Charities must invest in marketing in face of cuts
Charities must reinforce positive messages through marketing and communications, according to charity marketers, as fresh warnings emerge that the sector faces a £110m funding shortfall.
A survey by lobby group False Economy has revealed that more than 2,000 charities providing services to local authorities will have funding reduced or withdrawn in the next year following the Government’s spending cuts.
Vicky Browning, director of third sector marcomms advisory body CharityComms, says charities must continue to communicate positive messages rather than cutting investment into marketing and comms in response to funding cuts.
She says: “Marketing and communications have an important role in these difficult times. Charities must make more noise about what they contribute by talking about the value they provide and the savings they make. They need to turn it into a positive message and highlight why they are important.”
The third sector must also respond to cuts by further sharpening focus, improving integration across channels and using digital channels creatively to get the maximum ROI, according to David Barker, director of communications at Breakthrough Breast Cancer.
“Charities providing services are feeling the pinch even harder [than others] and so will be naturally forced to be more focused in their aims and who they are targeting. We do our best work in lean times and charities must make sure they understand and embrace digital in a creative way.”
