Marketing isn’t straightforward or easy. However, it’s undeniably a key business investment, and can be the key to business success. This is particularly true for crowded markets such as the NDIS. With new providers springing up to capitalise on the continuing growth of the sector and the increasing number of participants, good marketing is becoming increasingly critical to cutting through.
However, NDIS marketing comes with a number of unique challenges. It requires sensitivity, as well as an in-depth understanding of participants and their needs and experiences. Accounting for these is essential for the success in the NDIS sphere.
Whether your organisation offers a wide range of supports or specialises in specific services, you should partner with an NDIS marketing agency to ensure you stand out from the herd.
What makes NDIS marketing different from other types of marketing?
Accessibility is key
In other industries, accessible marketing material is a “nice to have” – while it’s strongly advised to increase brand reach and maximise retention, it’s not mandatory. For NDIS providers however, accessible design is non-negotiable. Many participants live with conditions that affect their ability to engage with marketing material. It’s crucial that accessible design is baked into all NDIS marketing materials, whether it’s print, brochures, or digital.
One mistake smaller NDIS providers make is focusing on specific types of accessibility, to the exclusion of others. For example, a provider that specialises in wheelchair ramps might focus on participants with physical disability, forgetting that some of their target audience may also live with low vision.
Accessible design needs to be all-encompassing. Accessible typefaces. Carefully-chosen colours. Easier-to-understand copy. Compatibility with screen readers. These are simply some of the variables that need to be considered in NDIS marketing. Failing to account for the varying needs of NDIS participants can mean excluding a large part of the audience. In addition to creating barriers however, it can also demonstrate a lack of care, reducing your efforts to reach participants.
Regulatory requirements
Unlike other sectors, NDIS marketing is tightly regulated. While NDIS providers are allowed to advertise their affiliation with the NDIS, they need to adhere to a range of marketing guidelines and rules. For example, as a government organisation, the usage of NDIS branding is tightly regulated. Providers may not use the NDIS name in their own business name or as a branding element. Using colours that are too similar to the NDIS is also prohibited. Additionally, NDIS providers need to be careful about how they describe their services to avoid insinuating they are part of the NDIS itself.
Understanding these boundaries and restrictions is essential to successful marketing. To ensure compliance, it’s important to choose a marketing agency with previous experience in the NDIS space. Prior experience reduces the risk of marketing breaching these legal and ethical guidelines.
Marketing NDIS services is not like other products or services
When marketing to other industries, businesses usually have multiple threads to pull on to enhance their offer and stand out in a crowded marketplace. Businesses can appeal to price competitiveness, faster turnaround than the competition, emotion, convenience, and more in their marketing.
By contrast, NDIS providers have fewer options. Participants are driven by outcomes, with how well providers’ offerings will achieve their specific NDIS goals will be the deciding factor in their final decision. As such, NDIS marketing needs to take a customer-centric approach, with particular focus on addressing a participant’s unique needs and goals.
Moreover, NDIS providers need to be mindful of the tone and type of language they use in their marketing. Not all ableist language involves insults or slurs – providers must also avoid taking on a patronising or overly sentimental tone, which can easily read as condescending or fake. Successful marketing will follow inclusive language guidelines and best practices. Extreme care must be taken with NDIS and disability services marketing to avoid slipping up, as each of these can have a big impact on how your marketing efforts are received.
Branding Graphic Design Marketing – Ability Action Australia
MOO Marketing and Design, a recognised branding graphic design and marketing agency were appointed by Ability Action Australia to design and launch their new brand. MOO’s NDIS Marketing strategy and marketing plan development was supported by our graphic design services, copywriting, WordPress website development and SEO capability to launch and manage Ability Action Australia’s brand nationally. Our breadth of service offerings including digital marketing, content marketing, graphic design and website development were all important in the execution of this project.
Moo’s key priority was to design a creative but professional brand that resonated with the target markets. Supporting this was to deliver a program of printed collateral and digital assets including corporate collateral, brochures and a new WordPress website. Ability Action Australia is an NDIS registered provider of therapeutic supports throughout Australia.
The MOO graphic design team thus needed to create a brand and collateral that referrers, plan managers and participants would appreciate to be approachable, professional, and easy to understand. Importantly it needed to be different. The graphic designers and marketing team developed various brand design concepts and these were refined and applied to the different collateral.
Collateral development and website development ran concurrently to speed up the brand launch. Our copywriters and content developers were able distill the uniqueness of Ability Action Australia’s service offering and communicate this in simple, to the point language.
The Ability Action Australia project included:
- Marketing consultation
- Concept development
- Graphic design service and creative application
- Setting artwork for print and digital applications
- Creation of graphic elements
- Image treatments
- Print production
- WordPress website design and development
- SEO
The key to success is to choose a specialist NDIS marketing agency
When it comes to marketing for NDIS providers, there are considerable additional pitfalls and risks that will need to be accounted for. Whether it’s a complete marketing strategy and brand refresh, or simply a one-off print order, it takes insider knowledge to ensure your efforts resonate with participants.
The key to success is to partner with a specialist. An NDIS marketing agency will have experience navigating the unique marketing challenge facing NDIS providers.
MOO is a leading marketing agency in Melbourne offering marketing, graphic design and digital marketing services with substantial creative acumen. Our portfolio includes a diverse range of organisations and brands, including numerous NDIS and disability service providers.
If you’re looking for a branding agency, graphic design agency, digital marketing agency or content marketing agency in Melbourne where all our recommendations and executions are based on solid marketing principles, try MOO.