Economy League of Greater Philadelphia
Challenge
Through non-partisan, cross-sector collaboration with business, civic and multidisciplinary leaders, The Economy League of Greater Philadelphia does what no other regional organization can do: it creates impactful, equitable solutions that maximize Philly’s economic and community growth. The organization has a number of programs designed to achieve this. However, the Economy League recognized a struggle to communicate its impact and success in a cohesive way to its target audience. This was leading to missed opportunities and limited awareness.
For that reason, they partnered with Slice Communications to build out a new communications strategy and roadmap, to be led by their in-house marketing team. Slice was eager to take on this project and help the Economy League establish awareness at the highest level.
Insight
We began by meeting with key stakeholders from the Economy League team in order to better understand their many programs and existing communications infrastructure. From supplier diversity to health and wellness campaigns, the League has dedicated teams that use a “research for action” approach to solving city-wide issues. While the audiences are different for each program, the interwoven thread is the impactful research that the League provides in order to connect diverse leaders to achieve shared solutions.
In this initial meeting with the internal team, Slice identified and prioritized the target audiences for the organization, while also establishing a better understanding of how the programs interrelate. Together, we identified similar organizations in Philly, which allowed Slice to perform an in-depth SWOT analysis of peer organizations’ email, social media, and media coverage.
Our research phase included interviews with Economy League Board members, in which we received incredibly valuable insight from their varying perspectives on the strengths and weaknesses of the current communications plan. The League also granted us access to their existing email, social, and web analytics platforms, which allowed us to do a deep dive into historical trends.
Our weeks of research were reviewed by Slice’s Diversity Advisory Council. The consultants weighed in on positioning and key messages, ensuring that our claims of “equitable solutions” were backed up with real community work. They also helped us identify influencers who represented the different target personas, as well as creative campaigns that were truly inclusive. In applying these additional perspectives, we were able to put together a comprehensive deck that included big picture strategy, as well as a tactical timeline that could be executed in-house.
Success
Leaving no stone unturned and in the spirit of “showing our work,” Slice prepared a step-by-step deck of recommendations that was shared in a two-hour presentation.
First, we outlined different content “buckets” for each program which included low-lift campaigns that would encourage engagement with the appropriate target audience. Knowing that capacity and feasibility were important parameters, it was important to us that we highlight opportunities to cross-promote content and demonstrate how this could be executed using current resources.
Visualizing through flowcharts, we were able to show how different types of content and campaigns would achieve different organizational goals – with the ultimate goal of moving their audience from “aware of the Economy League” to “advocating for the Economy League.”
At the channel-by-channel level, we made tactical recommendations based on research, covering everything from recommended frequency of posts to suggested media lists. We also included templates and toolkits to help jumpstart some of the best practices outlined for email communication. We even included pricing research and recommendations on potential tools to help automate some of the suggestions.
All of this was then applied to a 60-day timeline to help prioritize action items, outline accountabilities by department, and make these recommendations a reality.
The end result was an actionable playbook, founded in research, that addressed the needs of both the Economy League stakeholders and the audience they serve. Slice went on to share an executive summary with the Board, and has since worked with the Economy League’s vendors to help actualize some of the recommendations.
While this process took several months to complete, the Slice Strategy Team understood that such an important community institution required a truly thorough investigation. We are proud of the fact that even after delivering strategy, the Economy League considers us a resource and partner. They know we are dedicated to their success.
Do you need a communications roadmap?
Find out more about our strategy services and how Slice can help you!
