No marketing strategy exists in a vacuum. Your operating conditions in periods of economic downturn will be challenging. People will be giving less, believing that charity begins at home. The impact of economic forces is beyond your control, but the best thing you can do is learn more about the critical factors influencing your operation and, yes, plan for them.

This is the job of the marketing audit and for the third sector, this covers a wide range of topics.

• Policy: Directives and funding.
   
• The economy: Unemployment, inflation, interest rates, GDP.
  
  
• Social & demographic: Changes in population, culture and lifestyle (eg the internet).
  
  
• Legal and environmental: Extremely important for the third sector.
   
• Competition: Who are they, what are they offering, why are they succeeding?
   
• The market: What is its size? Growth potential? Characteristics?
   
• Yourself: Looking at the 7Ps within your organisation will give you an excellent idea of exactly where you really stand – and where the gaps may be.

All these factors have a major bearing on the success of your marketing. Take the economy for example. If people are unable to give money, can they give time?
 

Do it yourself?

It’s amazing the free resources available to anyone looking to gather basic market information. Here are just a few:

Office of National Statistics
Resources for the Voluntary Sector
The Economic and Social Research Council
Chambers of Commerce
Association of Qualitative Research
Charities Aid Foundation
The Directory of Social Change
The Charity Commission
Factary