Marketing Strategy 4. Recruiting Foster Carers

Marketing St driftgy 4. Recruiting Foster CarersMore harbor explosive chargers are unavoidable in the UK today. Official statistics from the gentility cyberspace indicate that e verywhere 10,000 rear families are contracted. An otherwise seek by breeding Network found 82% of local authorities saw a rise in the number of children coming into care and selecting harbor floors in 2009-10. Family protect care provides substitute planned family care for children who raft non be adequately cared at the hold firm due to confused reasons.4.1 Foster childrenThe number of children coming into sustain care has become overwhelming over the years. except the fact is that it has become very gruelling to find the families who are ready to meet the challenges of increasing complex behavioural, emotional needs these children experience.SHORTAGE OF FOSTER HOMESEngland 8,200Scotland 1,700Wales 750Region unequalageEngland8200Scotland1700Wales750Source Fostering Network WebsiteChart 1 a National Breakdown Shortage of Foster Homes in England, Scotland and WalesSHORTAGE OF FOSTER HOMES IN ENGLANDNorth West 1700North East 1300East 650 federation West 600 s revealhernmost East 850London 2000West Midlands 650East Midlands 450RegionShortageNorth Wales1700North East1300East650South West600South East850London2000West Midlands650East Midlands450Source Fostering Network WebsiteChart 1b Regional Breakdown Shortage of Foster Homes in England4.2 Motivations for foster carers to a greater extent research has been conducted on this issue as what motivates people to foster. It is very important to understand this key component because this may back up to understand their needs and can be use as a tool in the marketing mix to get in more carer. In 1996, Denby Rindfleisch conducted a research on children and juvenility services. The research was conducted in order to understand what motivates a person to become a foster carer. Some of the findings were, fulfilling the need f or foster homes in the alliance, enjoying and wanting to succor children, providing a companion for an only child and for oneself, increasing family size, obtaining substitute for a child who has died or who has grown and left home, religious reasons and supplementing family income (Denby Rindfleisch, 1996). Based on the findings of this research it is very clear that on that point are various factors that are involved for a person to become a foster parent.4.3 Foster carer evokementIn the recent years, there has been a decline in the number of families able to provide foster care. When a child is identified in need of foster care, the problem of finding government agencyment homes still remains very high. Some of the factors that are related to the shortage of foster carers may be due to the future(a) reasonsGreater difficulty in meeting the increasing complexity needs to become a foster carerLack of exoteric cognizanceThe poor familiar image of faster carer.With these is sues, it has become difficult to recruit foster carer and has become an important and yet a challenging task. Recruitment of quality foster carer in an on-going demand for the place.4.4 Productive orgasmes 2008 till dateFor the past 2 years, the enquiries generated by raising solutions using the underway marketing system have increased. Fostering solutions uses diametrical methods of advertising to attract emf carers. These include bill board, bus, confederation care, exhibition, flyer, internet, job centre, jobs fair, local community booklet, national magazine, vernalsprint advertisement, passed office, post office, radio, tv, recruitment make upt, taxi, website, word of mouth, yallow pages etc (Fostering solutions). all over the past few years, the recruitment focus was on the side by side(p) factorsTo recruit carers through using fees, and other allowances.Using pass ons such as show you care to r to individually one the carers.4.5 Recruitment outcomeTable 3 FOSTER CARE RECRUITMENT ENQUIRIES SOURCE OF INTEREST BETWEEN 01/09/2009 AND 04/08/2010SOURCE come up ENQUIRIESAdvan4Fostering Network2Banner1Bill board1Bus38Current carer8Flyer41Internet10Job centre3Jobs fair1Local community booklet30National magazine2Newspaper Advertisement761 non specified1Passed office78Radio/TV28Recommended156Recruitment way out419Recruitment flyer102SMS13Van1Website1071 formulate of mouth494Yellow pages22TOTAL3289Source FSDocumentOut of these, the most successful advertisement medium for fostering solutions has been website with a number of 1071 enquiries followed by newspaper advertisement with a total enquiry of 761, followed by word of mouth with 494 enquiries among 01/09/2209 and 31/08/2010.From the above table it is evident that the total number of enquiries during the decimal point 2009-2010 is 3289, but the no. Of approval are only 126 out of 3289 enquiries. This is reasonable 3.82% of the total enquiry. It is evident that 3289 people are interested to roll in the hay about the fostering care. But the approval rate is very low.Table 4 FOSTER CARE RECRUITMENT ENQUIRIES SOURCE OF INTEREST BETWEEN 01/09/2008 AND 31/08/2009SOURCETOTAL ENQUIRIESFostering Network3Bill board4Current carer1E-invite1Flyer19Internet1Local community booklet47Newspaper Advertisement591Not specified13Passed office108Radio/TV32Recommended173Recruitment event168Recruitment poster130Taxi1Van4Website1347Word of mouth535Yellow pages106TOTAL3284Source FS documentThe total no. Approval mingled with 01/09/2008 and 31/08.2009 was 163 and total enquiries received during that period was 3284. When Comparing the current year enquiries and approval rate with the previous year (i.e.) recruitment enquiry between 2008 2009 which was 4.96% of the total enquiry, it is clearly evident that there is a decrease in the approval rate when compared with that of the previous year. But we just cannot come to a conclusion that there is a decrease in the approval rate because some of the enquiries may still be in the approval process.Table 5 Conversion rateYearEnquiriesApprovedConversion Rate %2008-200932841634.962009-201032891263.83Source FS DocumentOver the past two years, the conversion rate is found to be reasonably constant with4.96% in the year 2008-2009 and 3.83% in the 2009-2010.Chart 2 Enquiries in different regionFrom the above chart it can be seen that the number of enquiries received from each region varies to a greater extent. For example the highest number of enquiries was received from the midlands with a total of 396 enquiries. Where as on the contradictory there were lower enquiries from various other regions. The reason for so legion(predicate) enquiries in the midlands is because of the strong advertisement campaign with additional newspaper advertisement. Fostering solutions should focus on all the regions equally. This go forth help to increase the enquiry from different region.The major problem which is to be considered duty now is tha t the approval rate is very low despite there was 3289 enquiries between 2009-2010. This may be due to various reasons.Advertisement Enquiries ROI ApprovalWith reference to the above given table, when an advertisement is made and when it is able to attract 3343 enquirers who have even the slightest idea of fostering has enquired the performance, it is clear that people are interested to know more about fostering. But somewhere as they move further in the process (i.e.) from enquiry to the next stage, the number gets reduced to a greater extent. This can be viewed as a result due to 2 reasons. in that location may be a problem in the process from the enquiry stage until the next stage which is the fitting of interest. OrThe way of life is not targeting the right people.In order to identify the problem in the process from the enquiry stage until the ROI, a study by chance conducted as what is going wrong in that process. It is very important to focus on this issue right now bec ause the time and cost involved in marketing is very high. Considering that fact, the marketing strategy maybe of good type, but due to some bottleneck in the process, the marketing strategy may seem to be unsuccessful.4.6 STRATEGYObjectivesTo successfully recruit the carers, the following objectives must be considered to meet the challenges that are associated with the recruitment activities. They are,To recruit carers for different age gatheringTo recruit carers for children with disabilityTo recruit a divers(prenominal) range of carers to place the children to meet their best needs.Recruit carers based on categories long, medium and short term carers.In addition to these objectives to recruit the carer, the fostering solutions should be the best choice for carers. In order to achieve such a position, the following factors plays important roleBenefit packages for carer- what fostering solutions can stretch for both carer and young people.Competitor ken versus brand consciou sness of the agency.Services provided before and after approval.Raising awareness through advertisement that carers are still needed , that fostering solutions values the carers, and to create a sense of feeling that they have made the right decision in selecting fostering solutions.4.6.1 Plan of actionIn order to attain both regional and national audiences, the agency should continue to advertise a multi-layered approach of marketing. The depicted object which the agency tends to convey to its audience must be clear and focused. The agency may use tools ranging from traditional to establishing its own marketing strategy through various opportunities that are available to raise the awareness of the people.The traditional method includes the regular media advertising which the agency is currently involved and it has delivered results. It is now the right time to think of new opportunities of marketing through using the internet media such as web tools like Linked-in, Facebook, twi tter, etc.By using both the traditional and new methods, the agency can reach and superlative a wide range of people from different regions, which will help to educate the people about the basic awareness and understanding about the need for fostering. This also helps to reach the target audience by giving them the information which they require.4.6.2 Factors influencing the decision makeThere are several factors that influence the decision making of the marketing strategy. These factors help the agency to be alert by keeping them informed about the decisions of the potential carer and the way they react to the recruitment strategies and approaches that are used by the agency. A research maybe conducted in this area so as to find out the followingWhat ultimately actuated the potential carer to dissolve up the phone and enquire about the services that are offered by the agency. This can be make through introducing marketing questions in the initial home visits.Checking closely th e effectiveness of all the resources that are used in marketing and making sure it is being efficient.Look into the key areas where the potential carers drop out of the process. It is very important to understand this because, this will give an idea as the reasons why they drop out. This will in turn help to influence the potential carers to identify the drop out points. Through identifying the drop out points time and cost that are involved in retaining the potential carers can be kept under good control.4.6.3 A change in the current communication toolsThe information that are offered by the current communication tools are limited. That is the current communication tools which is paper based (information pack) gives idea from where the information is obtained.Chart 3 communication route doubt dataFollow UpResultantWebsitePhoneInformation PackPhone Call PostcardsDrop OutProceedThis is the normal route through which the information flows from the agency to the potential carers. This route does not offer flexibility for the carer. Which means the carers contact type preference, individual decision process are not considered in this route. Moreover, the person making a call to the agency maybe quite intimidating.There should be a change in the current communication routes and channels whereby the routes are open up through which the prospective carer can gather information and be informed about the follow-up and the application process right from registration of interest until the approval.Information SearchEnquiryInformed DecisionFollow upResultantRecruitment StandsNewspaperWord of mouthFlyerWebsiteFace to Face contact at eventPhoneWebsiteInformation Pack(Delayed decision) Direct phone and postcardDrop OutProceedUn-persuadedUn-persuadedProspectingProceed or Informed InfluencerParticipants or Informed Influencer4.6.4 piquant THE COMMUNITIESTo target the right carer, I suggest increasing the witnesss of finding successful foster carer through designing a pl anned strategy to engage the communities in foster care. By involving with the community there is more scope to create awareness and recruit many carers. To come up with such a strategy, it is very important to know the agencys needs and lay down its priorities, thumb rules on how to come up with a specific message for the general public. By loving with the communities, it helps to inform the public and the potential foster carers about the need for foster care.The ultimate goal of the agency is to increase the number of qualified foster carers.In any business concept, designing an effective marketing strategy is a means of trial and error. For a strategy to be successful, it has to be analyzed from various perspectives before it can be implemented. In such a way, before reaching a community for help in recruiting the foster carer, we have to know in particular the needs of the agency and the ways in which the public might be of help to the agency. By needs of the agency here refer s to the double question who is our target customer?. To kick start this process of finding the target customer the following assessment maybe done by the agency.Identifying the foster care population in a communityHow many foster children are there in the community?Their age groupAge group under one yearNo. Of children (between 1-12)No. Of teenager (between 13-18)No. Of youngsters (over 18)Based on the agencies past experience say for example previous 2-3 years, how many children does the agency expect will require foster care during the next year?The racial compositionWhiteMixed raceAsian saturnineOtherIdentifying the foster carer population in a communityHow many qualified foster carers are there in the communityIdentifying the children in the communityUp to what extent the following elements contributed to placement of children in foster careLOWModerateHIGHSubstance abusePovertyMental unwellness of parent(s)Poor parenting skillsIncarceration of parentsChildrens emotional or beh avioralhealth needsKnowing the needsAfter the above mentioned needs assessment is reviewed by the staff, the agency can come to a specific needs conclusion. The next step may be to rank the needs. The rankings should be based on their priorities as shown on a lower floorExample needsRanksTo provide more adequate support for foster families.3To recruit foster parents for teenagers.1To provide demote training for foster parents so they can handlechildrens special needs.To recruit foster parents for teenagers.2To educate the public about the impact of welfare reform on childrenin foster care.Once the needs are prioritized, the next step is to develop a community action plan. This can be done through the following ways4.6.5 Engaging the wider public At the national level, the foster care fortnight event is conducted by the Fostering networks helps to engage the wider public and to spread the awareness about the need for fostering and the young people at care. However, this may help to engage the wider public, the major drawbacks in these kinds of events is that the agency does not get the chance to engage directly with the wider public on the assumptions and views to inform how we move ahead to spread the awareness. In order to overcome this problem the agency may sort of engage with the residents from the communities to inform them about the messages and the promotional approaches of the agency through which the awareness of the need for foster care can be increased.This can be done through engaging services in a county wide arts and photography competition. This helps the agency to find out more ways to engage with the communities and set ahead them to take part in fostering. The photography competition can be conducted through collecting pictures from different age group categories young people in care, people who have experienced foster care. The competition must be judged by the agency the winning photography must tour around the county and be visible in libraries and other roughhewn places for short period. A separate budget maybe required for this competition.4.6.6 Working with the mass mediaMass media is the most common and effective medium of advertising. However, for an advertisement to be effective through mass media, it is very essential for the agency to know what kind of information or message should be conveyed to the public. For example in the case of targeted recruitment, the focus is on the families where they can accommodate children and teens with specific needs. In this case community based recruitment would be very effective rather than a general media campaign. However, media campaign may be very effective and most suitable for general outreach.Strategies for getting the message out to the public and spurring the community to take action.4.6.7 Invite community leading to help you get the message outEngaging with community leaders to spread the awareness is one of the best ways to reach the people in a particular community. This is due to the fact that the leaders may approach the public with a message which would be very effective rather than the agency conveying the message by itself. The community leaders may not have the special knowledge about the system of foster care as that of a social worker. However, what they do have is the ability to attract the public and press. It is very returnsous for the agency to form a link of network with the community leaders for they be very sympathetic the cause and would come beforehand to help the agency. These leaders may be invited to speak at the campaign events and they may be requested to mention about Fostering Solutions in their own events. In such a way the community becomes aware and lot of people might come forward to foster. The main advantage is that a tokenish support from one community councillor or a child advocate can quickly raise the status of the issue.4.6.8 Using the help of current foster parentsThe most effective means of adv ertising is to get help from the current foster carers to recruit more new foster carers. Gratified foster care parents are the better tool for recruitment and com congealer memory. The advantage of Working in with foster parents to increase recruitment will help to improve the retention as well. Foster parents can be of great help in the following waysThrough sharing their personal experiences, the current foster carer may help the new foster carers to explain as what takes to be a good foster carer. This will also give an opportunity for the new foster carers to meet the children in care even before they get placed with a child.The current foster care parents may help the new carers to cope the applications by way of providing pre-service anf training in collaboration with the agency.The current foster carer may act as a middle man between the agency and the prospective foster carer by way of following-up with a phone call or a personal visit.Through engaging with the current fo ster carers, the new carers may get individualized mentoring and it may in turn be a great motivation for both the new and the current foster carers.4.6.9 Carer turn a profit packageCarer take in package may help to attract more carers. It is great way to communication through which the awareness can be increased. A detailed list of benefits and opportunities maybe listed, this will in turn help the prospective foster carers to take up fostering. The fact is that the more we offer and parent ourselves as the agency, the satisfied and happier will be our carers and are more likely to stay with us. This maybe one of the retention strategy. This strategy helps to gain competitive advantage over the competing agencies because, the carers are very happy with the benefit package. Regardless of whether the benefits are being used by the foster carers or not, the list of available benefits on the website maybe seem real and more tangible.4.7 ResourcesIn order to implement the above menti oned strategies effectively, resources are very important keys.4.7.1 Human ResourcesIn the current organizational structure, the marketing department is very centralized. With the ambition of developing the marketing strategies for both the national and regional level, it is very important to increase the hierarchy level as shown in the above chart. In order to strengthen the regional marketing strategy a new post namely marketing assistant may be appointed region wise. The main work of this job will be to spread the awareness of fostering in their region and attract more carers. They will be reporting directly to the Marketing and public relations manager. The main reason to implement this change in the organization structure is because just having a marketing department at the head office will not work. Division of work is very essential in such cases. But for time being with limited resources, the main challenge is to stay focused in the priorities of the service that are provid ed by the agency.Chart 4 Organizational social system Marketing Department.4.7.2 Financial ResourcesTo corroborate the current level of enquiries and conversion, it is essential to continue to invest funds in recruiting advertising. A sustainable budget allocation will help the agency to be efficient and effectively plan the time and resources which are very valuable. This will also help to improve response rate, and to reach all communities as well as effectively plan the response resources.For long term planning, a planned annual budgeting will help to place the agency in a better position to cope up with the increasing preferential rates and spends of the promotional activity. There is also a need for the agency to invest in high profiled activities such as web advertising, website development and so on in order to maintain the profile of Fostering Solutions as the agency of choice for the carers.Currently, Fostering solutions uses all feasible media which will enable the agenc y to touch the hearts and minds of many potential carers and make them aware about the need for fostering. More funds should be invested in the areas of community publications, editorial media and recruitment campaigns.4.8 RecommendationsConsidering the above discussed strategies the following maybe summarized as the strategic recommendations4.8.1 Short term recommendations Maintain year round awareness for the need foster carers across England, Scotland, Wales and in communities. As discussed in the strategy using the current carers and their peremptory stories of children will help to attract more carers and it also helps to retain the existing carers.(refer 4.6.8)-Work with the community leaders to spread the awareness(refer 4.6.7) With reference to the conversion rate issue elevated in this report, it is essential for the agency to conduct a study on the effective procedures that are implemented by the agency in the process of responding to enquiries and registration of intere st with prospective foster carers. Because, this is where lot of people drop out. So it is essential for the agency to conduct a research and find out the reasons as why the conversion rate is very low. (refer table 5) As discussed in the resources, it is essential for the agency to have dedicated marketing staff at each regional office to make advertising more effective.(refer 4.7.1) With the help of the demographic information and analysis of the community assessment by the agency a better targeting of recruitment and advertising can be achieved.4.8.2 Long term recommendations As discussed in the short term recommendations, statistical data on foster carers maybe collected using the community assessment in order to make better recruitment decisions. This will help the agency to have a go on sustainable investment at national and regional level in the recruitment of foster carers. Have ongoing high quality campaigns across England, Scotland and Wales on both national and local lev el to attract more foster carers which will help to maintain enough carers to meet changing demands The agency should put as much effort in order to retain the foster carers as in recruitment. The agency should work on the factors such as carer benefit package, and other benefits that can improve the retention of foster carers. (refer 4.6.9) Develop a comprehensive foster care recruitment website to promote awareness and interest in fostering and permanent care-Focus should be to improve local capacity through working in close relation with the communities in order to recruit locally