SEIZE THE
Our Solutions
Media
It takes more than good press lists to get media coverage in today’s noisy information environment. To be heard, you need a message that stands out from the crowd and a creative mix of offline and social media outreach to deliver your message. Our media strategy has been honed over many years and will get you the coverage you need to succeed.
Social
Social media is your primary point of audience contact, delivering your message, driving people to your website and prompting searches to find related content from many competing sources. A strong cross-web strategy has supplanted website strategy as the essential framework for leveraging the internet to raise public awareness, build strategic communities and mobilize support for advocacy and fundraising. And social media sits at the center of it all. Our social media strategists give you the best chance to succeed in this ever-evolving world.
Content
With the explosion of communication channels, the challenge is to “feed the beast” and deliver clear, concise messages that stand out. It is no longer enough to simply write and publish a report. You have to create multiple packages suitable for distribution over multiple and distinct channels. Where a fully developed report may appeal to some of your website readers, many people are looking for “snackable” content. We create strategies for sustainable content distribution, including infographics, charticles, videos, photo memes and other “snackable” content to maximize the impact of your message.
Campaigns
Great opportunities arise in the face of policy crises. Whether your goal is to mobilize action to effect policy or to recognize opportunities to raise money, you need to be able to use your communications and online assets to launch and sustain effective campaigns. We help you build campaigns that target the right audiences and move them to action.
Training
We are committed to building a “car you can drive” long after we are gone. The difference between good programs and campaigns and bad ones rests on the skills of the people who implement them. Good communicators may be born with talent, but it takes training to become truly effective. Communicating via different media requires different skills. What works on Twitter does not necessarily work on Facebook. What works in a speech won’t work as well in an interview. No matter how good a communicator you are, our trainings will make you better.
TEAM TURNER
Turner was founded in 2000 by refugees from large agencies and progressive organizations frustrated by the focus on the bottom line at the sacrifice of true societal change. We are intentionally a boutique firm – our size allows us to handpick our clients based on our passion for their work.
From our inception we have evolved with the changing media landscape. Today the multiplicity of tools requires iron-clad strategic discipline. The question is not traditional media or which social media platform, but who needs to be moved and what will move them to your desired outcome most efficiently. This core planning is crucial to successful campaigns – as opposed to time and money wasted.
Our clients are scientists, non-profits, advocacy groups and companies. Together, we pass legislation, win litigation, navigate regulatory processes, build advocacy communities, inform and educate the public, move people to action, and change the world.
Join us to “carpe colloquium!” – seize the conversation! Using Turner’s 4D strategies it will be easier than you think.
The National Journal called Suzanne “the best communicator in America.”
Her communications campaigns have helped pass more than 40 pieces of legislation.
Her communications campaigns have helped pass more than 40 pieces of legislation.
Suzanne has worked for Fortune 500 companies, devising branding and marketing campaigns that have moved millions of dollars worth of products.
As senior vice president at Fenton Communications for seven years, Suzanne helped grow the firm from four people to more than 100 in three cities.
She was Mid-Atlantic regional manager of the high-tech PR firm The Launch Company, where she built the client base and managed a half-million dollars in client billings monthly.
Suzanne is co-founder of the Internet Advocacy Center and a founding member of Progressive Communicators of DC.
She has also worked as a newspaper and television reporter.
She studied at Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies and the Université de Paris IV – La Sorbonne, and holds a BA from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill.
Silver Anvil Award-winning public/media relations strategist Susan Roth has over 25 years of experience in developing and implementing innovative media strategies and securing international media coverage for progressive advocacy organizations.. Susan’s previous senior management positions for media giants in promoting network television shows for several producers has given her an insider’s knowledge of the media, which she uses when developing programs for her clients. She has long-standing relationships with key editors, reporters and broadcast producers at CNN, MSNBC, top network morning shows, New York Times, USA Today, People and more.
Susan played a key role in the founding and media strategy for the 9/11 Day of Service, which contributed to Congress passing the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act designating every September 11 as a National Day of Service.
For the International Services Division of the American Red Cross, Susan secured national media coverage in the immediate aftermath of the 2006 Indonesian earthquake and was part of the media response team in the days following Hurricane Katrina, not only for the ARC but also for RedRover, one of the top national animal rescue organizations in the country.
Susan is the founder of Progressive Communicators of Washington, D.C., a network of over 1,500 progressive advocacy communications professionals.
Heather Booth is one of the country's leading strategists on progressive issue campaigns.
She started organizing during the civil rights, anti-Vietnam war and women's movements of the 1960s.
She started JANE, an underground abortion service in 1965, before Roe v Wade.
With a back pay suit she won during a union organizing effort, she founded and is now President of the Midwest Academy, training social change leaders and organizers. She has been involved in union organizing efforts for teachers, hospital workers (as part of a civil rights/labor organizing drive) and clerical workers.
She has been involved in and managed political campaigns and was the Training Director of the Democratic National Committee. In 2000, she was the Director of the NAACP National Voter Fund, which helped to increase African American election turnout. She was the lead consultant, directing the founding of the Campaign for Comprehensive Immigration Reform in 2005.
In 2008, she was the director of the Health Care Campaign for the AFL-CIO. In 2009, she directed the campaign passing President Obama’s first budget. In 2010 she was the founding director of Americans for Financial Reform, fighting to regulate the financial industry. She was the national coordinator for the coalition around marriage equality and the 2013 Supreme Court decision. She was strategic advisor to the Alliance for Citizenship (the largest coalition of the immigration reform campaign). She was the field director for the 2017 campaign to stop the tax giveaways to millionaires and billionaires. She is now working on a campaign to lower prescription drug prices.
Her impact is illustrated in the documentary, "Heather Booth: Changing the World." It has been shown on PBS/World Channel stations around the country.
She started organizing during the civil rights, anti-Vietnam war and women's movements of the 1960s.
She started JANE, an underground abortion service in 1965, before Roe v Wade.
With a back pay suit she won during a union organizing effort, she founded and is now President of the Midwest Academy, training social change leaders and organizers. She has been involved in union organizing efforts for teachers, hospital workers (as part of a civil rights/labor organizing drive) and clerical workers.
She has been involved in and managed political campaigns and was the Training Director of the Democratic National Committee. In 2000, she was the Director of the NAACP National Voter Fund, which helped to increase African American election turnout. She was the lead consultant, directing the founding of the Campaign for Comprehensive Immigration Reform in 2005.
In 2008, she was the director of the Health Care Campaign for the AFL-CIO. In 2009, she directed the campaign passing President Obama’s first budget. In 2010 she was the founding director of Americans for Financial Reform, fighting to regulate the financial industry. She was the national coordinator for the coalition around marriage equality and the 2013 Supreme Court decision. She was strategic advisor to the Alliance for Citizenship (the largest coalition of the immigration reform campaign). She was the field director for the 2017 campaign to stop the tax giveaways to millionaires and billionaires. She is now working on a campaign to lower prescription drug prices.
Her impact is illustrated in the documentary, "Heather Booth: Changing the World." It has been shown on PBS/World Channel stations around the country.
Sascha Burns is a seasoned public policy and communications strategist. She develops and implements integrated campaigns combining communications, political and legislative initiatives, coalition building, grassroots efforts, and direct advocacy to advance client interests.
Sascha is a well-known political news commentator. She appears regularly on Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network and is a long-time contributor to MSNBC and Sinclair Broadcast Group. Internationally, she can be seen on Sky News, ITN Channel 4, the BBC, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and Canada’s CBC News and Global News.
Sascha has served as an adviser and staff to several presidential and congressional campaigns, the Democratic National Convention Committee, and former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn (D-GA).
She graduated from Washington and Lee University and earned a diploma for Mastery of the Spanish Language from the University of Salamanca, Spain.
Sascha is a well-known political news commentator. She appears regularly on Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network and is a long-time contributor to MSNBC and Sinclair Broadcast Group. Internationally, she can be seen on Sky News, ITN Channel 4, the BBC, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and Canada’s CBC News and Global News.
Sascha has served as an adviser and staff to several presidential and congressional campaigns, the Democratic National Convention Committee, and former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn (D-GA).
She graduated from Washington and Lee University and earned a diploma for Mastery of the Spanish Language from the University of Salamanca, Spain.
Tamar began her career as a television producer in St. Louis before heading to Washington DC to explore work in the nonprofit sector. She has held staff positions with such organizations as NARAL, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, PAI, and the United Nations Foundation’s FP2020. She has also consulted for organizations ranging from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to IUCN to Knowledge SUCCESS to Catholics for Choice. She has trained over 10,000 people to improve their skills as spokespersons and to develop audience-focused messages that resonate. And, while she has succeeded in placing stories in media outlets from Nairobi to London to Jakarta, she is most proud of developing communications strategies that advance the missions of organizations large and small.
She has worked in thirteen countries and has profound respect for advocates and organizations doing the hard work of improving the lives of our planet’s most vulnerable citizens.
Sue Dorfman is a seasoned public relations professional, photojournalist, radio reporter and educator. For more than 25 years, her ability to successfully connect with key journalists has resulted in placements in major national media print and broadcast outlets, online, and in market-specific publications. Her belief in the importance of dialogue has led Sue to coordinate campaigns such as a speaking tour with Palestinian and Israeli doctors for Physicians for Human Rights; organize press events at venues including the National Press Club and the Carter Center; and lead workshops on conflict resolution, human rights, and social change. An intrepid traveler and photographer, she has documented social conditions in more than two dozen countries. Her film on the importance of voting, Dying to Vote, was screened widely during the 2004 election cycle. She holds an MA in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School at Tufts University, an MA in Social Economy/Social Policy from Boston College and a BA in Government from Oberlin College.
Alan Rosenblatt, Ph.D., is a digital and social media strategist, professor & thought leader with over 25 years’ experience in the field. He is a partner at Turner4D, leading the Digital and Social Media Strategy Practice. He is also the Director of Digital Research at Lake Research Partners, a top Democratic opinion research firm, and a Partner at Unfiltered.Media, a cutting-edge digital media firm. Alan taught the world’s first college course on digital/social media politics at George Mason University in 1995 and he’s been teaching variations of the course ever since—currently at George Washington, Johns Hopkins, American Universities, and Baruch College, and previously at Georgetown and Gonzaga Universities.
Dr. Rosenblatt was the Associate Director for Online Advocacy at the Center for American Progress/CAP Action Fund from 2007-2013, where he designed, created, and managed the Center’s enterprise social media program and ran many online advocacy campaigns. Between 2000 and 2007, Alan provided digital strategy services via political and communications firms at the forefront of the digital politics industry, including e-advocates and his own firm, the Internet Advocacy Center (co-founded with Suzanne Turner in 2005.) Alan is a prolific writer, blogging at and writing for The Nation, npENGAGE, Turner4D’s Carpe Colloquium, Huffington Post, Social Media Today, techPresident, Big Think, Roll Call, and Campaigns & Elections. He is a frequent keynote speaker, panelist, and trainer. He has trained nearly 20,000 politicians, organizers, and activists around the world in the arts of digital strategy, including members of Congress, Arab Spring organizers, and two future kings. Alan has a Ph.D. from American University, an M.A. from Boston College in Political Science and a B.A. in Political Science and Philosophy from Tufts University. He can be found across social media @DrDigiPol.
Dr. Rosenblatt was the Associate Director for Online Advocacy at the Center for American Progress/CAP Action Fund from 2007-2013, where he designed, created, and managed the Center’s enterprise social media program and ran many online advocacy campaigns. Between 2000 and 2007, Alan provided digital strategy services via political and communications firms at the forefront of the digital politics industry, including e-advocates and his own firm, the Internet Advocacy Center (co-founded with Suzanne Turner in 2005.) Alan is a prolific writer, blogging at and writing for The Nation, npENGAGE, Turner4D’s Carpe Colloquium, Huffington Post, Social Media Today, techPresident, Big Think, Roll Call, and Campaigns & Elections. He is a frequent keynote speaker, panelist, and trainer. He has trained nearly 20,000 politicians, organizers, and activists around the world in the arts of digital strategy, including members of Congress, Arab Spring organizers, and two future kings. Alan has a Ph.D. from American University, an M.A. from Boston College in Political Science and a B.A. in Political Science and Philosophy from Tufts University. He can be found across social media @DrDigiPol.
Greg Howard has more than 30 years of experience in earned media placement, issues management and strategic communications. Greg has worked on numerous high-profile assignments, from U.S. Supreme Court cases to major health, medical, environmental and social announcements. He consistently exceeds client expectations using his years of experience to answer the key question reporters ask: why should my audience care? Greg has obtained high-profile, high-impact media placements with PBS’s Frontline, Nightly Business Report and the News Hour with Jim Lehrer; ABC’s World News Tonight and Good Morning America; CBS’s Evening News, Morning News and 60 Minutes II; NBC’s Nightly News and Today Show; CNN’s Prime News and Headline News; CNBC’s Squawk Box and Market Wrap; Fox News Channel’s Cavuto Business Report as well as on MSNBC and C-Span. He has also placed multiple client stories with The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, as well as The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, The Baltimore Sun, The Boston Globe, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Dallas Morning News, The Denver Post, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Miami Herald, The San Diego Union-Tribune, and The San Francisco Chronicle.
Marvin Randolph is a nationally recognized expert in voter registration, voter contact and GOTV operations, and the country’s leading expert on Black voter mobilization. Marvin has worked on over 120 campaigns in 31 states. He is the former National Director of Project Vote and former Organizing Director for the Center for Community Change. Randolph is President and CEO of sister organizations, the Southern Elections Fund (founded by Julian Bond in 1969), and the Southern Engagement Foundation (SEF), co-founded by Bond and former NAACP President Benjamin Jealous.
In the 2012 Presidential cycle, Marvin led the NAACP’s This Is My Vote! Campaign, building the largest voter registration and mobilization campaign in the Association’s history; adding hundreds of thousands of voters to the rolls in 49 states. By the conclusion of the program, Marvin had built a database of 929,570 registered NAACP voters, the largest in the organization’s history.
Marvin has recently run several large independent expenditure campaigns, including for Stacey Abrams (primary and general), Ben Jealous, Lucy McBath, and Mike Espy. These had large field operations and focused on mobilizing infrequent voters. A native of Richmond, Virginia, Marvin is a graduate of Old Dominion University where he received a B.A. in political science. He lives in Silver Spring, MD. Marvin’s company, Onyx Communications, partners with Turner on projects of mutual interest.
In the 2012 Presidential cycle, Marvin led the NAACP’s This Is My Vote! Campaign, building the largest voter registration and mobilization campaign in the Association’s history; adding hundreds of thousands of voters to the rolls in 49 states. By the conclusion of the program, Marvin had built a database of 929,570 registered NAACP voters, the largest in the organization’s history.
Marvin has recently run several large independent expenditure campaigns, including for Stacey Abrams (primary and general), Ben Jealous, Lucy McBath, and Mike Espy. These had large field operations and focused on mobilizing infrequent voters. A native of Richmond, Virginia, Marvin is a graduate of Old Dominion University where he received a B.A. in political science. He lives in Silver Spring, MD. Marvin’s company, Onyx Communications, partners with Turner on projects of mutual interest.
Jennifer Judd Hinrichs is a partnership matchmaker and facilitator. She helps socially conscious, mission-based organizations and coalitions communicate to accomplish their common goals. As one client said about a struggling collaboration, “there was chaos - and then came Jen, and it was good.”
Jennifer brings high-level leadership, insight, and clarity to what can sometimes be messy conversations among partners. She hears every part of a wide-ranging discussion and synthesizes it so everyone can understand.
Jennifer brings high-level leadership, insight, and clarity to what can sometimes be messy conversations among partners. She hears every part of a wide-ranging discussion and synthesizes it so everyone can understand.
Jennifer is sensitive to difficult issues within a group and her inclusive style results in real buy-in from diverse stakeholders.
For more than two decades, Jennifer has worked on conservation, sustainability, community advocacy, and urban environmental health issues.
She is currently the national co-chair for the Sustainable Urban Forests Coalition (SUFC) and served in volunteer leadership positions on several local and regional conservation and youth advocacy boards in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
Her management and consulting skills include:
• convening and partnership development,
• strategic planning,
• coalition and NGO capacity building, and
• communication expertise in both the private and public sectors.
Jennifer has degrees from James Madison University (B.A.) and the University of Illinois (M.A.).
But she’s learned a lot more from building her own business, being a community volunteer, and stumbling through parenthood with three children.
Patricia Brooks is on the front lines of communicating clients’ messages through both traditional and new media sources on a daily basis. She started MatchMap Media in 2010 to help clients determine the best media strategies to reach their intended audiences.
Patricia Brooks has placed stories in every major national newspaper, including front page features in the Washington Post and New York Times, and booked guests on countless local, national, and international radio and television programs. She spends most of her time consuming news and thinking about story ideas, and she has a constant urge to pitch people whom she meets that have good stories for the media whether they are clients or not.
Prior to starting MatchMap Media, she worked for a small public relations firm, RenewComm and Kelley Campaigns, a large public relations firm, Hill & Knowlton, a non-profit, Center for a New American Dream, a local newspaper, Sun Newspaper, and interned at National Public Radio and local television stations. She has also done promotions for local CBS radio stations. Having spent time at a variety of different organizations, she understands their inner workings and relates to the challenges and opportunities that each presents. In total, she has a decade of experience specializing in strategic media relations and loves it every day.
Her website can be found at www.matchmapmedia.com.
Chaitra is a native of Tennessee and, coming from a military family, has experience living in many places. With dual degrees from Catholic University in Accounting and Spanish, she previously served as a Spanish teacher at Gonzaga College High School and now brings 20+ years experience in finance and administration to the Turner team. In the past she has worked with a wide range of clients, including commercial and residential construction companies.
When she’s not crunching numbers she enjoys travel, spending time with her daughter and cooking.
When she’s not crunching numbers she enjoys travel, spending time with her daughter and cooking.
Cindy Hoffman is an award-winning communications and public affairs leader with more than 20 years of experience in advocacy communications and a proven track record of designing and leading winning campaigns for high profile issues involving women’s rights, wildlife conservation and the environment. She has worked in the federal government, the non-profit world and with progressive PR firms. At the Maryland affiliate of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL), she directed lobbying, fundraising and communications efforts that resulted in the passage of pro-choice legislation to codify Roe v. Wade. She then led efforts to secure the law through a state-wide referendum campaign.
She has been a leading expert in communications for the conservation community for more than 20 years, through leadership positions at the Endangered Species Coalition, the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service and Defenders of Wildlife. She has managed events featuring the president of the United States, members of the Cabinet and numerous members of Congress, as well as national campaigns, including the National Wildlife Refuge System Centennial celebration.
She has extensive experience in message development and has created multi-level communications campaigns combining earned media, radio, video, online and social media ads with powerful messages that move the needle: influencing members of Congress and other decision-makers to vote the right way. She has produced award winning documentaries, educational videos and public service announcements; and has conducted media trainings and managed story banking efforts. She is on the steering committee for the Progressive Communicators of D.C.
Garth Neuffer has more than 25 years experience creating public affairs campaigns that move the needle on a wide range of issues, including clean energy, technology, health, the environment, the economy, foreign affairs, security, trade, and multicultural trends.
On Capitol Hill, he served as senior media advisor and press secretary, working for Senators George Mitchell (D-ME), Tom Daschle (D-SD), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Ernest Hollings (D-SC). He also directed public affairs campaigns for Burson-Marsteller and The Pew Charitable Trusts, as well as corporate communications programs for four Fortune 500 firms – CIGNA, ConAgra Foods, State Farm and US WEST.
Most recently, he's provided strategic communications counsel to the Special Initiative on Offshore Wind at the University of Delaware, generating thought leader columns, press releases and media pitches to highlight the road map to success for the booming U.S. offshore wind industry..
Garth has two PRSA Silver Anvils (2003, 2008), a PRSA Award for Excellence (2006), and two CIPRA awards (1999, 2000).
He studied at Columbia University's School of International & Public Affairs and School of Journalism and has a BA from Stanford University in political science and human biology.
As the Creative Director at Tall Glass Media and former Creative Director for ACRONYM, where he curated, directed and inspired the creation of strategic digital content that has reached millions of people. Over his twenty year career working with artists, advocates, and non-profits he has been a force behind the scenes with Common and the Obama Administration generating big ideas, brands, and experiences. Check out www.tallglassmedia.com to learn more.
Zulema Rodrigues was born in Puerto Rico. Zulema served as the southwest field coordinator and healthcare organizer for Service Employees International Union (SEIU). During her time at SEIU, Zulema implemented nationwide field strategy holding elected officials accountable in their support for a comprehensive immigration reform and other issues that directly affect underserved communities.
She was the deputy national director concerning mass incarceration for the Center for Community Change until early 2016.
She is currently the vice president of the board for Phoenix Allies for Community Health focused on health justice and provides free healthcare to immigrants and refugees.
An active environmentalist, Zulema’s current projects include the Cosecha Healing Collective. She founded Cosecha to serve as a safe space where community members and leaders congregate, create; work through their collective pain and anger so they can channel it in constructive ways. The space and people honor their ancestral healing and learn from each other. Cosecha Healing Collective is Zulema’s response to the 2016 electoral cycle. Cosecha has become a place for research, connecting the dots and incubating emerging groups like Apache Voters (indigenous Voter mobilization) and Tomorrow We Vote focused on shifting the narrative in high schools).
Building the Puerto Rican voting bloc in the states and supporting sustainability efforts in Puerto Rico has also been her ongoing focus.
Arthur Silverman is a veteran media strategist, writer, publicist, creative director and producer. He has been a communications consultant to some of America’s leading foundations, advocacy groups and companies, including the American Medical Association, Ben and Jerry’s, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Environmental Defense Fund, Ford Foundation, Google, MoveOn.org, Natural Resources Defense Council, Pew Charitable Trusts and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Before joining Turner4D, he was founder and president of Op-Ad Media, a boutique creative services agency. Prior to that, Art worked for eight years as Vice President, Senior Vice President, and Creative Director at Fenton Communications, a leading public interest media firm. He also served as Communications Director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Art began his professional career in San Francisco, where he was deputy press secretary to Mayor Art Agnos and the founding editor of San Francisco Weekly.