Keeping your materials up to date, especially anchor materials like your logo and your core messages, maintains trust with your audiences and helps make sure you're living up to your brand's promise or organization's mission. We understand how busy nonprofit leaders are, and we want to make it easy to take just a few steps to ensure your most important materials are up to date, and to let your newest, most relevant materials shine.
Read MoreThat exciting first date. A job interview for the perfect position. Your key communications materials. Can you guess what all of these have in common? The answer: first impressions really, really matter for all of them. You’re on your own with the first part of this list – but at Forthright, what we CAN do is to help ensure your communications materials get that first impression rose. Below, we’re sharing our favorite questions to ask while conducting a communications audit.
Read MoreKeeping your materials up to date, especially anchor materials like your logo and your core messages, maintains trust with your audiences and helps make sure you're living up to your brand's promise or organization's mission. We understand how busy nonprofit leaders are, and we want to make it easy to take just a few steps to ensure your most important materials are up to date, and to let your newest, most relevant materials shine.
Read MorePeople hate change.
It makes us feel uncertain, uncomfortable and like things are out of our control. And that’s not just coming from me – that’s directly from Dr. Joseph Ciarrochi, author of “What Makes You Stronger: How to Thrive in the Face of Change.”
And this fact is really, really important for our work – because to best serve kids and families, we often have to lead innovation – also known to your families and team as change.
Here at Forthright, we’ve done a lot of research and work around tricky topics. We’ve included a few key takeaways from our most recent research project – school redistricting – below.
Read MoreWhen you’re used to writing emails, white papers and journal articles for your peers and colleagues, it can be really hard to switch up your writing style and draft something easy to read for a different audience. What if I told you that it doesn’t have to be that way? With a little bit of effort, and some “tricks of the trade,” I know you can create high-quality materials that are easy to read. Here’s how…
Read MoreWhen our team kicks off our work on a communications campaign, we focus first on the objective we’re trying to achieve. What’s our goal? But quickly afterwards, we ask the important question: who can make our goal a reality And that’s when we start our search for likely AND unlikely allies. We’re sharing what unlikely allies are — and how you can find them — here.
Read MoreA couple of weeks ago, my colleagues and I were reminiscing about “how PR used to be.” In addition to making us feel – well, like seriously seasoned comms professionals who have seen it all – it made us realize just how different things are.
So then I asked the rest of our teammates how PR has changed over their careers. Here are their answers, just for fun.
Read MorePassive language is the enemy of simple, easy-to-understand language. Using passive language can confuse your audiences – or even stop them from reading/listening to your message. We’re breaking down why, along with writing best practices.
Read MoreThe weather is warming, the days are longer and summer break is so close you can practically taste it. (And we hope it tastes like tropical beverages by a beach, or iced tea on a porch with nothing but you, a good book and a view.) During this final stretch, we have a few tips to finish strong, maximize on the summer and build positivity with your community and team.
Read MoreEasy-to-read messaging is kind. It helps your audiences understand your work and what you want them to know. On the flip side, when a message uses big words, acronyms and jargon, it is – by definition – exclusionary. Today, we’re sharing more about how we recommend approaching your messaging.
Read MoreIs your team stuck in a rut? Need some skills-building? Looking for a laughter-filled get-together centered around learning? Our marketing and communications workshops are jam-packed with helpful how-tos. You and your team will walk away with confidence and the knowledge you need to take (successful) action. Plus, we’ll have fun while we’re doing it! Here’s a (sampling of) what we’re offering this spring and summer…
If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a thousand times: long, clunky annual reports are a thing of the past. Your audiences want to see your impact in minutes, not hours. So when you’re Marie Kondoing your annual report, how do you cut content – but still show impact? We have two tips.
To us, consent means ensuring that every person we interview feels comfortable, confident and even empowered about sharing throughout the interview process. In other words, consent is so much more than asking for permission to share a story. Gathering consent during interviews is just one of many critical parts of ethical storytelling. We're sharing how we approach the process in this blog.
Read MoreMillions across the US choose to swipe right on, or decidedly say no thank you to, potential partners on dating apps every month. And much like hopeful (or jaded) singles swiping through profiles, your potential supporters, partners and stakeholders often make the decision to learn more about you – or write you off – in mere seconds. I bring this up because thinking about your organization’s brand personality as a dating profile…can actually be a great exercise! We’re including an example here.
Read MoreAs I think about tomorrow’s election, I’m listening to The Final Countdown on repeat. Our campaigns are on their final stretches – and our country’s future is in our voters’ hands now.
No matter what the results are, I know many of us will be making the tough decision of whether to issue statements or responses about the election results. Or not.
Read MoreAs experts who focus on messaging, we’re always advising our clients to make strategic choices about the information they share, the comparisons they make, and the words they use. Knowing more about framing can help you win campaigns, change hearts and minds, and move your work forward.
There are typically three framing scenarios that communicators face when leading a campaign. Let’s dive into them.
Read MoreThrough her work with school districts and nonprofits, Forthright senior advisor Lauren knows how to reach a variety of audiences. Today, Lauren is sharing how organizations and districts like yours can better include grandparent caregivers in your tactics and build more inclusive communications.
Read MoreAs a PR firm founder, it’s my job to watch for macro-trends and patterns across our work. I’m keeping an eye on the big picture and constantly taking a pulse on the audiences (parents, school district administrators, child care providers, etc.) we frequently target through our work.
And honestly? I’m concerned.
Read MoreHonest question: How full is your inbox right now? Has it reached hundreds of unread emails yet? In the days leading up to the first day of school, it is totally normal to have an overwhelming amount of information thrown at you.
Buried in many inboxes are great story “nuggets” that deserve to be told. Maybe it is the student who learned to love science during the fun summer camp she took. Maybe it is a teacher who is bursting with fun, new blended learning ideas to engage his social studies class after the professional development session he attended in July.
Read MoreI was in DC this spring, and I spotted someone wearing a tee shirt reading “words mean things”.
My husband, a software engineer, didn't understand why I instantly fangirled over this shirt.
But as leaders and communicators, you get it — words DO mean things. We have a responsibility to choose them wisely and understand how they land and how different people interpret them.
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