UK Charity Jobs lists charity marketing jobs and communication
Current state of play with charity marketing
Without excellent internal and external marketing and communications, a charity is unlikely to flourish. Choosing to work in this area really does make a difference to the bottom line in terms of charity income, as well as getting the message across to your key audiences.
If change matters to you then it’s vital that within any marketing plan there is a strategy to engage with people that would not necessarily be your natural audience. It’s up to marketing and communications staff to make this happen. It is therefore one if the most challenging and exciting careers anyone can have in the charity sector.
There is a lot of debate now taking place about how marketing a charity’s cause is carried out. As we know, charities are less trusted than they were 5 years ago. This is a trend that has been growing since the beginning of the 2000s. The vast majority of charities are doing a fantastic job and should be supported, but it only takes a few to dent the sector.
The negative impact on the sector from a handful of badly managed charities says a great deal of how charities manage communications. Too many people still have the image of the charity worker as a volunteer. The whole business of charity is rarely discussed until something goes wrong. Never has marketing and communications been so important in the charity sector to clarify how charities work, how much people are paid and the important contribution to society charities make.
So what are the challenges?
It has been argued that marketing should meet the needs of the charity’s supporters as much as the cause itself. Without supporters there may be no charity and many charities have traditionally overlooked the need to really understand who their supporters are. Trust should be at the centre of all that a charity does. Without trust a charity will not survive for very long and of course trust and supporters go together. Much more work needs to be done to educate the public on how charities are run, the costs of running a charity and the need to pay good salaries to attract talent and retain it.
Before you accept a marketing or communication job with a charity ask yourself this question. Would you support the charity? If the answer is no based not on the cause, but on how it is run, don’t take the job.
Charity Marketing Jobs – Challenging but rewarding
There is probably no other sector that can give you the satisfaction that the charity sector offers. Your skills and input can result in more support for vulnerable children, better care of our environment or less homeless people on our streets. It really can be that impactful.
It’s always going to be challenging, not just because of what we discussed above but because there are so many worthy causes. However, your skills and ideas can ensure the charity you work for stands out and makes a difference.
For more information about charity Communications and Marketing go to charitycomms