How I Can Help
Strategic communications start with knowing what you’re trying to accomplish.
A good communications strategy is grounded in your organization’s goals and defines what communications need to accomplish. That means understanding your audiences and priorities before deciding which strategies and activities make sense.
Capacity Communications helps you assess what you need, develop an integrated approach, and put the right pieces in place. The work generally falls across three areas, depending on what you’re trying to accomplish.
Strategy
Start with the goal, then determine the role communications should play.
What are you trying to accomplish? Who matters to your success? How do you need to engage them? What’s working now, and where are the gaps?
I help organizations answer those questions and develop a focused communications approach. That may mean working through a specific challenge or opportunity, conducting a communications assessment, or developing a comprehensive strategic communications plan and practical roadmap.
The work may address communications goals and objectives, priority audiences, engagement and content strategy, channels and activities, and where to focus resources.
IN PRACTICE
An organization seeking a communications plan discovered through an assessment that it first needed clearer positioning and priorities. The work shifted accordingly, creating a stronger strategic foundation for future communications.
Positioning & Messaging
Find the thread that connects your mission, goals and story.
Organizations sometimes struggle to explain themselves because there are too many stories competing for attention. Programs evolve. Priorities change. Different people describe the organization in different ways.
Clear positioning creates a foundation for what you want to be known for and how you communicate with the people who matter to your success. From there, the work may include organizational or initiative positioning, core messages, donor communications, cases for support, or website messaging and content.
IN PRACTICE
Recent work has included developing positioning and core messages to bring greater clarity to an evolving program, as well as creating an organization’s first comprehensive case for support to strengthen donor communications.
Activation
Put the strategy to work.
Sometimes a roadmap is enough. Sometimes you need help getting the work started.
I often stay involved to turn strategy into practical communications. That might mean developing priority content, launching a newsletter or campaign, creating website content, or building tools and templates staff can use going forward.
When specialized expertise is needed, I draw on trusted partners in areas such as design, web development, or digital marketing.
IN PRACTICE
Strategy has led to tangible communications, including an impact report, fundraising campaigns, website content, and other priority communications, as well as practical guidance and templates that staff can continue using.
The right engagement depends on what you need.
Some clients need help working through a specific strategic question. Others benefit from a deeper assessment and comprehensive communications planning. Sometimes the need is additional senior-level capacity to lead a defined priority or project.
The starting point is the same: understand what you’re trying to accomplish and determine what kind of support will be most useful.