Horsley, Bookham & Leatherhead Riding for the Disabled Association (HBL RDA) were a local charity with big ambitions.
As a local charity providing therapeutic riding sessions for children and adults with disabilities, they provide incredible services to the local community, making a real impact on disabled children and adults plus their families.
But in 2020 after becoming homeless due to Covid they sought to build their own new facility and grow the charity's reach. After fundraising a huge £600,000 and building a new facility to house the riding sessions, they now had a home to call their own.
With this new facility and new ponies to accommodate the range of riders and abilities that ride with HBL RDA, they wanted to ramp up their marketing. This involved marketing to fundraising, events, social engagement & volunteer recruitment, all essential components to help us offer more and more ridden and non ridden sessions to those in the local community who need it most.
That’s when Fresh Edit marketing consultancy got involved. As a trustee of the charity it was time for me to bring my marketing knowledge to the charity and make an impact in the charities digital presence.
The charity is 100% volunteer run, so people are limited time. Furthermore our trustees and volunteers who all bring a variety of skills to the table, but this did mean there was limited digital & marketing experience. As such, the website, email & social channels were often used sporadically and not to their maximum value.
The first job was to transform the website from a webpage that sometimes had a blog post on, to a fully ecommerce, self service platform for visitors, supporters, volunteers and donors could engage with.
With this new website which showcased our facility, our charities mission as well as additional services such as events, Fresh Edit then turned their marketing consultancy to the email & social channels.
Creating an engaging, community based social platform we grew the social reach for 200 to over 1000 across Facebook, Instagram & Twitter. We created communities where local people can get involved and be part of the conversation. They could see the kind of impact we had on so many children & young adults and they got to be part of our journey.
In addition we created a CRM plan that was firstly sustainable but also information. WIth quarterly newsletters and ad hoc campaign emails going out, our subscribers are kept informed and engaged in channels that may suit their preferences.
These are just the brilliant basics but as part of Fresh Edit’s marketing consultancy it was all about creating a marketing strategy that is simple, effective and easy to maintain. There's still lots to do, lots to optimise and lots of volunteers needed!
Over these past 2 years the change in how marketing plays a part in the charity has grown. We are now engaging directly with our supporters, able to reach new audiences for our fundraising efforts, and streamline many of our processes through utilising the website more effectively.
Here’s a testimonial from Sheri Johnson, the charities Chair.
"Kerry from Fresh Edit has transformed our charities marketing. As a charity that has big growth ambitions to offer more therapeutic riding to children & adults with disabilities we needed new ways to reach new audiences for volunteering, fundraising and support. Through Kerry’s marketing strategy & website development we have grown our reach and effectiveness, that has had a direct impact on our charities performance and effectiveness.
Most notably our website is now a revenue generating asset that has transformed our fundraising events and streamlined many of our manual processes. I would highly recommend Fresh Edit to help make a real difference to your organisations marketing."
For me, this Surrey marketing consultancy project is an easy one when I see the smiles on the riders faces. These small moments in their week, when they get to ride and interact with our fantastic ponies, makes a huge impact on their lives. So I feel privileged that I can play a small part to help bring awareness to this wonderful charity. Please note Fresh Edit does this Surrey Marketing Consultancy work for HBL RDA pro bono.
