A new ‘What’s On’ email, higher profile for local traders and businesses, a sharper focus on current job vacancies, and better terms for promoting events outside the village are among a raft of new initiatives being launched to coincide with HI HUB’s 5th birthday.
Knowing What’s On
The recent closure of HILights magazine was the catalyst for re-thinking how to offer a better service to those who run events in the village.
Administrator Kate Jakubowska, who works with community groups to present their events online, explained: “The number of news items, features and events in the Thursday HI HUB email newsletter has grown a lot over the years, and we felt the events deserve higher profile.
“Most of these take place thanks to the very hard work of many local residents.
“By launching a separate email to promote them, we hope to instantly raise their profile and encourage more people in the community to support them.
“But we also recognise that the world doesn’t end at the village boundary. Whilst we only offer free listings for events taking place in the village, we also want to ensure that our community knows What’s On at other locations nearby. That’s why we have reduced the price for listing these events from £30 to just £10.”
Better coverage
Community groups are being encouraged to tell HI HUB about their events using an online form to post a What’s On listing and any posters or related photos. A news form can now be used to suggest stories, and capture details about interesting activities, achievements and initiatives in the village.
While the regular ‘News’ emails will continue on Thursday afternoons, the ‘What’s On’ email will be sent on Tuesday afternoons, aiming to give readers more time before the following weekend to open and read it, and put dates in their diary.
Also in that email will be links to the other ‘temporary’ listings, namely property for sale and to rent, and job vacancies.
Chris Cox, who runs the village Job Club, explained the changes to the jobs section: “The local jobs market has tightened a bit recently, so listing all the individual jobs available – not grouped by employers each week – will help everyone to spot the vacancies that appeal to them more easily.
“The jobs where applications are still being accepted will appear in the email, and on the website they will be tagged ‘current jobs’ and listed on a separate page.”
Business opportunities
Opportunities for businesses to promote themselves to the Histon & Impington community have also disappeared with the loss of HILights, so giving local traders a high-profile space to talk to readers was a priority for the relaunch.
Chris Cox is also in charge of the HI HUB website and email services. He said: “A very limited number of advertising slots will be introduced into the emails and embedded in the news and feature articles online, so that local businesses can continue to promote themselves to residents.
“We know that digital advertising can be very effective, but are conscious that too many adverts can be a real turn-off for readers, so we will be strictly limiting the number that appear – striking the right balance between them being highly visible but not annoying!
“HI HUB is a not-for-profit publication, so it goes without saying that all the revenues we generate from advertising go towards sustaining the future of HI HUB. We want this to be a winning formula for local traders, local residents and HI HUB itself.”