Communications that move people.
Systems that help movements keep moving.
Strategic communications for labor unions, nonprofits, and mission-driven organizations building power.
Organizing is inherently mutable. Campaigns change. Political moments shift. Audiences evolve. Staff come and go. New opportunities emerge.
Your communications strategy has to be able to move with all of that without losing the thread.
Your organization doesn't need more content for the sake of having more content.
You need communications that know where they're going.
Everyone communicates differently.
Your message changes depending on who's writing.
You're posting without knowing what's actually working.
You're trying to be everywhere.
Communications aren't clearly connected to organizing goals.
Staff and volunteers don't know what they can say or how to say it.
Important communications knowledge lives in one or two people's heads.
You're constantly reacting instead of building.
Mercurial helps you build the foundation that lets your communications adapt without losing the thread.
Communications should help people become participants, not spectators.
- Communications should serve organizing goals. The point isn't to get more likes, produce more content, or be everywhere online.
- Strong movements need strong messages. You don't need to sand down your organization's politics until everyone finds it palatable.
- Strategy and execution belong together. The strategy determines the tactic, not the other way around.
- Communications should build organizational capacity. Your organization should become better at communications because we worked together.
The Mercurial Strategy.
A six-part methodology for building communications systems that can respond to the realities of organizing while staying grounded in strategy.
See
What's actually happening?
We audit your communications ecosystem before recommending tactics.
Define
What are we trying to build?
We connect communications to organizing goals and develop the core narrative, messaging, voice, and strategic foundation.
Connect
Who are we moving?
We identify priority audiences, where they are, what they need to hear, and what action they can take.
Activate
How do we move them?
We put the strategy into practice through the communications that make sense for the audience, campaign, and moment.
Learn
What's actually working?
We measure engagement, actions, media results, and other relevant signals and use what we learn to adapt.
Build
How does it last?
We turn what we've learned into systems, tools, workflows, and organizational capacity.
The process isn't linear. What we learn changes what we do next.
Find the right starting point.
For organizations that need an outside perspective, diagnosis, and concrete recommendations.
Communications Strategy Build the foundation.For organizations that need a core narrative, messaging, audience strategy, channel priorities, and communications roadmap.
= Strategy + Implementation Put the strategy into practice.For organizations with an active campaign, public moment, or communications program that needs strategic and executional support.
= Capacity Building + Training Make communications an organizational strength.For organizations that want stronger systems, clearer workflows, and staff and volunteers who can actually use the communications foundation.
What this looks like in practice.
TABCO was communicating regularly, but wasn't systematically learning what was working.
Developed a more intentional communications practice centered on member engagement, campaign goals, and learning from what resonated.
Stronger member engagement, greater transparency, and communications that better connected people to the work.
Momentum had experienced multiple people holding communications roles, creating a need for greater coherence across the organization.
A communications audit, infrastructure recommendations, voice and tone development, and systems that made the work easier to hand off.
A stronger communications foundation that allowed the next communications consultant to integrate more seamlessly.
ANHD was entering digital organizing for the first time.
Built the digital tools, systems, engagement pathways, and best practices needed to engage people online.
A stronger foundation for digital organizing that could continue to support the organization beyond the engagement.
You shouldn't leave with just more content.
More Clarity
You know what you're saying, why you're saying it, who you're trying to move, and what you want them to do.
More Capacity
Your staff and volunteers have language, tools, and systems they can actually use.
A Stronger System
Your communications can adapt to the next campaign, crisis, staff transition, or political moment without starting from scratch.
That's the Mercurial promise:
Your organization should be stronger at communications because we worked together.
Ready to build communications that can move?
Let's start by figuring out what's actually happening.
Get in Touch →