In early 2024, a national not-for-profit (NFP) organisation was facing a critical shortage of foster carers, especially within culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities.
With competing recruitment drives, budget limitations, and challenging perceptions about foster care, the organisation needed a strategic solution to increase foster carer enquiries in specific regions of New South Wales.
To address this, they partnered with Reef Digital to develop a comprehensive and multi-channel lead generation campaign aimed at recruiting new foster carers and raising awareness about their multicultural foster care program.
Step 1: Identifying Campaign Objectives and Challenges
Our first step was to understand the organisation’s goals and the obstacles they faced. We identified the primary objectives:
- Increase enquiries from potential foster carers in targeted New South Wales regions, including Sydney’s south-west and the Hunter/Central Coast areas.
- Strengthen the organisation’s profile as a leading foster care agency, building trust and awareness within the broader community.
Challenges included:
- Competitive landscape: Several other agencies were conducting simultaneous recruitment campaigns, leading to intense competition for potential carers.
- Perception barriers: Misconceptions about the foster care process and commitment required were deterring qualified applicants.
- Resource constraints: Operating within a fixed budget meant our strategy had to be both highly targeted and efficient across channels.
Step 2: Strategic Audience Profiling
To overcome these challenges, we developed a targeted audience profile focusing on individuals likely to resonate with the foster care mission:
- Primary demographic: Women aged 25-54, particularly in caregiving professions such as nursing, teaching, and social work.
- Geographic focus: We concentrated on areas in Sydney’s south-west and the Hunter/Central Coast, aligning with the client’s needs.
- Psychographic traits: Community-oriented individuals motivated by the desire to make a difference and positively impact children’s lives.
These profiles helped us narrow our targeting to audiences with the highest potential for engagement and conversion.
Step 3: Designing a Multi-Channel Digital Campaign
Our multi-channel strategy leveraged the strengths of three core digital platforms to reach and engage the target audience from multiple touchpoints:
1. Google Search & Performance Max
Google’s AI-driven Performance Max (PMAX) campaigns allowed us to reach potential foster carers across search, display, and video networks with highly relevant, intent-based ads.
- Goal: Drive high-quality traffic from users actively searching for foster care information.
- Creative: Ads featured heartwarming “Thank You” videos with former foster children expressing gratitude to foster carers, building credibility and an emotional connection.
2. Meta Platforms (Facebook/Instagram)
We ran both prospecting and retargeting campaigns on Meta platforms to engage users and drive traffic to the foster care landing page.
- Prospecting Campaigns: Targeted new audiences with broad, top-of-funnel messaging to attract potential carers.
- Retargeting Campaigns: Re-engaged individuals who visited the landing page, maximising chances of conversion.
- Creative: Carousel ads, videos, and testimonial content were used to showcase real foster care stories and the organisation’s impact on children’s lives.
3. Programmatic Audio
We used programmatic audio ads to increase brand awareness on popular streaming platforms, allowing the organisation’s message to reach users in a non-intrusive, memorable way.
- Objective: Enhance brand recall by reaching users during activities where audio consumption is high.
- Creative: Ads featured testimonials and messages about the positive impact of foster carers, fostering an emotional connection with listeners.
Step 4: Compelling Creative Assets
To effectively convey the impact of fostering, we used a series of highly engaging, relatable creative assets:
- Testimonial Videos: The campaign’s primary assets were videos featuring testimonials from former foster children, highlighting the life-changing impact foster carers had on them. These testimonials established trust and emotional resonance with viewers.
- Dedicated Landing Page: All ads directed users to a custom landing page designed for maximum engagement and conversion. The page housed testimonial videos, detailed information on becoming a foster carer, and a prominent call-to-action for enquiries.
Step 5: Execution and Ongoing Optimisation
We closely monitored campaign performance across all channels and made data-driven adjustments to ensure maximum reach and engagement.
1. Google Performance Max
PMAX achieved a 3.28% conversion rate with a cost per conversion of $87.30. The “Thank You” testimonial videos boosted engagement, reinforcing the campaign’s credibility and emotional impact.
2. Meta Platforms
- Prospecting Campaign: Generated 17,602 clicks with a cost per click (CPC) of $0.67 and a 2.15% click-through rate (CTR).
- Retargeting Campaign: Resulted in 2,521 clicks with a CPC of $1.05 and a 2.02% CTR.
- Overall Reach: Meta ads reached 210,922 users and generated 42,802 interactions (likes, shares, comments), including 1,817 reactions and 119 shares, greatly amplifying the campaign’s reach.
3. Programmatic Audio:
The audio ads achieved a 96.76% completion rate with a cost per completed listen of $0.02. This strong completion rate indicated high listener engagement and was further validated by enquiries directly attributed to the audio ads.
Results: Impressive Metrics and Campaign Success
Our multi-channel strategy delivered compelling results for the client:
- Total Spend: $46,923
- Total Impressions: 1,517,001
- Total Clicks: 25,058
- Total Leads Generated: 196
- Average Cost Per Acquisition (CPA): $239.40
This campaign helped drive 196 quality leads, effectively meeting the client’s recruitment goals within CALD communities and positioning the NFP as a leading foster care agency in Australia.
Conclusion: Achieving Sustainable Impact Through a Data-Driven, Multi-Channel Strategy
By combining targeted profiling with a multi-channel digital approach, we successfully addressed the client’s challenge of foster carer recruitment. Through Google’s Performance Max, Meta campaigns, and programmatic audio ads, we reached thousands of potential foster carers, generating meaningful engagement across multiple touchpoints.
The campaign’s strategic design and data-driven optimisation enabled us to achieve 196 qualified enquiries and a low CPC, while testimonials from former foster children added authenticity and resonance to the message.
This campaign not only fulfilled the immediate recruitment needs but also strengthened the NFP’s brand as a trusted, impactful foster care organisation within culturally diverse communities.
If you’re interested in how a multi-channel strategy could work for your organisation, reach out to learn more about our approach!
The post Winning Hearts and Driving Leads: How a Multi-Channel Campaign Drove 196 Foster Carer Enquiries For A National Nonprofit appeared first on Reef Digital Agency.