The right services

Marketing principles can be used to help voluntary and community organisations to develop the right sort of services that meet users' needs.

Marketing: helping you to meet users' needs

Marketing is the management process of identifying, anticipating and satisfying user needs. Whereas private sector companies must satisfy customer needs profitably, voluntary and community organisations satisfy needs within the context of their organisation's mission and values.

If we don't meet the needs of users, we risk losing our way. We can become so focused on the products and services that we like making or doing, that we forget to check whether anyone really needs them and whether they are the best way to meet the needs of users. Marketing is an approach which enables us to put our users' needs first.

By users, we mean the people that your organisation exists to benefit. These are sometimes called clients, customers, or beneficiaries.

Not just a question of fundraising

It is common in our sector to apply the ideas of marketing to donors. In larger organisations, marketing and fundraising often live together in the same part of the organisation. There is nothing wrong with this, but marketing ideas can perhaps make more impact when applied to helping you better meet the needs of users.

To find out what your users do actually need, you need to carry out market research. You might also want to target your services by segmenting your users.

The marketing mix

Once we know what our users' needs are, we need to satisfy them with the right marketing mix. This means offering:

the right Product (or service, or campaign)
in the right Place (available through the right channels)
at the right Price (even if your service is free to users, someone is paying, and don't forget the cost of time, travel and effort)
with the right Promotion (presented in the right way). This is often what people mean when they talk about marketing.

Promotion is often what people mean when they talk about marketing

You can use the marketing mix as a checklist to think about how your current products and services meet users' needs or to think through a new product or service. With some interpretation, the marketing mix can be a very useful concept for voluntary and community organisations.

Three more Ps for services

If your organisation delivers services, you might also find it useful to think about:

People: the behaviour of staff or volunteers involved in the delivery of a service are integral to the user experience
Physical evidence: think carefully about your service environment including buildings and rooms, furniture, layout, noise levels and catering
Processes: make sure your products and services are user-friendly.

These seven Ps are likely to involve your entire operation. This means that marketing concepts should be woven into organisation-wide strategy and practice.

While everyone in an organisation is responsible for aspects of marketing, it is a good idea for a particular person to be responsible for how your organisation identifies and satisfies user needs.