Digital marketing teams are busy and often get focused on the task in hand such as executing a campaign and improving site analytics.  However, at the same time it is critical that they know about the ‘bigger picture’ issues that impact their site, their digital channels and their content.

If you are reading this and don’t know any of the detail about the UK Equality Act and European Union Directive 2016/2102/EU then please do read on. Sitemorse has produced a very handy summary of the regulations and the issues which you need to know about. This is available as a free download, with no form to complete – just access the PDF: Accessibility and Equality Act – a review and commentary. 

The potential impact of the Act and Directive are things you need to know about because it can impact the decisions you make about your site, the detail of the content, the measures you put in place to drive accessibility and the way you manage and monitor future risks relating to mitigation.

Various factors also make the Equality Act and the related accessibility agenda an increasingly important and risky area that all organisations need to understand. At the moment there is a huge disconnect between how organisations should be approaching accessibility – one that is strategic, coordinated and prioritised – and the reality of what is actually happening; most marketing team’s approach to digital accessibility is at best ad hoc and, at worst, woefully inadequate.

Let’s look in more detail of some of the reasons digital and marketing teams should understand the Equality Act, the EU Directive and the related accessibility agenda.

1. Digital teams need to understand the strategic context

   Digital teams and marketing people are all about delivering on content, messaging and experiences that align to wider strategies and objectives, but also regulations. Your marketing and sales strategy, your organisation mission, your commitment to citizens as a public sector body: this wider strategic context needs to be fully understood to ensure that the detail of your content and your channels aligns.

   The strategic context also relates to legal, regulatory, compliance and risk factors, which will impact your decision making and also your content, right down to the choice of wording on a page. Most digital teams worked hard to meet GDPR; they also need to understand the regulations relating to accessibility and equality. The bigger picture dictates the detail of your everyday approach.  

2. Somebody needs to own this and move it forward

   These are regulations that impact all organisations, regardless of size and sector. In practice larger organisations may have an in-house legal team or risk function that may already be aware of all this, but in practice many don’t. 

   It needs someone to be aware of your commitments, emerging threats of legal action and other associated risks. In terms of the impact of how the regulations impact digital channels and the way you communicate externally; it will be very likely the marketing or digital function that will be responsible. If you were the person or team who moved the GDPR agenda forward, then you are likely to be the person moving digital accessibility forward too. Somebody needs to be getting this on the agenda, connecting the dots, making senior leaders aware and so on.

3. You may need to make the business case

   At some stage you may need to argue to make the business case to invest in tools that help you move towards accessibility compliance and drive a more strategic and coordinated approach to improving accessibility. Here an understanding of the regulations is likely to form a significant part of the business case.

4. You may need to act quickly

   As the marketing or communications person, you may receive feedback from customers and third parties, and this may relate to the accessibility of your site. In an unlikely but possible scenario, you may even have been threatened with legal action. Do you have a process in place in knowing how to respond and to act? Again, knowing the regulations will at least help to coordinate actions and be able to act quickly, and knowing when to bring in legal professionals, for example.

5. It may influence your digital strategy and how you prioritise actions

   If you’re planning out your digital strategy and related roadmap – or indeed the detail of a new website project – then you really need to understand the regulations to influence how you approach accessibility in your project and the coming months. You may need to prioritise your actions relating to accessibility.

6. You may need to explain the regulations to your content owners and your providers

   As the person in charge of a website you are very likely to have a relationship with your content owners and also vendors such as your digital agency. It’s highly likely that you’ll be either asking these groups to carry out changes to their content or carry out tasks that relate to accessibility; being knowledgeable about the regulations gives these people the valuable strategic context that will make them more likely to carry out what you’re asking of them. For example, this could be as simple as asking your content owners to add Alt Text to an image each time they create new content; when they understand the “why” it really helps.

Download our free guide to accessibility and the Equality Act

Download our useful summary of the regulations today. Available now for free download, with no form to complete – just access the PDF : Accessibility and Equality Act – a review and commentary.