We’ve been running an activity campaign for the over 65s in Chichester for Chichester District Council and it’s going really well. A lot of our work is via the telephone and as in previous campaigns we are finding it to be a much better method of communication for this audience.
Whilst many businesses are reliant on the speed and track ability of email and online marketing, ours is a very traditional campaign relying on ‘snail mail’ and the phone. We know our costs may be a little higher and we can’t record who has opened or binned our correspondence but we are nevertheless achieving good results, with what is a typically hard to reach group of people. Email just wouldn’t work for us; a majority of people within our target group don’t have or respond well to email. They much prefer receiving a ‘personal’ letter that they can ‘hold’ and refer back to.
We don’t ‘cold call’, instead people register their interest via a freepost form or via the phone number we have set up and this makes a difference. People have read about what we are doing, they want to take part, and they are expecting our call.
Our first call normally covers the reasons why they are taking part and surprisingly often the activity itself is the 2nd or 3rd reason on the list. Our group contains many socially isolated people who welcome our contact – they want to meet people, feel a little fitter, and have a little more enjoyment in their week.
Of course we have a whole list of questions and information we would like to collect from our participants but we have found a more informal approach works better, more of a chat where we can gather information along the way. People are then more relaxed and have often already given us much of the information we need to help them. Starting off with a question about the activities they are already involved in usually allows people to tell us what their barriers are and also what their abilities are.
We follow them up regularly with a letter or calls at 1, 3 and 6 months and so far everything is very positive!
For more information on our work in Chichester download the full case study.
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