Louise Robertshaw, head of marketing and communications, Guide Dogs 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. Developing key messages for
Louise Robertshaw MCIPR
Head of communications and campaigns
Guide Dogs
Different touch points

2. Brand positioning and
manifesto

3. Brand mission and values

4. Brand as a consistent organising
People & behaviours Products & services
Environments & channels Communications
Brand
positioning
principle

7. Tone of Voice

8. However, still brand challenges
 Out of sight, out of
mind
 Misperceptions
Lack of
relevance

9. 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…

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. “(Guide Dogs) should worry about people
thinking it’s an extraordinary thing, only
relevant to a few people.”
The key challenge from the research

16. 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

17. 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.

18. 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 services
Guide dog service; My Guide;
Buddy dogs.
Sponsor a Puppy; cash; legacies;
Corporates; challenge events; CF.
Talking Buses; Streets Ahead;
Dog Attacks; Safe & Sound
Environments & channels
National breeding centre;
Training Schools; regional centres;
Central office.
Signage
Website; intranet; social media.
Stakeholder publications
One voice pocket guide
Communications
Integrated communications
across functions
Ensuring all comms uses key
messages
Call centres.
Active
Participation

19. Create your own touch point audit
People & behaviours Products & services
Environments & channels Communications
Brand
positioning

20. 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

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