We conducted a communications analysis of nonprofit organizations similar to PH in order to identify new opportunities in strategic communication methods. Before collecting data about your ‘competitors’ we asked: Who are the most direct competitors of PH?
Who are your competitors?
There are more than 1,100 organizations that focus on international educational empowerment of women and girls (guidestar.org). We narrowed the scope to the Colorado area for this analysis.
What did we analyze about your competitors?
The analysis in the following table contains data about each nonprofit’s basic organizational structure, mission, brand, communication methods, website design, social media usage, media coverage, and overall messaging. Data is ranked 0 to 5 (5 being best).
What are your competitors’ communication strategies and tactics?
All have monthly e-newsletters, moderately active social media channels, and well-developed annual reports. They all communicate a bit differently, each with strengths and weaknesses.
Strengths
- Personalized messaging about the girls
- Narrow topic messaging
- Consistently timed newsletters
- Consistently formatted newsletters
- Trendy website and report design
- Audience-specific messaging
- Clear brand and mission
- Brand repeated in all communication materials
- Regular social media posts specific to the program with a human face impact
- Audience immersion factor
- Big visuals
- Screen-wide photos
- Infographics
Weaknesses
- Spam email
- Dated website design
- Text-heavy communication
- Impersonal and distant messaging
- Communication topics too broad
- Irregular and irrelevant social media posts that devalue brand
- No press coverage or dated press coverage
What did we learn?
The information we gathered from the competitive analysis will be useful in designing an integrated marketing campaign for Peruvian Hearts that learns from the mistakes and the successes of others in this nonprofit niche.
Lesson One: Same Product
We learned all of the organizations are “selling” the same thing: girl education and empowerment for the betterment of a community in a third world country.
Lesson Two: Ana is the Difference
Peruvian Hearts stands out from the other organizations because Ana Dodson founded PH to help girls in situations that she herself would be in had she not been adopted by a Colorado family.
Lesson Three: News Value
PH also stands out from its competitors because of recent media attention. PH has the opportunity to harness extensive press coverage of Ana’s story. AfricAid also received significant press coverage in its early years because its girl founder wanted African children to have the same opportunities as her. But the AfricAid founder grew up and because she lacked a deeply personal connection to the location, the novelty of her story is no longer as newsworthy.
Lesson Four: Make it Personal
Star Fish Impact does an excellent job of connecting their audience with stories of girl pioneers through imagery and consistent messaging. Edge of Seven also captivates its audience through immersing visuals and messaging specifically targeted to their volun-tourism audience.
Competitive Analysis Summary
The competitive communications analysis reveals Peruvian Hearts has the opportunity to connect with supporters through more consistent, formatted, branded, and impactful communication methods.