clients know how we can help them, and to share our approaches and learning with the community
- sharing what it’s like to work at dxw – showing our team, culture and values to as many people as possible. We want great people to keep joining us and we want them to come from as diverse a range of backgrounds as possible
- influencing for positive change on the things that matter to us and our clients – so together we can create better services that change people’s lives (that sounds a bit corny, but it’s absolutely what motivates us and it’s dxw’s reason for existing as a company).
So here are the principles we work to.
Show the work and the team
We’re an active part of the digital and tech community that’s working to build better public services.
We talk openly about what we’re doing and why, what we’re learning along the way and share our ideas and expertise. We blog all the time.
Have a clear voice
Whenever we communicate – online or face-to-face – we’re always clear, to the point, friendly, and professional. You can rely on us to say it like it is.
We champion the things that matter to us and our clients. We’re bold and pragmatic and seek to influence change for the better in the way public services are created and delivered.
Communicate with a purpose
When we communicate, it’s to explain what we’re doing and the impact of our work so our clients and potential clients understand our areas of expertise and how we can help them.
We’re open about our values and the way we work in dxw. We give our team members a voice because we’re proud of our diverse and inclusive culture.
They’re deliberately self explanatory. In practice it means we’ll be doing more to engage with our clients and potential clients, the public digital family, media and other influencers. We’ll do that by going to where people are – online and face-to-face, blogging a lot, and talking a lot. You’ll see more of our team sharing the work they’re doing, how they work, their ideas and the challenges we all face. It’s my, and my team’s, job to help them do that.
Finally, here are some of the great resources we’ll be using (thanks to Sarah, Russell and Giles):
Keep an eye on @dxw to see what we’re up to. If you work in comms and would like to chat more about what we do, please get in touch.