Foster4 | Public Sector – Fostering Recruitment
North West foster carer recruitment
Marketing Strategy | SEO | Google PPC | Paid Social
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Foster4 is one of the first ever government-backed recruitment initiatives in the UK, created to transform how foster carers are recruited across multiple local authorities, in this instance, across Cheshire and Merseyside.
Historically, each local authority ran their own recruitment campaigns in isolation, with inconsistent messaging and varied results. Foster4 brought eight councils together into a single, unified service, including Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester, Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, St Helens, Warrington and Wirral.
Swype® was appointed to lead the development of a joined-up digital strategy for this newly formed network. Our task? To deliver a clear, consistent campaign that could cut enquiry costs, engage at scale, and reach the right people, all while competing with better-known IFAs offering stronger financial incentives.
Background
Foster4 had run digital ads before, but outcomes were mixed. Earlier paid campaigns produced leads, but they lacked consistency across boroughs. Most strategies relied on awareness and short-term retargeting alone, without nurturing users through a long, uncertain decision process.
We started from scratch: new ad accounts, cross-channel analytics, full conversion tracking, and a phased plan. We focused on high-intent users from the outset, warming accounts carefully and steering clear of vanity metrics.
The ask was bold: cut enquiry costs, increase relevance, and generate real engagement, all while building trust across eight boroughs, and competing against better-known IFAs offering stronger financial incentives.
The Challenge
We launched with a performance-first strategy, building campaigns that reflected the long, emotional journey of becoming a foster carer.
What We Did
We reframed Foster4’s position versus IFAs, not by outspending them, but by out-educating them, focusing on local authority support, long-term stability, and practical benefits.
SEO efforts started with a deep audit, fixing critical errors and improving visibility for key borough-based keywords. We also developed content for early-stage users searching for answers, not just sign-up prompts.
All results were tracked and shared live via reporting dashboards, aligning all eight councils on progress and performance in real time.
With Google PPC, we focused on borough-specific, high-intent search terms and conversion-led landing pages, optimised around real user queries backed by social listening.
On Meta, we avoided weak lead forms and instead used qualified forms for live info sessions that once complete, drove users directly to related website resources.
Campaign concepts were shaped by interviews with real foster carers, tackling common misconceptions like age, working status, and the different types of fostering available.
The Results
128,433
Landing page (website) views as a result of our paid social and Google PPC camaigns.
+153
Related keyword positions improved across search engine results pages.
169%
Increase in click-through rate (CTR) across Paid Search and Meta Campaigns.
Fostering is not a product. It’s a life-changing decision. Generic ads weren’t cutting through, and Foster4 knew it. By taking a slower, more strategic path, we built a performance funnel that respected the decision-making process, filtered for serious intent, and backed it all with clean, visible data.
And it worked. Performance campaigns delivered leads at an impressive cost, also reducing the cost per website visit by over 90%, even with brand awareness (Top of Funnel) spend factored in at scale.
This wasn’t about spending more than competitors. It was about connecting better with potential foster parents, through empathy, clarity, and creative grounded in lived experience.
Why It Matters
Performance improves when strategy is paced to match the user journey, not rush it.
Lead volume means nothing without lead quality, track what matters.
In public sector campaigns, empathy, education, and intent must guide every creative and targeting choice.
Learnings
Code
19,115% return on yearly investment
Website | SEO | Paid Social | Google PPC