Literacy Basics - Community Literacy of Ontario

Follow-up and Our Other Target Groups

Follow-up is primarily about the learner target market because they flow through our programs on to independence, jobs or further training. Their success affects all of our marketing relationships. Nonetheless, we can seek follow-up information from our other market groups about specific activities, experiences or clients.

The MTCU field consultant's report on her agency visit is follow-up. It gives us valuable information on how our funder perceives our programs. This is valuable data for our marketing strategies targeted at MTCU and should be integrated into our reflection and research. The report may also contain information on other marketing activities. For example it may point out that we need to focus on more partnerships. These insights should definitely influence our marketing strategies in the coming year.

We may seek follow-up information from a partner after we have provided service to a client. Ask for both critical and positive feedback. Ask how we could improve the service to make things easier for our partner. This is valuable information for our next go-round on the marketing circle.

Follow-up with volunteers at the summer break or after they have finished working with a class or learner. Find out whether or not they feel they are using their gifts and abilities. They may be able to offer unique insights that you can integrate into your next marketing circle.

Follow up on your community activities. For example, if you are participating in an annual fair, make notes on what worked, what was popular and what you would change for the next time. Ask community members and stakeholders how your participation could be improved.

Also, it is important to follow up on the success of your marketing circle every time you use it. Make notes along the way and decide what changes you will make for the next time around. For example, you may decide that you need more research before choosing to target a particular group of learners. Or perhaps you need to tweak your marketing mix for a particular partner.

Gathering information at the end of a marketing activity ensures that you will be able to improve your research and reflection for your next time round the marketing circle. Literacy Basics' Program Evaluation module has some very good methods on collecting and analysing this important data.

Questions for Reflection

1. How will the marketing circle fit with your current marketing activities?
2. Which target will you seek to market to first and why?
3. How do you currently follow-up with all key target groups and how might you improve in this area?

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