Using strategic audience insights and tailored messaging to recruit foster carers in Devon
Freshwater delivered a multi-channel campaign for Devon County Council that was aimed at boosting the quantity, quality and diversity of foster care applications.
The campaign utilised strategic audience insights and tailored messaging to reach our target audiences.
4.5 million
impressions
26,017
clicks to the Fostering Devon website
A click through rate 4x higher
than industry benchmarks for Google Display
Brief
Devon County Council appointed Freshwater to help recruit new foster carers over a 12-month period while improving the quality of applications being made and creating a sense of community and support for prospective foster carers.
We were also tasked with reaching potential foster carers who were able to meet the diverse needs of foster children.
Delivery
We began by undertaking a comprehensive audience insight exercise. This identified many ‘fuel’ and ‘friction’ factors affecting attitudes and behaviours towards fostering and we mapped these against capability, opportunity and motivation.
Among the ‘friction’ factors, which needed to be removed, were the fear of being judged and concerns around being the right cultural fit. Our strategy addressed this by raising awareness of the types of people who could foster, demystifying the challenges and directly addressing concerns.
We applied the EAST principles to our campaign, which influenced the messaging, creatives and channels used.
Our creatives featured different family set-ups so that they resonated with people from diverse backgrounds.
Our channel plan focused on digital advertising to make best use of the budget, with a series of bursts around key calendar dates. Channels included Facebook, Instagram, Google Display Network, YouTube and PPC.
Results
During the first year of the campaign, we delivered 4.5 million impressions across all digital platforms and 26,017 clicks to the Fostering Devon website.
Our ads on Google Search (PPC) outperformed benchmarks with a click through rate over four times the industry benchmark. These ads also resulted in the most traffic and conversions out of all the paid activity.
We saw great successes with Fostering Devon ranking first for Impression Share when compared with competitors and placed first for the Absolute Top of Page Rate.
Engagement with the adverts was positive with 100% of reactions being ‘like’ or ‘love’.
We are now delivering the second year of the campaign using the findings from year one.