Bright One board member Zoe Amar (@zoeamar) has been hard at work with Lasa,  the charity that provides technology and welfare rights advice, as well as influencing policy on advice, legal services and third sector technology.

Lasa’s new annual review demonstrates the impact it has had in its work with thousands of charities and government bodies across the UK. And what better way to get that impact across in a clear and simple way than an infographic?

We really like the idea and are thinking about doing something similar for our upcoming annual report. To find out more about the difference that Lasa has made this year, you can also download a copy of their 2010-2011 Annual Review.

This is a guest post from Zoe Amar, Head of Marketing and Business Development at Lasa, a charity which provides services to Shelter, Age UK and thousands of other charities across the UK. She is also on the board at Bright One and tweets from @zoeamar

The summer months are finally here. Many of us will be counting the days until our holidays, and daydreaming about cocktails on the beach. For those of us that remain in the office, it’s a chance to take a breather from a hectic work schedule, catch up with reading and planning and leave early for drinks.

Summer is often seen as a time when little happens in the office. But I think that downtime doesn’t have to mean being any less productive ultimately, and is actually the key to nurturing our creativity as third sector marketing and communications professionals. Time away from your desk- whether physically or mentally- can help regain the objectivity which I think is essential to our work. And when else do we have the space to try out some different ideas?

I’m typing this in the last few weeks of maternity leave from Lasa, during which I’ve learnt some useful lessons about the value of stepping back. I’m hoping to translate these into my working life on returning to the office. I hope they’ll be useful for you in making the most of the extra time and energy which summer brings.

• Try looking at your communications as if they were someone else’s. Have you signed up to your organisation’s e-newsletters via your webmail? Do you get your direct mail delivered to your house? When was the last time you tried to view your website via your smartphone? I don’t know about you, but when I’m very busy, it’s all too easy to end up missing the obvious. I recently saw a charity’s iPhone app which was full of useful information, but included minimal information about them, or how people could donate. It was a missed opportunity. Putting yourself in the shoes of your stakeholders can help you find out what works- and what doesn’t.

• Put things to one side. Another good way to test the value of your communications is to leave them to one side- then go back to them with fresh eyes. Whenever I am drafting something important- whether it’s a project plan, an agency brief or even an e-newsletter- I put it away then come back to it. If I’m pushed for time, even 15 minutes while I pop out to get a sandwich can help. It always helps me spot at least three useful things.

• Shadow a colleague from another department. How can we communicate the benefits of what we are marketing unless we experience them for ourselves? At Lasa, our Head of Fundraising recently shadowed our technology team on a consultancy with a charity. He gained a deeper understanding of the difference our work can make to charities, which he used in his next funding bid.

• Try something different. Marketing and communications principles are universal- no matter what sector you’re in. I used to shy away from reading about public or private sector marketing but then I realised that that I was missing out on some great ideas. This summer, I recommend taking 5 minutes to read or listen to something you haven’t tried before (I recommend ‘In Business’ on Radio 4). Have a coffee with a marketer who works for a very different charity to yours. I bet you’ll come away with some interesting thoughts and the added benefit of a different perspective.

So close down your computer, walk away from your desk and let your mind go. Isn’t that when inspiration strikes? A colleague of mine once had a brainwave about the service he manages whilst on a beach in Greece. I hope this summer brings you rest, relaxation and a new outlook.

This is a guest post from Zoe Amar

Lasa has just celebrated its 25th anniversary with a campaign that generated a return of investment (ROI) of 94:1; this means that for every £1 we spent on the campaign we earned £94. I’m going to talk about how we did it and the lessons I learnt along the way.

You can also use many of these tips to help create a successful relaunch or repositioning.

1. Be clear about why your organisation needs this campaign

Make sure that your reasons to celebrate your anniversary pass the ‘so what?’ test. Unless you are celebrating at least a centenary or more, there’s a risk that you could launch an expensive campaign for its own sake. You need to ask yourself: what’s in it for your audience?

For example, the ultimate aim of Lasa’s 25th anniversary campaign was to tell our stakeholders how our services could help them. To get to the stage where they were receptive to this message, we needed to use the initial phases of the 25th anniversary to:

• rebuild our reputation after a recent restructure
• demonstrate the business case for our services (in our case, increased need for advice about welfare benefits)
• reach influential stakeholders in our market (e.g. Chief Executives and Directors in the charity and public sector organisations who use our services)
• reposition ourselves as a leader in the fields we work in

2. Get buy-in

So, you’ve had a great idea for your anniversary/ relaunch/ repositioning. Now what? You’ll need to get buy-in and support from your board and directors. Make sure that you involve them early on in the planning stages. I found that even when budgets were tight, the board and directors were still supportive if I could show the business case for what I was trying to do.

3. Plan, plan, plan

Who are your target audiences? We invested time in thinking about who we were trying to reach with our 25th anniversary campaign: what kind of people were we targeting? You need to consider what their job titles are, what kinds of organisations they work in and what processes they go through when deciding whether or not to use your services. You also need to think about creating simple but effective key messages that will cut through the ‘clutter’ to reach your audience. What do you want them to do after they’ve experienced your campaign?

In my view, charities should be careful about how they use nostalgia in anniversary campaigns. Sure, what your charity has achieved is important and it’s made a big difference. Celebrating that will reward the loyalty of long term supporters. But keep the focus on what you’d like your audience to do now- e.g. donate or, in our case, fund or use our services. And build into the planning stage how you are going to track the success of your campaign. For example, you can suggest that a donations target should be hit.

4. Choose the best tools for the job

Once you’ve got a business case, buy-in and a broad plan for your campaign, you need to think about how you can find the best tools to reach your target audience. In Lasa’s case, we needed a low cost tool that our stakeholders trusted. We focused on PR, using a mix of press work, sponsorship and two carefully targeted events with speakers that we knew would attract our target audience. We planned the events so that they were as interactive as possible; for example, we launched a survey on the theme of the events a few weeks beforehand, and announced the results a few days before the final ‘flagship’ event.

5. Build the right team for the campaign

Whether you are using staff from your own marketing and communications teams, external suppliers or pro bono help, take the time to choose people who know the tools you want to use, and who can use them well. I was fortunate enough to work with Luica Mak of Bright One and Jo O’ Rourke of Keynote Consulting, both of whom have many years of experience in PR and events.

6. Keep a close eye on costs

With a big campaign, like an anniversary or a relaunch, costs – especially design – can spiral beyond your original estimates. It’s also easy to overlook VAT or other ‘hidden’ costs.

The main lesson I learnt from our 25th anniversary campaign was not to spend a penny of our budget without thinking about what the return on investment would be. As a result, our final campaign costs were less than 40% of our original estimate.

We also were fortunate to have some very good sponsorship opportunities, including from one of our funders, City Bridge Trust.

7. Measure your results

Looking at your original key performance indicators of success for your campaign, how did it perform? At Lasa we achieved some significant press coverage and, as direct result of some networking opportunities from our 25th anniversary event, also won a new contract with a government department.

Keeping these tips in mind, you should be able to generate successful return on investment from your anniversary campaign.