Ciara Smyth, assistant director - marketing and strategy, The Stroke Association 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

1. Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300
stroke.org.uk
Towards Customer
Focus
CharityComms Conference 2 Dec 2014
Ciara Smyth, Deputy Director, Insight & Strategy

2. Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300
stroke.org.uk
Presentation
• Share the journey the Stroke Association has gone on to
become customer focused
• Change programme – winning hearts and minds
• Share some reflections – lessons – including elements of
storytelling and principles of persuasion

3. Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300
stroke.org.uk
Question
• What is the first thing you have
to do to become a customer-
focused organisation?
• ….if colleagues aren’t
convinced?

4. Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300
stroke.org.uk
Stroke Association in 2012
• Dramatic growth and success over
the previous 20 years
• Funded research which was
instrumental in halving numbers
dying of stroke
• Campaigning led to national stroke
strategies throughout UK
• Developed FAST Campaign –
adopted by the Dept of Health
• Doubled the number of people we
directly support
• Doubled income

5. Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300
stroke.org.uk
Fit for the future?

6. Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300
stroke.org.uk
Messaging
• The Stroke Association is the only charity solely
concerned with helping everyone affected by stroke
across the UK. Our vision is to have a world where there
are fewer strokes and all those touched by stroke get the
help they need.
• A stroke is a brain attack which happens when the blood
supply to the brain is cut off, caused by a clot or bleeding
in the brain. Around 150,000 people have a stroke in the
UK every year and it is the leading cause of severe adult
disability. There are over 1million people in UK living with
the effects of stroke.

7. Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300
stroke.org.uk
Where to start?
Insight
External
drivers
Audience Messaging
Positioning
Offerings
Stewardship Processes
Promotional
activity

8. Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300
stroke.org.uk

9. Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300
stroke.org.uk
Our audiences/customers
Researchers
Health
professionals
Social care
professionals
Influencers
At risk of stroke
Families & carers
Supporters
Stroke survivors
Businesses

10. Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300
stroke.org.uk
Get appeal
letter
Read
external blog
Read Stroke
News
Attend conference
Our customer journeys are
complicated and not linear

11. Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300
stroke.org.uk
You have to find a group that really, desperately
cares about what it is you have to say. Talk to them.
And make it easy for them to tell their friends.
Seth Godin

12. Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300
stroke.org.uk
Who cares?
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Stroke
Association
Asthma UK BHF CRUK Macmillan Scope Diabetes UK MS Society
18-24
25-34
35-44
45-54
55-64
65+

13. Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300
stroke.org.uk
Stroke – a cause I care about
• Age is a key factor.
• 32% of 18-35 year olds say
they care about stroke vs 58%
babyboomers
• About a third of our supporters
have had a stroke
• Significant proportion of our
supporters are carers or people
with close family member who
has had a stroke
• Our greatest source of
unprompted donations come
from higher and older socio-
economic groups
Source CBI 2013

14. Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300
stroke.org.uk
Baby boomers
• Attitudes shaped by post war optimism
• They were the generation who believed
they could create a better society – the
changes they were part of convinced
them they can get what they want
• They strongly defend the principles of
welfare and free healthcare
• Sandwich generation caught between
caring for children and parents
• They fear for their own health

15. Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300
stroke.org.uk
Next?
Insight
External
drivers
Audience Messaging
Positioning
Offerings
Stewardship Processes
Promotional
activity

16. Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300
stroke.org.uk
“A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to
them…”
Steve Jobs

17. Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300
stroke.org.uk
Messaging
• We believe in life after stroke. That’s why we support
stroke survivors to make the best recovery they can.
It’s why we campaign for better stroke prevention
and care. And it’s why we fund research to develop
new treatments and ways of preventing stroke.

18. Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300
stroke.org.uk

19. Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300
stroke.org.uk
• Is it awareness?
• 4 in 10 people have heard of us.
• Is it understanding of stroke?
• No longer. 7 in 10 can now accurately
describe a stroke
• Is it because people don’t think it’s
treatable?
• No, because 8 in 10 now think it is
• Is it because people don’t think it’s
preventable?
• No, because 7 in 10 now realise it is
What’s the problem?

20. Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300
stroke.org.uk
Comparing how much people care
about supporting our cause
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
This is one of a few charities I would donate to (%)
This is one of many charities I would consider
donating to (%)

21. Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300
stroke.org.uk
Why do people give to health
charities?
• Motivating factors
• Because they were asked
• Personal connection
• Because they think these are big problems – they hear
about them all the time
• Because they dying or pain
• Because they hope their donation will benefit themselves
or a loved now or in the distant future

22. Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300
stroke.org.uk
Our communications problem
Stroke isn’t in the ballpark of the big killers
in people’s minds…

23. Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300
stroke.org.uk
Putting us in the ballpark
• Position stroke relative to
other LTCs and killer
diseases
• Dial up the emotional
connection
• Focus on collective action
• Think BIG!
• Focus on what’s unique
about stroke
• Make the supporter the hero

24. Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300
stroke.org.uk
Examples of new messaging
• Stroke is cruel. It can hit you out of nowhere and rob you of your
speech, your ability to walk, your memory, your independence and your
dignity. It can kill you in an instant. And it’s more common than you
might think. Stroke is the UK’s third biggest killer. It kills more women
than breast cancer and more men than prostate cancer every year.
We’ve been leading the fight against stroke for over 20 years. Together
with our supporters, we’ve provided direct support to hundreds of
thousands of people and funded breakthroughs in medicine that mean
the number of people dying from stroke has halved.
• Someone dies every 10 minutes of a stroke in the UK. Join with us to
stop stroke FAST. Together we can conquer stroke.

25. Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300
stroke.org.uk
Focus on the person not the
medical condition
• When a stroke strikes everything changes. It can affect you in very different
ways…..After a stroke you might not be able to walk…. You might struggle
to get the words out….. Unsurprisingly you might be wracked with grief,
depression and financial worries and, on top of all that, that another stroke
might be even worse. Stroke is cruel.

26. Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300
stroke.org.uk
Focus on success
• But we’re not powerless in the face of
stroke. Over the last 20 years we’ve
turned the determination of people
affected by stroke, the expertise of our
researchers and the generosity of
donors into a revolution which has
transformed stroke. The numbers of
people dying from stroke has halved.
More people than ever get emergency
treatment thanks to our F.A.S.T
campaign. And tens of thousands of
people make better recoveries as a
result of new ways of treating stroke.

27. Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300
stroke.org.uk
Next steps
• Ongoing insight
• Target supporter-focused
portfolio of products
• Stewardship and processes

28. Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300
stroke.org.uk
Lessons
• Lesson 1 - appeal to people’s desire for meaning
• Don’t tell people what they want – show them
• Colleagues need to see where they fit into the story as much as
external audiences
• Lesson 2 – clarify the problem
• Do we have shared understanding of the communications problem
here?
• Lesson 3 – focus on the big goal
• Be OK with messy – does each step move me nearer my goal?
• Lesson 4 - Use the principles of persuasion
• Social proof - Show what the competition are doing
• Commitment – small steps help people to commit step by step
• Authority – use data and insight to back up your recommendations

29. 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

30. CRM for charity
communicators:
developing excellent customer
experience
Conference
2 December 2014
London
#charityCRM