The SEMI Foundation works to strengthen the semiconductor industry's workforce by connecting individuals with education, training, and career opportunities. As the industry continues to evolve, attracting new talent requires reaching audiences with vastly different levels of familiarity with semiconductor manufacturing, its career pathways, and the opportunities available to them.
For the Foundation, the challenge extended beyond building general awareness. Students exploring their first career options, educators influencing those decisions, veterans and mid-career professionals considering a transition, and industry partners supporting workforce development each brought different motivations, concerns, and expectations. A message that resonated with one audience might have little relevance to another.
SEMI needed a clearer understanding of these audiences, including how they perceived the industry, what influenced their decisions, and which barriers might prevent them from pursuing opportunities. That understanding would become the foundation for a comprehensive two-year marketing strategy capable of supporting multiple programs, reaching both consumer and business audiences, and creating a more consistent approach to engagement.
Bell & Porter developed a comprehensive two-year integrated marketing strategy grounded in original audience research, detailed persona development, and an assessment of the Foundation's marketing opportunities.
The engagement began with audience research, including surveys conducted on behalf of the SEMI Foundation to better understand perceptions, motivations, and potential barriers associated with semiconductor careers and workforce development. This research helped inform the segmentation of the Foundation's audiences and the development of nine detailed B2C and B2B personas.
Each persona went beyond basic demographic characteristics to examine motivations, challenges, industry familiarity, decision-making factors, and opportunities for engagement. Together, these profiles provided a more complete picture of the individuals and organizations SEMI needed to reach, while identifying meaningful differences in how each audience should be approached.
Bell & Porter then translated those audience insights into actionable marketing recommendations. The strategy established messaging frameworks, channel priorities, content opportunities, partnership considerations, and engagement tactics tailored to the needs of individual audience segments. Rather than recommending a single approach for every audience, the plan connected specific marketing activities to the motivations and behaviors identified through the research and persona-building process.
The resulting 77-page strategy brought together primary research, audience segmentation, brand positioning considerations, measurable objectives, KPIs, and a phased implementation roadmap for 2025 and 2026. It provided the SEMI Foundation with a research-informed framework for making marketing decisions, allocating resources, and building more relevant connections with prospective talent, educators, and industry partners.
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