Matt Hyde, CEO of the Scout Association
If you’re a CEO, how do you decide what role marketing should play in your organisation? How much influence should it have? It’s the subject of some controversy. Earlier this month, Econsultancy reported that whilst 77% of senior marketers agreed that ‘marketing is a critical function within our business’, just 62% of finance directors shared that opinion. Only 43% of finance directors believe that ‘the head of marketing has significant strategic influence on the business’, compared to 62% of marketers.
As a marketer, I’m concerned about this. The research raises particular issues for charity marketing. In an age of increasing scrutiny from the media and politicians, further impending cuts to local authority funding, and growing expectations from stakeholders about delivering services seamlessly through digital channels I would argue that the nonprofit world needs to communicate even more effectively.
Recently the Chartered Institute of Marketing charity interest group brought together Matt Hyde, CEO of the Scout Association, Carolan Davidge, Director of Marketing and Engagement at the British Heart Foundation and Professor Ian Bruce, founder and President of the Centre for Charity Effectiveness at Cass Business School, to debate what good marketing leadership looks like. The panel was chaired by Alistair Eglinton of Brand Core, a brand champion and transformation specialist. They shared a number of useful insights to help CEOs shape their marketing strategies.
Define your personal brand as a leader. Davidge felt that honesty was the most important quality in leaders, believing that people value the softer side of leadership such as emotional intelligence. Davidge said that a key question for every CEO was, ‘How well do you manage your people, how do you inspire them?’ Hyde, (a previous winner of a top charity #socialceos award) felt that CEOs should prioritise authenticity alongside their organisation’s mission and vision: ‘You need to be able to demonstrate hope and optimism through challenging times, because you are relentlessly focused on improving people’s lives.’ He thought that ‘resilience’ and the ability to take people with you in very challenging periods was essential. Being able to relate to people and understand their needs is sometimes an underrated quality in leaders. Bruce told the audience that, ‘if leaders haven’t got empathy they aren’t going to get anywhere.’
Use marketing tools to manage your stakeholders. The panel agreed that CEOs should put a marketing approach, stakeholder mapping and an understanding of how their internal and external audiences use communications channels at the heart of their work. Davidge said that having a consistent approach with stakeholders is as important as understanding who different segments of your audience are, for example your volunteers may also be represented amongst donors who give via direct debit every month. Hyde explained that digital had also changed how supporters communicate with CEOs- a young person might tweet him directly with a question, rather than waiting for information to be communicated in a hierarchical way. He thought that you need to emphasise different parts of your personal brand when communicating with different audiences. The way he would communicate the benefits of scouting to young people would be different to how he would do so with politicians, for example.
Understand the importance of your organisation’s brand and its values. A brand is obviously so much more than the logo- it’s more fundamental than that. Davidge told the audience that, ‘Brand values set the behaviours and values of people who work at the charity. Every brand has to have a story and narrative that it’s built on.’ Authenticity is as important for leaders as for the brands they lead- Hyde described brand as a ‘truth well told.’ However, with the charity sector still under scrutiny, he believed that ‘in an age of transparency the bar has been raised’ and leadership teams need to stress test how they have lived their values or their charities reputations’ could be at risk.
Use celebrities wisely. Barnardo’s recently defended their decision to pay Made in Chelsea star Binky Felstead £3,000 to endorse a retail campaign (she later decided to waive her fee). Davidge believed that Barnardo’s should not be criticised for this, as supporters need to understand that charities have to invest in marketing. Being transparent with donors is a good approach but it should also involve educating supporters why marketing spend is a worthwhile investment. Hyde explained that the Scout Association do not pay any of their celebrity ambassadors and cited the value of their relationship with Chief Scout Bear Grylls, who had helped position their brand as ‘cooler and edgier,’ embodied his charity’s values and had a broad appeal across all classes. He felt that CEOs should approach celebrity relationships as a partnership and always ensured that there was a clear line between the Scout Association’s services and the celebrity’s products.
Finally, no CEO should forget the value of strong key messages when leading their organisation. Hyde admired the simplicity and clarity of Ciarán Devane’s approach, who grew Macmillan’s turnover significantly whilst he was their CEO. When asked the secret of his success, Devane told Hyde that, ‘I had a really simple message and I just kept saying it.’ Understanding what your audience needs, how you can communicate with them and how to take people with you are the most important lessons every CEO should take from marketing.