Case Study: Positive Futures

Research-Led Marketing Strategy & Communications Development for Youth Charity

The Brief

Positive Futures is a Liverpool-based charity supporting young people through tailored one-to-one interventions, street-based work and drop-in activities focused on helping individuals achieve their ambitions and improve outcomes.

The organisation recognised the need for a clearer, more consistent and more strategic approach to communications across all

stakeholders, including young people, staff, funders, board members and partner organisations.

Following a period of trialling different approaches, Positive Futures wanted to work with a marketing specialist capable of helping

define the organisation’s mission, clarify messaging and develop a practical long-term communications and marketing strategy

aligned with the charity’s values and highly personalised approach to support.

The Solution

I worked closely with Clare, Karen and the wider Positive Futures team to deliver a phased research-led marketing and communications project.

The initial phase focused on understanding the organisation, its services and stakeholder perceptions through:

• Collaborative mission and service definition workshops

• Stakeholder research and fact-finding activity

• Confidential discussions with staff, stakeholders and end users

• Reviewing differences between internal perceptions and external understanding

• Identifying preferred communication channels and engagement methods

• Producing a findings report and strategic recommendations

The second phase focused on operationally developing the marketing foundations required to implement a longer-term strategy, including:

• Creating a practical and actionable marketing plan

• Reviewing existing systems and communications processes

• Identifying improvements and efficiencies

• Assessing in-house willingness, capability and resource requirements

• Developing the operational setup required to support long-term communications activity

The third phase involved ongoing strategic marketing support on a weekly basis, helping Positive Futures implement and maintain a more coordinated and consistent communications approach.

The Outcome

The project helped Positive Futures create much clearer foundations for future communications, stakeholder engagement and long-term marketing activity.

Key outcomes included:

• A clearer understanding of organisational mission and messaging

• Improved alignment between stakeholder perceptions and communications

• A research-led marketing and communications strategy

• More structured internal processes and planning

• Greater clarity around stakeholder engagement and communication preferences

• Stronger foundations for long-term communications and fundraising activity

• A more consistent and coordinated organisational voice

By combining research, strategy and practical implementation support, I helped Positive Futures create a communications approach that better reflected the incredible impact of its work while remaining authentic to the organisation’s values and personalised support model.

Client Feedback

“Jayne brought clarity, structure and professionalism to a complex piece of work that required both sensitivity and strategic thinking.

She took the time to genuinely understand Positive Futures, our values and the young people we support, while also speaking openly and professionally with stakeholders, staff and service users to gather meaningful insight.

The research and recommendations she delivered gave us a much clearer understanding of how we were perceived externally and what we needed to do to communicate more consistently and effectively moving forward.

Jayne was approachable, insightful and extremely easy to work with throughout the process. She balanced strategic expertise with empathy and professionalism, and her support helped us build far stronger foundations for future communications and engagement.”

— Clare Corran, Founder & CEO, Positive Futures