Unit 14 Assignment 2: Promotional Campaign for Harley’s House

Advantages

Disadvantages

Improved brand loyalty for donors.

Increased web traffic

Increased awareness

Better search engine optimisation

With a functioning website, credibility is increased.

Low cost, you can host a page or group for free. Advertising is also very affordable.

Precise audience targeting.

Satisfied customers may leave positive reviews that are publicly viewable.

Each different social media platform will have its own advantages and disadvantages, due to the large range of choice, it can be difficult to choose which social media platforms to engage on and which ones not to. Twitter and Facebook are the primary social media platforms used by the majority of businesses who utilise social media but as a result, traffic may be diluted on these platforms.

Regularly updating social media accounts is time consuming, there are apps available such as Hootsuite, however, these increase costs but do allow you to manage multiple accounts over several different platforms easily and with less time consumption.

Information is only available for a short time before it is pushed further down the page by new information.

Remaining relevant is difficult in the ever-changing world of social media, especially given the multitudes of other cancer trusts with pages on social media.

Disgruntled customers can leave public, negative reviews.

Customers are more sceptical of advertisements on social media compared to traditional media advertising.

My Social Media Strategy

I would use social media platforms such as Twitter and LinkedIn and Facebook to target those who are working, as these individuals will be in a better position to make contributions to the charity based on levels of income.

I would also target those who have made search queries online about cancer, alternative cancer treatments and other cancer-related queries, these individuals are likely to hold the matter close to their hearts and because of how personable social media marketing is, targeting these individuals at the right time (when someone they know has been affected by cancer or is in palliative care as a result of a battle of cancer) will be more likely to make contributions; this can be seen as a seedy advertising method but Voluntary Services Overseas use similar tactics of targeting those who are searching online for malnutrition, infant mortality rates overseas, etc.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Fantastic for targeting customers by locale

Readers of newspapers will be exposed to a promotion multiple times whilst they’re reading a particular article.

You can arrange for promotions to be displayed alongside complimentary content (for example, Harley’s House may want their promotions displayed next to a news article about the latest children’s cancer statistics to take advantage of the “guilt factor” that customers may experience that compels them to make a donation or purchase for a good cause.

The lifespan of regional and print media in general is far greater than that of social media because paper-based media is physical whereas social media is digital; just look at how often we would delete digital files on our old phones (before smart phones and expandable memory) to make space for more low-resolution photographs.

Expensive, print media can cost a huge amount of money, especially regional newspaper advertising, the Leicester Mercury will charge up to £300 per week for a half page advertisement in their newspaper.

Risk of failed distribution as a result of distributors dumping printed media.

Regional media limits the spread of awareness to only those within the region you are promoting within meaning those outside of the region but with close ties to the region may miss the promotion.

Too many regional promotions may cause customers to expect lower prices and therefore can make it difficult to increase prices back to regular retail prices.

Increased competition depending on whether or not your promotions compel other businesses to also lower their prices to retain their market share during your promotional period, this is why many high street retailers take part in Black Friday, if NEXT PLC took part in Black Friday Sales and New Look didn’t, New Look would see a negative impact to their sales on the specific Friday as a result of their competitors sales promotions.

My Regional Media Strategy

For Harley’s House, I would use regional and local newspaper advertising because they are not a national organisation, they are based in the small Leicestershire town of Oakham. It would therefore possibly not be so successful for them to advertise nationwide, however, LOROS use national advertising in the Metro Newspaper which is a regional newspaper so there may be some success, I guess it depends on whether or not cancer is an emotive enough subject. Would children with cancer pull at the heartstrings more than that of LOROS who provide hospice and palliative care for all age ranges who are suffering with cancer? LOROS do not market the fact they help dying children as well as adults whereas Harley’s House’s USP is the fact they are one of the only organisations who help children with cancer to be able to go on one final holiday before they succumb to their disease.

I’d recommend not using regional direct marketing as it would be very costly and the local area will mostly already have been informed via news as those living locally to Oakham are in the upper age brackets for the most part.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Increased value compared to customers because businesses will typically spend or donate more than the typical individual customer.

You can target businesses based on complimentary services, for example, it may be beneficial to partner with a business in the same industry sector to mutually benefit one another in terms of customers and sales however, it would be wise to partner with a non-competing business, for Harley’s House, I would recommend a far larger, perhaps international cancer charity rather than a hospice or trust like LOROS or MacMillan.

There are less leads in B2B promotion, which is effectively what we would be doing if Harley’s House were promoting exclusively to businesses. The reason there would be less leads is because there are more customers than there are businesses in the UK especially.

Response rates are far slower than customers (if any) as your correspondence may be passed between departments and employees before it reaches the correct person to give you an adequate response.

My Business to Business Strategy

Partnering with local (and national) businesses will be beneficial in raising awareness as promotions and sponsorships can be used to benefit all parties involved. Local independent businesses can display their logo to raise awareness in return for referrals from Harley’s House, they may refer service users to local independent businesses who may suit their shopping needs. Another example could be partnering with a larger company, like Tesco, who can ask their customers if they’d like to round their shopping bill up to the nearest pound so the change can be donated to Harley’s House.

I think Harley’s House should seek funding from the National Lottery Fund as this prestigious organisation will provide Harley’s House with the verification that they need to cement themselves into the charity sector without the gruelling battle for consumer trust; funding from the National Lottery Organisation (and other organisations that provide monetary grants) will show consumers that they are trusted by these organisations and as a result, will put their minds at ease. Also, if anything goes on that is out-of-line with the law or what consumers expect of a charity organisation, they can report it to the funders who may review their level of funding.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Putting your charity’s name out there through traditional advertising mediums will provide credibility and trust for the charity, charities who never advertise and, as a result, are very little known (such as DDA Watch, a charity against the Dangerous Dogs Act government legislation who fights to defend dogs seized under breed-specific legislation, are often considered to be trying to scam donors. DDA Watch often ask for funds to cover legal costs of dogs that are seized under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 over Facebook as they cannot afford alternative advertising methods but unfortunately, their seemingly good work goes unnoticed – I do not contribute funds myself because I personally do not trust DDA Watch.

Being able to afford to advertise gives customers the impression that the products are of good quality, of course, a business should focus on quality of a product over their ability to market it and if the quality of a product is substandard, they should use their advertising budget to bring the quality up to scratch, or at least this is how it should be in an ideal world.

Advertising to customers provides information directly to them, it can be used to educate and raise awareness which is especially beneficial for Harley’s House.

If a charity changes its aims and these aims differ to what was previously advertised to customers, it can negatively impact credibility.

If you provide poor quality products or services and you advertise these, the poor quality products and services are far more memorable than those of better quality and not for the right reasons.

Advertising can be hindered if there is too much information contained within the advertisement.

My Business to Customer Strategy

I would recommend starting an email newsletter to keep in contact and maintain relationships already made with donors. It is also a fantastic way of updating these individuals about community events, competitions, news and information where appropriate. Email marketing can be beneficial is used correctly. Partnering with other businesses will allow them to promote special offers (which Harley’s House would most likely receive an affiliate fee for) via email, especially for not-so-local businesses as those who sign up for email marketing may not be local.

I would also recommend local door to door canvas campaigns to raise awareness in the local area in the hopes of generating interest as the organisation isn’t very well known.

I would open doors to the public to demonstrate what the organisation do for those who are suffering from cancer and their families. This will impact the emotions of those visiting and they’ll be inclined to contribute more than if someone knocked on their door for example. The risk of this could be that some people may feel Harley’s House are showcasing cancer, which they are and for good reason but is it fair on those who use Harley’s House because they’re suffering from cancer? It is something Harley’s House should decide.