"What does Paces need to be like for parents to invite us in to their lives?"
Not my words but those of the ever-stimulating Mike Chitty. I met Mike at the Sunshine Bakery in Chapel Allerton this afternoon. Over a very civilised pot of tea and cup cake we discussed adult services and marketing. (I had a mango, banana and passion fruit cupcake with which baker David Bennett beat competition from 70 other professional bakers a couple of weeks ago to win the National award as Britain's best cupcake. It was delicious!).
Marketing to "Worlds of one". Another of Mike's phrases. I shall wait until he elaborates the idea on his blog -soon I hope - to get his full meaning. For here and now, Ray and Karen and I at Paces have been pondering this week how to reach parents of children with cerebral palsy in South Yorkshire. A bid to the Big Lottery "Reaching Communities" programme has not gone forward as they are asking us to demonstrate need. One problem is that their notion of "community" is perhaps an identifiable geographic one, such as High Green, that is self-aware and can be "reached" through consultation to identify common service needs that might then be funded. The "community" of parents of children with cerebral palsy is an altogether different proposition - one that is made up of single families, very largely isolated one from the other, with no awareness of itself as a "community" that can identify common needs: "Worlds of one".
How do we start to talk to "World's of one"? We ask of ourselves "What does Paces need to be like for parents to invite us in to their lives?"
".... for parents to invite us into their lives?" That's the phrase that grabbed me and gave real meaning to the whole sentence.
If, as Mike asserts, marketing is about conversations, what should we be saying, how should we be saying it, in what voice, so that parents see Paces as people they would "invite into their lives" - to seek our services, become our members, volunteer their support.
I could go on. I need to think awhile. This is just a brief taste of a very stimulating conversation. Great cupcake, too!
