Sunderland City Council revamps online presence of three business centres

Sunderland City Council has engaged marketing firm dodio to revamp the websites for their three business centres.

Sunderland has three distinct council-run business centres – Sunderland Software Centre, Evolve Business Centre, and Washington Business Centre, each with their own offering and specialisms.

Previously all three centres were represented by a single web page with minimal content. The centre managers and their staff also had no control over text or imagery on the page.

Working closely with the council, the centre managers, and their staff, dodio developed three new websites, each with a distinct visual identity but with sufficient design parallels to feel part of the same family.

Making the new sites with social media content in mind, and ensuring they were fully responsive and optimised for both desktop and mobile, were also key priorities. The websites had a soft launch in January 2022.

Evolve Business Centre manager Berni Whitaker said: “dodio’s service did not end there either. As well as developing the new sites, the agency provided the council staff with access to training and training guides to equip them with the skills to use the new functionality and the autonomy to make updates and changes in the long-term.

“The new websites also offer ongoing tracking and analytics with strategically set goals and objectives for the council to review and learn from, which is another first for the business centres.”

Founded by Chris Kean, dodio has been providing regional and national businesses with marketing support, including website design and development, online marketing, social media management, and access to funding, for more than ten years.

dodio Director Senga Kean said: “We were over the moon to win the tender for the website projects and work with Sunderland City Council again. Working on projects that benefit the city and involve the whole team at dodio is where we produce a fantastic end product we can all be proud of.”

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