Every organization reaches pivotal moments where the next decision could shift the future. And sometimes, even with a solid team and a clear plan, you need someone outside the day-to-day to help you see the best way forward.
The Natural Areas Association (NAA) had a strong staff, two trusted contractors, and a well-established brand. What they didn’t have was an expert sounding board; someone to help confidently navigate some strategic questions around community engagement, messaging, and opportunities that were not black and white.
Gaining Clarity and Momentum
We collaborated with NAA in 2019 to conduct a communication audit and develop brand personas. Over the years, we continued to pitch in on communications projects. This foundation established a strong understanding of the organization’s goals and objectives.
By 2024 their team was solid and their brand was clear. What they needed now was expertise and insight, as well as some assurance that they were making the best use of their limited resources.
A New Way to Work Together
We’ve never loved the terms coaching or mentoring when it comes to giving advice. We prefer to think of clients as respected peers with complementary areas of expertise. Over time, we started calling this type of working relationship “collaborative consulting.”
Collaborative consulting means that we’re in it together. Sometimes we’re advising, sometimes we’re working independently, and sometimes we’re doing live work together. The results are faster and more productive because we get immediate feedback.
- Delivering Quick Wins for Immediate Impact: During 2024, NAA was planning for their upcoming conference. We helped them refine their email marketing strategy, create more effective signage, and add a simple but powerful branded giveaway to reinforce their conference theme. These early adjustments improved conference engagement and also laid the groundwork for opportunities to adjust NAA’s overall marketing strategy and approach to audience communication.
- Reframing Donor Messaging: With the conference behind them, NAA was ready to shift their focus to fundraising. After reviewing their initial year-end appeal concept, we identified a disconnect between the message and the audience. With a few strategic shifts, the NAA team revised the approach, and the campaign drove an increase in gifts, resulting in their most successful appeal to date. This effort reinforced the power of audience-focused messaging in driving donor engagement.
- Analyzing Data to Ensure a Sustainable Business Model: Before we started consulting with NAA, they were facing a significant strategic decision — maintain their current membership model or switch to a subscription-based approach. Through a collaborative dialogue, we were able to explore these two options and the pros and cons of each. As this decision could have serious implications on the bottom line, we recommended that they conduct member research to gather information that would inform their decision. We created an interview script for NAA to gather member insights and then after they conducted the interviews, we analyzed the results. The findings indicated that moving to a subscription model was risky. The research suggested that staying with the existing membership model offered greater sustainability and opportunities for community engagement and improved value proposition.
NAA has had a long working relationship with Iris Creative that has included several collaborative consulting projects which have contributed to a solid foundation in marketing and communications. What we have learned is that we have good instincts; however, when you add the right strategic expert to the planning process, good can become great. Iris Creative has been the right strategic expert for our organization.
– Moira McGinty Klos, Director of Programs & Communications, Natural Areas Association
Insight Without the Overhead
When you’re deep in the day-to-day, it can be hard to step back and consider the big picture. That’s where collaborative consulting can make all the difference. At Iris, we bring external expertise and insight to your questions and strategic challenges. Our role is to help your team clarify options and identify next steps.
Our goal is to lend our experience to your marketing efforts, saving your organization time and expense. Through both strategic and tactical projects, we help organizations do what they do best, while navigating complex decisions to reach long-term goals.
If you’re at a strategic crossroads and need a collaborator to help guide the way, let’s talk.
