How a focused digital marketing strategy transformed enquiry rates in just four months
Client: RSD Fostering (a division of RSD Recruitment) Services: Marketing strategy, brand audit, social media, Google Ads, website redesign Timeline: Four months Budget: Under £1,000
The Brief
RSD Fostering works with the UK’s largest foster agency, connecting prospective foster families with children across the UK. When RSD Fostering brought me on as a freelance Marketing Consultant, the goal was clear: increase the volume of enquiries through social media marketing and website optimisation.
What I found when I arrived told a more complex story.
Discovery & Research
My first step was a full audit of RSD Fostering’s existing marketing assets; website, social media accounts, brand materials and printed documents, to understand what was working and what wasn’t.
I also carried out broader research into the UK fostering landscape, drawing on a 2023 Fostering Network report to identify the core motivations behind why people apply to become foster carers. This research formed the foundation of the entire content strategy.
Three key drivers emerged:
- Having a passion for working with children and young adults
- Wanting to make a difference to a child or young person
- Having space at home that could be offered to a foster child
The Brand Problem
The audit revealed significant brand inconsistency. There were more than three versions of the RSD Fostering logo in active use, none of them instantly recognisable, and none formatted as a submark. The existing typeface was slimline and poorly legible against darker backgrounds.
Across the website, multiple fonts and analogous colour combinations made the text hard to read, particularly for those with reading difficulties. Content was repeated across pages, the site structure didn’t follow conventional navigation, and the average dwell time sat at just 28 seconds.
The same issues extended to print and digital collateral. The fostering guide for prospective families, a key conversion tool, had been produced in Microsoft Word with inconsistent fonts and colours. Social media posts and supporting documents had been created across a mix of Canva templates and Microsoft Office files, making the brand look fragmented and uncoordinated.
Using the data from my research, I had been able to identify three main drivers to fostering, which were: Wanting to make a difference to a
What I Did
Brand & Guidelines – I commissioned an external designer to redesign the logo and created a formal set of brand guidelines, including a tone of voice document to ensure consistency across all channels and team members.
Social Media Strategy & Paid Advertising – Using the three motivational drivers identified in my research, I developed three campaign messages:
- Make a difference to a child living in foster care
- Do you enjoy working with children?
- Could you welcome a foster child into your family?
I designed a full suite of social media assets for each campaign, built to the new brand guidelines, alongside testimonial tiles and a set of refreshed evergreen posts. These ran as paid ads across Facebook and Instagram, with daily performance analysis to monitor engagement and optimise spend.
With a modest quarterly budget of £500 spread across Meta ad sets, the campaigns delivered 1,100 link clicks across four ads. Messages one and two consistently outperformed message three and were refined accordingly. The campaigns also delivered growth in followers and likes across both platforms.
Google Ads – Using £400 in spend to unlock a further £400 in Google credit, I set up a Google Ads campaign to drive targeted traffic to the RSD Fostering website. After one month of data, the campaign was refined to focus on the two strongest-performing messages.
Website Redesign – Despite strong engagement across paid channels, enquiries weren’t converting, and the website was the likely bottleneck. I redesigned the site as a clear, single-page layout with a free FAQ download to reduce page length and improve the user journey.
The results were immediate. The redesigned site recorded more visits in its first weekend than in the entire previous 12 months. Average dwell time increased from 28 seconds to 3 minutes, and enquiries via both telephone and the contact form increased.
The live site can be viewed at www.rsdfostering.co.uk
Corporate Outreach – Alongside the digital work, I developed a corporate outreach programme, approaching retailers and businesses across the UK to encourage them to join the Fostering Network and support employees in exploring foster caring, an often-overlooked but high-potential pipeline for fostering enquiries.
In my final week, I represented RSD Fostering in a meeting with senior HR executives at ASDA, presenting a potential partnership with their Health & Wellbeing team.
Results at a Glance
| Metric | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Average website dwell time | 28 seconds | 3 minutes |
| Website visits (first weekend post-launch) | — | More than previous 12 months combined |
| Meta ad link clicks | — | 1,100 across 4 ads |
| Enquiries | Low | Increased via phone & contact form |
| Brand consistency | Multiple logos, no guidelines | Full brand guidelines & tone of voice |
What This Demonstrates
This project is a strong example of what strategic digital marketing can achieve even on a tight budget and within a short timeframe. Rather than simply posting content, the work began with research, was guided by data, and every decision connected back to a clear business goal: generating fostering enquiries.
If you’re a small business looking for a freelance marketing consultant who brings strategic thinking as well as hands-on execution, I’d love to have a conversation.
