Want something more concrete to aim for than “improving our influence”?
This course is for you if you want to learn the building blocks of strategic communications. We take you back to ancient Greece, specifically to Aristotelean rhetorical appeals. These appeals remain to this day the building blocks of a persuasive argument. But in order to use them effectively, you need to layer in the much more modern skillset of the strategic communications professional. That means a focus on SMART objectives, audience segmentation and insight, and framing.
The course is led by Jamie Horton, Lead Consultant at Cast from Clay. Jamie has advised dozens of foundations and civil society organisations in the UK and internationally on strategic communications, advocacy and positioning. These include E3G, Ocean Energy Pathway, EAT Forum, the Centre for Future Generations, and the Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology.
N.b. this course was previously called ‘Communicate to Persuade’.
Introducing your course leader, Jamie Horton
“Most organisations have a strategy. The problem is that most strategies aren’t strategic. They outline big picture visions without any concrete detail on how to actually achieve that vision.
In this course, we’ll draw on my experience advising dozens of organisations on how to draft and implement effective communications strategies. I’ll explain what a good objective looks like, how to write a useful audience definition (i.e. not ‘policymaker’), and why ‘framing’ isn’t all its cracked up to be.“
- 2021-present: Chess National Master (England)
- 2023-present: Lead Consultant, Cast from Clay
- 2024-present: Chair of Labour in Communications: Net Zero, Energy and Infrastructure Policy Network
- 2020-2023: Account Manager, Helmsley Energy
- 2019-2020: Junior Editor, Thinkers Publishing
“It’s been great to have an excuse to spend the time on deeper thinking, and to bring together all these bits and pieces that I’ve picked up over the years and fill the gaps between them. Thank you for giving me a much more coherent foundation and framework for doing this kind of work in the future.”
Head of Public Affairs
The next cohort of Strategic Policy Communications starts on the 28th October.
Book your place for £375+VATCourse outcomes and structure
By the end of this course, you will:
- Know how to write a SMART objective, and understand how to create audience segmentations that are useful
- Be able to construct an argument that uses all of Aristotle’s persuasion methods—and know what each is good for
- Understand issue framing: what it is good for, how to do it, and what the signs are that it hasn’t been done properly
This course is designed for anyone who wants to understand the key elements of strategic communications in the policy domain. It does not require any pre-existing knowledge, though you will get more out of the course if you are currently working in policy communications.
This is a five-week course, costing £375+VAT. There are five online modules to work through, each with a mix of content and exercises for you to complete (each module is approximately 2 hours work). Alongside the course content, there are three live, one-hour teaching sessions as part of this course, designed to consolidate learning, explore real examples and facilitate discussion.
Live Session 1: 28 October, 3pm – 4pm (UK)
Live Session 2: 11 November, 3pm – 4pm (UK)
Live Session 3: 25 November, 3pm – 4pm (UK)
If you would like your team to take this course (we offer a “five places for the price of four” deal) or if you require additional accommodations or encounter any accessibility barriers, please contact us at [email protected].