Mapping the Masculinity Marketplace
A comparative analysis to understand what's being done to solve the boy crisis
Treign Up · October 15, 2023 · 2 min read
Originally sent to the Treign Up Tactics newsletter on October 15, 2023. References to “this newsletter” or “this podcast” mean that original edition.
Anyone with an idea to market must first prepare a market analysis for their business plan.
It can help you decide whether a new idea for a business or product will fly – that is, if customers will find it appealing – based on how similar products have performed in that marketplace. It can help you make wise product packaging and promotional decisions, as well as effective marketing messages.
While Treign Up is a ministry first, it is a business model and therefore requires us to analyze what is out there. It’s hard to use the word ‘competition’ in ministry because our mindset would be ‘the more the merrier’. Remember our ‘dam’ analogy of this complex problem? There are a lot of holes to fill! And yet, we don’t want to duplicate something that is already working. We also don’t want to create something that will not work in the current marketplace. For example, what IS the reason that the marketplace is void of this product if there is clearly a need? What is it about our model that others have possibly tried but were ineffective because the market would not support it? Is there an obvious consumer reason why there’s no resource like ours in the marketplace?
There are a variety of books, podcasts, organizations, and other resources that address the ‘lost boys’ issue from a Christian perspective. Most of the products available for this market are directed to individuals as ‘self-help’ books. They are resources to ‘help’ you raise your boy(s). Here are a few that I recommend: