22 May 2006

A new research project into how local councils market their e-services on their website is to be carried out by the Society of Information Technology Management (Socitm).

It will examine a number of case studies to show the approach of different councils to attract more people to use specific online services in areas such as council tax, leisure, planning and education.

A selection of these case studies will be published in a report as examples of marketing best practice, along with practical advice from Socitm on how to approach this subject effectively.

Martin Greenwood, programme manager for Socitm Insight, said that as well as looking at how councils promote their website, the study will "explore how councils have researched the online customer's needs, developed their online products and engaged with internal and stakeholder audiences to support the take-up activity".

"There is a clear need for advice in this area, including the examples that show how developing effective marketing can produce results," he added.

Socitm believes that this is an excellent time to highlight the marketing of online local government services to the information technology and marketing industry, as a major local council website take-up campaign was recently launched by the newly formed Department for Communities and Local Government.

© Adfero Ltd

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