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CASE STUDIES
While in college, a team and I worked with the Yarbrough Tennis Center (YTC) in Auburn, Alabama, on improving awareness and membership for its organization.
First, we conducted secondary research to find wo played recreational tennis and why. We discovered that our primary publics and focus were residents throughout Auburn and Opelika, Alabama, and those who played tennis at YTC. Our non-publics included those from the same area who don’t play at YTC. In this report, it was deduced that though cross-situational factors like gender, age, income and skill level provided a springboard for more research, results from those studies were not significant enough to have weight. Situational Analysis, however, provided key areas to focus on like the social aspect of tennis programs and perceived constraints.
Second, we conducted three focus group interviews that were made up of YTC members and non-members. We centered our questions on why they did or did not play at YTC, what programs they would like to add and so forth. As we found in our secondary research, one main issue facing YTC was the ability to create programming for those who don’t show up with partners.
Third, we constructed a survey with specific questions based on results from the secondary research and focus group interviews. We created the survey online and emailed it out among 800 members. We had a great response with over 100 participants. We analyzed the responses using the software SPSS and found that the main areas YTC struggled in was a variety of programming, limited communication and scheduling that made it difficult for participants to attend events.
Our official suggestions were to add programs that focused on the social aspect of the game like ‘ladders,’ utilize Facebook more for event updates and move more programs to the evening for those who work regular hours. Overall, the YTC board were enthusiastic about the results and excited to use the information in its programs.
While in college, a team and I worked hands on with Hospice of Montgomery (HOM) in Montgomery, Alabama, to craft an awareness campaign for its annual Kentucky Derby Fundraising Event. After consulting the client, conducting research and distributing a survey, the team decided to craft a campaign based on an interactive social media presence, due to the organizations lack of one.
The group concluded that the organization’s lack of engaging social media ignored older millennials (30-40) as a potential public for the event. In response, HOM was given research on the demographics and psychographics of this public, and the most effective social media messages. Additionally, the group created a campaign in which to execute this information. My personal contribution consisted of the research and the event’s logo.
At the end of the semester, we presented the plan to our client. After the presentation, our client stood up in front of our peers and declared they couldn’t wait to implement our campaign.