Engagement strategies for charities in a Coronavirus dominated world and beyond

Welcome (3 mins)

Live panel discussion: How COVID-19 is changing engagement with our audiences (1 hour)

In this live and interactive panel discussion, charity comms leaders will discuss how COVID-19 has changed engagement with their audiences overnight. We’ll be trying to understand how our audience’s attitudes may have changed towards charities and how we should be responding to this. Amongst the questions we’ll explore, we’ll be asking our leaders about the trends they’re seeing and how they’re cutting through the noise and keeping people engaged during the isolation period when people’s mental availability may be limited. We’ll be looking at how to frame your messages right in this sensitive time. There will also be opportunities for attendees to ask questions.

During this difficult and unprecedented time, it’s vital we pull together as a charity comms community to share knowledge and support each other. This is your opportunity to connect with peers and to tap into each other’s experiences to spot the upcoming challenges and brainstorm solutions together. You can join any of the following discussions:

• Responding to COVID-19: tackling current challenges
• Adapting strategic objectives during a crisis – how to make the right decisions quickly
• What are the best digital tools for communicating with audiences in this crisis?
• What audience trends is your charity seeing – share and learn

Live panel discussion: comms leaders discuss how COVID-19 is changing their roles and ways of working

Everything changed overnight. With many teams working from home and remotely for the first time, how are charities organising themselves? How are priorities and roles changing? As the landscape is ever-shifting beneath our feet – how do we keep pace, plan and budget for an uncertain future? What might charitable giving look like in a post-pandemic world and how should we prepare? How should charities prepare marketing and digital strategies for a post-pandemic economy? We’ll be getting into the nitty gritty and there will be lots of opportunities to ask questions.

• Home working – challenges and solutions around virtual organisation
• The changing role of the comms function during the crisis
• Strategic planning and budget during and beyond the crisis
• How should charities prepare marketing and digital strategies for a post-pandemic economy?

Close to live proceedings and launch of pre-recorded talks

Communicating effectively in the toughest times

What we say and how we say it matters. Now more than ever. They ways we talk to – and about – each other shape how we respond to this crisis and how we move through it. The FrameWorks Institute is drawing on 20 years of communications research to provide guidance on effective framing in the current context. This webinar will bring to life key insights and recommendations. It will be hosted by UK-based director of impact Nicky Hawkins.

Strengthening internal comms in a remote working world – tips and practical advice

With scores of people newly working remotely, strengthening internal comms systems and processes is crucial for charities right now. In this session, Creative Concern will be sharing practical advice and tips as well as real life insights from our colleagues across the charity sector for how they are engaging with their colleagues and binding teams together. They will also explore how teams can continue to collaborate remotely and share a process for idea generation that can be just as effective online.

Audience insight: how do charities decide the right path?

Often people arrive at the idea that segmentation is the key to effective engagement. So why are so many segmentation projects falling short? What are we missing?  In this talk, Michele will offer a set of questions to help you work out the best approach to audience insight for your charity. It will include exercises to do individually or for your whole team

Building a relationship with your supporters using digital engagement actions

In this presentation more onion will explore how you can design and develop engagement actions that can deliver a responsive and rewarding supporter experience that helps build long-term relationships. Rebecca Turner will share strategic top tips, case studies and practical takeaways for how you can create actions that build knowledge of your supporters, personalise their experience and deepen their engagement.

An organisation-wide engagement approach: how Prostate Cancer UK is putting audiences first

From fundraising to brand – when all functions work together to reach audiences, they are more likely to build enduring relationships that help move them closer to mission goals. In this talk, you’ll hear how Prostate Cancer UK is making changes to its approach and process to put audiences at the heart of its work. From identifying and understanding its audience segments to developing innovative cross function “audience planning” networks and customer focused planning and briefing. Tracey will tell us how they plan to use their audience insight to grab the attention of the right people, at the right time through creative content and storytelling.

How to put your brand on the front foot post-Corona

Some things will change, radically, and some will stay the same. Understanding how your brand can navigate the post crisis environment will be essential for survival and success.  Max will explore the role of brand in driving and delivering corporate strategy and how to navigate the new post Corona priorities, Claire will examine how well your visual identity is doing its job and Lucy will share the tools for creating an audience focused brand that overcomes short term blips and seizes opportunities for deeper connection. There will also be an opportunity to practically learn about how to apply the Brand Effectiveness Score Card – helping you analyse and make your brand is fit for the future.

Starting from scratch: Tips, tricks and strategies for cutting through the noise

When budget and manpower are limited and competition is fierce, how does an organisation grab the attention of an audience and raise its profile when starting from a low base? SPANA explains how the conception of a brand-building awareness day, which places content at its heart, transformed the digital presence of a relatively unknown animal welfare charity and delivered all-time high engagement levels. We explore the tools and tactics that allowed SPANA to carve out an established presence in the sector through its International Working Animal Day campaign, which continues to grow year-on-year. We look at how organisations can link niche issues to broader development narratives using specific content and platforms and discuss the logistics of how to bring in regular, high-quality content.

Co-production – a crash course in the future of authentic marketing

With their incredible empathy and imagination, children and young people can make the best change-makers. But they can’t do it alone, they need our help. In this session, charity Effervescent will share its innovative model for co-producing beautiful, truthful and creative campaigns with children and young people. Using examples of their work they’ll show us the impact this approach can have, and they’ll show us what children and young people can achieve when we put our faith in them. Effervescent is an innovative charity that is at the forefront of this emerging area of expertise and is committed to making the world a kinder, happier place by collaborating with young people.

Reimagining purpose: repositioning the Natural History Museum as a scientific leader

If there’s ever been a time to focus on what’s important, it’s now. The rise of purpose in the corporate sector shifted the goalposts for charities and left them level-pegging with business in the 2020 Edelman Trust Barometer for being seen as ‘purpose-driven’. But the global pandemic will put all types of organisations to the test and offer an opportunity for those rooted in social purpose to prove their worth. In this session, attendees will hear how the Natural History Museum communicated a reimagined purpose ‘to inspire a love of our natural world and unlock answers to the big issues facing humanity and the planet’. Through a new brand framework and integrated communications strategy, the museum was able to tell a clear, compelling and consistent story. Not only did this achieve cut-through in the museum’s most successful ever media campaign, reaching 86% of the UK population and 90 million globally, it repositioned the Museum as a relevant, future-focused cultural and scientific leader, growing its influence with government, funders and partners.

Tips for producing content during the pandemic and beyond

Whatever your situation, you still need to produce content – be it for fundraising, communicating with your beneficiaries about vital services, or raising awareness about your organisation’s current situation. In this talk, Ryan will take us through some best practices for getting the most out of digital channels. He’ll explore how we can cut through all the noise and think outside the box with messaging. You’ll also get inspiration for quick-turnaround, cost-effective content – particularly video.

Really Reframing: Persuading a community of experts to change the way they communicate

The debate on antibiotic resistance is dominated by biomedical experts, and it’s stalled. In a major framing research project across seven countries and with 12,000 members of the public, the Wellcome Trust (a health research foundation)  developed a rigorous new approach to framing resistance. But publishing research is just the start – getting expert audiences to change their behaviour is the challenging part. Find out how this project learned from past mistakes to secure the buy in and commitment of organisations and influencers around the world. Dan will share how they identified their audiences, created ‘nickable’ content, addressed counter-arguments  and used digital innovation to connect effectively with those audiences and accelerate change. 
Suitable for: charities interested in reframing, digital innovation or engaging policy makers around the world. Would best suit medium to large budgets.