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Strategic Communications

The APCG Team continues to provide high value to the success of this organization even as the organization has gone through numerous and varied scope and direction changes. I couldn’t be happier with the support I receive from this group. It is a pleasure to work with them everyday. — DoD Financial Management Director

Government reform. Instantaneous service delivery. Rising costs and shrinking budgets. APCG knows that federal managers confronting today's daunting business pressures simply can't afford to be misunderstood. A legislative misstep, an alienated stakeholder group, or a stalled technology implementation will undermine all your best efforts … and your credibility.

As our public servants focus on results, timely and effective communication has never been more critical. In fact, it's a core competency. An agency's workforce must be motivated to excel and innovate during a time of intense organizational change. Large, globally dispersed user communities of legacy business systems must rapidly assimilate new IT applications. Stakeholders must be informed of how taxpayer dollars are being invested to acquire new E-Government or defense capabilities … better, faster, cheaper. And finally, American citizens and legislative officials must clearly understand the value provided by federal agencies and their programs.

Given today’s pressures on federal leaders, nobody would argue that effective communication is a vital part of business strategy. The bigger question is: "How do you get it done?"

Why APCG?

Arguably, there are many public relations and creative marketing firms claiming to successfully serve the federal government. Very few, however, truly understand the unique operating environment and resulting internal and external communication challenges of agencies. APCG does. While hundreds of firms can help a federal organization create a newsletter, brochure, or web site, we do the hard stuff. We specialize in tackling the strategic questions that government managers ask such as:

  • How do I articulate the complex organizational and technical relationships of my program in a way that both internal audiences and oversight bodies will understand?
  • What do I need for a successful communication strategy and how can you make it compelling without sounding promotional?
  • When does "branding" – a competitive marketing concept – work for federal programs and agencies?
  • How can I proactively communicate success while dealing effectively with setbacks and failures?
  • Our priorities and initiatives are constantly changing. How do I develop a value proposition and key messages that will continue to resonate with stakeholders and staff?

Addressing these difficult questions can't be done in a vacuum. Successful communication strategies and solutions are the result of effective working relationships, teamwork, and collaboration. That's another reason to choose APCG: We understand this fundamental principle, especially in government, and since we began in 1998 it guides everything we do. As a result, we have a proven ability to work with many different functional teams, contractors, subject matter experts, military personnel, public affairs officers, and program staff to get communications done.

In other words, when it comes to strategic communications planning and execution, we speak your language … we don't expect you to learn ours.

Helping federal agencies produce clear, consistent, and compelling strategic communications is our business. Its challenging work, but we love it. And we’re humble enough to admit, we always learn something new from our talented and dedicated public-servant clients.