9. Marketing Your Project
9. Marketing Your Project
Communicating what you are doing clearly to everyone that may be interested is vital to gaining support. Stakeholders - the people that you want to engage with and keep informed, can be divided up into groups that need different levels or types of communication. Think about who they are and what will work best for them (digital, social media, leaflets, face to face events?)
As well as general communication, you will also want to market your project specifically to funders and supporters. Be prepared to contact and meet with funding organisations and MSPs, local Councillors etc. and have a clear sales pitch or presentation ready.
An example of a Marketing Plan is provided in the link below.
Outline Marketing Plan
The following outline gives headings and a structure for a marketing plan. Although writing a marketing plan is often seen as an unnecessary, time-consuming process, it can be used as a working document to help you reach your objectives - including your funding goals by providing useful groundwork prior to preparing a funding strategy and when talking to potential funders. It will help you articulate a strategy for promoting your organisation / product / service, providing insights into your market and your audience (and how to engage with them). It also ensures everyone in your organisation is on the same page and knows what the common goals are, helping it to operate more efficiently.
Executive summary
This should be written after the main body of the plan has been produced. It will summarise the plan’s main points, elements and conclusions, enabling the reader to read the main headlines quickly at the outset.
Introduction
Explain your organisation, giving a brief background of its history to date and what your marketing plan will achieve.
Research / methodology
Carry out desk research to find any existing documentation which will help you evaluate what your audience is likely to want (ie best way of them accessing it, likely buying habits, trends in your market etc). Look up organisations that carry out similar work to yourself on the internet and understand what they provide and how they promote it. Are there are ‘competitor’ organisations that might be operating in the same marketplace, vicinity or with a similar audience? Make sure you differentiate yourself and provide something different (eg think of a Unique Selling Point: USP).
Speak to potential customers / service users etc. What do they want / need? How much would they be willing to pay? How would they like to access what you are offering?
A SWOT Analysis
This will guide you to build on what you do well, address what you’re lacking, seize new openings, and minimize risks. Carrying out a SWOT Analysis will help to assess your organisation’s position before you decide on any new strategy / plan.
Define your target audience
Who are you aiming your product / service at? Objectives of your marketing plan Examples of objectives are:
- to have a defined path to obtain new customers/service users,
- strengthen relationships with current customers and clients,
- increase sales/usage, improve retention,
- increase brand awareness
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