Executuve Strategy Brief: The Trevor Project
A very short, synthesized and strong “Why-How-What” opening paragraph about the organization, to provide reassurance to the hiring team that you 1) know why it exists, 2) know what it’s been trying to achieve, 3) know its unique take on its social cause, but also 4) know well how the current climate has exacerbated this nonprofit’s likely (or well-known) current challenges while simultaneously providing some new opportunities for recovery and resilience.
A short “change strategy statement” reflecting what the new normal could and should look like for this organization over the next six months. Example: “…to build new and more immediately effective ways to connect digitally with top audiences still on partial lockdown around a specific cause advocacy initiative using existing resources” or something far more unique and specific to convey what the organization could/should be doing now, realistically, to keep the doors open and advance more wisely through the months ahead. Be sure to craft a statement that specifically states your thinking for what this nonprofit’s unique strategy goal should be during the next six months of uncertainty and social turbulence. Do NOT make this entirely about fundraising.
A quick-and-short, 6-month Strategic Communications and Marketing plan/campaign for it that includes the following:
A brief introduction that summarizes the current public health, political and economic climate and the uncertain fundraising climate ahead for your organization through the end of the year. (Cite this as a very synthesized situational analysis within the context of the nonprofit’s existing lifecycle, type of nonprofit, and whatever you might know about its current finances, if accessible. Assume all nonprofits are being challenged financially in some way now.)
Marketing Goals: If hired, what 1-2 top marketing goals will you deliver that could help the organization build audience engagement, brand awareness and financial resilience during these next six months and beyond? These are the specific primary marketing outcomes for this period that will support the organization’s larger mission.
Organizational Brand: What is your Brand IDEA for the organization during this time? What are you proposing to do for this nonprofit to better bind this organization together more internally and externally during this time? (Provide specific brand-thinking from your marketing toolbox and apply the concepts shared in your study of Brand Democracy, Brand Integrity, and Brand Affinity strategies — but translate them to the level, to apply 1 or 2 or all of them to the specific situational challenges your nonprofit is now experiencing.)
Situation Analysis: In one tightly-written paragraph, synthesize a simple SWOT analysis unique to this six-month opportunity to advance a new normal for this organization. Consider this a challenge and opportunity statement.
Target audiences: What are the 1-2 top audience segments you are telling this nonprofit it needs to engage better to be able to pull off your plan? Why have you chosen these over others to help the organization implement the strategy you’re putting forward? Briefly profile these audience segments, using specific insights from the materials presented in class.
Primary Calls to Action and Messaging: What do you need your target audiences to do? Be specific. How will you persuade your audiences to heed your call to action? How will you frame your messaging tied to the organization’s unique social/service cause? What are the challenges/barriers your messaging must overcome for each one of these 2 audiences?
Marketing Objectives: How are you proposing to measure the success of this strategy you’re proposing? If hired, what 1-2 key success metrics would you put forth to help the nonprofit’s executives measure and determine the usefulness/success of your strategy/work over the next six months?
Tactics: What 2-3 specific types of messaging-media-channel mixes will you urge this nonprofit to pursue to help meet its primary mar/comms challenges for the period and start moving forward into a “new normal”?
Recommendations and Conclusions: Restate the top 1-2 reasons “why this, why now, so what?” to make a strong conclusion. Summarize your short-term strategy for helping this nonprofit move toward a “new normal” to become more resilient in this challenging nonprofit climate. Re-state why hiring you and adopting this strategy would be far more of a measurable benefit than a risk. Conclude with a strong call to action—in this case, to approve the plan and begin executing immediately.
In sum: Short, sweet, impactful, specific. This is an assessment of your ability in a hiring environment to put forth your executive-level skills in strategic communications — based on your work in this class and on the job so far.
Remember, you’re displaying your ability to think strategically about how communications and marketing can be used to identify and meet an organization’s key challenges and opportunities head-on—and drive action around needed change.
