A. PRODUCT IMPROVEMENT
No one creates a perfect product or service on the first try, and even if one may achieve apparent perfection at a point, society’s values, priorities and resources are continually changing, meaning that consumer behaviour and expectations are continually changing as well.
To stay competitive, business owners must keep up with these changes, and one such way is by continuing to enhance their products and services to ensure they are always delivering what their consumers want or need at a given point in time. This is the concept of product improvement.
Our agents will use everything they’ve learned in their journeys so far to pinpoint which areas of their products or services can and should be improved. Does their entire offering need to be redesigned? Or perhaps just one element? Or is it time to add some new features?
In order to determine which upgrades should be made, our agents will need to know: What is working especially well? What is mostly working? What is not so effective? And what should be removed now, no question?
They can get this information by analysing and tracking user data, conducting product feedback surveys, prototyping and usability testing.
B. BRANDING & MAKETING
Purpose should absolutely be at the core of a social enterprise’s brand identity, but a brand is more than purpose alone. A brand is everything from the look and feel of the products, packaging, font and logo, to the experience people have using the product or service, to the slogans, stories and tone used to communicate, and the emotions they stir up in consumers.
Brand strategy is then: “the act of directing how people think and feel about your business”.
Understandably, social enterprises usually want a significant chunk of any precious profits made to go right back into making impact, but it’s important they budget for building a strong brand, as a brand can be thought of as an organisation’s most consistent marketing tool.
When it comes to branding and marketing, social enterprises generally have it tough on two fronts: They must communicate the benefits of their product or service, which means competing with purely commercially-focused brands who can spend much more on online presence, packaging, quality; and they must also communicate how they are contributing to improving society – moreso, they will be held accountable by consumers for their promise of impact.
So, how will all this inform their marketing strategies? With the limited budgets they often have, social businesses will need to be smart with their marketing spending. Are they offering a niche product for disabled teens? Then blanket marketing to Instagram influencers might be wasteful. Are their intended beneficiaries elderly people outside the cities? Then perhaps newspaper, radio adverts and even flyers might be the focus.
True to their hybrid nature, social businesses may opt for a mix of marketing strategies – some geared toward commercial success and some toward eliciting social and behavioural change.
