Working with agencies: getting the biggest bang for your bucks. North West Regional Group: Working...
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Transcript of Working with agencies: getting the biggest bang for your bucks. North West Regional Group: Working...
What are we going to be discussing?
1. When to get an agency involved
2. How to get best value (on a small budget!)
3. DIY 1: Taking charge of your brand
4. DIY 2: Creating a communications plan
5. Success stories
When to involve an agency
• Not at the last minute! Plan ahead and
identify what help you might need and when.
• Assisting with important tasks that your
organisation finds difficult and/or inefficient.
• During (re)branding or the development of a
Communications Plan.
• When seeking to reach new audiences.
• When investing in major communications.
• When you can afford it!
Getting best value from an agency
• Paying agencies to think can be expensive.
Getting them to do stuff is more affordable.
• Find an agency that fits your ‘culture’.
• Don’t be shy about discussing discounts!
SLAs can save money over the long-term.
• Provide clear briefs and prepare content.
• Ask the agency to create templates and
guidance for aiding everyday tasks in-house.
• Most important: ask questions and learn!
Taking charge of your brand
• Brands are like personalities – every
organisation has one, good or bad.
• Don’t focus on everything your organisation
does – focus on what it does best.
• Study the brands of other organisations.
• Involve everyone in the process.
• Be different – blending in is boring.
• Keep it simple! Say a few things, loud and
clear.
Why do you need a communications plan?
• To make your communications more
efficient, effective and consistent.
• Clear and precise – not vague and rambling!
• Help you reach the right people and make
them do something.
• Manage who’s doing what and when.
• Reach beyond the ‘usual suspects’ to new
audiences (geographically and socially).
Drafting YOUR one-page communications plan…
1. Message: What is the purpose of your
organisation? And what do you do best?
2. Audiences: Who are you in touch with
now? Who would you like to be more in
touch with?
3. Benefits: What benefits do you offer each
of the audiences you’ve listed? Why should
they be interested in your group?
Drafting YOUR one-page communications plan…
4. Channels: How do you currently
communicate with your target audiences?
What new ways could you try out?
5. Publicity: What stories about your
organisation might people be interested in?
Galloway & Southern Ayrshire Biosphere
• Big new public/voluntary sector partnership.
• A first for Scotland… pressure to get it right!
• Lots of different issues and audiences.
• A huge area spanning different communities.
• A real need to involve local people from the
bottom up.
• Crowded marketplace for “yet another”
environmental body.
• Limited resources to make it all happen.
Galloway & Southern Ayrshire Biosphere
What they did…
•Identified things they needed help with:
branding and coordinating who does what.
•Made a list of target audiences.
What we did…
•Branding in consultation with stakeholders.
•Communications Plan for working together.
•Templates for designing ‘stuff’.
The Meadows, Salford
• University of Salford, Red Rose Forest and
local Friends Group.
• Urban green space with huge potential… but
under-used due to fear of crime.
• Re-branding the ‘place’ and making it safe
and welcoming.
• Forging bonds between locals and students
– uniting “them and us”.
The Meadows, Salford
What they did…
•Made a list of what the space could be used
for – “more than just a park”.
•Willingness to try something different.
What we did…
•Brought everyone together.
•Created an aspirational vision.
•Invested in a statement of ‘care’.
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