Client Services June Spotlight: Forum on the Arms Trade
Earlier this year, the Forum on the Arms Trade signed on as a ReThink client to answer one critical question: How can we better support and amplify our members’ work?
To help them answer that question, we conducted a survey and facilitated listening sessions with their diverse membership—experts, researchers, and advocates working on arms trade issues. We discovered that Forum’s members fell into distinct groups, each with different communications needs, but they shared two critical priorities: they wanted help both reaching journalists and placing opinion pieces to amplify their work.
Next week, we’ll join one of the Forum’s regular member meetings to facilitate an “Op-Eds Plus” workshop, teaching best practices for opinion writing and placement, while helping participants think beyond the shrinking real estate of traditional opinion pages.
To tackle the other priority, we are updating and segmenting their journalist contact list. This enables Forum members to target each pitch to the right reporters, and to identify reporters they should foster relationships with. Building a strong foundation and systems that can be easily maintained is critical capacity work. We provide those systems in tandem with hands-on training so that organizations can then sustain them.
Surveying your constituents—whether they are supporters, members, advocates, or partners—can provide key insights that not only help deepen your relationships with them, but also provide data on how to improve programming, partnerships, and communications around your priorities.
If you’re wondering how to strengthen your communications strategy or better support your network, we’d love to connect. ReThink’s Client Services team specializes in exactly this kind of foundational work—research, strategy, and hands-on support to help you communicate with clarity and impact.
