RNLI

The RNLI is one of the UK’s best-loved charitable organisations, dedicated to saving lives at sea. It operates independently of the government, so the success of its fundraising is vital to maintain its service; and that means cost-effectively getting the right message, to the right audience, at the right time.

In 2012, the charity decided to target time and cost savings by implementing a new web-based marketing suite. After a rigorous selection process, they selected the MarketingUnity software suite to support the project – and achieved benefits from the outset.

Brief and Strategy

“We were looking for an easy-to-use ecommerce system which, in the first instance, would enable all of our fundraising volunteers to go online and order localised, branded marketing material for their own events,” says Jon Middleton, Creative Resources Manager at the RNLI.

“We also wanted them to be able to order their own stock items. So, they might be hosting a summer ball and want promotional posters, tickets and invites, collecting boxes, bunting – all the material they’d need to maximise the success of the event.”

With MarketingUnity in place, volunteers can now place orders when and where they want and customise marketing material with no danger of going ‘off-brand.’

“Users can now edit certain fields, such as event titles, times, dates and so on” explains Middleton. They can also select and insert pre-approved images from the MarketingUnity Digital Asset Manager library.  In the same visit to the website, they can also order from a catalogue of fundraising items”.

Their orders are then routed automatically to RNLI’s in-house production unit, thereby saving administration and production costs.

The effect, says Middleton, has been to overhaul what was previously a slow, manual process and relaunch it as a fast and efficient, flexible, user-friendly digital service.

“Our education and community fundraisers were the first to be given access to the online system, and the feedback, says Middleton, has been overwhelmingly positive. The system has subsequently been extended to RNLI volunteers working in education, to download material relevant for schools visits and presentations, and to RNLI shops, for sales staff to order stock.

That’s over 1,500 people, and they’ve told us how simple and easy to use the system is and how much quicker deliveries are.”

Why did the RNLI choose MarketingUnity?

“They were able to offer us all the functionality we were looking for within a single, integrated suite.” says Middleton. “We’d never approached this level of integration before, so I think we all learned a lot. MarketingUnity worked very closely with us and were very supportive. When we hit any glitches or challenges, they were very reactive and solution-focused.”

Results and Benefits

The system has saved significant time, both in user and order processing staff administration, but also in studio time and deliveries.

According to Middleton, users and management also really appreciate the information delivered by the system. Previously, fundraisers might have put on an event with the aim of raising, say, £250. But there was no way they could know that the items they were ordering for that event, like posters, bunting, tickets, collections boxes and so on, might actually cost us a large percentage of their takings. With Marketingunity in place, they can now make informed decisions which influence what they do. Also, placing orders in their own time makes it much easier and more convenient for them.”

There have also been tangible benefits for the RNLI head office marketing team.

“Because the system ensures that our current logos, correct fonts and so on are used, our brand guidelines are maintained,” says Middleton. We’ve also saved significant time. Before the MarketingUnity system was implemented, two artworkers spent a large proportion of their time working on orders for marketing materials, but now, 80 per cent of that time has been freed up to work on other projects.”

“Before MarketingUnity, administrative staff had to manually enter the orders into our management system, but the time they need to spend doing that has also been reduced. Most importantly, the user experience has been exceptionally positive. Our service level is 10 days, but previously people could wait up to three weeks for their orders to arrive. Since implementing MarketingUnity, people are often receiving their material within three days of placing their orders, which enables them to make the most of last minute fundraising opportunities. It’s really speeded up the process.”

Image Credit: http://nigelmillard.co.uk/