University of Iowa Master’s of Strategic Communications Coursework
Reflections and Connections on Inaugural Graduate School Assignment
ROPES Assignment (#1)
By: Holly Stork
The inaugural assignment for the Foundations of Strategic Communications Class invited both seasoned veterans and ingenue practitioners, an opportunity to immediately immerse themselves into a professional process. We were tasked with taking the first of many critically important steps toward the goal of performing a complete strategic communications diagnostic evaluation for a chosen company/client during a semester-long journey.
Despite a dozen years of tenure with my organization, this assignment was both enlightening and exhilarating. Its requirements were to provide a thorough examination of the company, by using the ROPES planning process for the non-profit, SMART Reading. SMART Reading (also referred to as SMART) would serve as my client company for the next four months. The ROPES acronym identifies the Research, Objectives, Programming, Evaluation, and Stewardship components essential to creating a firm foundation from which to embark on a successful, rewarding, impactful and relevant strategic communications campaign.
There were many “a ha!” moments in this assignment, the primary one was the unwelcome realization of how often, in attempting to tackle strategic communications issues, there is a leap to “name” the problem or opportunity, and the heavy lifting of the process steps and evaluation are skimmed, or possibly missed entirely. This assignment required not simply naming, but navigating, the necessary steps, research methods, objectives, stakeholder identification, and potential casualties, along with how to continually shepherd the work and be a responsible steward for the audiences and outcomes.
Mastery of the Scholarly Stuff Really Matters in the Mix
Theory Assignment (#2)
By: Holly Stork
Knowing “why” and not just “how” to capably craft strategic communications, worthy of response and recognition, is another foundational piece to having a toolkit of talent.
The field of “Theory” is vast and complex. One only need to examine the countless variations of messaging and models to realize that this practice area is both highly specialized and highly important for a PR professional’s decision-making and message creation.
The lectures, readings, discussions, and breakout sessions with course colleagues served to reinforce how so many different theories can have overlap, how different strategists see theory through different lenses, and how empowering it is to adeptly recognize the best applicable theory, and implement its tenets to drive direction, craft campaigns and move audiences to action.
For a strategist, understanding and applying theory is a crucial skillset in countless ways, some of which include efficiency in process, targeted and compelling message creation and dissemination, as well as effective and informed representation for your customers or clients.
Creation Requires Calculation in Strategic Communications
Strategic Communication Writing Assignment (#3)
By: Holly Stork
When genuinely great strategic communications writing inspires action, elevates understanding, and achieves measurable results, it is not just the creation of a gifted wordsmith laboring over action-driven adjectives and minute detail.
It also is a marriage of careful calculation in the requisite planning, research, audience assessments and (often) audacious goal setting. The metrics of each of these elements are critical to the art of writing good copy, articles, press releases, speeches, and a myriad of other communications.
As I approached this writing assignment, I had to define many elements before putting pen to paper. My chosen non-profit client for the semester, SMART Reading, was to host an event to raise essential funds to support its early literacy initiatives, and the creation of an imaginative technological platform developed to serve children virtually.
The communications tools I selected, to author, were a press release and an article. Each variation had some shared information to impart yet differed in their primary audiences. Each strived to reinforce the important end goal—SMART Reading needs support.
To promote the fundraiser, “Boots for Books Bash,” I wrote a press release. My research and evaluation confirmed that what people were really looking for, in rural Oregon, was a reason to safely gather, to connect, to be social after having been in quarantine for seven sad months. If the even benefited a worthwhile cause, it would be a hit. The press release detailed the safely precautions reassuring potential patrons of the event’s COVID compliance combined with enticing detail of the event.
Additionally, an expansive article was written to inspire giving by enhancing the public’s understanding of how the COVID crisis impacted SMART’s work, and to introduce the innovation SMART created to meet the impact of the COVID crisis. SMART’s new virtual platform was earning regional recognition for its strength of purpose and ease of implementation. This article was designed to educate and inform.
Social Media Magnetism – A Must Have!
Social Strategy Assignment (#4)
By: Holly Stork
What is the secret sauce for figuring out which social media your audience gravitates to with the most frequency and loyalty? Is it Facebook for keeping up with friends and family, Twitter for opinion-driven food for thought, Pinterest to share and ignite ideas? Which one(s) drive buying decisions, invite thought leadership, push an agenda, or promote a product or person?
It can be a maze and a mystery, but knowing your audience, learning which media are the favored “go to hotspots” for various content is essential for a practitioner to monitor, to follow, and to utilize trends to counsel strategic communications clients accordingly. Are Twitter Topics and polls where it is at? Perhaps the audience, that a company seeks, are small business owners who appreciate the ease and options of creating their own Facebook pages? Does your audience follow politics? If so, they may be found pontificating, ranting, or reviewing a candidate, policy, or position on Twitter.
Knowing the players (your clients/customers) and the social media platforms is just the start. It is monitoring the media’s ever-changing re-inventions, their dynamic data points for usage, growth, capacity, and recognition. The communication strategist needs to be adept in their ability to navigate, monitor and measure these social media. This empowering information allows them to advise their clients/customers as to how and when to adapt, their existing social strategy, fluidly and efficiently.
In this assignment, I took an objective, albeit loving look, at the social strategy of SMART Reading. SMART’s top three social media platforms match textbook perfectly, to the national data, for the top trio for overall awareness—Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. I have special heartstrings to the SMART organization as my employer, which is why my analysis, critique, and recommendations are so fully invested.
Mitigate Mayhem with Comprehensive Crisis Communications Preparedness
Crisis & Issue Management Assignment (#5)
By: Holly Stork
“Having a strong organizational culture, both internally and externally,
is good PR but it is also just the right thing to do.”- Professor Meghann Foster
This introduction to the assignment resonated with me so completely. It called out the necessity and value of why “culture” drives so many companies, in ways both good and bad. A healthy climate of culture depends upon how it is founded, built, and nurtured with care, competency, and communications.
How well the communications are developed and disseminated, both internally and externally of the organization or corporation, will be a driving force when it comes to crisis communications. Is there an infrastructure of comprehensive and meaningful issues management within the company? If so, it is setting up the organization to be resilient and adept at either avoiding or minimizing. the potential of crises occurring.
The investment a company makes today to build honest, open, reliable, resourceful, and transparent communications, with its audiences and publics, can give it staying power, should the going get tough in a disaster or crisis.
This assignment underscored, for me, the significant responsibilities an organization or corporation owes its audience. The audience expects, and deserves, humanity and honor in crisis communications. They seek validation of their emotions, wish to be communicated with honestly, expect to receive information timely, and, above all, want to believe the messaging comes from a trustworthy source.
Aim High, Just Like Jordan
Group Project & Presentation
By: Holly Stork
“Go big or go home!” This could have been the slogan that defined how our group elected to tackle a brand, an identity, a vision, and the impact of an icon as our project.
We concurred that there was so much to build from, so much “WOW”, so much we wanted to explore about this strategic communications powerhouse, that we aimed high and chose the Jordan Brand for our Industry Spotlight.
There was no shortage of vibrant, action-packed images, messaging, and mission driven statements representing both Nike and the Jordan Brand’s commercial vision and vitality. While the Jordan Brand is its own business unit of Nike, at junctures in the project, we found challenge in deciphering where Nike’s strategic communications end and the Jordan Brand begins. Their strategic messages of fearlessness and focus, and their stances on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), intersect so seamlessly. They do not collide or compete, but truly complement one another. Nike’s instincts, strategies, and appetite for risk combined to create the rocket fuel essential to building and launching the Jordan Brand. This powerful ignition has led both enterprises to achieve extraordinary heights in financial, cultural, athletic, and social impact, across the globe. Each brand finds it success building off the best of the other.
Group Project & Presentation Paper
Holly Stork's Strategic Communications Portfolio 