Carers SA

The Challenge

Carers SA provides support to family carers across South Australia, through advice, information, training, counselling and respite.

Family carers save the Australian economy more than $40 billion each year, by providing in-home care to a friend or a loved one.

For more than 10 years, Carers SA has chosen communikate et al to:

• Raise their profile as part of Carers Week
• Help them navigate challenges such as reforms covering the NDIS and the Government’s Carers Gateway

Due to the sensitivities that can surround the role of caring, identifying case studies for use in the media required genuine and trusted relationships.

It’s also important Carers SA reach the right audience, with a lack of awareness amongst some groups (predominately women between 50 – 60) not identifying themselves as carers, and therefore not seeking support. Many in the community also need to be aware of Carers SA in order to refer their friends, families or colleagues.

Our Approach

In telling carers stories, we worked closely with Carers SA and family carers to ensure:

• Their stories were told accurately and with dignity
• The stories highlighted the rewards of caring, as well as the significant impact it can have on a carer’s wellbeing

We also ensured publicity was aligned with Carers SA’s initiatives and programs, including:

• Increasing support to carers from culturally diverse backgrounds
• Calling for higher levels of Government support
• Demonstrating the plight of young carers and ageing carers, in addition to the hidden carers, often 50-plus females, who don’t identify themselves as carers

In helping to navigate changes and reforms in the industry and raise awareness with relevant groups, we also identified the need for a strategic marketing campaign.

A thorough analysis of the target audience determined that a modest campaign utilising both traditional and digital channels would reach the most people while remaining cost effective.

The Outcome

The story of Carers SA had a consistent presence across a diverse range of media over more than a decade. Highlights included:

• Yearly large feature stories in The Advertiser and Sunday Mail
• Continued coverage on TV programs such as A Current Affair
• A regular presence on talk back radio

The strategic marketing campaign included:

• Posters and postcards (with a tear off contact card) using powerful imagery of the target market that people identified with
• Design and copywriting of a series of branded icons that clearly outlined the different services offered by Carers SA
• Facebook and Google Display Advertising with excellent results:
  • Click Through Rate (CTR) for Facebook Advertising and Google of 0.74% and 0.21%, above industry standards of 0.56% and 0.10% respectively

We also set up and managed a Google Ads Grant account for Carers SA. This allowed them to leverage their not-for-profit status and receive free text ads on the Google Search network, increasing brand awareness and driving traffic to their website.