In the aftermath of October 7th, many organizations are reframing their value propositions in a world of competing ideas. How can your organization break through the noise to grow, thrive, and make a sustainable impact? Strategic Communications is the practice of communicating the best message, to the right people, through the proper channels, at the right time.  

Join JPro and Jordan Namerow for a three-part Master Class that will teach you tools, techniques, and frameworks for building a strategic communications plan to help your organization achieve its goals and deepen its impact. This course is designed for communications and development professionals who are looking to build a comprehensive messaging strategy.  

By the end of this course, participants will: 

• Gain clarity about how to identify, refine, and understand the mindset of key audience(s). 
• Understand how to build a communications strategy to achieve organizational goals.  
• Shape key messages to tap into what you want your audience(s) to think, feel, and do in service of your goals. 
• Explore key tactics to disseminate, test out, and measure the impact of key messages. 

This class is for you if: 

• You are a communications or development professional who wants to strengthen your commitment to strategic communications. 
• You want to take a step back and build a comprehensive communications plan to achieve your goals. 

This class is not for you if: 

• You are interested in communications and messaging, but do not have influence over setting your organization’s communications strategy. 

Course Details:

Session 1:   Understanding Your Audience(s)  

Who are the people walking through your doors, sitting in your pews, or attending your programs? Who are the folks who would be, if only they knew you existed? The first step for developing a communications strategy is defining, distilling, and understanding your audience(s). What do they care about? What are their needs? And how do they engage with their identities? You can only tell a compelling story if you know who you’re talking to. This session will guide you through a series of audience-oriented exercises to understand the hearts and minds of “your people.” 

Session 2:   Developing Your Goals and Strategy 

A strategic communications plan needs to be tethered to a clear goal. What do you ultimately want to do? Grow your organization’s membership? Raise more money? Register people for an event? Before you figure out the story you want to tell — or how you want to tell it — it’s important to clarify your goal at the root of your message, and identify the barriers to achieving it. This session will help you hone in on your communications goal and “right-size” a plan to effectively engage your audience. 

Session 3:   Shaping Your Core Message(s)  

How might you captivate the hearts and minds of the people you’re trying to reach? Your core messages express your purpose, values, and the experience (or product) you’re offering. These are the assets that set you apart from your competitors and inspire your audience to feel, act, give, or join — ultimately, to achieve your goal. In this final session, participants will develop and workshop messaging frameworks that can function as the foundation for building out a broader communications strategy.