Positive Impact for a Not-for-Profit in Crewe

Anya Dayson • 16 July 2024

OFFERING OUR SUPPORT TO SCB

We strive to make a bigger impact in our local community in Cheshire. So each year we support local not for profit organisations with marketing consultancy services free of charge.


Why do we do this? Well, because we know that just a few hours of our time can make a huge difference to them. It also provides a fresh perspective for our team. They are challenged to understand the dynamics of different organisations in order to recommend the best marketing solutions.


Most recently, our Marketing Consultant Anya helped Alex from Supported Community Business (Special Needs) Ltd. (SCB). This was set up via Cheshire Connect, a local organisation which connects professionals to businesses and charities.



“Thank you so much for sharing your expertise with us…it will surely set us on a good path for the future.”


CHALLENGES

The main challenges that SCB faced were:


·      Growing the SCB name, social media presence and PR reach.

·      Securing additional work and funding.


Alex Muirhead, Workshop Manager at SCB explains the problems they were facing:


“Our charity's messaging and branding were outdated and overly complicated. We needed someone with

expertise in this area to help us rethink and advance our approach. Given the small size of our charity, we

sought an external and unbiased perspective to review our marketing practices and provide honest advice.”



RECOMMENDATIONS

After an intial tour around their site in Crewe, two consultancy sessions were arranged to discuss the challenges. Discussions were focussed on the following key areas so that actionable solutions could be recommended for the short and long term.


·      Messaging and branding

·      Marketing communication planning

·      Fundraising and community engagement

·      Pricing and service


Alex says “The outcomes from working with Ascend can be divided into two parts. First, they made specific suggestions that effectively addressed our challenges, resulting in noticeable improvements for our intended audiences. Second, they instilled a mindset through our conversations that has significantly driven our operations forward in recent months.”

 

FEEDBACK

Here’s what Alex said about our services:


“I really enjoyed working with Anya. She has a fantastic approach, deeply rooted in her marketing experience. She was able to translate this experience and immediately apply it to the specific challenges we were facing.

Thank you so much for sharing your expertise with us. It was greatly appreciated and will surely set us on a good path for the future.”



Find out more:

Cheshire Connect

Supported Community Business, Crewe


For more information about our consultancy services, get in touch below.

Top 3 Tips for Marketing Planning

by Anya Dayson • 3 October 2024
Our Top 3 tips for creating a successful business marketing plan for 2025. Whether you are used to planning your marketing for the year ahead or not, you'll find the following top tips useful to help you create a successful marketing plan for the year ahead for your business. These tips should be used as a starting point. Once you've created your plan, it should be reviewed regularly. 1. Remember to think about existing customers When creating your plan, think about how you can make improvements to the experience for existing customers. This is a reminder here that marketing isn't all about promoting your business to potential customers. Ask yourself these questions: Could you improve the touch points they have with your business? Is there something else you offer that they should know about? Do you understand their needs and wants? Use your answers to consider how you could add value to your product/service offering by meeting their needs. By listening to them, you may even discover something new that you could be offering which competitors aren’t. 2. Review your marketing channels (and include a new one) Have you been sticking to using the same marketing channels? (by channels we mean email, social media, ads etc.). Take look at which marketing channels have been performing well and think about integrating a new one. Choose one that you haven't tried before that will help you to reach your existing and potential clients. Some ideas of new channels to use include: Public relations activities Press releases Events Direct mail Video marketing Once you have chosen one, Integrate it into your marketing plan for 2025 and combine with the same messaging and brand image as you have been doing. 3. Be consistent with your messages When you plan to carry out your marketing activities, it's important to make sure you are consistent with your messages across various channels. This is really important to avoid confusing people. By this we mean keeping the same tone of voice style of writing across all marketing activities and making sure to stick to the same descriptions for your products/services to avoid confusion. Of course, you can make changes to your content to connect to your audience better, just be sure to update it across everything! (especially the finer details like prices). This is something to watch out for when multiple people are working on marketing content. You’ll need to work together to make sure it’s consistent. Best of luck with your planning! For advice and guidance from our team on creating a successful marketing plan, click here to get in touch.
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