Charity Marketing Analysis: NSPCC - Article Example

Charity Marketing Analysis: NSPCC Executive Summary The entire study is centred towards charity marketing analysis. Purpose of social marketing is anessential factor since it states objectives of a charitable organization. There is different marketing mix elements associated with charity marketing and all of them are aligned with major purpose. Social marketing is all about spreading public awareness regarding any societal issue. NSPCC works in collaboration with stakeholders to accomplish its set objectives of preventing children from cruelty and abuse. Its marketing strategies encompasses wide array of branding activities to promote child welfare and encourage public to support such a noble cause. Contents Contents 3 Introduction 4 Body 5 Q1 5 Q2 a) 6 Q2 b) 8 Q3 a) 10 Q3 b) 12 Conclusion 13 References 15 Appendices 17 Appendix 1: 17 Appendix 2: 17 Appendix 3: 19 Introduction In the current scenario there has been a significant rise witnessed in the non-profit sector. There are various objectives set forth by this sector. The common goal of all non-profit organizations is to enhance well-being of society. This study would focus on different dimensions related to non-profit marketing. It has been observed that marketing plays a critical role in organizational functions. This aspect holds significance both for profit as well as non-profit sector. Managers of non-profit firms are highly concerned regarding implementation of appropriate marketing strategies. Non-profit marketing tactics need to be aligned with developing organizational image in the market place. Reputation building is an important aspect of marketing and it helps public to remember aim of an organization. It has been witnessed that non-profit sector occupies approximately 9.5% of the civil society. Non-profit marketing is an innovative way to reach out to audience and spread a social message across the globe. There are different dimensions associated with non-profit marketing like planning of objectives, deciding on communication channels, positioning and finally attracting suitable resources. Non-profit sector holds a great deal of significance in modern society since they provide extended services in those fields which might not be exhibited by business sector. Marketing orientation of non-profit sector is coordinated in a systematic fashion. It is all about setting organizational goals, accomplishing set objectives and communicating message to specific group of interests. In this study social marketing strategy of a charitable organization will be highlighted. The study will be centred towards a charitable organization known as NSPCC. Marketing plan of NSPCC is incorporated in this study in order to reflect upon non-profit marketing. Body Q1 Social marketing strategies have been adopted by UK government in order to create long term impact on public welfare and health. Social marketing can be defined as a mechanism which is utilized to attract target audience’s attention so as to benefit society along with the individual. This method is based on developing, communicating, exchanging and delivering offerings. Social marketing facilitates positive value creation for partners, individuals, society and clients (Fill, Hughes and Francesco, 2013). The term social marketing was found in 1971 by Zaltman and Kotler. There have been a lot of studies conducted on social marketing concept. This concept encompasses four important principles like exchange, segmentation, 4Ps and competition. The exchange principle outlines that behaviour of people is changed due to receiving a particular thing in exchange. It is predicted, receivables in exchange have greater value and less barriers in comparison to alternatives (Napoli, 2006). Social marketing is not inclined towards providing benefits to marketer rather it influences behavioural aspect of society. This approach comprises of wide range of theories like psychological theory, consumer behaviour, psychodynamics, etc. Funders are often observed not to have a clear understanding about social marketing but they play a vital role in sustaining these practices. There lies a difference between target group and funders in non-profit sector. The first stage of social marketing is planning which comprises of marketing mix. However social marketing focuses on additional P’s known as publics, partnerships and policy. Purpose indicates the social issue of a social marketing plan like pollution reduction, water quality, etc. UK government over the years have supported development and implementation of wide array of social marketing campaigns. All these campaigns revolve around creating a better society and enhancing well-being of individuals. One of the most influential social marketing campaigns of UK was ‘change 4 life’. England encompasses a decent percentage of population who are either obese or overweight (Bruce, 2013). The major objective of UK government while designing this creative campaign was to retain healthy weight in the society. On basis of this campaign child obesity was supposed to be reduced by a desirable percentage. UK government through this campaign was running a cross-government strategy. It mainly comprised of investing into wide scale of measures like increased funding for early years and pregnancy. The strategy even was aligned with promoting the need for a healthy diet. Healthy eating culture was incorporated in schools with the support of ‘change 4 life’ campaign. Tagline of this social marketing campaign was ‘eat well, move more and live longer’. This clearly indicates that main focus of UK government was to promote healthy eating styles amongst individuals (Fill, 2006). Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives is an initiative undertaken to handle excess weight. There are certain key areas of the program such as healthy weight and healthy growth of children, promoting wide scale of healthier food choices, making physical activity an important aspect of one’s lives, highlighting values or incentives directly linked with better health and extending care through personalized support and advice. £75 million was invested by UK government in this social awareness program and a three year campaign was organized for target audience. Q2 a) NSPCC or National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1884. This organization mainly works in favour of children so as to safeguard them from any kind of child abuse. The areas served by NSPCC are England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Channel Islands. NSPCC works in collaboration with UK government so as to ensure that children are not deprived off their basic rights. There are different issues handled by NSPCC which are centred towards child welfare. Social marketing campaigns are developed by this organization in order to spread awareness amongst public on child protection (Picton and Broderick, 2009). It has a helpline for all those individuals who are really concerned about any child along with a ChildLine to offer extended support directly to children. Online counselling service is organized by NSPCC for young adults and children. This charitable organization also has a series of service centres which run locally across United Kingdom. It adopts all possible measures in order to help families, young children and people. A consultancy service on Child Protection has been opened by NSPCC. Its main aim is to make a safer organization for people. NSPCC not only organizes programs for children but also works in collaboration with other charitable trusts (Wintzer, 2007). The firm offers consultancy services and training to all firms which have direct contact with sporting bodies, schools, etc. LSCB or Local Safeguarding Children’s Board jointly works with NSPCC to enable a platform where multiple tasks can be conducted regarding educational services, police, social and health services. It can be stated that the main purpose of this charitable institution is to work for children. Purpose of any charitable trust is denoted as their main goal. Child abuse is a common issue faced by many societies. NSPCC is focused on eradicating this aspect from the society. Their slogan clearly outlines that society should raise their voices for every children. Thomas Agnew in 1884 had established an organization known as ‘London Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children’ upon being inspired by similar works of another charitable organization located in New York. On basis of the campaigning conducted by this firm, UK Parliament had passed its first law on Child Protection. London SPCC was later renamed as NSPCC. This firm is inclined towards allocating all resources for child welfare. Child growth and development is the main purpose of NSPCC. Q2 b) A brand can be defined as a symbol or name which is used to identify services or goods. This factor helps to differentiate products or services of one company from that of others. Branding is an essential aspect for any organization as it enhances competitive advantage. There are certain roles possessed by a brand such as identification, product handling, organize accounting and legal protection. These roles can also be extended such as creating entry barriers, signifying quality level, ensuring price premium and facilitating competitive advantage. On the other hand, branding is stated as endowing services and products with brand power. Brand equity is usually developed when customers have a positive perception about a brand. Organizations generally aim at developing strong brand image. This is simply because strong brands have greater loyalty, improved customer perception and less vulnerability (Kotler and Keller, 2012). Brand resonance pyramid helps in critically evaluating the concept of branding and is further elaborated in Appendix 1. As per this model, branding or brand development comprises of various stages. Every organization whether belonging to profit sector or non-profit sector has to encounter these stages. First stage is creating identity or stating what the firm stands for, second stage is meaning or purpose of the firm, third stage is focusing on response about the firm and lastly is developing a relationship with target audience. Branding objectives is associated with each of the brand development stages. At the initial stage, branding objective is centred towards expanding brand awareness amongst public. It is followed by creating point of parity difference. This kind of difference helps in distinguishing one company’s offerings from another (Churchill, 2009). The next branding objective is to initiate positive accessible reactions. These reactions are usually obtained from target audience so as to identify effectiveness of a brand. The most critical stage of branding is building relationships which have a major objective of establishing intense loyalty. Branding is considered to be an important factor for charitable organizations. This is because it facilitates image development and conveying their purpose to target audience. Charitable organizations like NSPCC have some reasons for taking into consideration branding activities. These factors are motivating customers in terms of spreading brand message and personal experiences, defining a social proof, enhancing value proposition and conveying it to target customers, associating themselves with renowned brands in order to get extended support (Levinson, Adkins and Forbes, 2010). The power of branding is only related to profit sector but it holds significance for non-profit sector as well. Public awareness can be spread only through conducting branding activities. NSPCC is inclined towards such activities as it considers highly distinguishable brand personality to be an essential component. Brand personality in case of this charitable organization is built through creating an image which highlights being authoritative, challenging, warm, passionate, confident, active and personal. This style is consistent for all branding activities undertaken by NSPCC. Appendix 2 outlines some of the branding activities executed by NSPCC. These activities have similarities in the form of Full Stop symbol. NSPCC desires to establish its brand image through conveying a message that they aim towards discarding child abuse. The Full Stop symbol is common for all brand related activities performed by NSPCC in order to give it a unique differentiation factor. This brand personality of the organization is effectively communicated across all stakeholders (Hudson, 2015). On basis of this symbol, brand knowledge and understanding is further enhanced. Websites, logos, TV advertisements, etc., of the charitable organization is aligned with the objective of developing a better society for children. In the recent years, this firm has proposed a new tagline for all its branding activities – “every childhood is worth fighting for”. Q3 a) Marketing plan revolves around three important components such as coordination of marketing activity, exercising control over these activities and developing an effective marketing strategy. This type of plan usually changes from one sector to another. For instance non-profit sector would possess different goals or objectives for marketing plan in comparison to profit sector. Marketing activity should always be aligned with common business objectives. At the initial stage a proper analysis needs to be conducted on external environment so as to identity probable market opportunities. Different areas within an organization should be integrated in order to execute superior quality marketing activity. The stages in a marketing plan have been given in Appendix 3. Non-profit marketing is highly concerned with communicating social awareness message to public. First stage of the plan is setting corporate objectives or mission. The corporate objective of NSPCC is to provide a better life to children by fighting child abuse. Marketing audit is the next step in marketing plan (Bennett, Wood and Previte, 2013). Audit encompasses three main areas like internal environment scan, external environment scan and evaluation of present marketing strategy. External environment scan for NSPCC can be exhibited through PESTEL analysis. Political forces are in favour of this organization because UK government launches many innovative programs in child protection. Economic stability of the region enables the organization to acquire sufficient funds for accomplishing set objectives. Social conditions are not uniform throughout the region. In certain areas there is no such evidence of child abuse but middle or low income segments greatly suffer from child abuse cases. Technological advancement has facilitated the non-profit organization to communicate easily with target audience and design online platform for collecting funds (Batey, 2012). Environmental regulations are well aligned with operations of non-profit sector since they work towards minimizing cruelty towards children. Legal norms and regulations of UK is a framework which governs operational procedure of NSPCC. On the other hand, internal marketing environment of the firm states intense competition amongst charitable trusts with high threat of new entrants. However bargaining power of suppliers and buyers is comparatively low due to its non-profit objectives. The current marketing strategy of the firm has been able to create a long term impact due to its Full Stop symbol. SWOT analysis of the firm clearly indicates that NSPCC excels in its expertise, personal networking, ability to communicate with target audience, operational resources, innovative branding strategies and highly determined workforce. Weaknesses of the firm are more dependency on governmental donors, limited areas of operations and focus on a specific societal issue. Opportunities for NSPCC are in the form of expanding its operations into wider geographical markets, collaborating with other renowned charitable trusts and incorporating innovative brand building exercises. Threats are mainly in terms of competitive environment, declining trust amongst donors for charitable trusts, increasing cases of child cruelty in different regions and need for more funds to resolve issues (Maignan, 2008). The current marketing objective for the company will be to initiate child equality where there shall be no discrimination between gender and no form of child abuse. Marketing strategy for the company is firstly based on segmentation, targeting and positioning. The market segment for this strategy is individuals located in England, Wales, Channel Islands and Northern Ireland. Target market segment is individuals mainly belonging to middle and lower income group. Positioning of this strategy would be to safeguard every child from cruelty and abuse. In social marketing campaign there are 7Ps. Product offering in non-profit sector is the exchange element as in case of NSPCC it is providing relief to children suffering from child abuse (Porter, 2008). Price in this sector is bringing in behavioural changes or imposing fines. Delivery system to be adopted by NSPCC is to reach out to every affected region and safe children from cruelty. Promotional tools to be used are advertisement campaigns in social media, traditional media, event sponsorships, conducting events on child abuse, etc. Publics can be classified as internal and external. External public is target audience, policy makers, etc. On the other hand, internal public is those who are involved in implementation or approval process. Partnerships basically relate to NSPCC’s working in collaboration with other charitable trusts or governmental donors. Policy of this charitable institution to be implemented in marketing strategy is to stop cruelty towards children. The marketing program mainly in the form of hosting new events, spreading awareness about child abuse through social media and developing creative advertisement campaign will be exhibited over a period of twelve months. £ 5 million shall be the total budget for marketing program to be conducted by NSPCC. Evaluation and control will be done through a public survey in order to identify effectiveness of implemented marketing strategy. Q3 b) Marketing plan is an important aspect both for non-profit as well as profit sectors. This plan lays the foundation for resolving any market related issues. Marketing plan is an action oriented approach implemented by an organization. It can be stated that different operational characteristics are encompassed within marketing plan. Strategic actions of businesses are dependent on marketing strategies. Outcomes generally result from implementation of strategic actions. Goals of non-profit sector are to eliminate societal issue from the system. These goals are aligned with non-governmental objectives. Marketing plans help to establish a comparison between outcomes and goals. This comparison indicates current strategic position of a company in market place. There different marketing strategies should be evaluated in order to analyze their short term and long term implications. Marketing plan can also be considered as an efficient mechanism since it comprises of appropriate internal and external environmental analysis. Deviations from market standards can be determined on basis of the comparison between goals and outcomes (Lasserre, 2012). For instance if charitable organization like NSPCC witnesses a major deviation then they can implement other strategies. This kind of planning even help to solve problems linked with widespread operations. Success can be measured appropriately when such marketing plans are implemented. In overall context, this planning holds significance for NSPCC since outcomes can be evaluated. It facilitates understanding of marketing strategic implications on target audience. Conclusion As per the study, charitable organizations should consider marketing strategies to be a critical component in their operational procedure. There are various dimensions of marketing strategies but all of them are associated with brand image communication to target audience. Branding plays a vital role not only in profit sector but also in non-profit sector. It has been observed that corporate image building is an essential factor in profit sector. However charitable organizations need to develop and retain its image so as to attract attention of donors and other stakeholders. Stakeholder participation is crucial since no charitable trusts can perform its wide range of operations on its own. The partnership concept has been highlighted throughout this study. On basis of this concept non-governmental organizations work in collaboration with other charities, government, multilateral foundations, volunteers, etc. This kind of partnership enables a non-governmental organization to accomplish set objectives in long run. NSPCC over the years have implemented strategic actions for preventing children from cruelty, child labour, child abuse, etc. Their innovative marketing campaigns have attracted attention of large number of donors. The organization plans to continue with its operations by developing creative marketing strategies. Marketing plan enables the firm to focus on its core objectives and evaluate its outcomes efficiently. External environmental analysis outlines the strategic position of NSPCC in the market place. References Batey, M., 2012. Brand meaning. USA: Psychology Press. Bennett, R.R., Wood, M. and Previte, J. 2013. Fresh ideas: services thinking for social marketing. Journal of Social Marketing, 3(3), pp. 223-238. Bruce, I., 2013. Charity marketing. 4thEd. London: ICSA Publishing. Churchill, G., 2009. A paradigm for developing better measures of marketing constructs. Journal of Marketing Research, 25(4), pp. 98-116. Fill, C., 2006. Simply marketing communications. UK: FT Prentice Hall. Fill, C., Hughes, G., and Francesco, S., 2013. Advertising, strategy, creativity and media. USA: Pearson. Hudson, J. 2015. Broadening the horizon of non-profit sector. International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, 19(4), pp. 114-132. Kotler, P. and Keller, K., 2012. Marketing management, global 14 Ed. Harlow, Essex: Pearson Education. Lasserre, P., 2012. Global strategic management. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan. Levinson, J. C., Adkins, F. and Forbes, C., 2010. Guerrilla marketing for non-profits. Canada: Entrepreneur Press. Maignan, I., 2008. An international review of sponsorship research. Journal of Advertising, 36(4), pp. 13-24. Napoli, J., 2006. The impact of non-profit brand orientation on organisational performance. Journal of Marketing Management, 22 (8), pp. 673-694. Picton, D. and Broderick, A., 2009. Integrated marketing communications, 3rd edition. Harlow: FT- Prentice Hall. Porter, M. E., 2008. Competitive advantage: creating and sustaining superior performance. New York: Simon and Schuster. Wintzer, E., 2007. Global competition and strategic management. Germany: GRIN Verlag. Appendices Appendix 1: Brand Resonance Pyramid Appendix 2: Branding activities of NSPCC Appendix 3: Marketing Plan Stages Read More