Birmingham Botanical Gardens (Case Study)

Birmingham Botanical Gardens is one of Birmingham’s most loved historical and horticultural attractions. The venue is home to four stunning glasshouses, a play area, tearoom and gift shop, all surrounded by some of the most beautiful gardens in the UK.

Barques is proud to have been Birmingham Botanical Gardens’ trusted marketing partner for over five years having recently repitched and won for a further term. During that time, we have developed a comprehensive understanding of how the Gardens operate, the time restraints placed on its in-house experts and their needs, as well as the Gardens’ key messages.

Client: Birmingham Botanical Gardens
Disciplines: Branding Content Events Graphic Design PR Print SEO Social Media Management Website

Providing more flexibility and functionality

When we first started working with the Gardens’ their established website had grown old and dated. The team wanted to allow their customers more ways to engage with them whilst offering a platform that was packed with news and information and displayed their events effectively. A new website that could offer those different elements was essential.

Barques designed and developed a brand new website featuring simple and effective navigation which makes it easier for customers to access offers and events, whilst quality content has enabled the Gardens to frequently sell out headline events online. Five years on and it’s time to revisit so we are constantly evolving the website to reflect the Garden’s needs and keep apace of technology.

Creating and implementing a marketing strategy

Alongside the website, we have consolidated the charity’s social media channels to meet the diverse needs of a broad range of target age groups, created brand new marketing collateral, written high-impact press releases and managed Google Ad grants on their behalf to raise the profile of the Gardens and its charitable status.

Realigning the Gardens as a charity

Unknown to many, Birmingham Botanical Gardens is a self-funded charity that is reliant on membership, paying visitors and donations to support its work. One of the biggest challenges the Gardens faced was raising awareness of its charitable status and challenging the misconception surrounding it.

To realign the Gardens as a charity, Barques has discreetly changed the Gardens’ messaging across its marketing channels – including a subtle change to the Gardens’ logo – and has identified potential charitable opportunities for the Gardens to participate in. And our journey continues as we continue to focus on raising the profile of the Gardens as a charity. After all, it would be sad in the 21st century, if we failed to continue the good works from the 19th century by Loudon and Joseph & Neville Chamberlain.

Barques has provided Birmingham Botanical Gardens with an excellent service in all aspects of marketing our attraction over the past five years.We recommend Barques for their creativity, professionalism and willingness to go the extra mile to get it right. Our business has flourished!

James Wheeler

The stats don’t lie

Social media has been a key element in the Gardens’ marketing strategy. With each platform targeting a different audience, social content has been tailored to suit. Over the last five years, there has been a considerable amount of growth across each channel as we have helped to grow the Gardens’ audience and promote their key events and messages.

Over the last two years, we have helped the Gardens to achieve:

12.5

increase in impressions

43.8

increase in followers

640,201

engagements across social media accounts

Barques has helped Birmingham Botanical Gardens to flourish

Through ongoing and effective communication, a new website design and development, print, PR, SEO and social media activity, Barques has helped the Gardens to connect with their growing audience in more ways and raise awareness to their charity status.