Fareham Journey
Turning a cohousing vision into a marketing strategy, brand and website that drew people to events.
Marketing Strategy · Audience Definition · Brand · Website · Marketing · Video · Social Media · Google Ads · Print Ads · Email Newsletters
The challenge
Fareham Journey is a charity with a clear vision: to create a sustainable cohousing community on the grounds of historic Fareham House in Pāe Tū Mōkai, Featherston. What they needed was a way to share that vision, and to connect with the diverse mix of people who might want to help build it.
Cohousing is an unfamiliar concept to many, so the marketing had to educate as well as attract.
What we did
This was an end-to-end project. VL Studio guided the charity through the creation of its marketing strategy, brand materials, and website across a series of weekly collaborative workshops, building on their vision and purpose.
Understanding the audience was essential. We created ten audience personas to understand Fareham Journey’s diverse target segments as real people, empathising with their motivations, challenges and needs, and identifying where and how we could connect with them. Think of these as examples of ‘ideal customers’ across different segments.
We then mapped the key journeys on and off the website for each segment, to see how different audiences would move through the site and other marketing. Education about cohousing was woven in, alongside information about the location, the attractions of the local area, and the nearby train link for commuters.
The result
After the website and new Facebook page launched, VL Studio actively marketed a monthly cohousing information event, drawing people to RSVP and attend. Newsletter subscribers and Facebook followers grew, and people came along to see the Fareham property where the community could be built.
The Fareham Journey team would not have been able to reach so many people on their own, connecting with attendees from across the Wellington region and followers from around the world.
For a cost-effective monthly retainer, VL Studio managed the marketing end to end. These included print adverts, flyers, monthly email newsletters, Google search ads, social media ads, and organic social posts including images and videos, plus event listings in relevant forums and directories.
Tools & services
Marketing strategy · Brand · Website · Audience personas · Content · Social media · Advertising · Email marketing