At the AP: Working the plan

The first few weeks of my internship at the AP have been dedicated to situational analysis of macro-environmental conditions, the market situation, company and competitor analysis, customer analysis and LinkedIn research.

Using tools learned in Prof. Killaly’s strategy course and Dr. Shah’s Goizueta Marketing Strategy Consultancy, I’ve completed competitive market analysis comparing the APs strengths and weaknesses on LinkedIn against those of competitors and outlined key success factors and opportunities for our growth. I’ve reached out to several people within the organization who have just completed market research, and I’ve combined this information with secondary data to understand the APs current customer pain points. This will help me identify which products and services will best resonate with potential customers, and how they should be positioned on LinkedIn such that they are viewed as direct solutions to customer problems.

In the weeks that have followed, I’ve audited the strengths and weaknesses of our sales network on LinkedIn, analyzed our  follower base, examined what works on the pages of our competitors and researched in depth the various LinkedIn tools and advertising opportunities that we can use going forward.

Another assignment that I’m working on (separate from the LinkedIn one) has also allowed me to meet with each business unit separately to understand the primary products they want to promote moving forward. Additionally, thanks to luncheons hosted for the AP’s Summer Business Associates internship program, I’ve been exposed to managers of AP’s different arms, giving me a more in-depth looks at areas such as Broadcast, Multimedia, newsroom Nerve Center, and AP Images. All of this has helped me create buckets of product groupings to be used for our LinkedIn company page.

The final step will be to build out the LinkedIn product pages and provide recommendations to the marketing team and sales reps on how they can create, curate and promote content on social media such that it drives engagement, builds product awareness, generates leads and ultimately, boosts business for the AP.

Wish me luck!