FCM Blog

Special WIA Budget EditionCommunication Tools: Fighting the Budget Cuts

While the House of Representatives has axed federal employment and training programs in its proposed budget, the debates in the Senate start next week. As the workforce investment system gears up to be heard, here are critical tools and action steps that each of you need to take to make your business case. Do not delay your action and share this with all of your customers, colleagues, friends and families.

Keep WIA Funding Alive: Virtual Petition
Sign the petition and share it with your customers, colleagues, family and friends through email and any social media tools.
Go to: www.thepetitionsite.com/5/keep-america-working/

WIA Facebook Cause Page
Join the WIA cause, and share it with your customers, colleagues, family and friends through email and any social media tools.
Go to: www.causes.com/causes/581031-workforce-investment-works-keeping-america-working?m=100d2498

Submit your existing workforce customer success stories, testimonials and innovations at the Workforce Investment Works campaign site. The Workforce Investment Works Campaign www.WorkforceInvestmentWorks.com is a storytelling website that demonstrates how the system has helped our customers, and is our collective voice to save WIA funding. Every workforce board and partner needs to register on the site and submit all of your customer success stories, customer quotes and any board innovations. This site is being shared with Congress this week and through a national media blitz. Register at:
www.workforceinvestmentworks.com/intranet/index.asp

WIA Funding & Campaign Alerts: Twitter
Get campaign updates by following us at http://twitter.com/WorkforceInvest

Want more information on the campaign? Go to www.WorkforceInvestmentWorks.com

Combating Bad Press: Tools for Workforce Professionals

Between the recent USA Today article and GAO report, the workforce system is in urgent need of building a business case to policy makers as to why our work is so valuable. Here are the tools that can help support your teams in doing so.

Workforce Investment Works National Workforce Campaign:
Showcase your organization’s brand in this national communications campaign—a simple storytelling website to help America understand the value propositions of the workforce investment system through success stories submitted by all workforce boards across the country. Use the campaign video, tutorials and other resources on the site to get your organization recognized nationally. Go to www.WorkforceInvestmentWorks.com.

Workforce Investment Works Online Briefing:
Explains the national Workforce Investment Works Campaign at: Telling Our Story.

Web Enhancement & Social Media Online Library:
Your Website is one of the most important storytelling and engagement tools in your outreach arsenal. Yet, many Websites developed by Workforce Investment System stakeholders are riddled with challenges. Take FCM’s Website Audit and download resources and tools to enhance your site at our Web Enhancement Library.

Workforce Investment Board (WIB) Website Benchmark Study:
FCM launches the first-ever WIB Website Benchmark Study to examine how workforce organizations utilize the web for outreach to job seekers, businesses, youth and key stakeholders. FCM will evaluate web traffic of study participants, along with survey data, to provide benchmarks for best practices in maximizing website performance. The study is open to WIBs, One-Stop Career Centers and partners of the workforce investment system. Go to Website Benchmark Study.

Questions on how to use the tools? Contact us at celina@fullcapacitymarketing.com.

It’s Time: A New Year - A New Website

The New Year is always an exciting time—fresh starts, revised resolutions, and new personal and business goals. I hope one of the goals on your “2011 hot list” is refreshing your organization’s website. Full Capacity Marketing, Inc. (FCM) recently conducted a master workshop session on social media. We actually reviewed close to 80 of the participants’ Websites, prior to the workshop. About 92% were not ready for social media. Why? Because their websites were a mess! Social media is about having conversations and getting people to take action. This action leads people back to your website for more information that should engage the visitor as a customer, partner, or funder.

The results of our evaluation were not promising and revealed common mistakes that FCM sees consistently throughout the country.

• 98% of the sites utilized jargon and unclear messaging
• Only 2% of the sites had sections for their strategic partners which is a missed opportunity to build relationships with key influencers
• 75% had no call-to-action
• 82% did not clearly define products and services for its intended audiences
• 94% had cumbersome site navigation that was not intuitive
• 67% had at least six or more logos on the site without explanation of the brand architecture and partner affiliations
• 89% had dead links or links without explanation as to why the visitor should click on them
• Only 2% of the sites tracked website statistics

When we asked workshop participants how they went about designing their websites, it was revealed that they a) did not use a defined roadmap; b) misunderstood the type of expertise required to build an effective site; and c) lacked the appropriate processes to understand their various target audience’s needs and then to deliver on those needs through site design, social media and other web-centric tools.

Your website is one of the most important storytelling and engagement tools in your communication and outreach arsenal. This year, FCM is on a mission to help you revamp your websites and get in the social media game. We just launched several free tools on our website to help you meet these goals.

Web Audit Tool – An online evaluation tool to determine how well your organization’s site aligns with effective Web development principles.

Web Enhancement Library - Build your knowledge about creating, launching and maintaining an effective Website.

Web Tutorials

      Getting Started: Creating a Dynamic Workforce Website
      Customer-Centric Web Building: Customers’ Opinions Count
      Targeted Messaging: Writing for the Web
      Website Design and Usability Testing
      Web Marketing: Using Social Media & Optimization Strategies
      Tracking Success: Keeping your Site Relevant & Current

Want a complimentary evaluation of your current website? Contact us at info@fullcapacitymarketing.com or call 858-793-6694. Download our free Web tutorials at our Web Enhancement Library

Let’s make it happen in 2011.