NATIONAL TRUST STUDY 29/8/12 13:27 Page 2
The use of social media in promotion
© National Trust Images/John Millar © National Trust Images/James Dobson
MARKETING
Introduction
What do the words ‘National Trust’ mean to you? Historic houses?
Gardens? An organisation that older people join? All of these are
accurate, but they reflect only a small part of what the National Trust
is and does. What you might not know is that the Trust’s
responsibilities include over 350 historic houses, 255,000 hectares of
land including gardens, mills, coastline, forests, farmland, moorland,
islands, castles, nature reserves, villages, pubs and even a goldmine!
The National Trust is a registered charity that looks after special
places. It has over 4 million members and every year welcomes
around 19 million visitors to its properties and special places, which
are open to everyone. As a not-for-profit organisation managed by a
small Board of Trustees, it is completely independent of
government. Its funding is generated entirely from membership fees,
donations, legacies and revenue raised from its commercial activities
such as its National Trust shops and catering business.
The Trust attracts ‘customers’ of different types, young and old,
including families, history lovers and nature lovers. Its mission is to
grow the nation’s love of special places ‘For ever, for everyone’, so
it aims to inspire as many people as possible in many different
ways. These might include themed events to celebrate the UK’s
history, guided walks across its estates and countryside to
discover wildlife, open-air performances of Shakespeare and
music festivals or firework displays. Its properties regularly appear
in film sets, such as in the recent Sherlock Holmes and Harry
Potter films. However, its interests extend far beyond just bricks
and mortar. Much of the Trust’s work reflects its interest in getting
people outdoors and closer to nature, as well as wider global and
environmental issues, such as increasing energy efficiency,
recycling and sustainability.
The National Trust aims to increase membership by 25% to five
million by 2020. To do this, it is adopting a strategy of ‘Going
Curriculum topics covered: • Marketing mix • AIDA model
• Above-the-line promotion • Below-the-line promotion
© National Trust Images/Paul Harris
local’. This aims to ensure the Trust can respond quickly to local
issues on the ground and get more people involved as members,
volunteers or employees. It will also put the Trust at the heart
of communities so that everyone in the UK can feel like
a member.
This case study looks at how the National Trust is now adopting a
new strategy and modern marketing techniques to excite a
younger audience, generate new members and enhance its
position as an employer with young people.
The marketing mix
The marketing mix (the four Ps) is a means of assessing how an
organisation can balance the four key elements of Product, Price,
Place and Promotion in order to meet customers’ needs and
achieve its sales objectives. Even with the best product in the
world, if a business promotes it to the wrong audience, over-
prices it or distributes it in a way that is inconvenient for
consumers, then the business will not generate sales.
For the National Trust, the relationship between product, price,
place and promotion is highly integrated:
• The Trust’s ‘product’ is a mix of the tangible, such as events
or craft goods in shops, and the intangible – the experience
people enjoy from National Trust places. Visitors and customers
can choose to add value to their membership over the year
through a wide range of other activities. This might include, for
example, the opportunity to have a camping or cottage holiday
on Trust land or learn new skills with Trust experts – anything
from bird-watching to archaeological digs.
• As a non-profit making organisation, the price of National Trust
membership fees, entrance to sites and sales through its shops
and website need essentially to cover costs rather than make
profit. As the National Trust has to maintain its special places
for ever, it incurs significant costs of repair or upkeep.
NATIONAL TRUST STUDY 29/8/12 13:27 Page 3

Membership and visitor fees cover only a third of the Trust’s

costs. Its fundraising and commercial activities are vital to fill
the gap. Keeping membership numbers high is therefore
essential. Lower than expected income could result in the Trust
not being able to fulfil its mission. Membership fees need to a awareness

remain competitive to demonstrate good value for money in

order to attract visitors and keep members. The National Trust
therefore has to budget carefully to ensure that expected
i interest

income from predicted memberships will cover its costs.

• ‘Place’ reflects the means for distributing a product or the
channels through which it reaches customers. For the National
d desire

Trust, like many other organisations and businesses, this is

increasingly through the internet. For example, Trust memberships a action

can be bought online or at visitor locations for individuals or to be

given as gifts for others. The National Trust website also has an
online shop from which anyone can buy gifts as wide-ranging as
farm produce, cards and craft items or even ‘virtual’ gifts such as
helping to restore a painting or save a squirrel.
• Promotion covers all the tools and techniques by which an
organisation markets its products and services. For example,
this might include traditional methods such as advertising in
papers, as well as the use of social media (like Facebook and
Twitter), websites and online networks.
Purpose of promotion
The AIDA model demonstrates the stages of promotion:
• Initiating awareness (attention) amongst non-customers or
increasing knowledge of new offers for existing customers
• Generating interest for and creating desire to have the product
• Finally ensuring action to purchase.
The ultimate aim is to keep customers loyal so that over time they
become ‘advocates’ and promote the product to other
consumers. Customer recommendation is a very strong form
of promotion.

Promotion may have a number of purposes depending on the needs
of an organisation. For example, it can raise awareness of a brand or
business, highlight the benefits or value of its products to attract
sales or help to change the image of a firm. Promotion covers a
variety of techniques by which an organisation communicates with its
customers and potential customers. These communications may
have different forms and content to ensure that the target audience
can understand and receive the messages properly.
As a business, the National Trust has few direct competitors, but
there are many alternative ways for the public to spend their
leisure time and money. In addition, recent research has shown
that, even when aware of the Trust’s work, few young people
considered it as a possible organisation to work for. The National
Trust is therefore focusing on a promotion strategy that applies
equally to highlighting what the Trust can offer its visitors and
members and to promoting National Trust jobs of all types.

© National Trust Images/John Millar © National Trust Images/James Dobson

NATIONAL TRUST STUDY 29/8/12 13:27 Page 4
The Trust is using digital media and social networking sites such
as Facebook to highlight the huge variety of roles it offers. These
channels enable the Trust to present practical and personal insight
into different job roles, such as skilled professional posts, catering
staff or young volunteers, through the use of employee profiles,
articles or guest blogs.
Above-the-line promotion
Above-the-line promotion is typically associated with traditional
forms of advertising media. These might be through newspapers,
magazines, TV, cinema, radio, billboards or internet poster ads.
This type of advertising is useful for promoting a product or
service to large audiences, but will reach interested and non-
interested consumers alike. In addition, these forms of advertising
are generally very expensive. It is also more difficult to measure the
level of effectiveness of the message. To assess if the advertising
has achieved value for money needs careful targeting and
extensive follow-up (such as through consumer surveys).
The National Trust uses radio and places advertisements in
magazines and press which are relevant to its different audiences.
For example, an advert in Country Life magazine would appeal to
its traditional members or the Trust might use national newspapers
to promote a specific job. However, less than 36% of Trust
recruitment advertising is now done in this way.
The National Trust’s advertising is turning to new technology in
order to reach younger potential members. Its use of ‘augmented
reality’ featuring the characters Wallace and Gromit is a ground-
breaking example of how the National Trust is reaching new
audiences in surprising ways. Augmented reality allows mini
animations of the characters to ‘hide’ in the Trust’s newspaper
adverts, which readers unlock with their Smartphones and tablets.
© Mischief PR
© National Trust Images/Paul Harris
Below-the-line promotion
Below-the-line promotion uses methods over which organisations
have greater control. It covers many activities, which are more
easily tailored and targeted to selected and relevant audiences.
These might typically include news articles and press releases,
direct mail, sales promotions, exhibitions, sponsorship or events.
In order to achieve its new strategy, the National Trust is focusing
on delivering an integrated promotion campaign to send its
messages to clearly defined target audiences.
For example, as 2012 is the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, the National
Trust devised a promotion around the Wallace and Gromit
characters. An exclusive film – A Jubilee Bunt-a-thon – was created
in partnership with Aardman Films and premiered at Trust events
during the year. It led to Wallace and Gromit parties at Trust
properties, has inspired Gromit workshops for children at its sites
and helped to develop special merchandise such as Wallace and
Gromit jigsaws for sale in Trust shops. This type of exclusive activity
has generated considerable press coverage for the National Trust,
which in itself is a key below-the-line form of promotion.
The National Trust has embraced social media and new
technologically-inspired below-the-line activities to increase the
‘shareability’ of its messages. This broadens the Trust’s reach
beyond existing members or fans. Different parts of the National
Trust use social media for marketing and promotion in different
ways. For example:
• use of Twitter helps the National Trust to engage more flexibly
and informally with the public and members and both receive
and capture their ideas
• guest articles about its activities and properties on blogs show
younger people what the Trust can offer them
• Facebook updates and employee profiles help to demonstrate
the Trust’s job opportunities and widen the pool of possible
applicants for jobs.
NATIONAL TRUST STUDY 29/8/12 13:27 Page 5
© Aardman Animation Ltd 2012
Drawing on Smartphone technology, the National Trust has
launched an iPhone app so that users can always have its
handbook in their pocket. This provides not only listings and
descriptions of all Trust gardens and properties in England, Wales
and Northern Ireland, but also the ability to browse events and set
favourites. Similarly, the current Facebook app showcases the
range of special places it owns – from pubs to Paul McCartney’s
childhood home, encouraging users to create their dream day out.
The National Trust is running a number of
important campaigns which involve social media
activities. ‘50 Things to do before you’re 113/4’
on the Trust’s website aims to promote the
excitement of being outdoors to young people.
This campaign encourages the target audience of
children aged 8-12 to take part in activities as wide-ranging as
canoeing and abseiling or just climbing trees. They can collect
stickers and digital badges for activities completed. The 50 Things
micro-website uses avatars, games and videos to stimulate the
children’s interest. To generate a longer-term response to this
campaign, the Trust is asking its communities to make
suggestions about other activities that should be included in the
list. This effectively ‘crowd sources’ ideas for next year’s campaign
so that activities will reflect members’ needs.
One particularly exciting campaign is centred on the National
Trust’s appeal to raise the £1.2 million it needs to buy a very
special place - the last part of the White Cliffs of Dover that it does
not already look after. The Trust has created a virtual White Cliffs
on its website where users can carve their names and faces on
the cliffs in exchange for a donation. Supporting the website
application, the Trust carried out a major direct mail and email
campaign to encourage donations. This was targeted at existing
Trust members and supporters as well as the general public.
The National Trust | The use of social media in promotion
www.nationaltrust.org.uk
Conclusion
All marketing activity needs to be tailored to reflect a business’ target
audience. It also needs to be able to show return on investment. For
a non-profit making organisation like the National Trust, ensuring its
promotional activities give value for money is critical.
The use of social media aims to improve public perception, but the
Trust’s campaigns have also shown savings in time and money. For
example, each recruitment campaign by the Trust used to take about
53 days and cost around £2,400 per person hired. By using social
media, costs have now been reduced to about £800 per person
hired and the time taken to recruit is down to 42 days.
By using social media as a key part of its marketing campaigns, the
National Trust is able to reach one of its key target audiences –
young people – more easily and can convey its messages in a
format that suits the audience. To help it achieve clear brand
awareness through its campaigns, the Trust has devised highly
structured guidelines to ensure all its campaigns and activities are
carried out to the same high standard, whether for promoting Trust
properties to potential members or for recruiting potential applicants.
© National Trust Images/Arnhel De Serra
1. Explain what is meant by the marketing mix. (2 marks)
Exam-style questions
2. Explain the purpose of promotion within the marketing
mix. (4 marks)
3. Analyse the benefits of using below-the-line promotion
for organisations such as the National Trust. (8 marks)
4. To what extent will the use of social media help the
National Trust achieve its marketing objectives? (12 marks)