Brittany Hoversten

Let’s talk

Tag: Strategic Communications

  • How to Write a Five-Year Technology Plan That Finds Savings

    Most organizations don’t have a technology strategy. They have a stack of renewals. A software contract auto-renews in March, a laptop dies in June, someone signs up for a new tool with a credit card in September, and by December nobody can say what you’re paying for or why. A five-year technology plan is how you trade that pile of surprises for a set of decisions.

    At Tri-County Action Program, I served as Director of Communications, Technology and Data and built a five-year technology plan that identified $350K in savings. It also set up a move to outsourced IT. I’m a marketer by trade, which is exactly why I think marketers and communicators should be in the room for this work. A tech plan is a persuasion document as much as a technical one.

    Here’s how I’d approach it again.

    Why a five-year technology plan beats yearly budgeting

    Annual budgets ask, “What do we need to spend next year?” A five-year plan asks a better question: “What do we want to be true in five years, and what’s the cheapest responsible path there?”

    That shift matters because technology costs are lumpy. Hardware ages out in waves. Contracts lock you in for multiple years. A system migration costs more in year one and saves money in years two through five. If you only look one year ahead, every good long-term move looks expensive.

    A multi-year view also gives leaders something they rarely get from IT conversations: a story. Here’s where we are, here’s where we’re going, here’s what it costs, and here’s what it saves.

    Step 1: Inventory everything (yes, everything)

    You can’t find savings in spending you can’t see. Start with a full inventory, and expect it to take longer than you think.

    • Software and subscriptions. Every license, seat, plan and add-on. Check credit card statements and expense reports, not just the IT budget line.
    • Hardware. Laptops, desktops, phones, printers, network gear, with purchase dates.
    • Services and contracts. IT support, hosting, phone systems, copier leases, with renewal dates and cancellation terms.
    • Data systems. CRM, finance, HR, case management, email marketing. Note who owns each and how they connect, or don’t.
    • People time. Who spends hours each week keeping systems running or moving data by hand?

    That last category is the one most plans skip. Staff time spent re-entering data between systems is a real cost. It just doesn’t show up on an invoice.

    Ask the people who use the tools

    Spreadsheets tell you what you pay for. Conversations tell you what people actually use. A short staff survey plus a handful of interviews will surface the tool everyone works around, the shared password nobody should be sharing and the report that takes two days to build by hand. I’ve written about how to design a stakeholder survey that gets to decisions, and it applies here too.

    Step 2: Find where the money is hiding

    Once the inventory is done, patterns jump out. In most organizations, savings tend to come from a few familiar places:

    • Overlap. Three file-sharing tools, two project management platforms, a design tool bought by two different departments.
    • Unused seats. Licenses for former staff, or tiers that include features nobody touches.
    • Bad contract timing. Renewals that roll over automatically because no one had the date on a calendar.
    • Reactive hardware spending. Emergency replacements at full price instead of planned refresh cycles.
    • Support models that don’t fit. An in-house setup that’s stretched thin, or an outside arrangement that doesn’t match how you work.

    Savings aren’t always about cutting. Sometimes the right call is to spend more on one platform so you can retire three others. The plan should show the net effect over five years, not just the year-one bill.

    Look hard at your support model

    At Tri-CAP, the plan included moving to outsourced IT. That isn’t the right answer everywhere. But every organization should ask the question honestly: given our size, risk and needs, what support model gives us reliable coverage at a sustainable cost? Compare options on response times, security practices, coverage hours and total cost, not just the monthly fee.

    Step 3: Sequence the changes

    A five-year plan isn’t a list of everything you want. It’s an order of operations.

    1. Year 1: Stabilize. Fix security gaps, cancel obvious waste, get every renewal date on a shared calendar, and settle your support model.
    2. Year 2: Consolidate. Retire overlapping tools and move people onto the core platforms you’ve chosen.
    3. Year 3: Connect. Integrate systems so data flows between them, especially CRM, finance and communications.
    4. Year 4: Improve. Build better reporting, automate repetitive work and train staff more deeply.
    5. Year 5: Review and refresh. Reassess the whole stack and start the next plan.

    Sequencing matters because change fatigue is real. If you ask staff to learn four new systems in one year, they’ll learn none of them well. When I think about CRM rollouts, the same lesson holds. I cover it in more detail in CRM implementation best practices.

    Step 4: Write it for the board, then keep it alive

    This is where a communications background earns its keep. A technology plan has to be approved by people who don’t want to read about firewalls.

    Advising an executive team and a board taught me to structure the document around decisions and outcomes:

    • One-page summary. Current state, recommended direction, five-year cost, five-year savings and the top three risks of doing nothing.
    • The case for change. Plain language, real examples from staff, and what the mission gains.
    • The roadmap. One table by year: what changes, what it costs, what it saves.
    • Risks and mitigations. Security, staff capacity, vendor dependence.
    • Appendix. The full inventory and detailed numbers.

    Lead with the mission, support with the money. “This frees up staff hours for client work” lands differently than “This reduces administrative overhead,” even when they mean the same thing. If you want more on how boards read numbers, see my post on marketing metrics for a board of directors.

    Keep the plan alive after approval

    A plan that sits in a folder is just an expensive document. Build in a few habits:

    • Review progress quarterly with leadership, with a short update against the roadmap.
    • Keep the inventory current. Assign an owner, and update it whenever you add or cancel something.
    • Track savings as they happen, so you can show the board real results, not projections.
    • Revisit priorities every year. Five years is long enough for the tool market to change a lot.

    Key takeaways

    • A five-year technology plan turns surprise renewals into deliberate decisions.
    • A complete inventory, including staff time, is where savings start.
    • Look for overlap, unused seats, bad contract timing and reactive spending.
    • Sequence changes over years so staff can actually adopt them.
    • Write for the board: mission first, money close behind, details in the appendix.

    FAQ

    What should a five-year technology plan include?

    A five-year technology plan should include a full inventory of software, hardware, contracts and data systems, a clear picture of current costs, a year-by-year roadmap of changes, projected costs and savings, key risks and an owner for keeping the plan updated.

    Who should write an organization’s technology plan?

    Ideally a cross-functional leader who understands operations, budgets and communication, working with IT support and department heads. The plan needs technical accuracy, but it also has to persuade leadership and staff.

    How often should a technology plan be updated?

    Review progress quarterly and update the plan at least once a year. Keep the inventory current all the time, since every new tool or canceled contract changes the picture.

    If you’d like to see more of the strategy, technology and communications work behind this, browse my portfolio.

    / Work with Brittany

    Need a technology plan your board will actually read and approve?

    Hiring a marketing leader or need a hands-on partner for a project? See how we can work together or send me a note.

  • Using Responsible AI in Marketing: A Guardrails Checklist

    Somebody on your team is already using AI. Maybe it’s drafting social captions. Maybe it’s summarizing meeting notes or cleaning up a grant narrative at 10 p.m. The question isn’t whether AI is in your marketing work. It’s whether anyone has set the rules. Responsible AI in marketing starts with admitting that the tools showed up before the policy did.

    I work with AI every week. Analytics, strategic communications and AI are the deep end of what I do, so I’m not writing this as a skeptic. I’m writing it as someone who has seen how fast a helpful shortcut turns into a brand problem when nobody owns the guardrails.

    Good guardrails don’t slow a team down. They let people move faster because they know where the edges are.

    Why responsible AI in marketing is a leadership job

    It’s tempting to treat AI as an individual productivity choice. One person likes it, another doesn’t, everybody does their own thing.

    That works right up until:

    • Someone pastes donor or client details into a free tool with unclear data terms.
    • A generated statistic ends up in a press release, and nobody can find where it came from.
    • An AI image of “a family we served” runs in a campaign, and the family doesn’t exist.
    • Your newsletter starts sounding like everyone else’s newsletter.

    Every one of those is a trust problem, and trust is the asset marketing is supposed to protect. That makes AI governance a leadership responsibility, not a tech-support ticket. If you lead a team, the rules are yours to write, even if you write them in an afternoon.

    The guardrails checklist

    Here’s the checklist I’d hand any marketing team, from a solo nonprofit communicator to a department of twenty. Adjust the details. Keep the categories.

    1. Data: what never goes in

    • No personal information about clients, donors, patients, students or employees in any tool your organization hasn’t approved.
    • No confidential financials, contracts, legal matters or unreleased plans.
    • Know each approved tool’s data terms: does it store prompts, and can it train on them?
    • When in doubt, anonymize or summarize before you paste.

    2. Truth: what always gets checked

    • Every fact, number, name, date and quote gets verified against a real source before it’s published.
    • AI-suggested statistics are treated as leads, not facts. If you can’t find the original source, the number doesn’t run.
    • Summaries of long documents get spot-checked against the original, especially anything you’ll repeat to leadership.

    3. People: who stays in charge

    • A named human reviews and approves anything that goes public.
    • Sensitive communications (crisis statements, layoffs, condolences, anything about a specific person) are written by people. AI can help you outline. It shouldn’t hold the pen.
    • Final judgment calls on tone and timing stay with the communicator who knows the audience.

    4. Images and likeness: no synthetic “real people”

    • Never generate an image that implies a real client, donor, employee or event.
    • Don’t alter real photos in ways that change what happened.
    • If you use generated visuals for illustration, make sure they read as illustration.

    This one matters a lot in mission-driven work. I’ve written about ethical storytelling with consent and dignity, and the same principle applies here. A made-up face standing in for a real person’s story isn’t a shortcut. It’s a misrepresentation.

    5. Brand: does it still sound like you?

    • Keep a short voice guide that people can paste into a prompt or check drafts against.
    • Read AI-assisted drafts out loud. If it sounds like a brochure for nobody in particular, rewrite it.
    • Hold AI output to the same brand standards as anything else. Templates, colors and messaging rules still apply.

    6. Disclosure: when do you say AI helped?

    There isn’t one universal rule here, so decide yours and write it down. A reasonable starting point: disclose when AI generated a substantial part of an image, a voice or content presented as someone’s personal words. Don’t put a quote in a leader’s mouth that they didn’t write and approve.

    7. Tools: who decides what’s approved

    • Keep a short list of approved tools and what each is approved for.
    • Assign one person to review new tools before they’re used with real work.
    • Revisit the list a couple of times a year, since terms and features change.

    How to roll it out without a 40-page policy

    You don’t need a committee and six months. You need a page people will actually read.

    1. Inventory what’s already happening. Ask your team, without judgment, which tools they use and for what. You’ll learn more in a 20-minute conversation than in a formal audit.
    2. Draft a one-page guide. Use the seven categories above. Plain language, short bullets.
    3. Get a quick review from whoever owns risk. In a small nonprofit, that might be the executive director. In a larger organization, legal, HR or IT.
    4. Train with real examples. Show a good use and a bad use for each category. Examples stick better than rules.
    5. Make it easy to ask. A shared channel or a named person for “is this okay?” questions prevents a lot of quiet guessing.
    6. Review it twice a year. The tools will change. Your principles probably won’t, but the details will.

    If you want a deeper framework to borrow from, the NIST AI Risk Management Framework is a solid, free reference. You don’t need to adopt the whole thing to get value from its way of thinking about risk.

    Where AI genuinely helps (and where I keep it out)

    Guardrails are only half the picture. The other half is using AI where it actually earns its keep.

    Good fits

    • First drafts of routine content you’ll heavily edit, like event recaps or internal updates.
    • Brainstorming angles, headlines and subject lines to react to.
    • Summarizing survey comments or long reports so you can find themes faster, followed by your own read.
    • Repurposing approved content into different formats and lengths.
    • Helping with formulas, scripts and small automations when you’re building your own tools.

    Where I keep it out

    • Anything that requires knowing a specific person’s story.
    • Final messaging for sensitive or high-stakes moments.
    • Strategy itself. AI can help you pressure-test a plan, but it doesn’t know your board, your community or your history.

    AI is one tool among many. The marketers who’ll do best with it are the ones who already have strong judgment about audience, message and brand. The tool speeds up the work. It doesn’t replace knowing what good looks like.

    What to do this week

    If you have nothing in place yet, start small:

    • Send your team a three-line note: no personal data in unapproved tools, verify every fact, a human approves anything public.
    • Book 20 minutes to ask what tools people are using.
    • Draft the one-page guide using the checklist above.
    • Add AI review to your existing approval process, so nothing new needs to be invented.

    Those four steps cover most of the real risk. Everything else is refinement.

    If your team already uses brand templates, put the AI guide right next to them. Guardrails work best when they live where the work happens, a lesson I’ve learned building Canva brand templates for teams who aren’t designers.

    Key takeaways

    • AI is already in your team’s workflow, so the real question is who sets the rules.
    • Protect data, verify facts and keep a named human in charge of anything public.
    • Never use generated images or words to stand in for real people.
    • A one-page guide people read beats a long policy nobody opens.
    • Use AI where it saves time on routine work, and keep strategy and sensitive stories human.

    FAQ

    What does responsible AI in marketing mean?

    Responsible AI in marketing means using AI tools in ways that protect people’s data, keep content accurate, stay honest about what’s real and keep humans accountable for what gets published. It’s a set of team guardrails, not a single tool or setting.

    Do small marketing teams need an AI policy?

    Yes, but it can be one page. Small teams often carry the most risk because one person handles sensitive data, public content and approvals at once. A short written guide gives that person clear rules and protects the organization.

    Should marketers disclose when they use AI?

    Decide on a clear internal rule and apply it consistently. A sensible baseline is to disclose when AI substantially created an image, a voice or words presented as a real person’s, and to never publish AI-written quotes as if someone said them.

    Curious how I approach marketing, analytics and AI together? You can read more about my background.

    / Work with Brittany

    Want AI to save your team time without costing you trust?

    Hiring a marketing leader or need a hands-on partner for a project? See how we can work together or send me a note.

  • How to Design a Stakeholder Survey That Produces Decisions, Not Just Data

    Most surveys die in a slide deck. Someone spends three weeks writing questions, the team chases responses for another month, and the results get presented once to polite nods. Then nothing changes. If you want to know how to design a stakeholder survey that actually moves a decision, the work starts long before you write question one.

    I design and analyze stakeholder surveys in my nonprofit communications work, and I’ve watched plenty of others come and go over 10 years in marketing. The pattern is consistent. The surveys that changed something were built backward from a decision. The ones that didn’t were built forward from curiosity.

    Curiosity is nice. Decisions are the job.

    Start with the decision, not the questions

    Before you open a survey tool, write one sentence: “We are running this survey so we can decide ______ by ______.”

    If you can’t fill in both blanks, you are not ready to survey anyone. You’re ready to have a meeting about what you need to decide.

    Good examples sound like this:

    • We need to decide which two of our five programs to feature in the spring campaign, by March 1.
    • We need to decide whether donors want a printed annual report or a shorter digital one, before we sign the print contract.
    • We need to decide what our staff need most from the new CRM, so we can set training priorities for the first 90 days.

    Notice what those have in common. A real choice, a real deadline and a real owner. Every question you write later should earn its place by helping make that choice.

    Name who will act on it

    Write down the person or group who will make the call. A survey with no decision owner turns into a report with no reader. If the executive director is the one deciding, get ten minutes with them before you draft anything and ask, “What would you need to see to choose A over B?” Their answer is your outline.

    How to design a stakeholder survey, step by step

    Here’s the sequence I use. It’s not fancy. It works because it forces discipline at the points where most surveys get sloppy.

    1. Write the decision statement. One sentence, as above.
    2. List the unknowns. What do you not know that is blocking the decision? Usually three to six things.
    3. Map each unknown to one or two questions. If a question doesn’t map to an unknown, cut it.
    4. Pick the audience segments that matter. Staff, board, donors, clients, partners, volunteers. Decide in advance which groups you’ll compare.
    5. Draft, then cut by a third. Your first draft is always too long. Everyone’s is.
    6. Pilot with five real people. Watch them take it if you can. Where they pause is where your wording is unclear.
    7. Plan the analysis before you launch. Sketch the chart or table you expect to show for each question. If you can’t picture it, the question is probably vague.

    Step seven is the one people skip, and it’s the one that saves you. When you sketch the output first, you catch questions that would produce data you can’t use.

    Write questions that people can actually answer

    Bad questions are the most common reason survey data is mush. A few rules I hold myself to:

    One idea per question

    “How satisfied are you with our communication and events?” is two questions pretending to be one. If someone loves your newsletter and skips every event, what are they supposed to click? Split it.

    Ask about behavior before opinion

    People are better at reporting what they did than predicting what they’d do. “In the last three months, how often did you open our email newsletter?” is more reliable than “Would you read a monthly newsletter?” Opinion questions still have a place. Just anchor them to real experience when you can.

    Keep scales consistent

    Pick one scale and stick with it across the survey. If question four uses 1 to 5 where 5 is good and question nine uses 1 to 10 where 1 is good, you’ll get errors and you won’t know where they came from.

    Use open-ended questions sparingly, and on purpose

    One or two open-ended questions are gold. Ten of them is a homework assignment. My favorite is simple: “If you could change one thing about how we work with you, what would it be?” It’s specific enough to answer and open enough to surprise you.

    Watch for loaded wording

    “How much do you value our life-changing programs?” isn’t a question. It’s a press release with a slider. Neutral wording feels less flattering to write. That’s the point.

    Get the right people to respond

    A survey is only as good as who answers it. A few practical moves:

    • Send it from a person, not a department. A note from the executive director or a program lead tends to get more attention than a generic “info@” message.
    • Tell people why it matters and how long it takes. “This takes about six minutes and will shape how we plan next year’s events” is honest and specific.
    • Close the loop in advance. Promise that you’ll share what you learned and what you’re changing. Then do it.
    • Watch your segments as responses come in. If board members have all responded and clients haven’t, adjust your outreach before you close the survey, not after.
    • Make it accessible. Mobile-friendly, plain language, and offered in the languages your stakeholders actually use.

    For client or community surveys in nonprofit settings, think hard about trust. People who rely on your services may worry that an honest answer will affect their support. Say clearly that responses are confidential and will not change anyone’s eligibility, and make sure that’s true.

    Turn results into a decision memo, not a data dump

    This is where most of the value lives, and where most of it gets lost.

    When the survey closes, resist the urge to chart every question. Go back to your decision statement. Your report should answer it on page one.

    I use a simple structure that I’ve also written about for reporting marketing metrics to a board of directors:

    1. The decision we needed to make. One sentence.
    2. What we learned. Three findings, maximum, in plain language.
    3. What we recommend. A clear choice, with the trade-off stated.
    4. What we’ll do next and when. Owners and dates.
    5. Appendix. Every chart, for the people who want it.

    Leaders don’t need forty charts. They need the three that matter and the confidence that you looked at the other thirty-seven.

    Segment before you summarize

    Overall averages hide the story. If staff rate internal communication at 3.8 and frontline staff alone rate it at 2.6, the overall number is comforting and wrong. Always cut results by the segments you chose in step four before you write a single finding.

    Pair numbers with voices

    A short quote from an open-ended response, shared with permission and without identifying details, often lands harder than a bar chart. Use one or two per finding. Not ten.

    Mistakes that sink survey results (I have made a few)

    • Surveying because it’s that time of year, not because there’s a decision.
    • Asking questions you already know the answer to, so the survey feels thorough.
    • Letting every department add “just one question” until it takes twenty minutes.
    • Changing the questions every year, so you can never compare trends.
    • Never telling respondents what happened, then wondering why next year’s response rate drops.

    That last one matters more than people think. Each survey trains your stakeholders on whether surveys are worth their time. If you close the loop, you build a group of people who answer honestly. If you don’t, you teach them to ignore you.

    If your survey data lives in a CRM, plan for that from the start. Survey answers get far more useful when they sit next to the rest of the relationship record. Having helped shape a Salesforce CRM rollout, I’d put that on the requirements list early. I share more of that thinking in my post on CRM implementation best practices.

    Key takeaways

    • Write a one-sentence decision statement before you write a single question.
    • Every question should map to an unknown that blocks the decision.
    • Sketch your charts before you launch, so you only collect data you can use.
    • Report the decision on page one, with three findings and a clear recommendation.
    • Close the loop with respondents every time, so they answer honestly next time.

    FAQ

    How many questions should a stakeholder survey have?

    Most stakeholder surveys work best with 10 to 15 questions and a completion time under eight minutes. If you need more, you likely have more than one decision and should consider separate, shorter surveys for each audience.

    What is the difference between a stakeholder survey and a satisfaction survey?

    A satisfaction survey measures how people feel about an experience. A stakeholder survey is built to inform a specific decision, so it asks about priorities, behaviors and trade-offs from the groups who are affected by that choice.

    How often should an organization survey its stakeholders?

    Survey each major group once or twice a year, plus targeted pulse surveys when a specific decision comes up. Keep a few core questions the same every time, so you can track trends from year to year.

    If you want to see how this kind of thinking shows up across my projects, take a look at my recent work.

    / Work with Brittany

    Have a survey coming up that needs to change something, not just fill a slide?

    Hiring a marketing leader or need a hands-on partner for a project? See how we can work together or send me a note.

  • How to Rebrand an Organization Without Losing Your Audience

    Most rebrands don’t fail in the design review. They fail three months later, when a longtime donor can’t find the website, a partner keeps using the old logo and the front desk is still answering the phone with the old name. The new look is beautiful. The audience is confused. If you’re figuring out how to rebrand an organization, the logo is the smallest part of the job. The real work is moving people with you.

    At Tri-County Action Program (Tri-CAP), I stepped into a rebrand midway, finished the transition and built out the brand materials. What made it work wasn’t a prettier logo. It was a plan that treated the people who already knew us as the most important audience in the room.

    First, decide whether you need a rebrand at all

    A rebrand is expensive in money, time and attention. Before you commit, be honest about which problem you’re solving. In my experience, there are three levels, and they’re not the same project:

    • Refresh: The brand is fundamentally right but looks dated. Update the type, colors, photography style and templates. Keep the name and the core mark.
    • Realignment: The organization has changed what it does or who it serves, and the messaging no longer fits. The visuals may change, but the bigger shift is in positioning and story.
    • Full rebrand: New name, new identity, new positioning. Usually triggered by a merger, a major strategic pivot or a name that actively works against you.

    Plenty of leaders ask for a full rebrand when a refresh would do. Others ask for a refresh when the real issue is that nobody can explain what the organization does. A one-week brand audit will tell you which one you’re dealing with before you spend a dollar on design.

    How to rebrand an organization: the five phases

    Here’s the sequence I use. The phases overlap a little, but the order matters.

    Phase 1: Listen before you draw

    Talk to the people who know you best: staff, board members, clients, donors, partners and volunteers. Ask what they think you do, what they’d lose if you disappeared and what words they use to describe you. Write those words down exactly. Your audience’s language is usually better copy than anything a committee will produce.

    Phase 2: Lock the strategy, then the visuals

    Agree on positioning, audiences and key messages before anyone opens a design file. If leadership hasn’t signed off on what you stand for, every logo review turns into a debate about strategy wearing a color-palette costume.

    Phase 3: Design with real use cases

    Test new identity concepts on the things people will actually see: a social post, a flyer taped to a community board, an email header, a vehicle, a name badge, the website on a phone. A mark that looks great on a presentation slide and falls apart at favicon size isn’t finished.

    Phase 4: Build the toolkit before launch day

    Launch day is too late to start making templates. Before you go public, have these ready:

    • Logo files in every format and color variation, organized in one shared library.
    • A short brand guide people will read (aim for 10 pages, not 80).
    • Templates for the most-used items: letterhead, slides, social graphics, flyers, email signatures.
    • A messaging sheet with your new boilerplate, tagline and a few approved descriptions.

    Phase 5: Launch, then keep launching

    Launch is a season, not a day. Plan for the first 90 days, because that’s when confusion peaks and habits form.

    Bring your audience along: the communications plan

    This is where most rebrands lose people, and it’s where a strategic communications mindset earns its keep. (If you want the longer argument, I wrote about why leaders need both strategic communications and marketing.)

    Tell people in the right order

    1. Staff and board first. Nobody should learn about their own organization’s new name from social media. Give them the why, the timeline and talking points.
    2. Key partners and major supporters next. A personal email or call before the public launch shows respect and turns them into messengers.
    3. Clients and the community. Plain language, practical details and what isn’t changing.
    4. The public and media. The announcement, the story and the new look.

    Lead with what stays the same

    People resist change when they’re afraid of losing something. Say clearly what’s staying: the services, the people, the phone number, the mission. Then explain what’s new and why it helps them. “Same people, same services, a name that finally says what we do” lands better than a page about design philosophy.

    Use the bridge period

    For a name change, use a transition lockup for a few months, such as “New Name (formerly Old Name).” It feels clunky. It works. Retire it once you see people using the new name without prompting.

    Don’t break the website on the way out

    A website redesign is often part of a rebrand, and it’s where you can quietly lose years of search visibility. If URLs change, every old page needs a permanent redirect to its closest new equivalent, not a blanket redirect to the home page. Google’s guidance on moving a site with URL changes is the best checklist I know of, and it’s worth giving to whoever builds your new site.

    My pre-launch web checklist:

    • Map every high-traffic old URL to a new one before launch.
    • Update your name, logo and contact details in your Google Business Profile and other directory listings.
    • Update social profile names, handles (if changing), bios and profile images on the same day.
    • Search your own site for the old name and fix every instance.
    • Set up analytics annotations so you can measure before and after cleanly.

    Measure whether people came with you

    Decide what success means before launch, not after. The metrics I watch in the first 90 days:

    • Search behavior: are people searching the new name, and does the old name still bring them to you?
    • Web traffic and engagement: sessions, returning visitors, key page views and conversions compared with the same period before launch.
    • Direct feedback: what are front-line staff hearing on the phone and at the door?
    • Adoption: are staff and partners using the new templates, or is the old logo still floating around?

    That last one is my favorite early warning sign. If the old logo keeps showing up, the toolkit isn’t easy enough to use. Fix the tools before you blame the people.

    Key takeaways

    • Decide whether you need a refresh, a realignment or a full rebrand before you start.
    • Lock strategy and messaging before visual design.
    • Build templates and a short brand guide before launch day.
    • Tell staff and board first, then partners, then the public, and lead with what’s staying the same.
    • Protect your website with page-level redirects, and measure adoption for at least 90 days.

    FAQ

    How long does it take to rebrand an organization?

    For most small and midsize organizations, plan on four to nine months from discovery to launch, plus a 90-day transition period. A visual refresh can move faster. A full name change usually takes longer because of legal, signage and partner updates.

    How do you announce a rebrand without confusing people?

    Tell internal audiences first, then key partners, then the public. Lead with what isn’t changing, explain why the change helps your audience and use a “formerly known as” bridge for a few months after a name change.

    Will a rebrand hurt our SEO?

    It can if URLs change without redirects. Map each old page to its closest new page with a permanent redirect, update your business listings and keep the old name on your site in context for a while so searchers can still find you.

    Curious what a rebrand like this looks like in practice? See my recent work.

    / Work with Brittany

    Planning a rebrand and want your audience to come along for the ride?

    Hiring a marketing leader or need a hands-on partner for a project? See how we can work together or send me a note.

  • The Ethical Storytelling Nonprofit Clients Deserve: Consent and Dignity

    Imagine a client agrees to share her story for the annual appeal. She’s grateful, she wants to help and she says yes in the hallway right after a hard appointment. Six months later, her photo is on a mailer in her neighbor’s mailbox, and she isn’t sure she ever really agreed to that.

    That scenario is why I stay careful. Stories are among the most powerful things a nonprofit has, and the people in them are often at a vulnerable point in their lives. The kind of ethical storytelling nonprofit teams can stand behind starts with one belief: the person in the story matters more than the campaign. I produce campaign photo and video work at Catholic Charities of the Diocese of St. Cloud, and telling client stories with care is the part of the job I take most seriously.

    Why consent is more than a signature

    A signed release protects the organization. It doesn’t automatically protect the person. Real consent is informed, freely given, specific and ongoing.

    • Informed: They understand exactly where the story will appear, who will see it and for how long.
    • Freely given: They don’t feel that saying no could affect their services, their relationship with staff or how they’re treated.
    • Specific: Agreeing to a quote in a newsletter isn’t agreeing to a face on a billboard.
    • Ongoing: They can change their mind, and you have a real process to honor that.

    Power dynamics matter here. When someone relies on your organization for food, housing, counseling or other help, a request from staff can feel like an obligation. Build your process assuming that pressure exists, even when nobody intends it.

    Take extra care with children, people in crisis and anyone whose safety could be at risk if they’re identified, such as survivors of abuse. Get guardian consent for minors, and think about whether a story could follow a child into adulthood. Sometimes the most ethical choice is to tell the story without a face, without a name or not at all. That’s not a lost opportunity. It’s the job done right.

    The ethical storytelling nonprofit checklist

    Here’s the process I’d recommend, from the first conversation to the final archive.

    Before the interview or shoot

    1. Have someone the person trusts make the first ask, and make clear that saying no changes nothing about their services.
    2. Explain the use in plain language. Show examples of past stories if you can.
    3. Offer options. First name only, a different name, no face, voice only, hands or silhouette, or a written story with no photo at all.
    4. Use a consent form written for humans, in the person’s preferred language, with a checkbox for each channel and a clear time limit.
    5. Avoid moments of crisis. Don’t ask for consent in the middle of a hard day. Come back later.

    During the interview or shoot

    • Let the person tell their story in their own words. Ask open questions, and don’t steer them toward the most dramatic version.
    • Tell them they can skip any question or stop at any time, and mean it.
    • Photograph people with dignity: eye level, natural light and moments of strength and agency, not just need.
    • Leave out identifying details they haven’t agreed to share, such as street signs, house numbers, school logos and children’s faces.

    Before publishing

    • Share the final story, quote or video with the person when it’s safe and practical, and invite changes.
    • Check for language that defines people by their hardest moment. “A mother of two who is rebuilding after losing her job” says more than “a homeless mother.”
    • Confirm the final placement matches what they agreed to.

    After publishing

    • Track consent status in your image library. Every photo of a person should have a record of what was agreed and when it expires.
    • Set a review date, and retire stories that have run their course.
    • Make it easy for someone to ask you to remove their story, and act on it quickly.

    Dignity in the craft: photo and video choices

    Ethics isn’t only paperwork. It shows up in every creative choice you make behind the camera and in the edit.

    A few principles I bring to photo and video work:

    • Show agency, not just need. People are more than the problem your program solves.
    • Skip the guilt tropes. Dark, sad imagery may grab attention, but it often reinforces stereotypes and treats people as props.
    • Let people be specific. Real details, told in their own voice, beat a generic composite every time.
    • Edit honestly. Don’t splice quotes in ways that change their meaning, and don’t use music that makes a story more tragic than the person told it.
    • Think about who sees it. A story that feels fine in a donor newsletter may land very differently on a public social feed where the person’s neighbors, coworkers or family will see it.

    If you want a deeper framework, the Dóchas Guide to Ethical Communications is an excellent resource written for NGOs. It covers values, power dynamics, authentic representation and informed consent.

    Build the system behind the stories

    Good intentions break down without a system, especially on small teams. Make these part of your standard process:

    • A standard, plain-language consent form with channel-specific options
    • A consent field or tag on every image and video file
    • A shared library where consent records live next to the assets
    • A short decision guide for staff on when a story needs extra review
    • A named person who handles removal requests

    Organizing an image repository in my current role reinforced how much this matters. When consent lives in someone’s email inbox, it’s only a matter of time before the wrong photo ends up in the wrong place.

    Client stories are also a strategic communications issue, not just a marketing one. They affect reputation, trust and the organization’s relationship with the community it serves. That’s why I treat them as part of the bigger strategic communications vs. marketing picture. You can see how I approach visual storytelling on my photo and video work page.

    Key takeaways

    • Real consent is informed, freely given, specific and ongoing. A signature alone isn’t enough.
    • Account for power dynamics, and make saying no truly safe.
    • Offer privacy options, and let people tell their stories in their own words.
    • Show people with dignity and agency, not just need.
    • Track consent next to every asset, and make removal requests easy.

    Frequently asked questions

    What is ethical storytelling for nonprofits?

    Ethical storytelling is the practice of sharing the stories of clients and community members with informed consent, accuracy and dignity. It puts the well-being and wishes of the person in the story ahead of campaign goals.

    How do you get consent for a nonprofit client story?

    Explain in plain language where the story will be used and for how long, offer privacy options, use a clear consent form with channel-specific choices and confirm that saying no won’t affect services. Let people withdraw consent later.

    Can nonprofits use client photos without names?

    Yes, if the person agrees. Many organizations offer first-name-only, changed names or images that don’t show faces. Consent should still be recorded, because a face can identify someone even without a name.

    / Work with Brittany

    Have stories worth telling and want to tell them with care?

    Hiring a marketing leader or need a hands-on partner for a project? See how we can work together or send me a note.

  • Marketing Metrics for Board of Directors Meetings: What Boards Actually Care About

    Picture the board packet. Forty pages of financials, program reports and committee minutes, and somewhere in the middle, a marketing slide with follower counts, website sessions and an email open rate. Board members glance at it, nod and move on. Nobody asks a question. That’s the problem.

    When marketing metrics for board of directors meetings are built around activity instead of outcomes, the board can’t use them. And when the board can’t use them, marketing starts to look like overhead. I’ve advised an executive team and a Board directly, and what I learned is simple: boards don’t need more data from marketing. They need the right data, framed around the decisions they’re responsible for.

    What boards are actually responsible for

    Start here, because it shapes everything else. A board’s job is governance: mission, strategy, financial health, risk and leadership oversight. They are not there to manage your Instagram.

    So every metric you bring them should help answer at least one of these questions:

    • Are we advancing the mission?
    • Are we financially sustainable?
    • Is our reputation healthy, and are we managing risk?
    • Is the strategy working, or do we need to change course?

    If a metric doesn’t help answer one of those, it belongs in your team dashboard, not the board report.

    This also changes how you talk about marketing. You’re not reporting on what the team did. You’re reporting on what the organization gained, what it risked and what it should decide next. That framing alone can change how a board sees the marketing budget.

    The marketing metrics for board of directors that matter

    Here’s the short list I’d build from. You won’t need all of them. Pick the five to seven that map to your strategic plan.

    Mission and growth

    • Program inquiries or enrollments tied to marketing. How many people sought services, applied or signed up, and where they came from.
    • New donors, members or customers, compared with the same period last year.
    • Volunteer recruitment. Sign-ups, and how many actually showed up.

    Financial health

    • Revenue influenced by marketing. Online donations, event revenue, campaign totals or sales tied to specific campaigns.
    • Cost per acquisition. What it costs to gain a new donor, client or customer through marketing channels.
    • Retention. Donor retention, membership renewals or repeat customers. Boards understand instinctively that keeping people matters as much as finding new ones.

    Reputation and risk

    • Stakeholder sentiment. Survey results from clients, donors, partners or staff. I design and analyze stakeholder surveys in my current role, and a few well-chosen questions asked consistently can tell a board more than a pile of social stats.
    • Media coverage and tone. Not just how many stories ran, but whether they were positive, neutral or negative.
    • Issues and response time. Any reputational issues that came up and how quickly they were handled.

    Strategic health

    • Audience growth in priority segments. Not total followers. Growth among the specific people your strategy targets.
    • Reach on owned channels. Website traffic and email list growth, framed as assets the organization controls instead of renting from a platform.

    Metrics to keep out of the board report

    These aren’t useless. They’re just not board-level. Keep them in your team dashboard:

    • Likes, impressions and follower counts on their own
    • Email open rates without context
    • Posting frequency
    • Page views with no link to an outcome
    • Anything you have to explain for more than 30 seconds

    Vanity metrics aren’t evil. They’re early signals, and your team should watch them. But a board that keeps seeing “impressions are up” with no connection to mission or money learns to tune marketing out.

    How to present marketing metrics to a board

    The format matters as much as the numbers. Here’s the structure I recommend:

    1. Lead with one sentence. “Marketing is on track to meet our volunteer goal and behind on monthly donors.” Board members should know the headline before they see a chart.
    2. Show five to seven metrics, max, on one page. Use the same metrics every time so the board can see trends.
    3. Always show a comparison. Against goal, against last year or against last quarter. A number without context is trivia.
    4. Add one story. One client, donor or volunteer story, shared with consent, that shows what the numbers mean in a real life.
    5. Name the risk or decision. “We need to decide whether to fund a second campaign this spring” gives the board something to govern.
    6. Put the details in an appendix. Let curious board members dig in without making everyone else wade through it.

    Tools help, but they’re secondary. I build reports in Power BI and pull from Google Analytics, Search Console and CRM data. A clean one-page summary in a slide or document works fine if the thinking is clear. A gorgeous dashboard with muddy thinking doesn’t.

    Connect every metric to the strategic plan

    The most useful thing you can do is tie each board metric to a goal in the strategic plan. When I was Director of Communications, Technology and Data at Tri-County Action Program, I built a five-year technology plan that identified $350K in savings. It landed with leadership because it spoke the board’s language: cost, risk, sustainability and mission.

    Marketing works the same way. When the social, newsletter and website work I led there grew engagement across every channel, the point wasn’t the numbers. It was what more reach meant: more people finding services and more supporters finding ways to help.

    A few habits keep that connection tight:

    • Write the strategic goal next to each metric in the report.
    • Retire metrics when the strategy changes. Don’t keep reporting a number just because you always have.
    • Ask the board chair or a committee member once a year whether the report helps them make decisions. Then listen.

    If you’re a communications leader, this is where strategic communications earns its seat at the table. I wrote about that distinction in strategic communications vs. marketing. And if you’re the only marketer in the building, a lighter monthly version of this report is one of the best ways to show your value, a point I made in the one-person marketing department playbook.

    Key takeaways

    • Boards govern mission, money, reputation and strategy. Build your metrics around those.
    • Choose five to seven metrics that map to the strategic plan, and keep them consistent.
    • Keep vanity metrics in your team dashboard, not the board packet.
    • Lead with a headline, show comparisons, add one story and name a decision.
    • Frame results in the board’s language: outcomes, cost, risk and sustainability.

    Frequently asked questions

    What marketing metrics should be reported to a board of directors?

    Report metrics tied to mission, finances, reputation and strategy, such as new donors or clients, revenue influenced by marketing, cost per acquisition, retention, stakeholder sentiment and growth in priority audiences.

    How often should marketing report to the board?

    Most boards benefit from a short marketing summary at each regular meeting, often quarterly, using the same metrics every time so trends are easy to spot. A deeper annual review can tie results back to the strategic plan.

    Should social media metrics be included in board reports?

    Only when they connect to an outcome the board cares about, such as growth in a priority audience or traffic that led to donations or sign-ups. Standalone likes and follower counts belong in a team dashboard.

    / Work with Brittany

    Want marketing reports your leadership and board will actually use?

    Hiring a marketing leader or need a hands-on partner for a project? See how we can work together or send me a note.

  • Strategic Communications vs. Marketing: Why Leaders Need Both

    Here’s a pattern I’ve seen in more than one organization. A crisis hits, or a big change is coming, and leadership turns to the marketing team and asks, “Can you put out a post?” The rest of the year, those same leaders treat marketing as the people who make flyers.

    That gap is the strategic communications vs. marketing question in a nutshell. Most organizations blur the two, then wonder why their messaging feels reactive and their campaigns feel disconnected from the mission. They’re related. They’re not the same. And leaders need both, on purpose.

    I’ve worn both hats, sometimes in the same week. Here’s how I separate them, and why the separation matters.

    Strategic communications vs. marketing: the short version

    Marketing is about driving action from a defined audience: buy, donate, register, enroll, volunteer or apply. It’s measured by response and conversion.

    Strategic communications is about building and protecting understanding, trust and reputation across all of an organization’s stakeholders: staff, board, funders, partners, media, regulators and the community. It’s measured by alignment, reputation and how well the organization holds up under pressure.

    A simple way to hold the difference:

    • Marketing asks: “How do we get this audience to take this action?”
    • Strategic communications asks: “What do all of our stakeholders need to understand and believe about us, and how do we keep that true over time?”

    Marketing sells the program. Strategic communications makes sure the organization behind it is credible enough to sell.

    Where they overlap (and where they collide)

    They share a lot of tools: writing, design, social media, video and the website. That’s why they get lumped together, and why the same person often produces both.

    The collisions happen when the goals compete. A few examples:

    • Marketing wants a bold, urgent campaign. Communications knows a sensitive partner conversation is underway and the wrong tone could cause damage.
    • Communications wants a careful, measured statement on a hard issue. Marketing knows the audience will scroll right past it.
    • Marketing wants to feature a client’s story to boost a fundraising push. Communications is weighing that person’s privacy and dignity.

    None of those are wrong instincts. They just need someone with the authority and context to weigh them. When nobody owns that call, the loudest deadline wins.

    Who should make the call

    In most organizations, the tie-breaker should be whoever is accountable for reputation, usually the communications lead working directly with the executive director or CEO. That doesn’t mean communications always wins. It means the person deciding can see the whole picture, not just this week’s campaign.

    A quick gut check I use before anything sensitive goes out:

    • Would we be comfortable if a funder, a client and a reporter all saw this on the same day?
    • Does it match what we’ve already told staff and the board?
    • If it’s misread, do we have a plan for the follow-up?
    • Is the person or community being featured better off, or just more visible?

    If any answer feels shaky, slow down. A campaign can usually wait a day. Trust takes much longer to rebuild.

    Why leaders need both

    Marketing without strategic communications

    You get activity without alignment. Campaigns perform, but the story drifts. Staff hear about new initiatives on social media first. A press inquiry lands and nobody knows who answers it. The brand looks polished on the outside and feels confusing on the inside.

    Strategic communications without marketing

    You get alignment without growth. Everyone understands the mission, the board is well informed and the statements are careful. But nobody new hears about you. Enrollment, donations or sales stay flat because nobody is asking audiences to act.

    Both, working together

    You get a clear story that holds up under pressure, and campaigns that move people because they’re built on that story. That’s the goal.

    When I was Director of Communications, Technology and Data at Tri-County Action Program, a big part of the job was advising the executive team and the Board. That’s strategic communications: deciding what stakeholders needed to understand, in what order and from whom. I finished a rebrand already underway there, and the social, newsletter and website work I led grew engagement across every channel. That was the marketing side doing its job on top of a clearer story.

    Today, as Marketing Specialist at Catholic Charities of the Diocese of St. Cloud, I spend real time on work that never shows up in a campaign report: stakeholder surveys, CRM planning, how client stories are told and how internal teams talk about the work. Those choices shape what the marketing can credibly say.

    How to set up both on a small team

    You don’t need two departments. You need two clear jobs, even if one person holds both. Here’s how I’d set it up:

    1. Write down the core narrative. Three to five sentences on who you are, why you matter and what’s changing. Both disciplines draw from it. If you’ve never pressure-tested yours, a one-week brand audit is a good place to start.
    2. Map stakeholders, not just audiences. Customers and donors are audiences. Staff, board, funders, partners and the community are stakeholders. List what each group needs to know and who tells them.
    3. Give communications a seat with leadership. The person responsible for reputation needs to hear about decisions before they’re announced, not after.
    4. Set a simple escalation rule. Decide in advance which topics get communications review before anything goes out. Safety, finances, legal matters, partnerships and clients’ personal stories are a good starting list.
    5. Measure each one honestly. Track conversions and reach for marketing. Track internal understanding, stakeholder feedback, media tone and issue response time for communications.
    6. Plan on one calendar. Campaign launches and major announcements should live in the same place, so neither side surprises the other.

    How to tell which one you need right now

    If you’re a leader deciding where to invest next, ask yourself:

    • Are our campaigns performing, but our staff and board are confused? Invest in strategic communications.
    • Is our story clear, but our growth is flat? Invest in marketing.
    • Are we weak at both? Start with communications. A clear story makes every marketing dollar work harder.

    Then look for someone who can do both and knows the difference. That person is rarer than they should be. You can read more about my background in strategic communications and marketing on the About page.

    Key takeaways

    • Marketing drives action from defined audiences. Strategic communications builds understanding and trust across all stakeholders.
    • They share tools but have different goals, and those goals sometimes collide.
    • Someone with authority and context needs to own the tradeoffs.
    • Small teams can run both with a core narrative, a stakeholder map, an escalation rule and a shared calendar.
    • If you’re weak at both, start with communications.

    Frequently asked questions

    What is the difference between strategic communications and marketing?

    Marketing focuses on persuading specific audiences to take an action, such as buying, donating or enrolling. Strategic communications focuses on building understanding, trust and reputation with all stakeholders, including staff, board, partners, media and the community.

    Can one person handle strategic communications and marketing?

    Yes. On many small teams, one person does both. It works best when that person has access to leadership decisions, a written core narrative and clear rules about which topics need extra review before anything goes public.

    Which should an organization invest in first?

    If the organization’s story is unclear or inconsistent, invest in strategic communications first. A clear, credible narrative makes marketing campaigns more effective and less risky.

    / Work with Brittany

    Need someone who can protect your reputation and still grow your audience?

    Hiring a marketing leader or need a hands-on partner for a project? See how we can work together or send me a note.

  • The T-Shaped Marketer: Why Breadth Plus Depth Wins

    Most marketing job descriptions I read are really three jobs stapled together. Brand, social, video, web, analytics and maybe “some CRM work.” Hiring managers know it’s a lot. They post it anyway, because that’s the work.

    The people who thrive in those roles aren’t generalists who dabble, and they aren’t specialists who refuse to touch anything outside their lane. They’re t-shaped marketers: broad enough to do the work across channels, deep enough in one or two areas to set direction. After 10+ years in marketing, I’m convinced the t-shaped marketer is the most useful person on a modern team, especially a small one.

    Here’s what that shape looks like, why it works, and how to build it or hire for it.

    What a t-shaped marketer actually is

    Picture the letter T. The horizontal bar is breadth: the range of skills you can pick up and use competently. The vertical bar is depth: the one or two disciplines where you’re the person others come to for judgment, not just execution.

    The idea isn’t new. Versions of it have floated around management and design circles for decades. But marketing has changed enough that it deserves a fresh look.

    A few distinctions matter:

    • Breadth is not dabbling. You should be able to ship real work across the bar, not just talk about it. If video is on your resume, you should be able to plan a shoot and cut a usable piece.
    • Depth is not a job title. It’s where your judgment is trusted when the stakes are high and the answer isn’t obvious.
    • The bars connect. The value lives in the overlap. A strategist who understands how a video gets made writes better briefs. An analyst who has built a website asks better questions about traffic.

    Why breadth matters on small teams

    On a small team, nobody hands you a tidy lane. Monday is a board report. Tuesday is a broken donation form. Wednesday is a photo shoot. Thursday someone needs a flyer by noon, and Friday you’re explaining to leadership why the newsletter open rate dipped.

    Breadth is what keeps that week from falling apart. Three practical reasons:

    1. Fewer handoffs. Every handoff is a chance for the idea to get diluted, delayed or lost. When one person can write the copy, design the graphic and schedule the post, the work stays coherent.
    2. Better briefs when you do outsource. You don’t have to be the best videographer in the state to hire one well. But you do need to know what a shot list is, how long editing really takes and what “make it pop” will cost you.
    3. Fewer vendor surprises. If you understand how a website is built, nobody can tell you a simple change requires a six-week project without you raising an eyebrow.

    I learned this early. My web design and development background means I don’t just use tools like WordPress, HTML and Figma. I can build with them. That changes the conversation with developers, agencies and IT teams. I’m not asking for magic. I’m asking for specific things.

    Why depth keeps breadth from turning into chaos

    Here’s the hard truth about pure generalists: they get busy, not better. Without a deep core, a broad marketer ends up as the department’s order-taker. Lots of output. Very little direction.

    Depth is what gives breadth a point of view. It’s the part of the T that asks “Should we do this at all?” before anyone asks “How fast can we do this?”

    Depth shows up in moments like these:

    • Leadership wants to post a reaction to a news story, and you know whether that helps or hurts the organization’s reputation.
    • The dashboard says traffic is up, and you know whether that traffic actually matters.
    • Someone wants AI to write every social post, and you know where it saves time and where it creates risk.

    Breadth gets the work done. Depth makes sure it’s the right work.

    My T, as a working example

    I’ll use myself here, because it’s the example I know best and it shows how the shape plays out in real jobs.

    The horizontal bar

    Content creation, branding, design, digital assets, social media, photography, videography, web and marketing technology. I’ve used all of these across nonprofit, agency and corporate roles. At Buyers Edge Platform, that breadth let me launch a corporate videography service line that brought in more than $60K in its first year, and lead a company-wide digital asset management rollout. Neither was purely a “video person” project or a “systems person” project. They were both.

    The vertical bar

    Strategic communications, analytics and AI. This is where I set direction. At Tri-County Action Program, I advised the executive team and the Board, built a five-year technology plan that identified $350K in savings, led a six-month transition to outsourced IT and finished a rebrand already underway. That’s depth doing its job: deciding what matters, then using breadth to deliver it.

    AI sits in my vertical bar, but I treat it as one tool among many. It’s useful when you know what good looks like. It’s risky when you don’t. That’s exactly why depth matters.

    If you want the longer version, my background and experience are on the About page.

    How to build (or hire) a t-shaped marketer

    If you’re building your own T

    You don’t build a T by collecting certifications at random. You build it on purpose. Here’s what I’d recommend to any marketer five or ten years in:

    1. Map your current shape honestly. List every skill you use. Mark each one “I can teach this,” “I can ship this” or “I can talk about this.” Only the first two count.
    2. Pick your vertical bar. Choose one or two disciplines where you want leaders to trust your judgment. Pick based on what you love and what organizations struggle to find, not what’s trendy this quarter.
    3. Fill the gaps that slow you down. Look at your last six months. Where did you wait on someone else, or ship something weaker because you didn’t know the craft? That’s your next horizontal skill.
    4. Build, don’t just use. Make a landing page. Set up a dashboard. Edit a short video start to finish. Building teaches you where the real constraints are.
    5. Back your depth with formal learning where it counts. I’m working toward a B.A. in Integrated Studies at St. Cloud State University (online, expected spring 2028), focused on strategic communications, business economics and marketing, because I wanted my vertical bar backed by more than experience.
    6. Show the connections. In interviews and reviews, don’t just list skills. Explain how one made you better at another.

    If you’re hiring one

    A resume full of tool names won’t tell you much. Ask questions that reveal both bars:

    • “Walk me through a project where you did the strategy and the execution. What would have gone differently if you’d only owned one of those?”
    • “What’s something you can build yourself that most marketers have to outsource?”
    • “Where do people come to you for a judgment call, not a deliverable?”
    • “Tell me about a time you told leadership not to do something. What happened?”

    Look for people who can show you the work, explain the reasoning and admit what they’d hand off. A good t-shaped marketer knows where their bar ends. You can see how that looks in practice in my portfolio of marketing work.

    Key takeaways

    • A t-shaped marketer pairs real breadth across channels with deep expertise in one or two areas.
    • Breadth cuts handoffs, improves briefs and protects you from vendor surprises.
    • Depth gives the work direction, so a broad marketer doesn’t become an order-taker.
    • Build your T on purpose: map it, pick your depth, fill the gaps that slow you down and build things.
    • When hiring, ask for judgment calls, not just tool lists.

    Frequently asked questions

    What is a t-shaped marketer?

    A t-shaped marketer has working skills across many marketing disciplines, such as content, design, social, video and web, plus deep expertise in one or two areas, such as strategy or analytics. The breadth handles execution. The depth sets direction.

    Is it better to be a specialist or a generalist in marketing?

    For most small and mid-sized teams, neither extreme is ideal. Specialists can struggle when the job spans many channels, and pure generalists can lack the judgment to set direction. The t-shaped model combines both.

    How do I become a t-shaped marketer?

    Map the skills you can actually ship, choose one or two areas to go deep in, and add new skills based on where you get stuck most often. Building real projects teaches faster than collecting certificates.

    / Work with Brittany

    Need a marketer who can set the strategy and still build the thing?

    Hiring a marketing leader or need a hands-on partner for a project? See how we can work together or send me a note.