advocacy community architect

Meet Your Architect Marcie Kinzel

Today’s #StrategySession puts the spotlight on Sr. National Communications Strategist and Community Architect Marcie Kinzel.

Today’s #StrategySession puts the spotlight on Sr. National Communications Strategist and Community Architect Marcie Kinzel.

Marcie draws from her 20+ years of professional expertise to help clients navigate through the complexities of identifying a target audience and the most cost-effective means of reaching them.

Let’s get to know Marcie and learn more about Community Architect.

Marcie, let’s start with your background and experience. How does your experience shape your work today as a Community Architect?
I’ve spent over 20 years in the political communications arena. One can use earned media to fight through the noise, but that alone leaves to chance whether or not your target audience sees your message. These days, having a smart and strategic approach to paid media isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity. As a Community Architect, I work with my clients to ensure that we are matching the right audience to the right message to achieve the right outcomes.

Why is the traditional approach to advocacy no longer as effective?
The goal of advocacy communications should be to reach and activate groups of people to join your coalition and win. The old model was limited because it relied on a holistic media approach to getting a message out: TV interviews, expensive TV airtime and national ad placements; essentially, an expensive national effort to reach a targeted audience. Our approach focuses the effort on the community you want to reach, so if we want to activate supporters around an agriculture issue, we would look for farmers, ranchers, and their families, and target that community rather than the whole country. In doing so, we strategically deliver a better message to a receptive audience at a much lower cost.

How does Community Architect differ from the traditional approach to advocacy?
The traditional approach to advocacy is stagnant and expensive. PR firms typically charged clients $500,000 to $1 million a year for working on their behalf, but with no actual guarantee of success due to the nature of advertising. However, with the Community Architect model, there is no uncertainty involved. We know who we want to speak to, we know how to reach them, and we generally know whether we can count on new support or simply eyeballs seeing an ad. This difference allows our clients to run the most efficient campaign possible and maximize both the investment and the results.

Who is your role model, and why?
That’s easy – my dad. There are lots of lessons that he shared with me, but a couple that resonate in today’s business environment are the importance of putting people first and being true to your word. My dad never let phone calls go unreturned or projects left unfinished. He understood that business transactions were built on relationships and trust, and he worked hard every day to build that trust. “Promises made, promises kept” may sound like a re-election campaign theme, but to my dad, it was a way of life.

What question should we have asked you?
Why are companies and firms still using old tactics and advertising to the world instead of strategically talking to the audiences that are interested and engaged? When the goal is advocacy, typical marketing campaigns focused on click-throughs and impressions don’t give the client any sense of success or value (return on investment/ROI). Our Community Architect approach creates a 1:1 conversation with your supporters to generate tangible results, maximizing value for our client’s investment and serving as an integral part of our client’s success.

Continue the conversation with Marcie. Reach out today to get started.

Marcie Kinzel is Sr. National Communications Strategist and head of the Majority Strategies Washington, DC, office. Marcie provides communications counsel and strategies to clients by combining her 20 years of professional expertise with Majority Strategies’ innovative solutions in data, digital and print advertising.