About Orkney.com

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Orkney.com was established in 2011 to promote Orkney and its key sectors: food and drink, creative industries and renewable energy; and as a destination in which to live, work, study or invest. In late 2018 the website was relaunched incorporating information to encourage visitors to the area.

Funding

While orkney.com was originally established with funding from Orkney Islands Council and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, much of its development since 2016 has benefited from European funding through the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe investing in rural areas.

The funding has been channelled through several projects. Total project costs and total European funds are detailed below:

Project

Total Project Cost £

LEADER funding £

1

Digital Media Orkney 2017-2019

348,000.00

173,999.40

2

Creative Orkney 2017-2020

138,430.00

69,215.00

3

Orkney Food and Drink 2017-2020

105,764.00

52,882.00

4

Promoting Orkney 2019-2021

364,821.95

182,417.97

5

Destination Orkney

132,986.52

64,763.36

Descriptions and objectives for each project are as follows:

Digital Media Orkney

This project aimed to develop and transition Orkney’s collective marketing activity to fulfil an increasing requirement for digital media and content, enabling a step-change in the external promotion of Orkney’s four key sectors – tourism, food & drink, creative industries and energy.

The project provided a platform for enhanced digital communications activity to feed new and developing social media channels and support the next stage development of orkney.com, as well as a framework for responsive and coordinated press and PR activity and management.

This project involved three contracts to provide the range of expertise required to operate a fully rounded programme of digital media activities in support of Orkney’s key sectors, and included an allowance for travel and accommodation for visiting writers, bloggers, etc.

  • To increase the amount of digital marketing that can be carried out for Orkney
  • To benefit Orkney’s key sectors and communities
  • To raise awareness of Orkney and its quality products and services throughout the UK and beyond, given the potential global reach of digital marketing
  • To help increase visitors to Orkney, increase sales of Orkney products nationally and internationally, thereby improving viability of Orkney businesses leading to increased investment and job creation
  • To attract people to live and work in Orkney, enhancing the sustainability of our communities, by promoting Orkney’s way of life and opportunities through enhanced digital marketing and increased traditional press marketing

Creative Orkney

Funding for a number of activities (employment of a co-ordinator and various marketing projects) included the development of the Creative Orkney website). Given Orkney's success in collaborative marketing efforts across its key sectors, the success of orkney.com, and its high visitor numbers it was considered prudent to re-design the site and incorporate it into orkney.com. The website sits on the homepage, with more information on the 'about' page.

  • To continue to support the growth and development of the businesses involved in the arts and crafts sector in Orkney by employing a dedicated part-time resource
  • To enable the members businesses of the arts and crafts sector to grow and develop
  • To increase the promotion of the sector both within and outwith Orkney and Scotland and ensure that Orkney maintains and grows its excellent reputation for quality of product and design
  • To achieve increased sales for businesses, the confidence to develop new products and enter new markets and the creation of new jobs
  • To enhance the viability of the tourism sector as visitors come to Orkney to enjoy the environment and to buy good quality local goods and souvenirs

Orkney Food and Drink

Funding for a number of activities (employment of a co-ordinator and various marketing projects) included the development of the Orkney Food and Drink/Taste of Orkney website). As above, given Orkney's success in collaborative marketing efforts across its key sectors, the success of orkney.com and its high visitor numbers it was considered prudent to re-design the site and incorporate it into orkney.com. The website sits on the homepage, with more information on the 'about' page.

  • To continue to support the growth and development of the businesses involved in the food and drink sector in Orkney
  • To enable member businesses of the key food and drink sector to grow and develop
  • To increase the promotion of the sector both within and outwith Orkney and Scotland and ensure that Orkney maintains and grows its excellent reputation for quality produce
  • To achieve increased sales for businesses, the confidence to develop new products and enter new markets, and the creation of new jobs
  • To enhance the viability of the tourism sector as visitors come to Orkney to enjoy a great food and drink experience

Promoting Orkney

This project enabled the further development of orkney.com through the appointment of a team of contractors to provide content in a similar fashion to the Digital Media Orkney project and included additional promotions aimed at driving increasing traffic to the website.

  • To raise awareness of Orkney and its quality products and services throughout the UK and beyond
  • To increase the number of visitors to Orkney
  • To improve viability of Orkney businesses, leading to increased investment and job creation
  • To attract people to live and work in Orkney

Destination Orkney

Destination Orkney clearly benefits from the strong visitor focus of orkney.com, tourism listings, accommodation search, things to see and do, how to travel to Orkney, etc and has been able to develop an industry page to encourage membership of the group. The aim of the LEADER funded project was:

  • To recruit a chief executive who will effectively lead Orkney’s tourism team, chairing the Destination Orkney Partnership and leading the new operating company. The CEO will work closely with Destination Orkney partners and industry members, leverage tourism industry relationships and be responsible for enhancing the reputation of both the destination and the organisation, and in meeting the mission, vision and objectives of the destination and organisation.
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