Insight not intuition

Knowledge and market research is vital in understanding your audiences and especially donors, volunteers, supporters, beneficiaries and customers. Yet how can a charity with either limited resources and/or budgets carry out marketing research? 

We will be discussing 'marketing research' which encompasses a wide range of data sources and human interactions with some of the best in the field.

We are very grateful to our hosts, Mintel, for loaning us Jack Duckett, Associate Director of Lifestyle. He writes analysis and articles exploring the attitudes and behaviours of different demographic groups, as well looking at broader social issues, including consumer ethics and attitudes towards health and healthy living. Jack’s recent projects include research on Generation Z and the over-55s.

   

Sarah Fitzgerald is Director of Self Comms, a strategic communications consultancy that helps charities large and small become better at communicating with their audiences, through great strategy, messaging, content and training. Her clients include Citizens Advice, Mind, CLIC Sargent, World Vision and Versus Arthritis. She is the author of two best practice guides for CharityComms, Whatever Next? Public Engagement in 2022 and Perfect Pitch: linking voice and values. Sarah will talk about how charities can gain audience insights without needing big budgets.

Our case study will be presented by Jess Day, campaigner at 'Let toys be Toys' – “Audience insight without even a shoestring”. Jess Day is one of a team of volunteers behind the 'Let Toys Be Toys' campaign, which initially grew out of a thread on parenting website Mumsnet. Organised entirely online, with no paid staff and very little money, the campaign has succeeded in persuading 15 retailers and 10 publishers to change their marketing practices, and turned up the dial on the conversation about gender and marketing to children. Jess will explain how an audience-focused approach has been fundamental to the campaign's success, and how understanding the concerns and motivations of priority audiences such as parents and retailers, and listening to dissenters, helped the campaign understand the barriers to support, and craft messages that countered, or sidestepped them.

CPD Category: Insights