Communications

Typically, Ward is engaged to either function as an outsourced Corporate Communications department for the client or to augment the in-house communications team with additional expertise and bandwidth. We support senior management teams in communicating routine and significant company events, including:

• Employee engagement and direction toward company goals
• Turnarounds and bankruptcy
• Charitable giving and social responsibility
• Financial performance and company strategy
• Labor issues
• Legal matters
• Management succession
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Public offerings
• Joint ventures and strategic partnerships
• Restructuring
• Takeover attempts

If employees are not living the brand promise – presuming management has taken responsibility for completing this strategic step — or understanding the current business objective, management’s efforts to meet bottom line objectives may be fraught with frustration.

Often underestimated for its bottom line impact, Employee Communication can help drive revenue, improve quality delivery, impact safety performance, elevate employee accountability, enhance the customer experience, aid in employee retention and reduce turnover costs.

Our award-winning Internal Communication strategies have included:

• Employee baseline and benchmarking surveys
• Internal communication plans
• Culture-building campaigns
• Communication skills training
• Team-building and leadership training
• Employee events
• Executive speeches
• HR issues management
• Internal brand launches
• Management meetings
• Merger communications
• HSE and HR training materials
• Audio-visual production
• Print materials
• Digital newsletters and forums
• 3-dimensional items and corporate gifts

For in-bound and outbound consumer and business-to-business marketing initiatives, Ward works with clients to create and deploy the right messages to the right people utilizing the most effective communications tools in the appropriate channels to support:

• Sales and market share objectives
• New market entries
• Supplier/Dealer/Broker/Partner communication
• Product launches
• Product promotions
• Event success

The basis of sound, targeted public relations and marketing programs, Research validates management’s perceptions of the underlying issues, and reduces waste in off-target tactical best-guesses in the marketing and public relations budget.

We employ a range of research techniques, from the quick and inexpensive, to full market research and public polling:

• Advisory boards
• Employee satisfaction surveys
• Executive triad interviews
• Focus groups
• Man-on-the-street interviews
• Online surveys
• Opinion polls
• Quantitative market research
• Qualitative market analysis
• Soft soundings of editors, association leadership and other key influencers

Clients turn to the professionals at our sister company OnwardU for Meeting Facilitation when they need an unbiased third-party facilitator who knows how to design and conduct a session to produce a group outcome in short order.

Our meeting facilitators conduct a variety of sessions, including designing custom sessions, for unique needs, such as:

• Formal brainstorms
• Technical/engineering work team sessions
• Department and team sessions
• Vision and strategy sessions
• Mission and values sessions
• Branding sessions
• Conflict resolution sessions
• Advisory boards
• Employee gatherings
• Community town hall meetings
• Management and board retreats
• Industry collaborative events
• Customer events and workshops

Advisory Boards, assembled and conducted by professional meeting facilitators at Ward’s sister company OnwardU, provide insight as well as create a committed group of advocates for your organization’s mission.

Our trained facilitators conduct single and recurring:

• Client and prospect advisory boards
• Employee advisory boards
• Community advisory boards

By way of example, our programs have included Advisory Boards for:

• Multiple US properties for a global hotel brand
• Asian community leaders for a leading deathcare company
• Customers of an international manufacturing concern
• Drilling contractors for a US shipyard
• Parents in a troubled school district
• Ministers and healthcare providers for numerous funeral homes
• Employees of a legacy hotel brand
• Board members and Corporate executives for numerous non-profit organizations

Ward and sister company OnwardU help clients develop and deliver compelling Presentations by assisting them with:

• Identification and placement of speakers in industry forums
• Topic and audience research
• Message development
• Scripting and speechwriting
• PowerPoint slides
• Compelling visual aids
• Speaker training
• Audience interaction techniques
• Audience feedback tools