Strategic Planning: Achieving a competitive position in today’s global marketplace requires coordination and sharp focus. A top-notch strategic plan combines the best of public relations and marketing research, strategies, and tactics to insure that you spend your time and dollars wisely to reach your goals. We’ll analyze strengths and weaknesses/ challenges and opportunities, determine objectives, formulate a strategy, and design an action plan that is both purposeful and flexible.
Branding: Your brand is your reputations. It’s how others think of you – and value you. Creating and maintaining a strong brand is critical to your short and long-term success. PhairAdvantage President Judy Phair recently oversaw a major branding initiative at the Graduate Management Admission Council for GMAC, the leading association of business schools worldwide, and the GMAT exam, its flagship product. We’ve worked on numerous other branding programs as well, and we can help you create, refresh, or rethink your brand.
Communications Audits: It’s the right time to review and examine your communications programs and priorities if you have a change in leadership; a new strategic plan; budget cutbacks; student or member recruitment/retention issues; legislative challenges – or if you simply want to tune a smooth-running communications operation. A good audit can tell you what constituencies you’re reaching – and at what cost; what groups you may not be reaching; whether or not you’re using the right medium to deliver your messages; and how consistent, identifiable, and credible those messages are.
Global Media Relations: Print and electronic media news remain the most credible source of information; however, social media are a critical part of any media relations program. We’ll use our knowledge of local, regional, and national media, including specialized and trade outlets, as well as social media, to help your message get through to your target audiences. We’ll analyze your messages and audiences to build a sharply-focused media database, tailor pitches to the wants and needs of targeted media, and follow up to facilitate placements. We’ll also prepare you for interviews, put together media kits, and do “environmental scans” of news related to your concerns. Our experience includes extensive media relations work in Europe, China, and India, as well as North America.
Government Relations: Working effectively with legislators on the local, regional, and national levels requires research and detailed planning. We’ve organized visits to state and federal legislators and staff, written legislative testimony, coordinated site visits from legislators for colleges and universities, and put together effective letter-writing and op ed campaigns to influence legislation.
Crisis Communications/Issues Management: No response is – a response. When a crisis hits, you must get your story out quickly and accurately, while respecting the rights of involved parties and protecting your legal interests. At the same time, you need to focus on concerns of internal as well as external audiences, immediate impact, and future implications. PhairAdvantage has dealt with both short and long-term crises, spanning the gamut from a college changing from single sex to coeducational to environmental pollution to state/federal program and budget cuts. We can guide you through both short and long-term crisis management.
Attitudinal/Opinion Research: Whatever the target group — prospective students, alumni, community or state leaders, faculty and staff — we can help you get inside the minds of those you need to reach and motivate. Our services include survey design, focus group facilitation, readership surveys, one-on-one in-depth interviews with opinion leaders, and a full range of other qualitative and quantitative research tools.
Editorial Services: PhairAdvantage recognizes the importance of telling your story so that your audiences can understand and respond to it. We offer a full range of editorial services, including writing and editing of op eds, speeches, annual reports, fund-raising and recruitment brochures, media releases, public service announcements, newsletters, web sites, and legislative testimony. For example, we’ve written specialized newsletters for college and university presidents, association leaders, and the CEO of Merck, Inc., as well as speeches and op eds for numerous college and association presidents and business leaders. We can also coordinate design and production of print, electronic, and web materials.
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