In the spotlight of Georgia’s business landscape, Elizabeth M’Balu Oke, the dynamic President and CEO of PivotPath, graces the cover of Georgia Trend magazine’s May 2023 issue.
Recognized as a visionary leader and trailblazer, Elizabeth’s remarkable journey has been marked by her unwavering commitment to driving transformative change in the communications industry. With an unyielding passion for innovation and a keen understanding of the evolving digital landscape, Elizabeth has positioned PivotPath as a prominent force in the global communications sector.
Elizabeth’s leadership prowess extends beyond the boardroom, as she actively champions diversity and inclusion initiatives. Her unwavering dedication to creating an inclusive workplace has earned PivotPath accolades for its commitment to empowering underrepresented communities and fostering a culture of equal opportunities. Under her visionary guidance, the company has pioneered groundbreaking solutions, revolutionizing how businesses harness the power of empowering communities worldwide.
Elizabeth M’Balu Oke brings a fresh perspective to the industry, leveraging her extensive experience and expertise to navigate complex challenges and seize emerging opportunities. Her strategic vision and exceptional leadership have elevated the company’s trajectory and inspired countless aspiring entrepreneurs to dream big and pursue their passions relentlessly. In this exclusive interview, Georgia Trend delves into Elizabeth’s extraordinary rise to success, her unwavering determination to shatter glass ceilings, and her transformative vision for behavioral change communications.
Discover how Elizabeth M’Balu Oke continues to forge new paths, leading PivotPath and the broader business community towards a future of innovation, diversity, and remarkable achievements. Grab your copy of Georgia Trend magazine’s May 2023 issue to gain valuable insights from one of Georgia’s most influential and trailblazing leaders, Elizabeth M’Balu Oke.
The results are in, and it’s official: For the second year in a row, PivotPath has been voted Among the Best of Gwinnett 2022 in the Marketing Firms category! Our team appreciates everyone who voted, and we look forward to another great year of providing marketing and communication services locally and internationally. It’s an honor to be recognized by the people we work for and with daily.
The Best of Gwinnett 2022 contest is run by Gwinnett Magazine and includes businesses in more than 20 broad categories. Every year, Gwinnett County residents and consumers cast thousands of votes to recognize their favorite local businesses.
PivotPath partners with the International Republican Institute (IRI) to create compelling visual content in support of the Center for Global Impact’s mission to encourage inclusive politics that are issue-driven and citizen-led.
About the Client:
The International Republican Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to advancing freedom and democracy worldwide. IRI’s workshops and programs encourage the growth of democracy, help democracies become more inclusive, and share best practices from flourishing democratic systems.
The IRI Center for Global Impact researches the state of democratic politics, ensuring that IRI efforts are evidence-based. The Center offers programmes that build capacity among democratic advocates and publishes reports that inform policymakers and activists on best practices.
The Solution:
PivotPath will ensure the Center for Global Impact has the visual communication and messaging tools it needs to engage policymakers, activists, and the public at large, wherever the work of building (or re-building) democracy is being done.
Core tasks will be informative graphic design and compelling visual storytelling. The core strategy will focus on cultivating a narrative of possibility and momentum that builds on IRI’s nearly forty-year history of promoting democracy and a strong existing brand. PivotPath will draw on its experiences with (re)building democracy, such as the European Union’s governance programming in Sierra Leone and the rollout of a Campaign Finance Board in Suffolk County, New York.
The results are in, and it’s official: PivotPath has been voted Best of Gwinnett 2021 in the Marketing Firms category! Our team appreciates everyone who voted, and we look forward to another great year of providing marketing and communication services locally and internationally. It’s an honor to be recognized by the people we work for and with daily.
The Best of Gwinnett contest is run by Gwinnett Magazine and includes businesses in more than 20 broad categories. Every year, Gwinnett County residents and consumers cast thousands of votes to recognize their favorite local businesses.
PivotPath created and spearheaded the development of LaunchPad Africa‘s piloted Business Accelerator program for Freetown, Sierra Leone.
About the Client:
Launchpad Africa is a DC-based non-profit with a mission to support African Entrepreneurs (specifically in Sierra Leone) in launching and sustaining their businesses by equipping and empowering them with the tools and resources necessary to be profitable. The organization envisions a world where the African entrepreneur is successful enough to take the lead on decisions being made regarding Africa’s growth and advancement.
As a new Accelerator program, Launchpad Africa wanted to provide its participants with networking, mentorship, and resource allocation to skyrocket the success of proven business ideas.
The Challenge:
The LaunchPad Africa team had to determine how to structure and launch this program in the most beneficial and relevant manner to individuals living in Sierra Leone.
The Solution:
We developed an intensive 4-month accelerator program with a well-rounded curriculum that would give participants the proper knowledge and skills to equip and navigate the business arena.
The Results:
Using insights internal and external to LaunchPad Africa, along with our expertise in thought leadership and training, our team successfully designed and developed a 16-module highly customized program curriculum outline and strategy including selected modules and module objectives; provided Launchpad Africa with a detailed agenda of each training; developed TORs for trainers of each module; and developed post-training evaluation and impact assessment
PivotPath partnered with the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners to raise stakeholder awareness and participation in the community.
Summary:
In Summer 2021, PivotPath partnered with the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners to raise stakeholder awareness and participation in the community.
The How am I doing? campaign aimed to provide Gwinnett County and County Commissioners with a Strategic Communications Plan for the campaign that will provide relevant information to the public while promoting effective public engagement on county issues.
About the Client:
Gwinnett County is historically one of America’s fastest-growing counties and now one of the nation’s most diverse. This is the official website of the Gwinnett County Government. The county’s population in 2010 stood at 805,321, up more than 216,000 residents from the 2000 count of 588,448 (source: U.S. Census Bureau decennial population estimates). Gwinnett County’s population is expected to reach one million residents by the year 2022.
The Board is responsible for overseeing the creation of policies within the county, adopting the budget, authorizing expenditures, and approving or disapproving specific actions, such as rezoning private property.
The Challenge:
The biggest challenge the Board of Commissioners faced was bridging the gap between Gwinnett County officials and their residents. If residents are not familiar or aware of the Commissioners in their community or do not particularly trust them, engagement can be a challenge.
The Commissioners also valued stakeholder feedback but needed to collect the insights in an unbiased manner.
The Solution:
To provide a trusting relationship between the officials and the residents, PivotPath created a public engagement plan. This plan focused on:
Enhancing the perception of the Commissioners and their initiatives by popularizing the Gwinnett County brand; letting the public know what’s planned; why, where, and for whom;
Encouraged all stakeholders to be actively interested in Gwinnett County reforms;
Reinforced/improved the County Commissioners’ image in Gwinnett and the state.
The Results:
The Gwinnett County Commissioners have a solid, strategic roadmap to successfully and effectively engage and connect with their stakeholders through market research efforts and community buy-in.
In partnership with PivotPath, Finor X, Freetown City Council and Greenstand promote its reforestation campaign.
Summary:
The mission of the #FreetowntheTreetown campaign is to plant and grow one million trees in Freetown, Sierra Leone by December 2022 while educating the general public on ways they can positively contribute towards a healthier and more sustainable community. In partnership with PivotPath, Finor X, Freetown City Council and Greenstand promote its reforestation campaign.
Campaigns to plant millions of trees have become popular urban responses to the current effects of climate change. Although the intended impact attracts millions in donor support each year, many tree planting campaigns have fallen far short of their goals. Organizations champion tree planting efforts as a feel-good, cure-all for global warming in their communities, yet many trees do not survive or deliver these championed benefits.
The Finor X Tree Wallet is the 1st (patent pending) chain of custody digital management for tree planting that shows growth impact over time. Each tree growing in Freetown is tokenized, and users buy tokens for access to the Tree Wallet App. Customers purchase a #FreetownTheTreetown item which allows them to digitally track the impact of their sustainable investment.
PivotPath developed a strategic marketing and communications plan, social media plan, and attractive social graphics to elevate the campaign’s visibility across multiple audiences.
About the Client:
Finor X fuses fashion and technology to combat climate change in Sierra Leone, West Africa.
Following the undeniably severe deforestation effects which worsened the aftermath of the country’s 2017 mudslide, environmental advocates have evidence to back their support for this initiative. Also, Freetown, Sierra Leone has never undertaken a campaign of this kind.
Finor X, in partnership with the Freetown City Council and Greenstand, is set on a mission to plant one million trees as a response to the adverse effects of climate change, with the design and sale of the campaign-themed t-shirt.
FinorX has combined its fashion and technology roots to design the #FreetownTheTreeTown special edition t-shirt. In collaboration with the Freetown City Council, all shirts purchased will directly support the campaign, as one tree will be grown and monitored using a specialized app.
The shirt design includes the Cotton Tree—a historic symbol of Freetown—pictured with a cityscape underneath the tree, the text “Freetown” above the tree, and “The Tree Town” located below the cityscape. Shirt owners can monitor their growing trees, see the location, know the grower and monitor the survival of each tree using the TreeTracker app by scanning the QR code located on the shirt’s tag.
The Challenges:
There were two main challenges: (1) to create a campaign that would educate the community, engage community-based organizations and strategic partners, and empower Freetowneans to take the reigns of environmental sustainability within their city through reforestation and (2) to increase visibility and communications about the Tree Tracker app’s capabilities through fashion technology.
The Solution:
Our team focused on invoking feelings of community, empowerment, and peace of mind through a marketing and communications plan that encourages conversations on sustainability and incites change. We utilized digital media and video production efforts to help raise awareness about Finor X, the Tree Tracker app, and the fusion of fashion and technology to further connect Finor with its target audience.
The Results:
We provided Finor X with a communications strategy to convey the importance of tree planting in Sierra Leone and improve awareness for all residents, visitors, stakeholders, and partners who engage with the City of Freetown and abroad. The campaign had over 5,000 global impressions and reach. The campaign was also awarded the Bloomberg award in January 2022.
PivotPath is working with the Suffolk County Campaign Finance Board (SCCFB) to provide promotion efforts that will increase the visibility and communications of Suffolk County’s Fair Election Campaign Matching Fund program.
Summary:
PivotPath is working with the Suffolk County Campaign Finance Board (SCCFB) to provide promotion efforts that will increase the visibility and communications of Suffolk County’s Fair Election Campaign Matching Fund program. The program’s mission is to engage, educate, and empower all County residents by amplifying the voice of all residents in county elections by matching small donor contributions with public funds.
About the Client:
The Suffolk County Campaign Finance Board (SCCFB) is a nonpartisan, independent county agency empowered and authorized to establish and promulgate all rules, policies, and procedures as it deems necessary for the proper administration of the established Suffolk County Fair Elections Matching Fund.
The SCCFB landmark program empowers everyday citizens to run for city office by providing them with campaign finance support from their community, mitigating limited access to wealthy
or special interest groups, granting threshold requirements, spending limits, and strictly ensuring that enforced reporting requirements are met.
The Suffolk County Fair Elections Matching Fund aims to create and promote access and opportunity for residents to run for office; empower both grassroots and incumbent candidate participation in Suffolk electoral process; minimize the perceived influence of big money in local politics and increase Suffolk County citizens’ confidence in the electoral process.
The Challenge:
The Suffolk County Campaign Finance Board is tasked with finding ways to connect with their audiences and inform them on how the program can help them get started on the path of running for County Legislative or Executive.
The organization also aims to increase general interest in voter participation by encouraging residents to get involved with the laws and social change issues within their community.
The Solution:
Our team plans on crafting an intensive marketing campaign that uses communication activities and visibility products of demonstrable impact to increase voter participation and awareness, provide campaign finance information to the public, enable more citizens to run for office, strengthen the role of small contributors, reduce the change of actual or perceived corruption, and restore voter confidence in the electoral process.
The Results:
This project is currently underway, and results will be provided as soon as they are available.
PivotPath has partnered with the Dekalb County Board of Health to increase public awareness of the importance of COVID-19 vaccination.
It's Up to You! Language: English
It's Up to You! Language: French
It's Up to You! Language: Swahili
It's Up to You! Language: Arabic
Summary:
PivotPath has partnered with the Dekalb County Board of Health to increase public awareness of the importance of COVID-19 vaccination and ways to prevent COVID-19 infections, and to facilitate community discussions to address barriers and concerns about COVID-19 vaccination to African American County residents, especially those 45-65 of age.
About the Client:
The Dekalb County Board of Health (DCBOH) is a local government agency in Georgia dedicated to ensuring optimal and equitable medical and health access for all its residents. DCBOH’s programming efforts include various local health initiatives.
Its partnerships with community-based organizations improve access to healthcare, provide analysis of health trends to enhance care, increase public awareness of local health issues, and aim to prevent the spread of disease through education and early detection.
The Challenge:
The Dekalb County Board of Health is facing the challenge of efficiently and simplistically educating the targeted audience (African Americans; aged 45-65) about the COVID-19 and preventive measures that protect the public and mitigate the spread of the virus.
The Solution
The City of Clarkston, Georgia (in Dekalb County) is known as one of the most diverse cities in the country. Clarkston is the hub for the state’s refugee community, where over two dozen ethnicities and languages are spoken. To ensure those who may not be fluent in English, or who may not have English as a first language, have access to COVID-19 awareness materials, our team will develop a 2-minute animation video titled “It’s Worth a Shot”.
We will also created a strategic communications plan that will aid us in identifying community partners and digital platforms to effectively disseminate the video within the communities our targeted audiences reside.
The mission of PivotPath, in partnership with the European Union Delegation to Sierra Leone, was to ensure maximum exposure of agro-technology initiatives in Sierra Leone through the successful receipt of the Delegation’s Call for Proposals.
Summary:
Under its Jobs & Growth Programme, the European Union Delegation to Sierra Leone launched a call for proposals for agro-technology development.
The purpose was to increase private sector investment in technology and innovations in the country. This is a uniquely competitive opportunity for Sierra Leonean organizations and SMEs seeking to develop and/or expand sustainable agro-processing and agribusiness innovation and technology.
About the Client:
The Delegation of the European Union in Freetown is one of 139 European Union Delegations around the world, serving the European Union interests as a whole, in so far as they are concerned with:
presenting, explaining and implementing the European Union policies;
analysing and reporting on the policies and developments of the countries to which they are accredited;
and conducting negotiations in accordance with a given mandate.
Delegations are also involved in the conduct of the common foreign and security policy (CFSP), providing regular political analysis, conducting evaluations jointly with Member State embassies and contributing to the policy-making process.
In Sierra Leone, the European Union cooperation programme covers a range of target areas such as infrastructure, governance, macro-economic support and rural development. The EU cooperation programme in Sierra Leone is presented in the Country Strategy Paper for Sierra Leone which has been developed with the national authorities. The European Union Delegation in Freetown manages cooperation projects developed in the framework of the Country Strategy Paper
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The Challenge:
The European Union Delegation (EUD) to Sierra Leone wanted to promote its Call for Proposals to fund Small Business Enterprises aiming to develop or grow agro-tech initiatives within the country. The EUD contracted PivotPath to provide communications and awareness of the Jobs and Growth Programme funding opportunity, and highlight existing projects within the agro-tech space.
The Agro-Tech call for proposals was designed based on the positive experience gained under the Agro-business Development from Organic Resources (ADORE). This is an initiative funded by the European Union and jointly implemented by the Welthungerhilfe organisation, Moawoma cooperative, Lizard-Earth and Door to Europe companies. In collaboration, the group aimed to support production and processing of organic cacao into chocolate bars made in Sierra Leone.
The ADORE project will stimulate the sustainable growth of the Sierra Leonean agri-business sector, particularly in Kenema and Kailahun. The project aims to build inclusive partnerships between value chain stakeholders at all levels by linking farmers with the national and international markets.
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The Solution
PivotPath team members traveled to Sierra Leone to conduct interviews and desk research as a basis to better understand the landscape and current communications. The team then crafted a strategy, formulated it into a strategic communications plan and oversaw and conducted the implementation as follows:
4 Video productions featuring Ambassador Vens announcing the call for proposals.
A virtual information session that was attended by over 210 interested applicants, and highlights from the EU funded ADORE project.
11 Newspapers and specialized magazine coverage, social media coverage throughout the campaign initiative, with over 33 publications.
A series of articles written and approved on agriculture innovation and technology development in the world.
This included a specific case study in neighbouring countries and in Sierra Leone to illustrate the relevance of the initiative shared across 12 newspapers and magazines.
4 Radio jingles in rotation across 13 radio stations in the country. Jingles in English, Krio, Temne and Mende.
The Results
Due to the following deliverables, the Jobs and Growth Programme had over 8,000 impressions with two months and reached over 224 small business enterprises within the country.
With the successful promotion of the Agro-Tech Development initiative, agriculture can play a vital role in boosting the country’s economic growth. These initiatives can provide sustainable and climate-smart agro-development. In turn, this can improve agriculture efficiency and promote economic self-sufficiency for young (and seasoned) agri-preneurs, particularly women and young adults.
Your brand defines who you are and how you set yourself apart from your competitors. and it’s always good practice to know where you stand among other brand contenders. When it comes to creating a truly authentic brand, maintaining a competitive edge should always be the goal as this is what keeps you maintain your market share and position.
So how do you stay on the cutting edge of things? PivotPath can show you how to monitor the attributes and actions that make up your industry’s competitive landscape so you can identify the opportunities and improve your brand identity and image. If you are looking into doing rebranding or repositioning your brand, this checklist will be a great start.
First things first. You need to build a strategy that will ensure you are effectively tracking your competition on a regular basis. Competitive analysis entails a more structured way of keeping tabs on competitors compared to just monitoring them on social media. Having this process in place helps you stay updated and get a more in-depth understanding of your industry’s key players.
In this post, we will share a checklist of some strategies to further your understanding of brand competitors, and how to maintain your foothold in the market.
Research
Start by compartmentalizing your competitors and similar brands into two types:
Direct competitors – companies offering the same service or products in the same geographical area with the same target audience, fulfilling the same market need.
Indirect competitors – companies offering the same service or products in the same geographical area but with a different target market or fulfilling a different market need.
Categorize and Organize
Make a list of at least 5 -10 direct and indirect competitors and enter them into a spreadsheet.
If you haven’t identified your competitors yet, then you can find them on search engines like Google or use tools such as SEMRush (free) or Ahrefs (paid). These tools provide a lot of insights as you go deep into your competitor research.
Once you have them laid out on the spreadsheet, add the basic detailed company profile information such as:
Annual revenue
Products and services offered
Clients
Number of offices and locations
Number of employees
Locations
Homepage / Website
Social media accounts
Featured products
Price and product range
Selling point
Target market
Email marketing tactics
PPC campaigns
Special offers and discounts
Google and Yelp Reviews
Other significant attributes that you think are significant to you.
Going through each of your identified competitors’ profiles allows you to step into your target market shoes and go through a customer journey. Take it further by subscribing to their newsletters and weekly blogs or webinars; be a part of their marketing circle so that you can gauge and compare how you fare versus your competition.
Experiencing the competition by creating a database of their information will give you a lot of insight from a customer and a competitor’s perspective and soon enough you will know each one like the back of your hand.
Check market positioning
The best way to do this is to run website metrics and diagnostics with free tools like Google Analytics, SEMRush or if you have the budget, Ahrefs, Buzzsumo or Moz. These online tools will work their magic, providing a drill-down of where your brand is in terms of online presence, social media engagement, active users, sales, the locations of users/clients and the like.
You can run weekly metrics and track your progress; at the same time, make the necessary adjustments you need to keep up (Paid Ad campaigns, social media engagement, SEO optimization, etc.).
Doing keyword research is also one of the best ways on how to determine where you stand among the competition. You can keyword research using Google Search Console, Ubersuggest, MOZ keyword explorer, Ahrefs, SEMRush, and more tools here.
On a less technical side, you can go back to basics and make a list of all your brand strengths and weaknesses. Be objective when you do this, and make a consumer’s point of view when doing this. After that, create a list of your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses and compare notes. You will be surprised at how much you will learn if you do this process objectively.
Reviews
Google and Yelp reviews are also one of the best ways to understand your competition and a great opportunity to outdo them when it comes to customer engagements. Check their reviews and determine where the clients are from, and what products or services get most reviews.
You may also want to take a look at the number of reviews, and how responsive they are to their audience. Gauging customer experience through these reviews gives you the chance to look within your business and makes steps on how to improve. Doing this helps motivate you to optimize your business listings to be at par with the competition.
Implement
Data without action is a futile exercise. Having spent so much time collecting data and putting a plan or strategy into action will keep you from being blind-sided by your competitors. Once you have run a comparison between your product and your competitor, formulate a strategy based on your findings, and execute your plans, after which you can monitor and re-adjust as needed.
Don’t have the time to collect competitor data? PivotPath can help you do your competitive brand analysis. Click here to get started.
Are you currently on the quest for ways to boost your city, county, state, or nations’ tourism site? If you feel that you have exhausted all your marketing campaigns, look no further.
Being a city manager or clerk requires you to wear different hats everyday. Part of your job entails you perform sales and marketing as well as all the other tasks. With the help of PivotPath, you won’t have to miss time from important tasks or deals in the pipeline and can focus on more important matters. Let’s get you one step closer to your goals of maximizing your tourism bureau website.
Here are the 4 things we can do for you:
Branding Strategy
Creating a strategic plan for your tourism website increases your chances of success because it allows you to develop a step-by-step guide for your business initiatives. Most brilliant marketing plans go awry when it is not put into writing, so it is important to have a branding strategy document to use as a guide and update as your strategy evolves.
It’s important for you to identify your goals and objectives for your website; as this will be the base of all marketing initiatives as we launch your marketing campaign. Is the goal of your tourism (CVB) site to attract tourists to the new shopping center? Beautiful wedding venues? Neighborhoods to reside?
From your goals, we will help you determine and segment your target audience. In this case, focus on each traveler type and hyper-target the marketing efforts to each. Then identify which marketing channels are most effective to use depending on the segment. This is a crucial step in every marketing campaign as you need to zero in on a target market and position strategic content to capture their attention for engagement.
SEO-Optimization
SEO or Search Engine Optimization requires a lot of time and attention but is essential to the success of your tourism/CVB website. Investing the time in SEO will tremendously help to gain visibility on the search engine results page.
The more website traffic you get, the more Google (and other search engines) remembers that your website has the authority and the relevant content that is worth ranking high in searches. Not only that, you want repeat visitors on your website, so SEO is an essential part of this process to ensure repeat visits and social media shares.
While it is necessary, SEO is not for the faint of heart; leave it to the experts. Here at PivotPath, we will optimize your website with an attractive custom theme, stunning photos that capture the audience’s attention, and SEO-optimized content that converts. Our SEO technical expertise can help you make that all happen.
Content Marketing
Just like SEO, chances are you’ve heard of the quote, “Content is King”. Indeed it is. The key to a higher Google visibility is to ensure your website is more informative, valuable and useful than your competitors. Here at PivotPath, we will create a content strategy for your tourism or CVB website to make sure that you capture the right audience. We also develop a keyword strategy campaign to make your website more searchable and visible on Google or other search engines.
Along with content, images are also part of content marketing. One crucial ingredient for a tourism website is stunning images of your locale to capture travelers and potential visitors. Since travelers do have quite a number of online travel resources they look to, it’s important that your website belongs to the short-list. Creating stunning videos of your area (city, county, state, etc.) is also another way to optimize content.
Blog posts are another fun way to do content marketing – don’t have time? We can do that for you too. Blogs are a great way to feature travel spots and destinations and provide detailed descriptions of the place and what to expect, what to do and what not to do. Sharing helpful tips that travelers can use when visiting your place or share a top five must do list when traveling to your destination is a must.
Social Media Marketing
Always an effective and efficient way to share your content to the world. But it’s not just a matter of posting any type of content on your social media accounts. There must be a strategy behind every successful social campaign. Just like content management, posts and images are planned strategically and set on a timely manner to capture the right audience.
At PivotPath, we help you share your most unique experiences and events in your city, help you highlight what’s new in your area, especially with holiday posts to keep your visitors in the know about the latest events and the fun things to do when they visit. Tools like SocialMention also help you in sharing user-generated content in social media.
Extra Tourism Website Tip:
It is also important to optimize your website on the mobile version since most travelers rely on their phones as a source of information. We will help you optimize your website to be more mobile friendly and accessible. Take note that millenials and Gen-Z spend more time on their phones than any other device, and they do travel more than any generation, so ensure that your website is always on its uptime and accessible anytime.
Bring your travel website to the next level – start marketing with PivotPath today.
