Business Design Centre
Digital Transformation
Increase Inbound Leads
Conversion Rate Optimisation
Customer Personas
Content Strategy
User Experience Design
Website Design
WordPress Development
Elementor Development
+18% Venue Enquiries
+55% Showroom Enquiries
Islington’s Business Design Centre (BDC) is an iconic, Grade II-listed venue that dates back to 1862. As well as staging conferences and events, the BDC provides showrooms and office space.
The
Challenge
The challenge was to design a new website that positioned the Business Design Centre (BDC) as a leader within the events industry.
The existing Business Design Centre website failed to present it as an event destination and design hotspot. The user experience was confusing, the visuals were dated and off-brand, and the CMS was cumbersome.
The new BDC website needed to be visually engaging, offering a positive user experience that encouraged brands to enquire about conferences, events, and office space. The marketing team also had to be able to manage content efficiently and autonomously.
As the venue celebrated its 160th anniversary, March was also entrusted with designing a new, visually driven campaign centred around this landmark event.
The Brand
The new BDC campaign visuals honoured the building’s history by drawing inspiration from its architectural forms and motifs.
The slogan, “Where Business Comes To Grow,” reflects the evolving nature and usage of the building, which remains a hub for growing businesses with positive intent.
In its journey of continual improvement and setting standards within the events industry, the Business Design Centre achieved B Corp Certified status in August 2023.
The Website
In an initial discovery phase, March produced a comprehensive report of the BDC website. This included:
- Website speed and performance
- User experience analysis
- Staff and customer interviews
- Customer persona cards
March recommended the Business Design Centre website be redesigned and rebuilt. A new solution would be built on WordPress, which offers both versatility and a high level of functionality.
March used the customer persona cards to develop a new content strategy, resulting in a tailored website experience for delegates, organisers, exhibitors and office managers.
Royal Agricultural Hall logo by March.
Animation by The Animation Guys.
The new website celebrated the BDC’s heritage, using custom-designed logos and motifs inspired by the building’s unique features.
Events and local business listings were democratised, allowing customers to submit and then edit their business details directly.
Streamlining these processes reduced the marketing team’s administrative workload.
A standalone iPad app was developed to enable the sales and marketing teams to promote the business at conferences and networking events.
The app used stunning, high-resolution images and displayed configurations and capacity for each space.
The Results
With improved usability, streamlined organisation, heightened impact, and reduced overheads, the new Business Design Centre website has transformed marketing and operations.
The marketing team now has a powerful tool to expand the BDC’s business and online presence, underpinned by a platform that can scale alongside it.
March fulfilled over 30 functional requirements to achieve the four primary project objectives:
- Decreased monthly cost and time overheads by implementing a Elementor driven CMS that empowered the marketing team to manage the website efficiently
- Increased exposure potential through enhanced on-page SEO and accelerated site speed.
- Amplified lead generation through context-specific forms and enhanced funnels, facilitated by an improved navigation.
- Elevated user experience across all devices through optimised user flow and enhanced functionalities such as taxonomies and filtering.
Videography by Clare Herriot
Animated Video by The Animation Guys
