Online engagement for charities
We are all too aware that the recession has hit brands hard, but for one sector, the repercussions have been astounding. With cash donations falling by a massive £367 million between 2007 and 2008 (NCVO research), charities are understandably struggling to keep donors engaged. Whereas brands can persuade consumers to spend by offering good value for money, charities have a tougher job in persuading consumers to part with their money for no direct gain in the form of a product or service. As the marketing sphere continues to diversify, the job of engaging consumers has become even harder. Charity begins at home and never has this saying rung more truely than during a recession.Once driven largely by advertising innovation, the digital marketing climate is now changing and as such, digital consumers are starting to ‘reject' standard advertising formats and are instead beginning to favour content (whether branded or User Generated Content) over other digital media. More often than not, consumers will now just click away from pop ups and entirely ignore banner ads as their viewing habits become more selective. But with the hard sell approach no longer working in the digital space, how do charities still attract donors with online content?
The answer is with customer publishers. Hard-hit by the recession, charities need to safeguard the relationships they hold with regular and valued donors, so any communication with them must be successful. With the ability to transfer their skills across various media channels, customer publishers are experts at leading their clients into successful digital content strategies. No longer just accounting for the magazine market, customer publishers excel at producing targeted editorialisation for brands across a variation of channels. Selecting the correct channels and the correct content for the correct audience, they produce online content that moves away from heavy sales techniques and accurately encapsulates a brand and its values.
A recent YouGov study commissioned by the APA in fact showed that consumers are far more likely to make a purchase if a website makes the effort to engage and entertain them through interesting and relevant content. So, as a responsive and flexible method of opening up an effective and sensitive dialogue with potential and current donors, customer publishing is the perfect way for charities to fully engage their donors and make a demonstrable difference in terms of money in the bank.
NSPCC is a great example of a charity that has used customer publishers to break into the digital space. Following the success of the charity's offline publication, Your Family, the organisation decided to launch a dedicated website offering interactive parenting tools. Created by customer publishers, Your Family works in a much more sophisticated manner than simply conveying NSPCC appeal information on ending child cruelty. Instead, it provides readers with parenting articles through which they gain a closer relationship with the charity, reinforcing the organisation's positive messaging in support of family life.
The British Heart Foundation has also been involved in the online customer publishing medium with its ongoing Food 4 Thought campaign. Through a specially produced pack for schools, the campaign aims to raise children's awareness of the importance of a healthy diet, and has been extended online with the creation of www.junkmonkeys.tv <http://www.junkmonkeys.tv/>. The website has achieved over 700,000 visits, and a huge response from school children. Half of the children who have seen the campaign say they're eating less junk food, with 65 per cent saying they eat more fruit and 83 per cent claim to be taking more responsibility for their health, which shows the power of communicating through editorial..
An incredibly effective communication channel for charities, customer publishing has proven the power of branded content in a huge range of channels. Designed specifically to engage an organisation's customers, as opposed to explicitly selling a product, the medium is far more engaging than any other media platform. And offering a much greater ROI, customer publishing is a perfect choice for charities.
Read comment piece as featured on Brand Republic >>
