If you’re like most Americans, you made at least one personal New Year’s resolution this year. And, if you’re like most Americans, you’ve already broken it.

Business goals are as important — and as fragile and easily broken — as personal resolutions. But meeting our business goals is important if we want our profits to grow and our careers to advance.

Bring your top three business-related goals to the first 2009 Communication Central seminar on Thursday, January 15. During the session, we will

• share our goals
• refine them into concrete New Year’s resolutions for career and business
• discuss specific strategies we can follow to make them come true

Thursday, January 15, 2009
The Card Room
Renaissance Apartments
2500 East Avenue at Penfield Road
Rochester, NY 14610
Entrance on Penfield Rd.
Free valet parking.

Registration form (PDF) available from the Communication Central web site.
For more information, call +1 (585) 820-4045 or +1 (585) 248-0318.

This is the first of three workshops in the 2009 Communications Central Business Planning series. Register for all three, and receive a $30 discount.

In 2009, I will be giving a number of workshops for professional organizations, and others through Communication Central. As the dates are firmed up, I will list each workshop in the events calendar on the masterworkconsulting.com home page.

Topics/tentative dates include:

• Business Planning Series
  1. Goal Setting for Communications Professionals

     TBD
     Rochester NY

  2. Plant a Radish, Get a Radish:
     Introduction to Business Planning for Freelancers

     February 19, 2009
     Communication Central, Rochester NY

  3. Inch by Inch, Row by Row:
     Tending Your Client Garden
     May 6, 2009
     STC Summit, Atlanta GA
• Web Sites for Freelancers Series
  1. 101: First Things First – Getting Started On the WebMay 21, 2009
     Communication Central, Rochester NY
  2. 102: Design Basics – The Good, the Bad, and the UglyMay 28, 2009
     Communication Central, Rochester NY
  3. 103: Web Site Credibility – Building Trust in Your Site and Your BusinessJune 04, 2009
     Communication Central, Rochester NY
  4. 104: Search Engines and Beyond – Online Marketing for a Successful BusinessJune 11, 2009
     Communication Central, Rochester NY
  5. 105: Better Late Than Never – Begin Your Blog Today!
     NOTE: Limited to eight (8) attendees; must bring own laptop computersJune 18, 2009
     Communication Central, Rochester NY
• Career Skills Series
  1. Rethinking Professional NetworkingTBD
  2. Online Collaboration ToolsTBD
  3. LifeBalance® for Project (and Life!) Management

     TBD

Social service agencies, arts organizations, and other not-for-profit groups have a vital role to play in our society. Because they don’t sell products, though, they often don’t have the money to use traditional advertising and commercial marketing outlets to get the word out about the services they provide. Community organizations need both old media (ads, brochures, flyers) and new media (web sites, blogs, podcasts) to bring their message to people who need their services as well as to potential donors.

MasterWork helps community organizations communicate their mission and programs to the public that uses their services, and to donors who can support those services.

The Three Rs of Community Information

Web sites are an important way for not-for-profit groups like yours to communicate with the public. Through your web site, you can show Respect for your constituents, demonstrate community Responsibility, and enhance your organization’s Reputation.

Show Respect

• Use your web site to speak to potential clients and donors as real people, not just statistics in your reports or dollars in your bank account.  The topics you discuss on your site, and the language you use to communicate those topics, can show that you are in touch with your organization’s supporters and with the clients you serve.
• Forums, blog comments, email links, and feedback forms demonstrate your willingness to listen the concerns of others, and consider their opinions.
• Through staff photos and profiles, and through articles and photographs showing your programs and events, you make it possible for the public to know your staff as people, too, not just part of another faceless bureaucracy. Use these web features to become “us” instead of “them.”

Demonstrate Responsibility

• Use your web site to communicate honestly about your organization and its work, and even its problems, in the text and pictures you publish on your site. This is especially important in times of crisis for your organization or your community.
• Through your web site, you can educate both your constituents and donors. Relevant articles and links to other sources of information will help prospective clients or members understand how you can help them. The same articles and links can help donors understand what you will do with their money.
• When clients, donors, and site visitors make use of the feedback options you provide, let them know you’ve heard them. Update your site to show you take your community responsibility seriously.

Enhance Your Reputation

• Positive interactions between not-for-profit organizations and their clients, members, and donors lead to happier citizens and a healthier, more vibrant community. Your web site is one way to encourage positive interaction with your organization.
• Satisfied clients and members will talk about you to their family, friends and neighbors, and will refer others to your programs and services. Save the letters, emails, and feedback comments you receive from them, and display excerpts prominently on your web site.
• Donors who know you appreciate their support will often increase their contributions and may convince others to donate, as well.

The MasterWork site has a new content management system and a new site design. I’ll be updating the content to the new templates over the course of the next few weeks. Thank you for your patience.

Kat Nagel, Owner
MasterWork Consulting
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