marketing and inclusion strategy 2014-2019 (draft) Introduction Corporate objectives Communications strategy marketing and inclusion strategy This digital marketing and inclusion strategy is a supplementary strategy of our overall communications strategy (as illustrated above). It has been written to identify how digital marketing and inclusion can help Teign Housing achieve its corporate objective to: Produce a 5 year Inclusion strategy for Teign Housing. Raise awareness and promote our new brand.comunity. marketing This strategy considers how we will market and promote online services and increase our engagement, interaction and retention of relationships with tenants and stakeholders through digital media. It does not consider internal digital communication as this will be covered by Teign Housing s Thrive strategy and the forth-coming mobile working policy. 1
inclusion We recognise that digital access and skills will help improve our tenants financial health by having more choice of lower cost services. It will also improve their wellbeing and employability and connection with Teign Housing s online services. This strategy and objectives are supported by the Inclusion Group and action plan, which sets out how we will support our tenants to get online by providing training via digital champions, signposting to other organisations and reviewing the use of Smart TV s, Smart Phones and providing wifi on schemes. Telecommunication companies, internet providers, Government departments and third sector organisations provide grants to get communities online. The group will also focus on identifying these external funding streams to maximise Teign Housing initiatives and innovation that will improve digital access amongst tenants. Key target audiences It is important that we understand who we are communicating to so that we can tailor our communication methods and messages accordingly. Three key target audiences have been identified, however, we should look to review these annually as it is likely that the online behaviour and wants and needs of these groups will change over five years who we want to target may also change over five years. Young people and families Households of 16-55, with children under 18 living at home, two or single parent households. (See supporting audit for details regarding online behaviour, lifestyle and wants and needs) Retired tenants Households of 56+ years old, no dependants, the higher end of this age bracket is likely to live in supported housing and have support needs. More likely to live as a single occupier. (See supporting audit for details regarding online behaviour, lifestyle and wants and needs) Stakeholders 2
Local Authority, parish councils, local MP s, media, emergency services, healthcare professionals, schools/colleges, social services. (See supporting audit for details regarding online behaviour, lifestyle and wants and needs) How we will use digital communication tools Search Marketing Search engine optimisation (SEO) making sure website content contains the right keywords to increase online traffic Pay-per-click and Google Ad Words won t necessarily be appropriate for Teign Housing, but would be worth considering for TeignCare and the Handyperson service provided the return on investment is sufficient Online PR Publishing our news stories Promoting services Monitoring media mentions using Google Alerts (free online tool) Protecting the Teign Housing brand and reputation Mobile text a tenant, promoting the use of the Allpay smart phone app, appointment reminders, rent reminders Online partnerships Making sure that Teign Housing has a presence on all online activity that promotes any joint ventures that Teign Housing may be part of Create more links on partner websites to drive more traffic to Teign Housing s website Seek sponsorship opportunities 3
that will increase Teign Housing s web presence and online traffic Social media marketing Increase and manage Teign Housing s social media presence Increase interaction between Teign Housing our their key audiences via social media Increase customer feedback through social media Protect reputation Monitor through Hootsuite (free online tool) Opt-in e-mail Maintain in house list of e-mail addresses of tenants and stakeholders for marketing purposes E-newsletters to stakeholders and tenants Seek opportunities for inclusion in partnering e-newsletters Send design and monitor using Beemail (online tool with bespoke Teign Housing templates) Interactive Advertising Seek opportunities for interactive advertising where appropriate, provided return on investment is sufficient Changing technology Given that fast paced nature of digital technology, we will need to adapt the digital tools we use to suit new emerging technology and also consider disabling digital tools that may become out-of-date over the next five years. Integration It is important that any digital marketing we do is integrated with our traditional marketing, this will be particularly important during the first few years whilst our key 4
audiences and staff adapt to the change. For this reason, all of our digital marketing actions will be incorporated into our overall marketing plan. This plan is reviewed annually and continually up-dated to make sure it responds the changing needs and priorities of the business. marketing objectives The digital marketing objectives below have been set in response to our corporate objectives and the SWOT analysis that can be found in the supporting audit. Making sure that we target all our digital marketing in line with the online behaviours and wants and expectations of our target audiences will be vital in the success of this strategy this information can also be found in the supporting audit. Year one 2014/15 Increase online rent payments so that 15% of our tenants pay online Increase online repair requests so that 10% of our tenants request their Increase online ASB reporting so that 30% of incidents are reported online Increase our social media presence by launching a Facebook and Twitter page (this will also help improve our SEO) Gain 50 Facebook likes and 50 Twitter followers Re-launch SeeMyData with up-dated version Increase SeeMyData users from 100 users to 200 Replace Hub (annual stakeholder magazine) with a quarterly E-zine Develop stakeholder email database Prepare tenants and staff to replace In Touch (twice annually tenant newsletter) with a smaller monthly e-zine, allowing tenants to request a paper version Increase tenant email addresses held on our system from 25% to 30% Monitor device access to our website Reduce traditional publication spend by 10% Year two 2015/16 Increase online rent payments so that 20% of our tenants pay online Increase online repair requests so that 20% of our tenants request their 5
Increase online ASB reporting so that 35% of incidents are reported online Increase our social media presence by launching a blog (this will also help improve our SEO) Review the benefits of using video and YouTube Gain 100 Facebook likes and 100 Twitter followers Increase SeeMyData users from 200 users to 400 Increase tenant email addresses held on our system from 30% to 40% Launch In Touch as a monthly e-zine Depending on device access data and trends, look to optimise for mobile use if appropriate Introduce a dedicated digital budget using savings from publications and printing budget Reduce traditional publication spend by 25% Year three 2016/17 Increase online rent payments so that 30% of our tenants pay online Increase online repair requests so that 30% of our tenants request their Increase online ASB reporting so that 40% of incidents are reported online Gain 150 Facebook likes and 150 Twitter followers Increase SeeMyData users from 400 users to 600 Increase tenant email addresses held on our system from 40% to 55% Reduce traditional publication spend by 50% Year four 2017/18 Increase online rent payments so that 40% of our tenants pay online Increase online repair requests so that 40% of our tenants request their Increase online ASB reporting so that 45% of incidents are reported online Gain 200 Facebook likes and 200 Twitter followers Increase SeeMyData users from 600 users to 1000 Increase tenant email addresses held on our system from 55% to 70% Reduce traditional publication spend by 75% Year five 2018/19 Increase online rent payments so that 50% of our tenants pay online 6
Increase online repair requests so that 50% of our tenants request their Increase online ASB reporting so that 50% of incidents are reported online Gain 250 Facebook likes and 250 Twitter followers Increase SeeMyData users from 1000 users to 1500 Increase tenant email addresses held on our system from 70% to 90% Reduce traditional publication spend by 100% These actions have been set using current data and knowledge (as of 2014). We are likely to add to these actions depending on the information we start to capture in year one onwards. The targets set will also be reviewed each year using data captured. Inclusion 4.1m of the 8.7m UK adults who have never been online are in social housing. skills are a vital route to improve residents financial literacy, education, employability and wellbeing. They give tenants choice and control and access to lower-cost, better services. ( by Default 2012, The Case for Housing; Housing Technology and Race Online 2012, Nov 2011) This strategy aims to increase residents access to, and meaningful use of, digital technology and the internet as digital access and skills are becoming vital to maintaining residents financial health and well being. An important recent driver for digital inclusion is welfare reform. A key change will be the rolling together of most benefits into one Universal Credit payment which will be implemented in phases from October 2013 to 2017. Claims and management of Universal Credit is expected to occur online. Therefore, with welfare reform, digital inclusion will be particularly important for tenancy sustainment. Universal Credit not withstanding, digital access and skills give residents greater choice of lower cost services, can improve their employability, connect them with our own online services, and connect those who are isolated with friends and relatives. In this context, we will offer residents opportunities to acquire effective on line skills; sign posting to the support provided by specialist partner organisations, working in partnership with other agencies and exploring how we can increase internet access. 7
As an annex to this strategy, there is a digital inclusion action plan that shows how we will address digital exclusion amongst our tenants. Resources This strategy will affect the corporate and customer services team, IT team, the housing team and the digital inclusion group. The PR and marketing lead will oversee the strategy and review it on annual basis, the corporate administrator will support them by taking on the general administration and monitoring of the website and any social media sites. The digital inclusion group will also help deliver and monitor this strategy. Budget This strategy will affect the governance and marketing, office management and IT budgets. Below is a breakdown of the design, printing and posting costs that are involved in producing Teign Housing s traditional marketing materials. We would still incur design costs, but there would be saving (as illustrated below) on print and postage. Design 0% 100% 50% Publications 2,975 2,975 2,975 Newsletters 2,275 2,275 2,275 Annual Report 2,100 2,100 2,100 Printing Publications 5,525 2,763 Newsletters 4,225 2,113 Annual Report 3,900 1,950 Postage Publications 1,750 875 Newsletters 3,150 1,575 Annual Report 2,100 1,050 8
The use and maintenance of SeeMyData is already accounted for within the IT budget. Potential savings The savings made would be used to create a dedicated digital budget which would fund further digital inclusion projects and online services. The figures below highlight the savings that could be made if Teign Housing was to adopt a 50% digital marketing approach and up to 100%. Total 0% Annual Cost 100% 50% Annual Saving 100% 0% 50% Publications 10,250 2,975 6,613-7,275 3,638 Newsletters 9,650 2,275 5,963-7,375 3,688 Annual Report 8,100 2,100 5,100-6,000 3,000 28,000 7,350 17,676-20,650 10,326 Evaluating success We will monitor the success of our digital marketing using the following tools: Google analytics (website) Hootsuite (social media) Google alerts Beemail Customer insight data SeeMyData registration data Allpay data Telephone response statistics Outcomes from the Inclusion action plan Using the tools above, we will produce a monthly report that will go to the digital inclusion group for review. 9