Summary of the Sector Interest Group survey

Author: Sarah Raine Chair

Summary of the Sector Interest Group survey

When I took over the Chair of the SIG, I wanted to get under the skin of what we do to support our members, to understand who our members are, you may be aware we are a big group (3,800+) made up of social marketers from corporate, public and voluntary sectors as well as not for profits.

We have created a questionnaire for all members of the Charity & Social Marketing Group to gain an understanding of what they are seeking from the SIG in terms of topics they want to know more about, methods of communication, and channels of learning. The results were insightful, and we have outlined the key findings below for your review.

Highlights:
•    10% responded (387 respondents)
•    Which included 62% from private sector businesses, 9% not for profit, 8% registered charities,
      7% public sector and 2% local government
•    67% are directors, senior managers/heads of or managers
•    33% currently use the SIG to access webinars/podcasts, 30% to access research and
      resources and 13% to share insights, research and business services
•    81% prefer engaging with industry trends and foresight content
•    With regards to topics you are interested in us covering, 71% said strategy, 58% said behavioural
      change, 49% said relationship marketing, 48% said community marketing and 45% said social
      purpose marketing 
•    You want more webinars (62%), more online training (57%), more online conferences and
      events (52%) and more professional online networking (47%)
•    Your biggest concerns at the moment are adopting emerging technology (42%), economic
      conditions (32%) and budgets/finance (30%)

This feedback has directly informed our plans for the coming months and we are kickstarting that with a webinar focused on strategy and a podcast specifically discussing a shift in mindset to make marketing more about change for social good. Future plans include a podcast with an AI specialist in our field and the broader team are looking at the online training and conference model.

Author: Sarah Raine
Chair of CIM Charity and Social Marketing Group