How do I know – REALLY know – if my communications strategy is working?
You know savvy communication helps you change hearts and minds, and accomplish your goals, too. But does your organization have the right strategy? Are you being clear when you communicate about your mission? How do you know what you’re doing well, and where there is room for improvement?
Here’s the good news. The answer to your questions is a simple, time-tested one: it’s the all-mighty strategic communications audit...
You may now be wondering, what does a communications audit do?
Simply put, it tells you what’s working about your strategy – and where there may be opportunities to change up your tactics to better reach the right audiences, at the right time, with the right messaging, in the right place.
In a nutshell: it tells you how to win.
Intrigued? Let’s dive into more details!
Here’s what to expect from a (Forthright!) communications audit…
- First, we lead a strategic kickoff. We get really, really clear on what success looks like – from getting more students enrolled in your school district, to helping prospective donors learn about your work!
- We establish who you need to reach and what you want them to know, do or think differently. Millennial donors want information differently than Baby Boomer nonprofit partners – the who, what and why matter in your strategy!
- Then, we dive into the data. We analyze your current materials, and give you feedback on:
Your current messaging
How your organization is being covered in the news media
Your website and how easy information is to find
Your social media presence and your engagement data
Even how you compare with your peers and competitors
We analyze everything from how easy your materials are to understand, to what the numbers are telling us.
After we complete the audit, we break down our findings – and let the data guide our recommendations! For example, maybe you’re spending hours posting on TikTok and Facebook each week – but the impressions show us that you only need to be on Twitter. Perhaps your website could be more user friendly with just a couple of quick updates!
We serve you actionable feedback to help your communications shine.
We can conduct a communications planning audit as a standalone deliverable, or as the first step of our strategic communications planning process or a campaign!
Either way, once we complete your audit, you’ll have everything you need to take next steps with confidence – knowing your strategy is based in data and current best practices.
Here are a few examples of clients who hire us for audits:
Organizations at a fork in the road with their outreach strategies. Good data means better choices.
Nonprofits that want to make sure they're focusing on the most important tactics to maximize their ROI.
Foundations giving our audit services to their grantees — to help them make the most of an important grant.
Startups or small organizations who haven’t yet created a strategy backed by data, or have never really considered what’s important to their audience and what's working well.
Groups launching new initiatives or campaigns. A communications audit can tell you exactly where to focus your energies.
Why Forthright?
We’ve got extensive experience working with children and family-focused nonprofits and education organizations. We know where to go for the research, how to simplify all that complex data and make meaning from it — and how to put it into action. Which means not only will the research help you with your current initiatives, you’ll also have a store of valuable data to depend on long-term, too.
“We asked Forthright to complete a communications audit so we could then make strategic decisions about where to focus our valuable time and effort. They made specific recommendations about every piece of our communications strategy, from how to optimize our email marketing program to what social media outlets we should focus on. We are now confident about how we can best reach our target audience, giving us more time to focus on what’s more important to us: helping our students thrive.”
— Victor Rivas Umana,
The Golden State Academy (CEO)
Ready to get clear on what really works?
Pssssst. Want to learn more about work? Check out some of our case studies here!