Last year, I spoke with a CEO who lamented the fact that communications consultants don’t do a better job of explaining how they work and what they really need from her to be successful. She wanted clarity so she wouldn’t be surprised by bills she felt were “nickel and diming” her.
She’s not wrong. I interviewed and managed PR agencies in my corporate life and discovered first-hand that navigating these relationships is a learned skill.
Communications pros should always be clear about the “how.” We should understand the value of our work and how much time, money, and talent it will take to deliver with excellence — and we should communicate this boldly to clients.
When you’ve got a framework or process that drives the way you work and gets amazing results time and time again, you’ll be more confident about communicating both how you do what you do and your fees to get it done. No more nickel and diming.
The strategic communications planning process I’ve used for years is based on the RPIE framework we PR pros know and love (Research, Planning, Implementation, Evaluation).
When I saw that so many clients lacked clear messaging and alignment among staff about the best of their brand and that they needed messaging consistency among multiple departments beyond PR (such as HR, legal, and customer service), I perfected a framework for that. It’s the same one I now teach communications leaders to use with their own companies and clients.
And when I discovered during messaging sessions that senior leaders and their staff often lacked a clear understanding of the company’s core values, and how or whether they were being lived out, I created a framework for that, too.
As one of the communications leaders in my program discovered, “Frameworks are everything.”
The PR and marketing pros I now mentor and train to lead messaging workshops for their own clients or companies share a lot in common:
- They have amazing strategic brains that make them perfectly suited to do this work
- They want to be trusted advisors for their clients and are deeply invested in their success
- They are passionate about the power of communications to transform relationships
- They want to make more money doing the kind of work they love
The main ingredient they lack to accomplish all of the above? A solid framework.
If they’re in-house and oversee message development, it’s never comprehensive enough to have an impact across the entire organization. And if they’re consultants, they aren’t sure how to properly position services like this to senior leaders so they can command the premium fees this kind of strategic work requires.
That’s the gap I want to fill for you.
Corporate Messaging for Communicators is a five-month “train-the-trainer” program where I teach you how to get buy-in, prepare for, and lead cross-departmental corporate messaging sessions.
During the program, you’ll learn how to guide executives and their staff through a six-phase messaging framework that results in clear, concise, aligned messaging they can use everywhere the organization communicates, markets, or sells: sales pitches, job descriptions, advertising, customer emails, websites, social media, media relations and more.
It’s the kind of deep-dive work that allows you to show them the true power of what you can do as a communicator.
The program includes five monthly mentoring sessions with me and a small group of communications leaders like you who want a safe space to share, learn and grow. You’ll also get access for one year to the CMC Alumni Circle, our exclusive mastermind group for the pros who complete the program.
Click here to learn all the details and to apply.
If we find that you’re a fit for the program, I look forward to working with you!