This week, a topic that's not discussed very often: Marketing in the
PUBLIC sector.  How is it different?  Do you actually have
'Customers'??  What works differently???

My guest, Elizabeth Curtis, heads up Marketing and Communications at
East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service. She talks about the difficulties of protecting a well-loved and respected brand but also keeping it relevant. She discusses marketing on a small budget and some of the different audiences she addresses.

Transcript

Kiran Kapur (00:13 ):
Today, we're going to be talking about marketing in the public sector, which is an area of marketing that really isn't covered enough. And I'm joined by Elizabeth Curtis, who is the communications and marketing manager at the East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service. Elizabeth, welcome. I think public sector marketing is a fascinating area. Can we start with a little bit about what the product or the services of the East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service?

Elizabeth Curtis (00:41 ):
I think most people assume when they hear about fire and rescue that it's all about responding to emergencies. When you dial 9-9-9, you have an expectation that someone will come and help you. And that is obviously one of our key services that we provide the public. And you could describe it as a product. But we also do a lot of work preventing emergencies. So we do a lot of home safety checks, a lot of business safety checks. Obviously with COVID we've had to adjust the way we do that, because that used to be face-to-face. And what we've seen is that marketing has sort of come up, trumps with reaching people that we would normally engage face-to-face with.

Elizabeth Curtis (01:28 ):
So our marketing channels have changed if you're talking in those terms. Often we talk more about engagement and education. A lot of what we deliver is actually set out in law. So it's very different from a company which is selling a product. There are certain statutory duties we have to fulfill, but it's making sure the public know what those are and how they can access them that's most important.

Kiran Kapur (01:56 ):
That's interesting, because you've talked about some products. I want to ask a bit more about that. But isn't what you're really selling a sense of reassurance or a sense of security? So the brand is the brand of, I can trust a fire and rescue service is really important.

Elizabeth Curtis (02:11 ):
Trust is one of the key points that we know we enjoy. The public do trust us. I think it's interesting when you have got this sort of the two drivers, the public expectations of us and the legal expectations of us. And when you're looking at that, how you fill that space in people's minds about what we're offering is quite fascinating. I think particularly with the tragedy at Grenfell, fire safety has become much more important to a lot of people who perhaps haven't thought about it before. And certainly reassurance is one of those things that they expect us to do. But more and more often, they expect us to take action as well to keep them safe. So it's not just being there and waiting like an insurance policy, but it's actually going out there and making the difference before the bad things happen. And I think when you talk about the branding for all fire and rescue services, we offer the same thing.

Elizabeth Curtis (03:19 ):
So while we may be a monopoly in East Sussex and in Brighton and Hove, across the whole of the UK, you have different services doing things slightly differently. And we do a lot of work sharing with other communications teams of how they are trying to reach people and to make sure people are aware of the dangers. Not just of fires, but road safety, water safety. And some of those messages, you really have to sort of try them out and see how they hit home, because people don't assume it will happen to them. And they often don't realize that they can change their future by their own behavior. And I think that's what attracts me is this idea of making people realize your destiny is in your own hands a lot of the time. If you can make some small adjustments, you will be safer. So while we're providing, as you say, reassurance. What we'd like to do in the future is be more of the friend that walks beside you and make sure you don't have the accidents in the first place.

Kiran Kapur (04:38 ):
It's interesting, because I think so often when we hear fire and rescue service, the bit we think about is the fire. So you're rescuing people from a fire, but what you're actually saying is it's a much wider remit around safety.

Elizabeth Curtis (04:51 ):
Yes, yes. I mean, we have a whole range of skills. Road traffic collisions. Sort of commonly known things about the jaws of life, where you cut open a car. Some of those stereotypes are the reality of the work that they do. But often you'll find that there'll be brought, called to a scene to make the scene safe. So we'll be clearing up fuel after a road traffic collision. And so some of it is not exactly the high adrenaline activity you would see in films, but it is very important to keep the world moving safely. We have rope rescue teams, we have training on water safety to make sure that we can reach people who need rescuing from rivers and such like. And we work with a lot of partners who often have a greater skill base in those areas. And we're part of a much wider team.

Elizabeth Curtis (05:56 ):
We also have a very good working relationship with the local ambulance service. And we're seeing particularly more rescues requiring our support. So gaining entry to people's homes in order for the ambulance crew and the paramedics to reach them. So it's a whole range of work we do. And perhaps a lot of it goes unnoticed until you need us yourself. I think one of the greatest things that we do, which again, is very enjoyable for those involved in it, is going into schools. So we do a lot of education work.

Elizabeth Curtis (06:34 ):
But again, that tends to go sort of almost unnoticed because it is not the dramatic side of things that perhaps the news locally will pick up on. So for us, the marketing challenge is often reminding people that we're here and we can offer lots of different support in different ways. And making sure people know how they can get to us. And we do all this on a very small marketing budget. I mean, I have about 7,000 pounds a year to cover everything we do. And that's a tough call, but you have to be inventive and you have to lean on other partners to help share messages.

Kiran Kapur (07:17 ):
Wow. That really is quite a small budget.

Elizabeth Curtis (07:21 ):
Yes.

Kiran Kapur (07:21 ):
There's so many things in there that I want to pick out, but I want to start with the education and going into schools. Are you doing it... I can see there's an education message. Obviously, we want children to learn to be safe. But is there also a branding message that the fire service has come into school and they are there to protect me? So is it something on the branding side as well as the education side?

Elizabeth Curtis (07:42 ):
There is. And I think the service wants children to grow up trusting the fire service, knowing what we can do, believing in us, because I think there are a lot of organizations now that sort of pull young people in every direction. And to have an organization, a public sector organization, that people feel that they are emotionally connected to and they can trust is important. We have our own fire cadets who potentially want to work with us in the future, but who can learn lots of life skills throughout. So that's another product as it were. But it is very much about the person. And a lot of what we do is about people rather than process and profits. And I think when you're talking about the brand of the fire and rescue service, it's very rare to have negative comments about us. So really you're looking at how you protect the brand rather than anything else.

Kiran Kapur (08:52 ):
Can I explore a bit more about who your customers are? Now normally, when I talk to anybody and I say, "So who are your customers?" And sometimes people that want to launch a company will come back and go, "My potential customers are everybody." And I go, "Don't be ridiculous. It's just the people that use you." But in your case, your customers really are everybody, because anybody could need the fire and rescue service.

Elizabeth Curtis (09:12 ):
Yes. Our audience is very wide ranging. What we do is work closely with our community risk analysts, who essentially find out who is most at risk of fire or most at risk of other accidents or incidents. So we are able to prioritize our audiences. So yes, we would love to speak to everyone all the time. Realistically, that is just too much to take on. So we have to think about our marketing mix, think about which activities are going to be specifically targeted to people who are perhaps more vulnerable because they have mobility issues, for example. So for them a fire in their home could potentially be much more life-threatening than for someone who can walk out the door easily. So all of these factors help us prioritize audiences. What we have found though, is that you also want to prioritize on things like how frequently someone might have a particular type of incident.

Elizabeth Curtis (10:25 ):
So it might not be the seriousness of it, but it might be that actually they've got a lot of false alarms. So their fire alarm system is going off because they're not looking after it properly in a business. And you will want to work with them. And that is sort of the on the ground activity, working with them. Meanwhile, the communications team wants to target ot