Cyber Essentials Plus is the highest level of certification awarded by the Cyber Essentials scheme. It shows that we’ve passed an information security and cyber threat audit conducted on our processes and systems by external cyber security experts. 

While we’re delighted to have achieved Cyber Essentials Plus certification, it’s only one part of making sure that our systems and professional practice are as watertight as possible against today’s ever-increasing risks of doing business online. We’ve also secured accreditation from FSQS and we’re currently working towards ISO 27001 accreditation (scheduled for assessment in Autumn 2022).

The Financial Services Qualification System provides a cohesive and collaborative platform for managing supplier compliance assurance information. It provides finance companies with a fast and efficient system for assessing suppliers, therefore cutting out a lot of red tape.

We’ve gained this key accreditation through our ongoing commitment to excellent security and compliance, and the process has also enhanced the professional development of our team. We completed a rigorous audit process, meeting standards across several areas.

The bottom line is that financial institutions know they can trust us as a provider. Having achieved the FSQS benchmark for potential partners we can approach them knowing that we can deliver the extra assurance they need and make it easier for good, safe business to happen. 

We’re extremely proud to have reached these milestones with FSQS and Cyber Essentials Plus. Our dedication to ongoing professional development, both as individuals and as an agency, is vital in providing our clients with an exemplary service that operates at the cutting edge—digital evolves and so must we.

Update: In Autumn 2022 we successfully passed ISO 27001 accreditation - read more about what this entails in our insight post

We're pleased to announce that our team has achieved Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus certification for a third year running. 

Strengthening security for ourselves and our clients

Let’s say you’ve built a website (hooray!). It looks great, is developed using the very latest thinking in web technology and you’ve chucked loads of money at a massive social media campaign to promote it. Can’t fail right? Wrong, I’m afraid. The truth is if you haven’t done your research on your users, there’s no way you can build your site with the proper care and attention your specific user base requires. 

The answer to this is a crucial stage at the very start of the website development process; persona development.

A persona is a representation of a particular audience type which may be interested in your site. It can be as brief as a short list of their key details (e.g. age, gender, job title) or more complex with the inclusion of insights such as buying behaviours and related interests.

It would be quite rare for a site to simply have one type of user visiting the site. If you believe that may be you, have a think to see if that one user you are thinking about could actually be multiple types of people (they might be different job roles, different ages or different nationalities). Conversely it’s wise not to create too many persona types as this may result in you getting muddled and losing sight of your key users. We would advise ultimately around 5-10 are fully fleshed out as actionable personas.

Due to the wide ranging nature of personas, you can really grab your data from anywhere you have knowledge of your customers. If that’s a little too vague then a good starter for ten would be your Google Analytics account (and if you don’t have a Google Analytics account, you really should have a Google Analytics account!). The Demographics section is a minefield of data which can give you insights on age, gender, interests, browser preference and device type.

Another tip is to ask your sales team or whoever deals with your customers on a regular basis. They will be able to tell you more about the human side of your customers, dealing with them on an emotional level and therefore adding a further dimension to your personas.

In any way that is easily consumable for the reader. Ideally it would be visual in nature and succinct in its wording as what we’re really looking for is for a vast range of people to be able to dip in and out of these personas. This means we want to stay clear of jargon as much as possible and waffly descriptors.

Now that you have created physical representations of your target audiences you can really try and put yourselves in their position. What do they want from your site? How may they find your site? Is the site easily navigable considering the level of digital experience of your audience? (e.g. different considerations for those in their 20s/30s to those in their 60s/70s)

If these questions are asked from a pre-build stage, the answers can help inform site structure and even future marketing, preventing you from playing catch up while on the back foot post-launch.

No! The shelf life of your personas last long after your site is launched. They should help you in every iteration you want to make to the site. Whether that is a new feature or a piece of content, having your site personas to hand will give the update in question a focus and remind you of overall site goals.

That is not to say that they should be left untouched. Of course, your user base may change or evolve, so it’s always a good idea to revisit your personas from time to time. Even if no changes occur it will help to reinforce your user to you, enabling you to make smarter decisions based on the user’s preferences and not yours.

If you are interested in finding out more about persona development, please get in touch and we’ll be happy to help get digital working for you.

In developing a great website, your users have to be the primary focus. Here we discuss how personas can help you gain a stronger understanding of your audience.

It’s a question surprisingly left unconsidered by a large proportion of brands and can lead to a great deal of wasted time and resources.

Apps are useful for a host of reasons but they’re also non-essential in many cases. Pouring effort and money into something you might not really need and something that perhaps won’t even be published - it does happen - is something you want to avoid. 

This isn’t to say we’re proposing the idea that mobile-friendly web presences aren’t of the utmost importance. Making sure your brand and your business is mobile-friendly is crucial. According to Tech Jury, over half of internet usage is carried out on mobile phones. With this in mind, it would be a mistake to discount any options regarding these devices and potential for growth. However, making sure your brand is mobile-friendly doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with apps. 

As long as you have a ‘mobile-friendly’ website that reflects the effort put into your desktop-view website, there’s no need to worry. Some brands and companies are less invested in making sure their mobile-view is as well-rounded and accessible as their desktop site. If your site isn’t optimised for mobile users then you’re going to lose out on a lot and so are your users. Additionally, if you put as much effort as possible into your mobile-view site then this, in most cases, will eliminate the need for an app altogether. 

As mentioned earlier, there is also the chance that your app might not get past the development stage. All too many apps have been finished and developers have found that their hard work, time and money had gone to waste because the app wasn’t published. Apple has a policy that an app needs to offer something different, something that a website doesn’t or can’t offer. This means that your app would need to offer something totally new, you can’t just have it for the sake of it. 

Something you have to ask is: “What could my business/brand get out of an app and what could our users get out of an app?” If the answer to that question is that there’s nothing an app could provide that a website couldn’t, then that should tell you something.

If you have any questions about whether an app is right for you then you can always contact us, we’d be happy to talk it over with you. 

Whether you’re planning your site, or it’s already up and running, it may have crossed your mind that you might need a mobile app. But would it actually benefit your business?

If you’ve created a website then you’ve probably wondered if you need to make an app too. Let’s walk through it.  

They can be useful in progressing and creating a community of people who will engage with your posts. While it’s exceptionally important to get your point across and to direct the right people to your site and your content it’s also important to treat these people with courtesy. 

We’ve become so accustomed to hashtags that, sometimes, we don’t even notice they’re there. 

That is, unless, they’re completely bombarding you. 

This article is a quick guide to utilising hashtags while maintaining hashtag etiquette. 

Your use of hashtags depends heavily on which social media platform you’re using. There are some stark differences between various platforms. 

Something that Instagram generously includes in its posting options is the ability to hide your hashtags.

If you’d like to hide the hashtags, all you need to do is the following:

“It’s an Instagram post! Look at that photo. That’s a good photo. I should have studied photography!” 

You can then comment beneath the image using as many hashtags as you think are required. Use the following structure to obscure your hashtags and make sure they’re not bothering anyone:

#photo #photography #photographer #lookatmylovelyphoto #etc”

Adding ellipses will ensure that Instagram will make the comment collapse and ensure the hashtags are not visible to users while the main thrust of your message remains front and centre. 

Be careful not to go too over the top with your hashtags though because any more than 30 hashtags will wipe your caption. Despite your followers not being able to see them, Instagram sees everything. 

You can also follow any hashtags you might be interested in. You’ll never miss out on any photos of #catsinboxes again.

That also means you can follow your own hashtag and see who mentions you in a post. Fantastic!

This is where we have to rein ourselves in. Instagram is a haven of hidden hashtags compared to Twitter and Facebook. On these social media platforms we must wear our hashtags on our sleeves. 

That’s why, when using them, it’s best to stick with one or two hashtags. That’s it. If you use more than that user engagement will actually drop. 

This is because an overload of hashtags just looks like spam to a casual observer. If you add a link into the mix then you’ve got what, to social media conditioned minds, looks like spam central. It’s not a good look. 

When incorporating your hashtags, try to make them fit naturally into the post. For example:

“Check out our latest #blog post on improving your social media engagement.”

Hashtags are extremely useful when it comes to getting your content noticed on LinkedIn. When it comes to posting articles on LinkedIn you can add hashtags at the bottom of the article before it's published.

It’s also a good idea to have hashtags worked into your profile on LinkedIn so that you can easily be found. When mentioning your skills or your company’s skills, why not hashtag it for findability? 

There’s a right and wrong way to do this, however. For example...

“We are CORE. Connecting #creativity, #strategy and #technology. We work across all areas of #digital: #websitedesign, mobile and app development, #searchengineoptimisation, #socialmedia, and #digitalmarketing, to name a few. Our reach extends across the UK and internationally, in partnership with communications agencies and a wide range of industry clients.” 

Something more like this would work though: 

“We are CORE. Connecting creativity, strategy and technology. We work across all areas of digital: website design, mobile and app development, search engine optimisation, social media, and digital marketing, to name a few. Our reach extends across the UK and internationally, in partnership with communications agencies and a wide range of industry clients. What We’re Good At: #digitalmarketing, #socialmedia, #seo, #usinghashtags”

As a general rule, between 4 and 5 hashtags on LinkedIn is optimal. 

Here’s hoping that this guide to hashtagging was helpful to you. However, if you need more help understanding the nuances of social media then we at CORE would be more than happy to assist.

Hashtags are essential in building a following of the right people who are interested in what you and your business have to say.

Not sure how to use your hashtags? Well, we’re here to help. Here’s a quick guide to utilising hashtags. 

Strengthening security for ourselves and our clients

View more insights

Personas - keeping your users in mind

Should I develop an app?

Hashtag Etiquette