Developing key messages for

Louise Robertshaw MCIPR

Head of communications and campaigns

Guide Dogs

Different touch points

Brand positioning and

manifesto

Brand mission and values

Brand as a consistent organising

People & behaviours Products & services

Environments & channels Communications

Brand

positioning

principle

Tone of Voice

However, still brand challenges

Out of sight, out of

mind

Misperceptions

Lack of

relevance

Donating to the

blind interests me

more

I understand they are

helpful to those who have

a sight problem and it Is a

rewarding charity for this

reason, but I am not as

favourable with a dog

charity

Although I am not

against guide dogs I feel

my money would be best

serving children or

people who would

greatly benefit

I would rather

donate to

other charities

supporting

humans

I do not donate

to animal

charities

I'm a cat lover

GENERAL PUBLIC GD SUPPORTERS

For non donors, the story stops

with the dog

Our supporters talk coherently

about the difference we make to people

They help people live

independently and

have no government

funding

It is a really worthwhile

charity that offers real

help to people that

need it

Because I think it is an

important cause.

Giving people their

independence and

enabling them to do

more for themselves

than they otherwise

might

I can actually see the

benefits that trained

dogs do for the blind

and partially sighted

and think that it must

promote a

tremendous trustful

relationship between

man and beast

Misperceptions…

Break out

What is your brand positioning; what do you

stand for?

What are your brand challenges? Would these

be different across audiences?

Answering these questions will help to develop your

research brief/key messaging brief.

Developing key message research

Developed brief to carry out focus group

research across all audiences

Representatives from all areas of business fed

into the brief

A workshop with all representatives from the

business was held, to feed into the research.

Individual giving, community fundraising,

corporate partnerships, strategy and research,

service marketing, operations, brand

communications.

Research objectives

Explore key messages and straplines

Identify those that most help us achieve our goals

Explore key myths

Explore benefits and barriers of the name

Target audiences

Potential supporters

Current supporters

People who are blind and partially sighted

What we did

Qualitative research

With potential supporters 6 groups (‘warm’ and ‘cold’) 8 people each

Follow-up interviews (3)

With beneficiaries 6 in-depth interviews

With current supporters 1 group

4 in-depth interviews

Profile of respondents

Warm potential supporters

With personal experience of sight

loss

Dog owners / lovers

Cold potential supporters

No experience of sight loss

Not dog owners / lovers

Three age ranges

35 – 44

45 – 64

65+

Supporters

Mostly Sponsor a Puppy

Group age range 35 - 64

Older interviewees all in 70s and 80s

Beneficiaries

Varied age range

All over 30

Most in 50s/60s

All experience of Guide Dog

3 with experience of MyGuide

“(Guide Dogs) should worry about people

thinking it’s an extraordinary thing, only

relevant to a few people.”

The key challenge from the research

What the research told us

Guide Dogs vs guide dogs

An inclusive description of sight loss

Sight loss as a cause – the scale of the problem

was unknown.

Myth busting

Development of brand promise (strapline)

The results were consistent across all audiences

Examples of the messages

Every hour, another person in the UK goes blind.

Almost two million people in the UK are living

with sight loss. By 2050, this will have doubled.

180,000 people with sight loss, rarely leave home

alone.

Almost 50% of people with sight loss feel cut off

from their community.

The charity Guide Dogs is here for everyone with

sight loss.

Touch point audit

People:

Staff: f2f, comms, inductions, recruitment, CEO speeches, One

Voice booklet

Volunteers; beneficiaries:Speaker packs, booklet,

Inductions, training.

Suppliers: contracts

Products and servicesGuide dog service; My Guide;

Buddy dogs.

Sponsor a Puppy; cash; legacies;

Corporates; challenge events; CF.

Talking Buses; Streets Ahead;

Dog Attacks; Safe & Sound

Environments & channelsNational breeding centre;

Training Schools; regional centres;

Central office.

Signage

Website; intranet; social media.

Stakeholder publications

One voice pocket guide

CommunicationsIntegrated communications

across functions

Ensuring all comms uses key

messages

Call centres.

Active

Participation

Create your own touch point audit

People & behaviours Products & services

Environments & channels Communications

Brand

positioning

Visit the CharityComms website to view

slides from past events, see what

events we have coming up and to

check out what else we do.

www.charitycomms.org.uk

CRM for charity

communicators:developing excellent customer

experience

Conference

2 December 2014

London

#charityCRM