ITTAKESTWO,INC.
Project
ITTAKESTWO,INC.
Role
Communication Consultant
Duration
5 Weeks
A COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH TO COMMUNICATION
INTRODUCTION
ITTAKESTWO, INC (ITT) is a small 501(C)(3)non-profit based out of Maryland who has a focus of enriching the lives of youth while providing a variety of scholarships, educational and life skills programming, and other enrichment opportunities. They have an established footprint, and when I began researching the organization and their work I immediately saw an incredible opportunity to assist them with their mission.
Strategic Communication goes beyond the public relations and marketing, although those are key applications with a specific focus. Strategic communication starts at high level and conceptual goals, messaging, analysis, and theory. Then through careful application and research it drill down from high level to products that generate a measurable ROI.
CHALLENGE
Their main challenge was fundraising for their annual gala. I saw an opportunity to touch several critical points using their annual gala as a platform. Some of those included:
Increase social media audience
Rebrand their organization to be more competitive with similar organizations
Better establish relationships with stakeholders
Firmly establish the identity of ITTC with a suite of public facing documents such as:
Research papers and documents that media outlets can refer to
Stronger elaboration on the challenges of ITT’s target audience
Organized resources for ITT’s target audience to use
Create a social media campaign that satisfies the needs of raising awareness and generating buzz for the gala
SOLUTION
As a communication professional, it was critical that I engage leadership to address their concerns, establish a timeline, and effectively communicate the expected ROI. This was an exciting opportunity to engage in research and direct dialogue with leadership, stakeholders and the target audience. The end result was a communication plan that included among other things:
core and supporting messages
swot analysis
tactics
metrics for success
ethical and Legal tactical annexes
social media calendar
CONNECTING DATA WITH APPLICATION
RESEARCH
Research was qualitative and quantitative. The first step however was an in-depth literature review to understand the current and cutting edge research and solutions that similar non-profits regionally, nationally and internationally were already applying.
Careful evaluation and observation of what competitors and associates are doing, and how the climate and audience responds allows a couple of things to become apparent. One is what is likely to work and the other is spotting trends across the spectrum of stakeholders.
THE LANGUAGE AND SUBSTANCE OF SUCCESS
PRESENTATION
Great research and communication plans are critical to success, just as important is the delivery of that information. A pitch was created for leadership to education them on the substance of the plan and to motivate them that the plan in front of them was the best option.
TAKEAWAYS AND NEXT STEPS
The research phase of the project revealed so many gold mines of opportunity to reach out and establish new points of contact with government entities, partnerships, lawmakers and the community. From podcast and Youtube series to grants and advertising, there were overwhelming areas left to be explored for the organization. While it was far beyond the scope of the initial focus of fundraising for the organization’s annual gala, I was able to organize that research for the next opportunity.