Learn the secrets of comms pros and get more impact from your comms: 50% discount in June

It’s more important than ever that as practitioners working music/arts/charities in education, wellbeing and social justice, that we communicate our value and impact, explain what we do, and sell our services. But what can you do if you don’t have a ‘comms person’?

I believe that by understanding some of the principles that comms people use every day, and creating a comms mindset, it is possible to ‘DIY’ when it comes to comms*.

The challenge for small organisations in our sectors

Having worked in these sectors for more than 20 years, I knew very well that many individuals and organisations couldn’t afford a comms team member or even a freelancer like me.

But I also knew that people working in this area are great communicators – brilliant at building relationships, focused on understanding people’s needs, reflective, with bags of empathy and understanding. So I started to look for training I could signpost people to, so that they could hone their comms skills.

I found that most of the training was about developing audiences (putting ‘bums on seats’), or explaining the tactics of social media, enewsletters, digital marketing, etc but not the thinking behind it.  And they were often for people with far larger budgets and staff.

A solution – or three!

So I decided to develop a course to help. Initially, I created a course on Communications strategy & planning. I wanted this to be flexible enough to be used by a sole trader, working at their own pace; or by a team, working through the modules at meetings and sharing out activities. So that’s built into the way the course is constructed. I also wanted it to be appealing and not a drag! So there are videos, downloadable templates, signposts to further information, and plenty of things to provoke thought, prompt action, and help you feel you’ve achieved something at the end of each module.

Feedback was great, which spurred me on to create another course, Social media to grow your reach, relationships and impact. Social media moves fast and it can be overwhelming to keep up with developments – who has time to attend a course every time a platform changes its algorithm? But if you have the fundamental approach right, it’s far easier to maintain your presence and manage change. So that’s what I aimed for in this course: to dig a bit deeper into the purpose of social media, the deep needs and gratifications served by it – including 25 examples of good practice – and how you can capitalise on those, and plan and organise your approach so you feel less overwhelmed.

Finally, I was asked by a music organisation to help their team become better at communicating with customers through words – from admin emails, to marketing communications. This is so important: because every communication you have with a customer or stakeholder, gives them an impression of who you are and what you stand for. So I developed a workshop on How to win hearts and minds with your writing and then turned that into an online course. This time, I looked at the fundamentals that the world’s best copywriters use, with a little bit of science about people’s behaviours and responses thrown in.

I hope the story of why and how I developed my courses has piqued your interest, and that they can help you in some way. If you’d like to know more, you can find out all about the courses at https://www.writing-services.co.uk/courses and if you book during June you can get 50% discount or more on all courses.

June online course special offer – 50% discount – ends Sun 30 June! 

Or if you decide you need a little direct help, do get in touch for a no-obligation chat – you’ll find out more about how I can help here:

If this is not quite what you want/need right now, sign up for my enews to keep in touch and get a free communications templates bundle.

Anita Holford is a freelance communications practitioner, copywriter, editor and fundraiser working mainly with music/arts organisations with a social, educational or wellbeing purpose. She works alongside individuals and teams to help them to tell their stories, and win hearts and minds – making the value and impact of their work easy to understand and appealing.

Website:          www.writing-services.co.uk

LinkedIn:         /AnitaHolford

X:                     @anitanee