Federal Marketing & Strategic Communications
Federal communications teams are stretched past what programs need
Federal programs still have to be explained to the public, understood by the people they were built for, and defended to leadership and oversight. The communications teams behind them are smaller than they were, hiring takes months, and the people who remain are covering more programs with less support.
The work itself has gotten harder. People trust a familiar local voice more than an agency name, so a press release alone rarely moves anyone. Programs need research, messaging, press, community outreach, and paid media working together, and few can staff all of it. Prime contractors feel the same gap on large federal bids, where communications is often the piece they are least equipped to deliver.
NAVSEA: 59% Above the Contracted Target
What changes when this works
Experienced capacity without a hiring cycle
An experienced marketing and communications team joins the program as an extension of its staff and handles strategy through execution. RC Strategies already works this way at full scale: it delivers two state ARNG RRB programs, for the Georgia Army National Guard and the Arkansas Army National Guard.
Messages tested before they publish
Audience research and message testing come first, including who should deliver each message. The Partnership for Public Service found in 2025 that 49% of Americans trust civil servants and 33% trust the federal government, so a program's own people often reach audiences the agency name cannot.
Public attention earned, then amplified
We pitch reporters on the program's story first, then buy paid media to extend what the coverage started. For USA Powerlifting, that approach has placed stories in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and Fox News.
Outcomes agreed before work begins
RC Strategies agrees with the program on the outcome it will report before work begins, then reports against it. Without that agreement, communications gets judged by activity. GAO found in 2023 that VA had not set targets to assess user satisfaction with its new electronic health record, so satisfaction had no bar to clear.
The services that power this outcome
Marketing Support Services
RC Strategies provides marketing support services for government programs: an experienced team for strategy, content, digital, media, and reporting.
Strategic Communications & Research
RC Strategies researches audiences, maps markets, and tests messages before government programs spend, so plans rest on evidence leadership can act on.
Public Outreach & Engagement
RC Strategies runs public outreach for government programs, reaching the people a program is for through trusted voices, and counts results in applicants.
Federal Advertising & Media Buying
RC Strategies plans and buys advertising for federal agencies, targets the exact audience a program needs, and reports cost per result for oversight.
Built for federal procurement, not just federal-adjacent work
What clients ask before we start
What does a federal strategic communications partner actually do?
A federal strategic communications partner takes on the communications work a program needs and lacks the people to carry: audience research, messaging, media relations, community outreach, paid media, and reporting on results. RC Strategies covers all of it with one team, and the scope can run deep. For USA Powerlifting, the work spans executive consulting, public outreach, and training for 50 state chapter leaders.
What results can federal communications report besides impressions?
Changes in what the audience did or believed: applicants, enrollments, donations, and sentiment. Impressions still matter as a measure of how far a message traveled. RC Strategies' public awareness campaign for the VA in Alaska produced 10,363 applicants for critical programs, more than double the year before, and its work for United Way lifted brand sentiment 31% in key target areas.
Why hire an outside communications team instead of adding federal staff?
Because an outside team can put experienced people on the work now, without waiting on a hiring cycle. Pew Research Center found federal new hires fell 55.6% in 2025, to 116,912. RC Strategies brings a team that has already run federal campaigns for the VA and NAVSEA, so the program starts with that experience in place.
Does RC Strategies team with prime contractors on federal contracts?
Yes. RC Strategies teams with prime contractors as the communications specialist on federal programs, covering research, messaging, outreach, and earned and paid media within the prime's larger scope. The work scales to national programs: for NAVSEA, RC Strategies ran a national enterprise recruiting and branding campaign that drew 1,500+ applicants against a plan of 934, and SES leadership reported high satisfaction with the value delivered. See how RC Strategies teams with primes.
How can a federal agency buy from RC Strategies?
An agency can contract with RC Strategies directly as a small business, or reach it through a prime contractor's team. RC Strategies is an SBA 8(a) small business, so it fits the small business programs contracting offices already use. Either path puts the same experienced team on the program.
Can RC Strategies handle a program's website and social media too?
Yes, inside the same engagement, so a program's own channels carry the same message as its media work. RC Strategies redesigned and relaunched United Way's website as part of its public awareness and outreach work, and its campaign for the VA in Alaska grew social followers 29%. Planning the website and social channels with the rest of the campaign keeps people from landing on pages that tell a different story.
More outcomes worth a look
Bring experienced communications capacity to your program
