Marketing Case Study / Connect Assist Strategy
Strategic Marketing Plan
| Client | Connect Assist | www.connectassist.co.uk |
| Objective | Develop a strategic sales and marketing plan to meet ambitious three-year growth targets. |
| Quick Facts |
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Connect Assist is a Cardiff-based social enterprise that describes itself as a different kind of contact centre for the third sector. Their clients are organisations that focus on helping people make real changes in their lives. Connect Assist provides professional helpline and technology services that put those organisations in touch with their communities, through the contact method (e.g. phone, text, email) of their choice, at any time of day or night.
Established in 2006, the business had secured some first-rate clients, and an excellent reputation amongst those in their existing network. Based in Cardiff, and with a Welsh-language offering, their client base was mostly made-up of organisations in Wales. With the arrival of a new chief executive in 2009, the Board was keen to build on these firm foundations to take the business to the next level, and a three-year growth target had been set. To reach these targets, it was clear that they needed to step-up the awareness levels of what they are able to do for third sector organisations throughout the UK. Without a marketing team in the business, Connect Assist sought an external team to support them to develop a strategic sales and marketing plan.
Clear Thought was appointed to work as an extended team with PR specialists, Transform Communications, to develop the action plan to make reaching these goals a reality.
What we did:
Working closely with the Connect Assist team, Clear Thought undertook:
- Market: A market review and situational analysis to understand the market opportunities. This exposed three key markets, which were prioritised according to opportunity and Connect Assist’s particular strengths.
- Messaging: The development of revised messaging to appeal to the identified market.
- Metrics: Clarification of sales targets, into key metrics across the sales funnel, and into specific monthly targets for each individual in the sales team.
- Process: A detailed review of the sales process and marketing set-up to identify areas for improvement.
- Set-up: Identification of key investment projects in infrastructure, e.g. branded templates, website enhancements, to enable Connect Assist to run marketing campaigns on a modest budget thereafter.
- Action: The development of a 12-month marketing activity plan to generate awareness and drive leads into the sales funnel, in-line with the targets set.
What this meant to the client:
Patrick Nash, CEO, comments, “What Clear Thought brought to this project was a really structured approach that meant that we could organise our thoughts, to see the bigger picture. From this, they were able to break down long-term goals into specific actions that we can actually put into practice. What we didn’t want was a lofty strategy document that meant nothing in practice, and Clear Thought definitely delivered on that.”
Connect Assist has since appointed Clear Thought on a retained basis to oversee the 12-month marketing activity plan, and to deliver the identified marketing infrastructure projects. Clear Thought acts as the marketing director that Connect Assist can’t afford to have on their payroll, but can’t afford not to have on their team. We oversee the budget, source and manage appropriate marketing suppliers, and monitor the sales results to make sure that the marketing activity is turning into the sales outcomes that the business is looking for.
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