What We Do

We’re dedicated to advancing your programs and telling your story.

Whether we’re defining and crystalizing your ideas and messages or reengineering business processes, we create thoughtful approaches that create buy-in. We provide strategic guidance and implement our recommended tactics for clients in a variety of sectors.

Brand Positioning

Our team consists of some of the nation’s premier messaging and brand strategists. We have long worked together to effectively position brands for a broad range of clients, including businesses, non-profit organizations, political candidates, elected officials, cause campaigns, and fundraising drives.

Change Management

Sometimes it’s the change itself that matters. Sometimes it’s just as – or more – important to get the word out about change. We do both. We have developed major change management strategies to motivate and inform employees in the government and private sector, customers, stakeholders, coalition members and voters. We understand how to craft separate messages and tactics for each unique stakeholder group, creating awareness, informing, and building buy-in.

Communications Strategy

We know communicators are all about “getting the word out,” and are often under intense pressure and time constraints to get their efforts covered by media. We understand. And we’re great at getting all of that done. But let’s first figure out what you want to accomplish. What are your long-term goals? Short-term imperatives? Which audiences need to hear your big message, but also something slightly different? What are the traps? Ward Circle Strategies will make your communications strategic communications. We like to start with a deep dive into your world, checking the landscape, understanding goals and priorities, identifying key dates, and building a smart plan around those realities. We have developed comprehensive outlines, from short term intensive campaigns to multi-year government efforts, for a diverse set of businesses and organizations.

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Content Creation

We research, write, and design materials quickly – whether it’s compelling digital content, a topical white paper to break new ground and stimulate national conversation, a multi-media presentation for a conference briefing, or materials to make you stand out at a trade show. We know how to deliver your message and showcase your brand in smart, cost effective formats that break through and connect.

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Crisis Communications

For those times when getting out of the news means more than getting in, our battle-tested crisis communicators will help you know what to say, and when to keep mum on urgent and sensitive matters. We’ve led the way through crises with discretion and success, for government, and for firms in a wide range of industries, from travel and food to financial services. Our years as front line government spokespersons sharpened our urgent and nimble thinking. We’re sometimes cautious, sometimes bold – and sometimes both together. We’ve managed our clients through troubled programs, personnel crises, family and financial matters, and other issues of ethics, perceptions and disaster. We’ve turned down the heat on industrial accidents. We’ve reshaped public and employee opinion. And with our backgrounds in the newsroom, digital, government, public affairs, and more, we’re aces at keeping an eye out for your reputation.

Digital & Social Media Strategy

Digital and social media are in constant flux. Let us be your guide. Ward Circle team members have sharpened their digital arrows with the world’s online titans. We can provide both strategies and content. We work not just with you, but also your partners and your friends. We’ll help you feed and harness, if not tame, the modern beasts of digital and social media.

Event Organization & Promotion

We know that every minute of every event is a reflection of your organization. It communicates whether you “get it”, whether you’re on the radar screen of the right people and have the right network, whether you have momentum, and whether people are listening to you and are on board with what you’re selling – be it an idea, or a product. When you hit your key messages and make that emotional connection with the audience, when the room is full of the right people, and when there’s the right sizzle and polish, or raw energy, or even low-key cool – you and your message takes center stage. Our team knows how to throw winning events: from packed-house news conferences, to intimate salons with industry leaders and policy makers, to multi-day summits attended by the First Lady. We design, script and produce gala fundraisers, receptions, fly-arounds, and bus tours. We’ll set you up in on-point locations on Main Street, on the National Mall, or around the world.

Media Relations

We sharpened our wits, and our pencils, as press secretaries and journalists. So it’s natural for us to craft the right pitch, at the right time to the right journalists, to connect with reporters the way we would have wanted to be connected. We regularly place our clients on news programs, and generate coverage in national, local and niche outlets.

Media Training

Train with the ones who have been there. Ward Circle offers customized media training by experienced pros. Reporters. Executive producers. Guest bookers. And people who’ve done well on the podium and have excelled on the spot. We’ll make sure you know the “rules” and we’ll help you define, practice and present your messages. What to say. How to say it. And the pitfalls to avoid. We make it fun and productive.

Organizational Design & Analysis

Having the right people performing the right functions is essential to the success of any complex endeavor. In both government and the private sector, our team brings unique knowledge and experience to look at all aspects of organizational strategy — position structures, data systems management, Human Resources, workload analysis — always with the mission in mind. We have data managers who not only know build and maintain current and accurate databases, but can also create unique, fresh views of metrics and analytics like vacancies and organizational charts that reflect real-time organizational data. Our management experts understand the complexities of making changes to personnel policy and structure, and have worked alongside senior leaders to shape their organizations according to their vision. On top of the analytic and management skills needed to understand structure and make change, our communications experts ensure that structural change translates to cultural change around personnel practices. From data to delivery, we have the skills and experience to help you make transformational organizational changes to best meet your mission and priorities.

Policy Development & Implementation

Need to figure out how to develop actionable policies and then put them into practice? Our team has been on point as government leaders and as advisors on major policy discussions of the day from health to immigration to law enforcement to education. We have helped shape intra-departmental policies for agency reorganizations, and have built new policies for inter-governmental collaboration and stakeholder outreach. And we don’t stop there – we are there with you when it is time to put ideas into action. We help guide organizations to thoughtfully embrace change and execute nimbly and efficiently – with little drama and lots of accolades. With our behind the scenes support – our clients have been recognized as effective change agents in their organizations.

Testimony, Speech, Blogs & Op-Ed Drafting

We know that the words we put on paper, or on the screen, will see light under your name. We are experts at matching your voice and your expertise to the ears and sensibilities of your audience. We regularly draft first-person communications on behalf of senior Administration officials and business and non-profit leaders; whether they’re heading to the Hill, to address a conference, or share a perspective through a digital platform or Sunday op-ed. And when we build your presentations, we can bring you everything from the flow, the sound, and the visuals, to media support – and of course, words and scripts tailored to each presenter’s background, message and personality.

Thought Leadership Planning

We work to further position you, and your organization, as the thought leader in your field – the voice of experience. An unbiased source, with a creative and innovative approach. We look at where you are, and where you want to be. We’ll develop strategies to increase your visibility, handing you the megaphone – so that you’re leading the discussion, and are the “go-to” source for stakeholders in your field. We help craft white papers, organize convenings that catalyze conversation, draft and place op-eds that share your insights, and place clients on panels and at podiums. We organize Blue Ribbon panels and advisory boards; book appearances on network (and key-market) television and radio; and rapidly and nimbly respond to inject you into news-breaking conversations.

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Video Production

We design and produce videos that tell complex stories in compelling and engaging ways. Our video for the Department of Defense, “This is the Military Health Service,”earned Ward Circle a Television, Internet and Video Association of DC Peer Award. Our short introductory film for the Disabled Veterans Assistance Foundation was shown at a White House Interagency Task Force meeting. Our video for the National Association of Community Health Centers debuted at the organization’s annual conference. Ward Circle can bring our award-winning expertise in video production to a variety of formats, from an online ad, to a 30 second spot for national TV or radio. We have the experience to make your ideas come to life on any screen.

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Web Development

We design and maintain websites for clients – whether it’s making updates to your standard WordPress website, migrating legacy code to a new platform, or building a custom solution with React or Django – we do it all. We run focus groups to make sure the website we are designing is the one you and your users want. We design your website following WCAG guidelines, to ensure it is accessible for users with disabilities. We collect and provide analytics, so you can see how users are interacting with your website in real time. With the ever-expanding number of devices, we ensure your website will look great on everything – including desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and phones.

What We Do

We’re dedicated to advancing your programs and telling your story.

Brand Positioning

Our Clients

Government

Non-Profit

Business

Brand Positioning