How do you keep your nonprofit organization’s team of spokespeople delivering the right messages, in the right way?

You might have a team of spokespeople made up of subject matter experts, staff from various departments, volunteers telling their personal stories, board members and other leaders and more. How do you keep this diverse group of brand ambassadors ‘on message’?

 

At our last #NPMC chat, group member RoiAnn Phillips asked us to explore this topic in July:

How do you keep spokespeople on message at your nonprofit organization? Here are a few thoughts that have emerged from the #NPMC community so far:

 

Key message development

Do you have a consistent set of key messages and talking points from which all communications flow? Are these key messages helpful and are they well used by your organization’s spokespeople? How did you develop your nonprofit message platform and how did you find the balance between what your nonprofit wants to say and what your audiences want to hear?

 

Spokesperson selection

The right person is more likely to deliver the right message. Are certain de facto spokespeople not really suited to the task? Where do you look within the organization for those who are most appropriate? What criteria do you use when deciding on/selecting spokespeople; the depth of their knowledge, their ability to speak clearly and simply and their ability to answer questions…what else?

 

Training and tools

How well do you prepare and support your spokespeople to represent your organization? What training and tools do and can you provide that will make it easier for them to stay consistent with your brand messages? Media interview or presentation skills, training on key topics and key messages…again, what else?

 

Policies and guidelines

Have you put structure around the role of spokesperson in the form of clear guidelines and policies? How well has this worked for you? How could it work better? How do you find the balance between shaping and guiding what spokespeople say while letting their individuality shine through?

 

Other steps and strategies?

What else do you do to help your team stay on message?

 

Let’s talk about spokespeople during the July #NPMC Chat

Would you benefit from a conversation with your peers about working effectively with spokespeople and preserving message consistency?

Join the #NPMC Twitter chat for an exchange of questions, tips and successful strategies. Just follow #NPMC on Twitter on Thursday, July 31, 2014 at 1:00 p.m. E.T. to listen in and share your insights.

 

 

Marlene Oliveira

Marlene Oliveira

Communications advisor and copywriter at moflow
Marlene Oliveira is communications consultant and copywriter at moflow and founder of the Nonprofit MarCommunity blog. Having worked in the nonprofit sector since 1999, Marlene specializes in working with capacity building and grant-making organizations, advising on communications strategy, and writing stories and other content.
Marlene Oliveira

@mo_flow

Marlene Oliveira