Empowering 400+ volunteers to expand Mencap’s local reach

At a glance

on-brand designs created to date

volunteers and support workers empowered

days saved per year for the design team

Limited design capacity prevented Mencap getting into regional communities, harming their brand awareness and limiting the growth of their support network
They needed a user-friendly tool that empowered their wide network of supporters and volunteers to embrace local opportunities while protecting their core brand
RightMarket enables everyone in Mencap to create on-brand materials and reduces the pressure on marketing to handle every request
Mencap is now more present in local communities, supporting more people and expanding their network even further

About Mencap

Mencap is a UK charity that supports people with learning disabilities and their families

They have a network of 8000+ support workers, volunteers and members, spread across the UK, which they rely upon to provide their services.

Before RightMarket: missed local marketing opportunities and a DIY approach to brand

Although it is a national charity, much of Mencap’s work happens in communities. They need a large network of supporters and volunteers in local areas to raise the money and resources required to offer their services. Community work is also crucial to reaching families living with learning difficulties.

That’s why there is a regular need for marketing materials to promote projects and events within regional areas.

Prior to RightMarket, Mencap had web-to-print software in place. But this was complicated to use, so the organisation only felt comfortable giving their internal marketing department access.

It meant a small team was handling the requests of anyone needing marketing assets. This was impossible to manage, especially given requests were often unpredictable in volume and format. The result was local marketing requests being turned down due to lack of capacity, limiting Mencap’s reach.

The alternative was for people to build their own materials in tools like Canva. But this led to off-brand output which threatened the trusted reputation Mencap had built over the years.

As Sophie Spiteri, Marketing Manager at Mencap, explains: “Using tools without proper brand control can be more dangerous than not doing any brand marketing at all. In our experience, it led to inconsistent logos, copy, and fonts that damaged the overall brand image.”

They needed a platform that was user-friendly enough to empower volunteers to create posters, flyers and any other assets needed to promote Mencap in local communities. But it was also crucial that everyone was aligned to the core brand and presenting Mencap positively.

The business case: 42 days and over £8000 saved per month

As part of the Project Discovery process, the RightMarket sales team worked with Sophie to build a business case that would clearly showcase the value to the rest of the organisation.

The process uncovered that RightMarket would save the marketing team 42 days a month from having to work through low-level, ad-hoc requests. The labour cost saving made it a no-brainer, especially knowing it would expand their capacity further while keeping brand completely protected.

This data was crucial in getting sign-off and highlighting the return-on-investment RightMarket would provide.

The fact that RightMarket gave us a document with tangible cost benefit analysis that we could then take to senior level was great because we didn't have to then go and put a whole business case forward by ourselves. We could just say, ‘look, this is what we need’.

A user-friendly platform to manage Mencap’s unpredictable requests

Given the nature of Mencap’s requests, they needed a flexible solution that allowed users to easily create the variety of marketing materials commonly requested.

Mencap’s RightMarket platform holds a range of brand templates to suit the diverse marketing needs users have, including postcards, newsletters, posters and leaflets.

Each template includes free text with copy fit rules, meaning designs look great no matter how much text the user inputs. There’s also access to a library of pre-approved imagery to only the right visuals are used. They give enough flexibility to create unique, high-quality, original looking artwork while always staying 100% on-brand.

The result is consistently high-quality artwork, ready to be placed into local communities.

Mencap’s marketing department no longer need to waste time processing all design requests. Users have everything they need to do it themselves

Expanding Mencap’s local reach

RightMarket has enabled Mencap to finally have the capacity to reach their goal of being more present regionally.

There are no longer any barriers for volunteers who want to promote Mencap’s work in their communities. Marketing don’t have to turn down requests due to stretched capacity or worry about people creating off-brand, DIY materials.

As a result, Mencap can reach more people – whether it’s volunteers or fundraisers who help the charity deliver more of their services or, most crucially, the families needing support.

With Mencap users on the RightMarket platform growing 41% year-on-year, more volunteers are taking advantage of the platform and creating on-brand designs. As a result, local marketing has expanded beyond expectations.

This regional push also reinforces the national brand, thanks to the consistency offered by RightMarket.

Hear it from Sophie herself:

The success of getting our brand out into communities comes as a result of having a system like RightMarket that allows us to disseminate materials down to the community level. Previously, we would have had to say no to an awful lot of people. It’s broken down the barriers for our users. Once people are on RightMarket, we don’t have to worry about brand.