National Sporting Body Champions Creative Agency

123 Internet Group, a full-service digital marketing agency based in Milton Keynes, have unveiled a new website for Badminton England, the national governing body for the sport in England. With a fresh look and feel, the user-friendly redesign aims to get players of all ages and abilities back on the court.

From coaching to play, Badminton England needed a website that represented its core values as a national sport leader – making badminton accessible for everyone. Starting with sitemap analysis, 123 Internet identified key problem areas on the existing website, such as complex navigation and duplicate content that could negatively impact SEO rankings.

Decluttering the site, they planned in new pages and laid content out in a clear way, to create easy user journeys and better user experience across desktops, tablets and mobile devices. The objective was to help users navigate the site as quickly and easily as possible, directing them to the information they need. In turn, this would naturally boost the site’s search engine performance through organic, relevant content.

The latest redesign is one of many successful collaborations. Badminton England first approached 123 Internet early last year, seeking expert digital marketing services to help them with branded emails and launch campaigns. Finding 123 to be a great fit, Badminton England continued working with them throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to deliver a wide variety of creative projects.

During lockdown, 123 created engaging workout videos and drill walkthroughs for badminton players stuck at home. And when Badminton England’s in-house designer went on maternity leave, 123 stepped up to cover this period of absence with full, outsourced design support – eliminating the hassle and expense of recruiting and training a new designer.

Crucial project support included refreshing outdated brand guidelines, providing images, videos and animated assets, managing social media accounts, creating competition print materials such as lanyards and flyers, and even crafting school programmes to encourage more children to get into badminton.

Inclusion is a huge factor for the sporting body, and so to celebrate Pride Week, 123 developed an adapted Badminton England logo in rainbow colours to demonstrate the organisation’s support for the LGBTQ+ community. It’s this solid working relationship and trust in 123’s reliable in-house team of marketing specialists that inspired Badminton England to redesign their website.

Now, it’s a fully accessible site that looks great and serves its users’ needs.

Rebecca Cowley, Marketing & Communications Manager at Badminton England, said:

As a business, we have been grateful to have the 360 marketing support of 123 Internet during a challenging year. Their strategic approach to project management and ability to flex according to business needs has been invaluable for our small team, allowing us to upscale and expand our capacity across design, web and social media. 123 Internet integrate seamlessly to any team they work with, and it’s been a real pleasure to work with them.

So, what’s next for Badminton England and 123 Internet? Another website redesign – this time for the YONEX All England Open Badminton Championships. This was scheduled to take place last year, but both the project and tournament had to be postponed due to the pandemic. With the 2021 Championships set to go ahead in September, 123 have been given the green light to proceed with the redesign. However, as so much has changed over the course of the pandemic, the agency plan to review and restructure the initial sitemap to ensure that it still meets requirements. It’s this flexibility and willingness to adapt to bespoke client needs that makes 123 Internet such an appealing choice of digital agency for organisations across the sports and entertainment sector.

Scott Jones, CEO of 123 Internet Group, added:

As with all projects here at 123, we’re very detailed and process-driven in our approach to website redesign. I’m delighted that we have formed a close working relationship with such an important organisation as Badminton England, knowing that they can rely on us for anything as an extension of their design and marketing team. We were able to support them when they needed it most, and I’m so pleased that Badminton England want to continue with design and marketing support post-pandemic. As a modest local agency, it’s incredibly humbling. We dedicate the same level of care to all clients, big or small, and I look forward to picking up where we left off with the All England Open Championships.

For more information, or advice on transforming your website please call the friendly team on 01908 231230.