The world has become much more complex.  Email, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and  texting, not to mention all the print and broadcast options, are all part of the myriad of ways we can send and receive information.  With all these choices, and a limited budget, it’s hard to know what to spend time and money on to effectively reach your audience.

Encompass can develop a communication strategy that helps focus your promotional efforts to build your brand and with customers, prospects, referral sources, and the community.  It’s a lot like building a house – you need a blueprint the identifies the style house you want and the  materials you need before you start building it.

Our strategic planning process involves:

• Meeting with you to determine your objectives
• Analyzing the marketplace – who are the competitor’s?  What makes your organization unique?
• Reviewing past marketing efforts and messages
• Identifying your best audiences
• Determining the “hot buttons” and messages for this audience
• Selecting the most effective communication channels
• Creating an appropriate promotional budget

Story advancement is about positioning your organization as a reliable and knowledgeable resource with the media to foster news coverage on relevant issues and events that support your organization’s mission, event or cause.

News coverage is accomplished by:

• Identifying compelling story ideas on services for specific editors and reporters based on their individual area of interest and/or their audience

• Capturing these stories and putting them out through social media channels

• Writing news releases on organization events, staff and issues and submitting them to media outlets and online news feeds

Many small organizations do not have a professional public relations person on staff, so this responsibility usually ends up on the shoulders of whoever is in charge of a particular project/event or with an administrative assistant who has minimal PR experience.  

Encompass can help.

• Monthly Support:  We can become your inside communication’s staff handling ongoing outreach at a fixed number of hours and fee per month.  This work often includes coaching existing staff to increase internal capacity.

• News Release Distribution:  We will help you write, or simply distribute, your releases to our wide network of media and online sources.

• Special Event Promotion: When you need a larger effort than your staff can manage alone, we can be there with our talent and time to support your outreach and make your event or cause a success.

Knowing what your customers, prospects, donors, referral sources, and others think about your organization is important – but  how you obtain that information has changed dramatically in recent years.

• Facebook, Twitter and Other Social Media Sites:  Allow organizations to establish real-time interactions with customers, giving them instant access to what is being said about them and the opportunity to respond to customers quickly.

• Online Survey Tools:  SurveyMonkey and other online survey options make it easier for organizations to customize surveys and easier for people to respond to them with a simple click of a button.

• Traditional Research Methods:  Focus groups, one-on-interviews, and telephone surveys, have their place and can be very helpful in providing valuable feedback from key audiences.

Deciding which research methodologies to use largely depends on your audience and your budget. Encompass is experienced in selecting, developing and implementing a variety of research methodologies, and can make recommendations on the most effective options that are right for your organization.