Imogen Wilson, head of communications, Plan UK Visit the CharityComms website to view slides from our past events, see what events we have coming up and to check out what else we do. http://www.charitycomms.org.uk

1. thePlan:
to work with the world’s poorest children so they can move themselves from a life of poverty to a future with opportunity
Audiences workshop

2. thePlan:
to work with the world’s poorest children so they can move themselves from a life of poverty to a future with opportunity
Workshop outline
What we’ll cover in our session
1. Why do audiences matter?
2. A case study on audience targeting to support brand positioning
& lessons learnt
3. Break out session
4. Top tips for audience development
Targeting niche audiences to support brand positioning

3. thePlan:
to work with the world’s poorest children so they can move themselves from a life of poverty to a future with opportunity
Why audiences matter?
What’s the problem?
• Wasting precious resources + can’t achieve organisations objectives
• Highly competitive environment
• Even when we know our audiences they evolve and change – Dorothy
Donor v Baby Boomers, Coalition Gov v Opposition
• Way audiences are engaging also changing - Multiplicity of channels
challenge and opportunity

4. thePlan:
to work with the world’s poorest children so they can move themselves from a life of poverty to a future with opportunity
Successful audience targeting
Need to know your drivers – be really clear about what you aim to achieve
Need to know who you want to talk to and why
Need to get under the skin of your audience/what motivates them to act
Need to take a holistic integrated approach – a campaigner can also be a
fundraiser and visa versa
Need to be realistic – match resources with your ambition (Rolls Royce or
Mini)
Can’t cut corners when developing your audience strategy, but can get
free support.

5. thePlan:
to work with the world’s poorest children so they can move themselves from a life of poverty to a future with opportunity
Case study – Plan UK
Targeting new audiences to support awareness,
positioning & income:
• Global children’s charity with low public awareness and
understanding of our work
• Highly competitive marketplace
• Limited marketing communications budget
• Campaign that wasn’t a campaign
• Older supporter base 55+
• Key fundraising product that was flatlining

6. thePlan:
to work with the world’s poorest children so they can move themselves from a life of poverty to a future with opportunity
Case study – Plan UK
The ‘Mini’ approach:
• Build awareness by differentiating from the pack rooted in the
change we want to see via our Because I am a Girl Campaign
• Identify and reach out to specific audiences with an interest in girls in
the developing world to grow profile, income and influence

7. thePlan:
to work with the world’s poorest children so they can move themselves from a life of poverty to a future with opportunity
Audience selection
Considerations:
• Market research identified 25-34 year old females and higher
value donors as those most interested in supporting Plan’s
‘Because I am a Girl’ campaign.
• In 2009/10 no one in the charity market place was putting their
stamp on the ‘girl space’ and it was a new route to market for
Plan which had a campaign and advocacy ask and a new
fundraising product to test.
• Focus group research also established that girl focussed
messaging resonated with these audiences.

8. thePlan:
to work with the world’s poorest children so they can move themselves from a life of poverty to a future with opportunity
Who’s interested in Overseas aid?
• 16% of the general public said overseas aid and development charities
were their favourite charities.
• This 16% has a higher representation of:
Female
AB grades
Under 45’s
• With regards to donating to international aid and development charities,
donating to overseas appeals is fashionable amongst the young who have
grown up with the concept of a ‘global community’.
Source: nfpSynergy CAMEO Favourite Charities, January 2011
Source: Mintel Report, Charities Market Intelligence, March 2008

9. thePlan:
to work with the world’s poorest children so they can move themselves from a life of poverty to a future with opportunity
Money and lifestage
£0
£500
£1,000
£1,500
£2,000
£2,500
£3,000
£3,500
£4,000
16-19 20-23 24-26 27-30 30-32 33-35 36-42 43-37 48-52 53-56 57-60 61-65 66-75 75+
Net household income
All expenditure
Essential expenditure
Source: BHPS / The Future Foundation, taken from nfpSynergy “Socio-economic change and the 21
st
Century Donor” Sept 2009
25 - 31
43 - 58

10. thePlan:
to work with the world’s poorest children so they can move themselves from a life of poverty to a future with opportunity
Historically who is more aware of Plan?
• According to nfpSynergy’s trend data there was little demographic
variation in awareness of Plan. Consistently the oldest and youngest age
groups were more aware of Plan than on average, but the difference was
marginal.
• However in 2009 there was a significant decrease in awareness amongst
16-24 and 55-64 year olds, and awareness amongst 25-44 year olds
increased.

11. thePlan:
to work with the world’s poorest children so they can move themselves from a life of poverty to a future with opportunity
Plan UK web
traffic over
indexes in this
group which fit
45 and under
profile & make
potential
regular
donations.
Attitudinal
factors
indicate a
propensity
towards
international
development
Propensity to support

12. thePlan:
to work with the world’s poorest children so they can move themselves from a life of poverty to a future with opportunity
• 18 – 35
• ABC1
• Most likely to support
charities involved in
human & political
rights/ humanitarian
relief.
• Young, well-educated
city dwellers enjoying
the vibrancy &
diversity of urban life
• High concentration in
London & SE
Liberal Opinions

13. thePlan:
to work with the world’s poorest children so they can move themselves from a life of poverty to a future with opportunity
Meet Natasha – 1m
ABC1, Females, 25-34, London & South East
‘Natasha’ is ABC1 female 25-34 with the following filters:
• Has made a charitable donation in the last 12 months
• Earns £30k+
• Has donated to overseas charities

14. thePlan:
to work with the world’s poorest children so they can move themselves from a life of poverty to a future with opportunity
Meet Joanne – 1.4m
ABC1, Females, 35-44, London & South East
‘Joanne’ is ABC1 female 35-44 with the following filters:
• Has made a charitable donation in the last 12 months
• Earns £30k+
• Has donated to overseas charities

15. thePlan:
to work with the world’s poorest children so they can move themselves from a life of poverty to a future with opportunity
The intersection between awareness, propensity
and interest
Sweet
spot

16. thePlan:
to work with the world’s poorest children so they can move themselves from a life of poverty to a future with opportunity
Case study – Plan UK
The results:
Girls Fund raised 1m x
20,000 new campaigners recruited
100K in new corporate sponsorship
Doubled awareness with Joanne & almost doubled
with Natasha
Enhanced stated propensity to support

17. thePlan:
to work with the world’s poorest children so they can move themselves from a life of poverty to a future with opportunity
You will be in one of three groups
• Group 1 homelessness charity
• Group 2 local health charity
• Group 3 armed forces charity
Your group task is to describe what actions you would take based on
the scenario given;
• How you will identify possible audiences
• Which audiences you would recommending targeting
• Why you have selected those audiences
Breakout session – Audiences

18. thePlan:
to work with the world’s poorest children so they can move themselves from a life of poverty to a future with opportunity
Group 1 – You work for a national charity in the North of England
that aims to end homelessness
You are well know for your work on street homelessness but your
income has been falling. Your initial research findings show that one of
the barriers to support is a view that homeless people are feckless.
However where children are involved this barrier appears to be
significantly lessened.
Your board are considering investing £1m in a campaign to raise
awareness of the effect of homelessness on children which aims to
secure new campaigners and donors.
Breakout session – Group 1

19. thePlan:
to work with the world’s poorest children so they can move themselves from a life of poverty to a future with opportunity
Group 2 – You work for a well loved cancer charity
The public and your supporters associate your charity with end of life
care, but you want to be known for the significant support services you
provide to people who have been diagnosed with cancer and how this
helps people manage their illness and sustain lives.
You have been given a substantive budget (£3m every year for the
next 3 years) to support this repositioning.
Breakout session – Group 2

20. thePlan:
to work with the world’s poorest children so they can move themselves from a life of poverty to a future with opportunity
Group 3 – You work for an established armed forces charity
The public see you as established and your supporter base is getting older and
older. In the last 5 years there have been other successful entrants into your
market who are appealing to younger audiences by focusing on the effects of
the conflict in Afghanistan.
It’s the up and coming anniversary of WWI and your board has asked you to
build a business case to invest in refreshing your supporter base by
highlighting the link with historical and modern conflicts and the sacrifices
made by our service men and women.
Breakout session – Group 3

21. thePlan:
to work with the world’s poorest children so they can move themselves from a life of poverty to a future with opportunity
Top tips
1. Map all your audiences – aim to find and push against an open door
2. Take time to identify and record what they think, feel and do currently
and what you would like them to think feel and do in the future
3. Testing, testing, testing – find out what will really motivate your
audiences. Research is invaluable don’t make assumptions
4. Try and get pro-bono support from any agencies you work with to help
you develop audience insights using their profile tools TGI, ACORN etc
5. Use free tools - post office
6. Use your own online communities for audience research
7. Create audience personas
8. Tell staff internally who they are so they take ownership
9. Go to where your audiences live don’t expect them to come to you
10. Take an integrated approach to your audience strategy - recognise
audience overlaps - an MP is also a member of the public!