Jordanna Bubar Communications Inc.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the Executive Director at the Edmonton Seniors Centre. ESC is a nonprofit which was founded in 1974 and is based in Edmonton, Alberta in Canada. It primarily serves the 55 years old and over demographic and it operates much like a drop-in center. 

We don’t provide residential care, but we do provide social services in the form of registered social work to deal with specific issues that seniors may have in relation to food, security, accommodation, and, now, the COVID-19 pandemic. We help with the full gamut of problems that seniors encounter. We also operate a program of activities in which seniors can participate. These can include anything from art classes to chair Zumba and yoga.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Jordanna Bubar Communications Inc.?

In March 2020, we, and all other senior centers, were closed down officially by the provincial government due to COVID-19. However, there was one other senior center apart from us that effectively stayed open because, like us, they migrated their services onto Zoom.

It was a challenge in itself to get seniors to log onto Zoom as well as to convert our instructors for the platform. There were technical issues, which is why we hired Jordanna (Owner).

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

My background before I came to the nonprofit world was working with the provincial government and on a number of IT projects, and one of the failings is people who aren’t very technical try and basically become technical and direct the course of the project, whereas you should give as much creative leeway to the experts as possible with some general guidance. I gave Jordanna complete leeway to come up with a design that she thought would work and she did that. Her scope was a combination of working on the website and working on our Zoom conferences.

She works with us on a contract basis and handles all of our social media platforms. When we have Zoom webinars that come up, she also hosts those and designs all the graphic packages that go with the advertising. 

In addition to migrating onto Zoom, we faced a number of problems with our website. We had a payment platform and a client service platform, the physical sides of which, when operated in the center, worked very well. However, an online component that everyone started to try and use revealed a number of flaws, and people were double-billed on their credit card which was a nightmare. We shopped around for a  replacement, and, in the meantime, began to make changes to our website with Jordanna’s help.

We knew that the website needed a major overhaul. It was a fairly clucky website and really looked as though it had come out of the mid-1990s. Jordanna has principally concentrated on redesigning the website.

We also implemented a streaming platform for seniors, ESC TV, where, five days a week from 6 a.m.–12 a.m local time, we provide curated content from providers on YouTube. We were initially downloading and streaming the videos with permission, but the whole thing became too clunky and unwieldy, so Jordanna has come up with a different solution using OBS, a broadcasting software that she had experience with. 

Jordanna has helped post an ad for that as well as for our Zoom conferences. We bounced our ideas off Jordanna (Owner) since she has a background, amongst other things, in media. We had just recently commenced advertising for the streaming channel, and having Jordanna’s background and experience has been invaluable there.

Recently, she pointed out that the change in relation to advertising could actually have a deleterious effect on our core business. If people got turned off by the adverts by this particular page, they may not stay on the website. We’ve come up with a solution using Google Ads. I wasn’t originally sold on the idea, but she convinced me that Google Ads was a far better way to go and far less labor-intensive than trying to run our own ads on the site. 

What is the team composition?

She subcontracts and has resources, but Jordanna was the one that we primarily dealt with.

How did you come to work with Jordanna Bubar Communications Inc.?

Jordanna responded to an ad that we had put out, so we hired her.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around May 2020, and we are still working with her today. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Our membership and revenues have gone up even during the pandemic. Our weekly hits have also increased dramatically, with some pages on the website getting over 1,000 hits on a weekly basis, which is pretty amazing for a small center. 

Normally you would expect to see only your membership or participant demographic using the website on a regular basis, but we have had people from British Columbia, Eastern Canada, and the rural areas in Alberta logging on and participating in our classes.

We are one of the two centers which still have some services in the entire province and it would have been a disaster if Jordanna wasn’t here. Jordanna’s work has enabled us to reach a far wider audience than we ever could have done just by operating a physical center.

How did Jordanna Bubar Communications Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Zoom and email. I think Jordanna will be the first to admit that she is pretty old school when it comes to some aspects of her work. She works in IT but she also likes making physical notes and is very visual due to her being a graphic designer.

In terms of project management, she has managed to keep everything on track in terms of the objectives. She has the capacity to recognize the bigger picture while focusing on risk avoidance. Jordanna also isn’t afraid of telling me if something isn’t going to work. I no longer insist on branching into a new innovation if she thinks it will be too technical.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Jordanna has an undoubtedly impressive grasp of the technical side of the project. Looking at our website, one would see that she has delivered a very polished project. However, I would say her real strength is her communication skill. She is able to convey her objectives in an easily understandable format free of jargon. 

She is so easy to work with, has a great sense of humor, and is very personable. She turns in excellent and outstanding work as well. I am sure that many other people have the same technical strength, but it’s her personality, approach to problem-solving, and general sense of compassion and understanding when dealing with seniors that sets her apart.

Are there any areas they could improve?

To be honest, I don’t think that she could have done one thing differently. She has done everything that we wanted, and we never ended up with a product that was lacking. I have been 110% satisfied with everything that she has kicked out.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The pandemic, which we all know is a horrible thing, has consequences but drives innovation. If you want to survive, you are going to have to adapt. The same is true whether you are a large multi-national or international corporation, or a small nonprofit like us. 

Give Jordanna your goals, issues, and boundaries, and let her run with it. Set some red lines clearly so that she understands what areas you don’t want to go into. It could be a price point, project complexity, or certain aspects of the deliverables. Communicate well but don’t micromanage, especially in the area of website development and IT, or it could end up as a complete disaster.