A communications case study

Smart Works, Reading

A teal square with the words Smart Works Reading on it in white

Who I worked with

Smart Works Reading, a charity that provides styling and interview coaching to unemployed women seeking work in the Thames Valley area.

The challenge

The charity had been using a variety of communication methods, but knew that they could be achieving better outcomes from them. Due to the extra pressures of the covid pandemic and the impact that had on service delivery, they had had even less opportunity to spend time on reviewing their communications activities.

What happened?

I worked with Anna and one of her trustees to provide a series of facilitated sessions as part of my ‘Write your own comms’ service. They completed the initial diagnostic questionnaire and we talked through what they wanted to get from taking part. The first workshop was a chance for Anna, trustees and a comms volunteer to come together and discuss the charity’s communications from different perspectives.

Following on from the first session, and using tools I provided, the team were able to write a strategic plan for their comms. The review and accountability conversations with me helped them to refine their framework and assess how it was working.

The outcomes

Anna was able to use the strategic plan to inform the charity’s communications around a fundraising campaign and assess the impact. They have begun to see connections with new audiences. Having a document that can be consistently used by different members of the team has also been really helpful.

Sarah was a friendly, effective and creative facilitator and we found her ‘write your own comms plan’ service incredibly useful. She understood the challenges and opportunities that we face as a small charity and was able to suggest achievable and actionable comms strategy improvements that we are now using consistently.