Date
An Analysis of the Situation
How to start your plan on the right foot
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What is a
situation analysis?
✤ Definition
✤ Purpose
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Structure
✤ Background
✤ Situation Analysis
✤ Core Problem or
Opportunity
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Background
✤ Synthesize your research:
industry, external
environment, product or
program, market situation
and current trends in
opinion & attitudes.
✤ Profile potential publics
✤ Intervening publics and
available resources
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Three Keys
✤ Situation
✤ Organization
✤ Audience
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Pieces of the
Puzzle
✤ External Environment
✤ Industry
✤ Client
✤ Product, Service or Issue
✤ Promotions
✤ Market Share
✤ Competition
✤ Resources
✤ SWOT Analysis
✤ Public Profiles
Public Profiles
✤ Brainstorm a list: who are all
the potential audiences that
you may need to reach.
✤ Divide that group into three
categories: Probable, possible,
unlikely
✤ Identify self-interests
✤ Identify opinion leaders &
influentials.
✤ Assess current relationships.
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Situation
Analysis
✤ Provide an assessment of the
situation as it appears after
your background analysis.
✤ Identify related issues,
problems or difficulties
(framing them as difficulties
that can be overcome).
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Core Problem
or Opportunity
✤ Cut to the heart of the
problem.
✤ Translate it to a tangible
consequence if the problem
isn’t solved.
✤ One or two sentences.