Recent research in Northern Ireland has offered some clues about how to ensure marketing materials can be tailored for hearing impaired audiences. Alice Jackson explains.
If you were told that in 2016 a sizeable proportion of your audience would be deaf or hard of hearing what would you think? That your organisations efforts at inclusive marketing had paid off? Or that, in fact, your 2016 audience was simply your current audience, just ten years older and with acquired hearing loss? Look at the statistics and the latter scenario is a much more likely reality.
In Northern Ireland, there are approximately 219,000 deaf or hard of hearing people , equating to 13% of the population. (This is broadly in line with the rest of the UK, where it is estimated that 1 in 7 people have some degree of hearing loss. ) Yet, of the 219, 000 people with hearing loss, only 17,000 are actually profoundly or severely deaf. The rest have mild to moderate deafness and of these, 140,000 are aged over 60.
In other words, most people with a hearing loss have acquired it simply by getting older. Put this in the context of the 2001 census which shows that the proportion of over-60s has outstripped the under-16s for the first time in 50 years, and we are looking at an exponential increase in older audiences with age-related hearing loss. Given that arts audiences, in particular those of classical arts, tend to reflect an older demographic, it is clear that we have to re-define our understanding of deaf audiences and re-think our inclusive marketing strategies.
To address this and explore the issues surrounding marketing to deaf and hard of hearing audiences more generally, this year Audiences NI conducted a piece of research targeted directly at the deaf and hard of hearing community, with funding from Awards for All. Branded In the Loop, the project comprised a leaflet questionnaire with Freepost response and an online alternative; the initiative was supported by a PR, advertising and direct mail campaign.
We worked closely with the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), Deaf Association of Northern Ireland, Northern Irish Deaf Youth Association and the National Deaf Childrens Society to ensure that we were catering for the full spectrum of deaf and hard of hearing needs, in terms of design, copywriting and questionnaire formulation. We also harnessed their networks and marketing lists to maximise penetration into multiple deaf communities. The advice and support of STAGETEXT, Arts & Disability Forum and Adapt NI also proved invaluable.
Research Findings
Use of new technology to facilitate deaf and hard of hearing respondents yielded poor results. An overwhelming 92% of respondents chose to fill in the questionnaire by hand and put it in a post box rather than go online to complete an automated survey. This statistic was to set the tone for the formal findings. The age profile of the respondents broadly reflected that of the general population, with a concentration (31%) aged over 55 and a minority (9%) under 24. It proved difficult to ascertain types of deafness, with many respondents selecting multiple options. However, the combined figure for those who selected Hard of Hearing and Hearing Aid user was double that of those who selected Sign Language User. This would seem to suggest a prevalence of acquired hearing loss linked to age rather than profound deafness.
In terms of preferred marketing information channels, good old-fashioned post won out by a long stretch, with 64% specifying post only and a further 20% specifying post with other methods. Email was selected by 32% of respondents (even though 48% provided an email address), while SMS was selected by just 10% (and always in combination with another method). This was surprising given the perceived popularity of SMS as a communication channel among the deaf community. Similarly, postal booking came out as the preferred method of booking tickets, while in person and online had equal weighting.
These findings are supported by a recent survey of people on STAGETEXTs email and postal mailing lists, which explored a number of issues including communications methods. Although 62% of respondents declared they have easy access to the Internet, the preferred method for receiving information about captioned performances was still by post (66%). With 69% of respondents over 55 , it seems that mobile- and e-marketing strategies which we might see as solutions for marketing to deaf and hard of hearing audiences are, at the present time, inappropriate for the majority. Further investigation into the rates of adoption and levels of access to new media for this community would be needed to determine preference over choice.
These figures and findings might check us in our rush to attract the dwindling pool of young audiences using all the new media we can muster. The challenge of inclusive marketing may be to hold our nerve and be prepared to market to the growing number of older audiences with hearing loss on their terms. This might just mean persisting with good old-fashioned direct mail and quality face-to-face customer service for a few more years to come.
Alice Jackson is Marketing Officer for Audiences NI.
t: 028 9043 6484; w: http://www.audiencesni.com;
e: alice.jackson@audiencesni.com