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How to share your story - marketing tips for social entrepreneurs
How to share your story - marketing tips for social entrepreneurs
Written by
UnLtd employee
UnLtd position
How to share your story - marketing tips for social entrepreneurs
Written by
UnLtd employee
UnLtd position
Your social venture has a great product and has created great impact. Start shouting about it. Sharing your story and how you have created positive change is vital for your venture's success. Harry Specters is an award-winning chocolatier and social venture that offers jobs and employment training to young people with autism. From 2013-2016 they supported 62 people with autism with work placements and offered more than 100 individuals short-term employment projects. They have had success reaching a wide audience with coverage in national newspapers and local advertising secured free of charge. All of which has helped them generate more revenue and spread their impact. Find out more about Harry Specter’s success story. Mona gives her top tips for marketing your venture:
‘Our local bus company, Stagecoach, were kind enough to have our posters on all of the buses in three counties, free of cost.’ Local advertising can help your social venture. Take advantage of free opportunities to reach your local audience. In a bid to support local communities major companies may be interested in promoting your work. This can potentially be a win-win for social enterprise and commercial business alike. You gain from free marketing and the commercial business gets a PR boost from supporting a business with social impact.
‘As you move into the real world of actually doing business, everything is quite dynamic’ Your marketing plan should be a flexible document, not a rigid set of rules. It needs to be adaptable enough to react to decisions you make in the real world. Unsure of what a marketing plan is? It begins with understanding your target audience and defining your value proposition.
As a social venture your drive and inspiration is to create positive change in your community or sector. This work can be above and beyond the services or products you sell. Harry Specters was founded not simply to produce delicious chocolate and provide employment opportunities for people with autism, the broader aim was to encourage employers across the UK to think differently about employment opportunities for people with autism. Harry Specters use their blog to promote case studies of the skills their employees have, showcasing their talents and highlighting the ‘unique perspective autism can bring to a business’.
‘Multinationals spend millions and millions of pounds trying to get that story so that they can sell a product. For a social entrepreneur you have that story and you have to make the best use of it’ Harry Specters found that promoting their social impact has been a major source of interest from new buyers. Shouting about the incredible impact your business is having can be a major draw. Recent research into consumer trends supports this. According to Jessi Baker, founder of Provenance and a Big Venture Challenge winner, more than 30% of UK consumers are concerned about where their products come from. Ben Allen, founder of successful social venture Oomph!, says that Oomph! use their impact data to grow their business. When used right, impact data can be a powerful tool to attract new clients or customers to your venture. Effective marketing can ensure that your impact, message, products or services reach the right audience so it's important to get it right. For ideas on where to start, take a look at our advice on how to create a marketing plan.