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The Service Chosen – Private Investigation Services

On the global scale, the world security services have seen a rising boom in their market. Even in

2010, the market was at a booming $174 Billion and was expected to increase at a rate of 4.5

percent back then. It is not undeniable that the need for the private investigators has risen over

time. Indeed, the information skills of the private investigators may not be typical to them alone,

and may also be used by many other professionals, but it is indeed typical of the private

investigators to deal with the high-risk information (HRI), and the skills to gather such

information remains solely with them. This is indeed one of the major reasons for the continuous

expansions in this field. The employment of individuals who possess such exceptional skills

continues to be on the rise, and indeed, according to various studies, employment in this field

remained one of the fastest growing ones since 2012. The ever-increasing need for the private

investigators is a result of several factors, which include the increased fear of crime, and the need

to safeguard confidential property, something that the private investigators have been found to

trusted with by the citizens who wish to avail their services. The market has been expanding over

time, and the need will only escalate with the passage of time and the development of the

society.

PESTEL Analysis

The marketing department of any product or services needs to be constantly aware of the

external marketing environment, which is also referred to as the macro-environmental factors

since these factors tend to impact the marketing of any product and services severely. The

analysis that is used to keep track of these factors is known as the PESTEL Analysis, which is

used by the marketers to keep track of these macro-environmental factors (Perera, 2017). The
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PESTEL Analysis is a mechanism that is used to analyzeanalyse the strengths and weaknesses of

the organization, and those are then used in a SWOT Analysis for the organization.

The PESTEL Analysis includes the following aspects – the Political, Economic, Social,

Technological, Environmental and Legal factors that can impact the marketing of the macro-

environmental analysis. The factors are analyzedanalysed in the PESTEL Analysis in order to

decide the smallest of the factors that can have any effect on the goods and services.

The Political factors analyze the level to which the governmental intervention affects the

economy (PESTLE Analysis, 2015). These factors include the government policy, the stability in

the government and the foreign trade policies. Trade restrictions and the overseas trades are also

included in the political factors that tend to affect the marketing strategies of any company.

The Economic factors tend to affect the profitability of the conduct that the organization adopts.

The factors that are included in the Economic factors are the economic growth of the company,

the interest rates, the exchange rates, and the inflation are also some of the factors that tend to

affect the marketing for any company. The economic factors can also be further divided between

macro and microeconomic factors for any company. While the macroeconomic factors are the

ones that deal with the management of the demand for the product or services in the economy, all

that the microeconomic factors deal with is the manner in which the population tends to spend its

income in that given economy.

The Social factors in the macroeconomic environment include the variety of the socio-cultural

factors, which include the beliefs that are shared by the population, and the attitude of the

population. The attitude of the population that affects the marketing of the company is towards
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the population growth, the health consciousness, and the career attitudes. These are some of the

social factors that are included in the PESTEL Analysis.

Technological factors in the contemporary era have brought about a plethora of considerations

for the companies to take into consideration while designing their marketing strategies (PESTLE

Analysis, 2016). The manners in which the technological factors tend to affect the ways the

companies market their products are as follows: firstly, there are always new methods for the

production of goods and services, and the newest possible methods tends to provide the edge,

since it attracts the customer base more avidly than anything else; secondly, there are always

innovative methods for the distribution of these very goods and services; and thirdly, the

methods for the communication with the markets that are targeted by the companies also tend to

develop over time for increasing efficiency and attracting larger masses.

The Environmental factors have received an increasing prominence in the recent years, and have

come to light chiefly due to the scarcity of the raw materials, and increasing focus on the ethical

conduct of the companies, and the growing need for sustainable conduct for any company. Other

environmental factors that are troubling the marketers is the demand of the consumers that the

product being sold to them be sourced in an ethical manner, and more so from a sustainable

source. This has made a growing need for awareness of these environmental factors while

devising the marketing strategies for any company.

The Legal factors are undoubtedly one of the most important factors that the company marketers

are mandated to be aware of. The health and safety standards prescribed by the laws, the

standards for the advertisement of the products, and also the product safety and its

labelinglabelling, all need to be taken care of by the marketers for any product. Not to mention,
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the rights of the consumers the laws governing them also tend to play an important role for the

marketers to devise the marketing strategy.

PESTEL Analysis of the Private Investigation Industry

The Political factors are one of the primary factors that severely affect that conduct of any

private investigating company. Most of the people that are employed in the private investigation

industry tend to have previous affiliations with the military or the federal intelligence, or

likewise. Thus, it is mandatory that the industry ensure that the people that are being hired by the

company as private investigators have a clean background, and do not have any blemish in their

record, wherever they had been previously employed. If this is not taken care of, this can pose

severe political implications for the company, since the accountability of the company in the case

of any deviation from the standards set by the legislation for the conduct of the private

investigators. Besides, the fee for obtaining a license for a private investigator is considerably

low, and thus, it is an industry with enormous scope for expansion. In addition, the political

leaders have also been known to make use of the private investigators, and thus, the political

hindrances otherwise tend to be low for the industry, yet not an undeniable aspect of the same. In

addition, the disparities in the international legislations of several countries, such as the OECD

countries, hamper the free flow of data, and such irregularities in the availability of the data tends

to pose dangers for this industry while employing the candidates as private investigators, since it

becomes a hurdle in checking their background and track record for any anomalies in their

conduct in the past. Besides, the EU has recently introduced the General Data Protection

Regulations (GDPR), which have made the protection of the data within the EU all the more
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stringent, and this can pose a serious hurdle for the market to expand its roots to the European

Union.

The Economic factors that any private investigating company needs to account for while

developing its strategies, majorly revolve around the expenditure on the employment for their

industry. In the year 2017, the employment in the United States for the private investigation

ranged up to 31,000 employees around the nation, and the average wage estimate for the

employees was as much as $50,000 (United States Department of Labor, n.d.). It is also notable

that the employment in this market tends to differ in the different states in the United States.

While the employment was the highest in California, at 4,240 people employed in this market in

the state, it was slightly lower in the state of Pennsylvania, at a slightly over 3,000 employees in

the state. However, New York saw the least employment in this market at the time, with only

1,750 people employed in this market in the state. This figure can even rise, keeping in mind the

rising need for the industry with the developing times. It is imperative that the marketing

managers keep in mind these statistics, and then develop strategies since the budget constraints

can at times significantly reduce any company's efficiency, owing to the relatively high priced

segment this market is. Besides, the marketing managers also need to stress upon the fact that the

industry has tough competitors in the market, and thus, relatively high expenditure is also needed

to be factored in the market strategy, to grab away at the large segments of the clients willing to

avail the services of the private investigating companies. Thus, the marketing needs to be done

accordingly, while also keeping in the backdrop of the mind the allocation of adequate capital for

each purpose. As it is, the private investigation industry is highly affected by the data that is

available for free online, since it restricts the need of the private investigators to the people who

have the knowledge as to how to access the data that they actually need. Not to mention, the
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ever-increasing competition in the market, from even the industries that offer similar security

services, such as the security consultants and the data security firms, also cut short the revenue

that can be generated by the private investigating companies, putting a significant economic

strain on them (Cision, N.D.)

In regards to the Social Factors, that can have a potential impact on the marketing strategies, as

has been stated above, some of the factors that are included in the analysis are the attitudes of the

population regarding the industry, and how they perceive the services being offered. It is indeed

true that the citizens who chose the services of the private investigators, do not get an option to

choose as to who is going to conduct their private investigation, whether their case be it a civil or

a criminal case. But it is still at their discretion to select the companies that offer the services of

private investigation and conduct such investigations in a usual manner. In other words, it is their

choice as to which company offering such services do they chose to conduct their investigation.

Studies have found that the companies that have established their name in this industry, and have

a comparatively larger size and scale of operation of commercialized and specialized business in

this market, tend to have more income in the sector. This suggests that the Private investigating

companies that have a more professionalized outlook are preferred by the people that wish to

avail such services (Gill and Hart, 1997). Besides, it was also found that the citizens tended to

rely on PI as compared to the police officers since it was their perception that the private

investigators tended to protect their secrets and personal information in a significantly more

confidential manner, as compared to the police officers (Gill et al., 1996). In contrast to the view

of this segment of the population, the aging population in the community, tends to have a slightly

negative view of the private investigation services, and believe that the conduct is inappropriate

in nature, as it includes the violation of one’s privacy. There has been a rise in the demand for
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the private investigators for this very reason, and this has shaped the way in which the private

investigating companies conduct their marketing since the orientation has had to change to target

the clients that are more susceptible to be in need for hiring the private investigating companies.

The Technological factors have seen a rise in prominence, especially with the increase in the

innovation of the technological aspects of the industry. It is imperative with the rise in

technological innovation that the private investigating companies develop new technologies, that

tend not to let the conduct of the private investigators violate the several laws, especially the

ones related to privacy, in force at the time. The new technologies, such as the Biological

Evidence Collection Kits that are popular among the private investigators, are one of the efficient

technologies, and need to be further enhanced, in terms of their usage, and efficiency and the

private investigating companies need to work towards these ventures. It is also suggested that the

marketing managers for the companies in this segment should consider new ways to approach

the customers, since the traditional ways of marketing have been antiquated. It is important that

the marketers should create significant prominence of the company on the internet, since a good

presence on the web domain can help the company reach a larger number of the customers.

The Environmental factors related to the physical environment tend not to affect the private

investigation industry. However, on the other hand, the ethical environment prevalent in the

industry tends to impact the conduct of the private investigators severely. It is mandatory that the

marketers devise strategies that run in tandem with the code of ethics for the conduct of the

private investigators.

The Legal boundaries that need to be taken care of while devising a marketing strategy for your

private investigating company include the negative invasion of the privacy of an individual

(Geddes, 1989). Negatively violating the privacy laws can prove to be a hefty challenge for any
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private investigating company, especially when it is new to the market. In the society, the

popular opinion that prevails is that, more often than not, the conduct of any private investigator

is on the negative side of the law. Indeed, with the increasing number of licenses being awarded

to the private investigators by countries, this perception has begun to change over time. Yet it is

an obligation on the part of the private investigator to work in obedience to privacy laws in force

at the time. Misappropriation of the likeness of another for the purpose of profit, and any act that

is likely to intrude upon the seclusion of another are some of the violations that the private

investigators will need to be extremely careful about. Especially, during the marketing strategy

being devised, it should be taken extra care of, that no such misappropriation takes place.
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References

Geddes Elaine F. (1989). The Private Investigator and the Right to Privacy. Alberta Law Review,

27 (2), 256-301.

Gill, M., Hart, J., (1996). Historical perspectives on private investigation in Britain and the US.

Security J. 7, 273-280.

Gill, M., Hart, J., (1997). Exploring investigative policing: a study of private detectives in

Britain. Br. J. Criminol. 37 (4), 549-567.

Perera Rashain (2017). The PESTLE Analysis. Nerdynaut.

PESTLE Analysis (2015). Political Factors Affecting Business. PESTLE Analysis. Retrieved

From http://pestleanalysis.com/political-factors-affecting-business/

PESTLE Analysis (2016) PESTLE Analysis: Technological Factors Affecting Business.

PESTLE Analysis. Retrieved From http://pestleanalysis.com/technological-factors-

affecting-business/

United States Department of Labour (n.d.). Private Detectives and Investigators. Bureau of

Labour Statistics. Retrieved From https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes339021.htm