So many times clients want to renovate their products and/or services through a new marketing approach, whether that incorporates a website redesign, logo redesign, new marketing mediums, etc. However, if you change one aspect of your marketing approach, you also need to analyze your other marketing efforts to see how they work together, and also how they work apart from each another. In fact, in order to truly make changes and marketing flow between mediums, it’s a good idea to start at the beginning and evaluate your company’s mission, competitors, target audience, product and/or service, and current marketing strategies. Evaluating all these aspects of your company can be overwhelming without a process to guide you through the analysis, but if your company is on the threshold of a marketing change, you want to make sure you understand your current position in the marketplace. As an end result of your hard work, you will make changes that will make the biggest impact on your brand and ROI.
One of my clients hired me to implement a “new” job matching system for an underrepresented industry in local workforce development programs. The local workforce development board already had a job matching system, but many of their clients complained about the confusing navigation and other problems. With the “new” job matching system, the industry would be able to access and hire a pool of qualified workers. However, my client handed me a solution without doing any research on the underrepresented industry. Instead of finding a) the root causes of their job matching system failure and b) the workforce development obstacles of the underrepresented industry, they just assumed a “new” job matching system would fix the workforce development problem.
As a result, I spent the first 6 months researching the industry and interviewing the industry players. I spoke with employers, employees, club organizations, community schools, high schools, and other programs addressing industry obstacles. I went back to the beginning and conducted a situational analysis to identify where the industry stood on workforce development. With all the information I collected, I was able to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) for the industry. I presented this information to my client and now, she had targeted recommendations to tackle workforce development obstacles that were specific to that industry in that community. From there, the project took off and we gained industry trust. If you identify SWOT of any situation, company, strategy, etc. and build recommendations that address your findings, you will see results. A little bit of research can go a long way. Tackling one company versus a community industry will take a lot less time, but the results are unquestionable.
So if you’ve identified the need for your company to make some changes, first explore your company’s mission, products and/or services, current target audience, current competitors, etc. After you know where you are, you can identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that will help you move in the direction of where you want to be. To view a situational analysis outline, click here. At Ripley Designs, we can help you sift through the marketing process and choose strategies that will best meet your needs. Please visit our website, www.ripleydesigns.com, to view our current services!
