Client Case Studies
Maine Centers for Women, Work & Community
WWC is a statewide organization committed to improving the economic lives of Maine women and their families. Despite their 25 years in existence and 17 centers throught Maine, WWC lacked visibility outside of its tight circles. Encompass was hired to help determine and build WWC’s brand identity in order to: 1) attract greater funding, 2) gain visibility in the greater Maine community, and 3) reach more women who could utilize their services.
Work Conducted
Working collaboratively with WWC, we conducted a series of focus groups as well as in-person interviews and hand-out surveys to determine community perceptions about the agency. Following this research, we crafted a five-year strategic plan that outlined short, mid and long-term priorities.
Encompass serves on WWC’s marketing committee and is engaged on monthly consulting basis to build internal capacity and guide the implementation of the strategic plan. We continue to design the creative promotional materials for the organization and are currently in the process of integrating social media into their outreach efforts as part of a revised marketing plan.
Results
WWC has received more press coverage in the last few years that in it’s entire history, resulting in greater class numbers and increased funding. Staff has integreated marketing into their work life and have learned how to obtain press coverage locally.
Counseling Services, Inc. (CSI)
Providers of community and mental health services in York County, Maine for nearly 30 years, CSI suffered from a lack of community recognition for its many services. This was due in part to programs being known by their own names rather than CSI’s. Staff enhanced this problem, referring to their employer by the program in which they worked.
Work Conducted
Encompass conducted interviews and focus groups with 40 key managers, 50 staff, and the board of directors. Following the research, Encompass developed a five-year strategic marketing plan and a one-year marketing budget. This work included the development of a new logo family for the organization, allowing programs to keep their own identities while also tying them to the parent organization, as well as creating talking points for staff to describe the organization.
Since then, Encompass has been involved in providing the creative products that visually demonstrate the brand, including annual reports, print advertisements, brochures, annual appeal pieces, direct-mail pieces and an outreach video.
Results
CSI’s staff now refers to their employer as “CSI”, and the organization has built greater name recognition and increased its donor base.
HomeQuest
NeighborWorks HomeOwnership Center
A division of Community Concepts
Community Concepts is a multifaceted non-profit with a separate legal entity connected to it called The Community Concepts Finance Corporation (CCFC). CCFC’s focus is to help low and middle-income individuals purchase and maintain a home. CCFC received little visibility and wanted to generate additional sales to support the Community Concepts agency.
Work Conducted
Encompass was hired to develop a marketing plan for CCFC, which included changing the name to HomeQuest and bringing all services within Community Concepts relating to home education, purchase, financing, renovations and maintenance under this name. A new logo was created along with an extensive outreach campaign, which included radio, web, print and public relations efforts.
Results
HomeQuest real estate and mortgage business has increased and homebuyer education programs are well attended.