Did you know that NDIS service providers are falling behind in their marketing? If that doesn’t sound too bad, then consider this. According to the National Disability Service (NDS), service providers don’t realise the impact insufficient marketing has on their businesses. The NDS warns that without good marketing, service providers can lose customers and struggle to survive NDIS roll out. The body has urged providers to make marketing a priority, if they are to thrive under the new model.
In this blog, we’ll look at what you can do as a service provider to be NDIS ready. Here’s how to create successful NDIS marketing.
Strategise for success
Before you do any sort of marketing, you’ll need a strategy. A good strategy looks at the core elements of your business and it creates a roadmap for your marketing activities.
As part of your strategy, you’ll need to do the following:
- Consider your business strategy: Understand your service offerings, and your business’s vision and mission. Then use this to create your marketing strategy.
- Pin-point your “unique selling proposition” (USP): What makes your business unique? Can you put it in a nutshell? This will be your USP, and you’ll communicate it in all marketing materials.
- Know your market: Research your target audience, stakeholders and competitors. You’ll need to know your market if your strategy is to be successful.
Ready to start creating your marketing strategy? Check out this handy webinar series by the NDS entitled Marketing in the NDIS. You’ll learn how to give your marketing the boost that it need.
Be accessible
In an ideal world, all marketing material would be accessible to people with disability. But for NDIS service providers, accessible marketing is of crucial importance. People with disability, their family and carers are your target audience. You’ll need to tailor your marketing material, aka “collateral”, to their needs.
People with disability are increasingly using assistive technology to access digital media. Be accessible by ensuring your material works well with these technologies. Make your collateral easy to read for the vision impaired with high contrast and clear fonts. Also, ensure text is readable at a low grade level, so that it’s accessible to people with intellectual disabilities.
Read more about how you can create accessible marketing in our blog Why you need accessible marketing to increase engagement with your brand.
Mind your language
The NDIS differs from its predecessor. It is designed to empower its recipients, providing them with the supports they need to live life the way they want to. Language is important in your marketing material. Your words will need to communicate the empowering aspect of your service. You’ll talk about ‘providing supports’ to your recipients, rather than ‘caring for’ them or ‘looking after’ them. Find out more about how to use the right language in the official NDIS media toolkit.
Get a Google grant
Not all NDIS providers are not-for-profits. But for those who are, you could take advantage of a Google Ad Grant. These cash awards are designed to help not-for-profits in their advertising. If you’re eligible, you could receive $10,000USD per month towards your ad spend. Use your money to raise awareness of your organisation, to recruit volunteers or gain more customers.
With good marketing, your business will not just survive, it will thrive under the new model. Be sure to create a successful NDIS marketing strategy today.