CONNECTION STRATEGY
Connection comes before action
Whether you’re a for-profit or nonprofit, your organization offers something that solves a problem or creates an opportunity for someone.
You could be the perfect combination.
But your audience can’t take action for you, or with you, if they don’t feel connected to you. Whatever the vehicle – from digital ad campaigns to a simple website – you can’t just tell people something. Knowing what to do and actually doing it can be completely different.
That’s where emotion comes in. Emotion drives action (yes even business-to-business services).
Let’s take your “secret sauce” and find the emotional connection to turn it into repeatable success.
What is a Connction Strategy?
Strategy is overused and misunderstood. So let’s think of this as a recipe.
How will you get from creating the world’s best BBQ sauce from scratch, each and every time, to selling it in bottles to more people, more easily?
How Connection Strategy Works
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We start with your brand* to dig into Who cares about you and Why. These are the fundamentals of messaging and we’ll need those to create connections versus sending messages.
We’ll add to the brand:
Where you can find your audience, online and offline
When they're most likely to be receptive (if they’re shopping for shoes, are they in the right mind frame for your message about hunger relief?)
How to connect your unique value to their unique mix of problems, values, and motivations
*If your brand guide is only logos and colors, we can help flesh that out into useful brand guidelines that tell you what to say to whom, when, and how — all based on who and why. Learn more here.
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Once we have the key ingredients, it’s time to think through how to combine them. Knowing what your audience cares about, why, and where to connect with them will lead to an approach for not only showing up in front of them, but also, doing it in a way that creates engagement and builds trust.
If you’ve ever looked up a cookie recipe, you know there are thousands of ways to take the same ingredients – in different proportions – to create different versions of the same cookie. Let’s figure out what’s going to make your stakeholders want your chocolate chip cookies versus any other kinds.
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This is when we turn the plan into assets. From industry events to thought leadership, from paid digital to a website, we’ll create a doable, measurable plan.
You may have full resources to execute on the Connection Strategy, but if not, I can help with implementation or connect you to those who can (video, earned media, paid digital – you name it, I have connections!).
How will you know if you’re combining the right ingredients in the right way? That’s where the dashboard comes in.
What key indicators will tell us we’re showing up in front of the right people?
Which data tells us our message is connecting?
What metrics drive business results?
Just in case…
And if you don’t have time for a full Connection Strategy, I can pinch hit to create content that moves you forward:
Website copy
Blog posts
Email Campaigns
Fundraising appeals
Marketing & communication materials
Video scripts, talking points, speeches
