You know the conversations, we’ve all had them with colleagues and clients, on coffee breaks, at meetings, at after-work drinks. How is the market? What’s the general feel in the industry?
While it may seem like office chit-chat, in these times of ever-escalating cost-of-living pressures and companies’ constant focus on the bottom line, it’s important to recognise there’s power in really knowing your industry, to better serve those within it, and evolve through any challenges.
It’s a case of cause-and-effect; know more to do more, and, with the right strategy and processes in place, accurately and meaningfully measuring industry sentiment is very possible.
Done well, investigating and snapshotting sentiment will open up a world of possibility, enabling you to tailor your services to your valued clients and amplify your business through word and deed, while contributing to the greater good and shared success across your entire industry – and who doesn’t want all of that.
So, how do you harness and unleash this power?
Taking the pulse of an industry is more than just a quick chat with a few key clients. Sure, this might spark the idea, as it did for one of our valued clients, a leading recruitment firm with whom we produced a successful, engaging, sentiment index for education.
A sentiment index, as this one did, must bring into focus the most pressing current challenges from as many stakeholders as possible, and gather opinions, thoughts and opportunities across relevant sectors, at every level, that resonate with the intended audience.
The desired outcome guides planning and actions.
Before kick-off, it’s important to consider the following key points:
- Think about your industry’s needs, pain points and opportunities – what else can you add to the conversation?
- Do you want to capture an entire industry’s sentiment, or do you want to laser-beam the focus on specific challenges and sentiment around these, and then be able to home in on solutions with your findings to inform and guide change?
- Do you want to spread the word further and enact reform on a wider scale, targeting industry bodies and governments?
Whatever the case, strategic thinking is key, and this is where it is vital to partner with marketing and PR professionals, with solid networks, the relevant skills and know-how to guide you to, through and beyond.
Do you want to lead thought in, and capture the feel of, your industry through a powerful sentiment index? We can help.
