What’s your message?

Develop a marketing and communications strategy that positions your company or nonprofit for success. We can help you define your brand and choose the most effective tactics to meet your goals.

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Company Profile

As the principal at Message Communications, Deborah Zanke delivers communications planning, writing services, and online engagement consulting and support.

Deborah Zanke, BA, BSW (she/her)

Deborah Zanke is an accomplished communications professional who honed her skills at the senior management level before a decades-long freelance career.

Thanks to Deborah’s sharp strategic approach, scores of companies and nonprofit organizations have reached their critical audiences with clarity and creativity. From awareness campaigns and impact reports to websites and blogs, Deborah ensures that the messaging conveys the brand and fits the medium.

Deborah began her working life as a child welfare social worker. She has a profound knowledge of the challenges faced by nonprofits and the community members who depend on them. Her people-serving clients appreciate her social science and community background in their efforts to engage donors and stakeholders. She is equally at home in business settings and brings a much-needed perspective to brands advancing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives.

tag along travel website logo

Deborah authored the successful TagAlongTravel blog from 2011 – 2022, which focused on making the most of life with a frequent business traveller. Readers enjoyed travel tips, destination reviews, and remote working advice from the perspective of a spouse tagging along.

Communications Planning

Engaging positively with your organization’s stakeholders starts with an informed strategy. 

Whether you need to communicate with staff, customers, clients, donors or decision-makers, you must understand your audience to deliver a compelling message. And though you’re tailoring that message to each group, it has to be consistent with your organization’s brand. It can be tricky!

Message Communications can help you get on track and move towards your organization’s goals.

  • Auditing of current communications programs and practices
  • Analysis of communications needs
  • Development of a communications plan including tactics and metrics

Writing

Today’s customers and stakeholders are time-crunched and sophisticated, which means you need to make a winning impression quickly. Being clear and concise is essential, as is matching the writing style to the medium and your brand.

Whether online, in print, or both, Message Communications will make sure what you say fits with how and where you say it.

  • Websites
  • Blog posts
  • Social media content
  • Brochures
  • Impact reports
  • Proposals

Public Relations

Reaching a wide audience through advertising is costly and out of reach for many small and mid-sized companies and non-profits. Using social media and other public relations tools is a more economical (and often more effective) approach to getting your organization’s message out.

Message Communications can help you to promote your organization using a variety of tools.

  • Social media planning and support
  • Media releases and outreach
  • Media coaching/media relations workshops

What people say

Deborah does a great job moving clients from the interview-and-rough-notes stage to creating fresh and engaging website content that hits all the key messages.

Rod DeVos
Founder & President
Resolute Technologies

Over the past few years, I’ve had the real pleasure of working with Deborah Zanke on numerous projects. In every case, she’s been a stellar addition to our team. Whether she’s developing copy for a social enterprise or nonprofit website or helping us rethink the overall messaging and tone of a report, Deborah consistently connects and delivers. It is a privilege to collaborate with her.

Andrew Boardman
Principal
Manoverboard

Deborah has been a fantastic collaborator in my public engagement work. From project communication documents to video scripts, I know she’ll understand the goals quickly and help me execute whatever I need to move the project forward.

Kim Hyshka
Dialogue Partners

We had Deborah assist us with communications planning at our school and found her professional yet approachable style fit well with our culture. Her written plans were clearly organized and concise. She is able to quickly address emerging communications issues and her knowledge of social media platforms has helped us to more effectively engage with our community.

Jill Mathez
Principal
Dakota Collegiate Institute

The AFM has benefited tremendously from working with Deborah.The media training she provides is second to none. Her unassuming approach puts everyone at ease, creating ideal learning conditions. She provided us with clear, easy to use tips and tricks for providing the best possible media interviews. Deborah also supported AFM with an overhaul of our promotional and educational materials, making them more engaging and easier to read. Her collaborative approach enabled staff and clients to contribute to this work in a meaningful way. She is quick, organized, and always pleasant.

Jennifer Faulder
Director, Communications and Corporate Services
Addictions Foundation of Manitoba

Deborah has helped VOILÀ Designs with developing a social media strategy and assists with copywriting for our email campaigns. She is quick to understand business goals and has a flair for messaging that gets our audience to take notice.

Andréanne Dandeneau
Designer/Owner
Voilà Designs

Developing content for my new firm’s website was out of my comfort zone, particularly when considering SEO. Deborah’s thoughtful questions and insights helped me to get clear on my brand voice and messaging. It was an excellent collaborative experience.

Chau Tran 
Tran Law Corporation

We used Message Communications to develop our website to better communicate with our collateral and partner agencies. The feedback has been excellent. It has helped us reach our goal to better inform our stakeholders. Deborah was quick to grasp what our vision was and had great suggestions on what we should include. We felt she helped guide our process to provide a clear agency message. The project was managed very well and was on time and on budget.

Bonnie Kocsis
Executive Director
Animikii Ozozon Child and Family Services

Working with Deborah is always a pleasure. She is incredibly organized and has a great ability to focus in on the key messages required to convey the client’s story. Working in a production environment requires solid organizational skills, excellent teamwork and the ability to think on your feet. Deborah excels in these areas and brings a strong creative voice to the productions we’ve worked on together.

Damon Surzyshyn
Owner
Nomad Production

I have had the pleasure of working on a wide variety of communications and marketing projects with Deborah over the past several years. Her positive and professional approach ensures the successful execution of every project. She does a great job at keeping all aspects of a project organized, providing functional and effective solutions with superior project management skills.

Kevin Braun
Graphic Designer
Element B Design Solutions

I retained Deborah to help redesign my firm’s website and marketing strategies. Deborah provided excellent advice and helped to focus my firm’s branding and messaging in a way that made it much more client-friendly.  I now have a website that accurately displays my firm’s values, and potential clients confirm that the website and marketing set us apart from other firms.

Gregory G. Evans
Principal
Evans Family Law Corporation

Portfolio

If you have a communications or writing project that you don’t see represented here, please let us know. Chances are we’ve done it and can provide a sample of work.

*Note: These samples represent communications and copywriting work. We engage partners to provide website design and development. 

Brand Development & Promotion

University Women’s Club Winnipeg

Website: uwcwpgmb.com

Client: Private Members Club (founded 1909)

Summary: UWC empowers and advances the lives of women through targeted activities and member-driven programming. Message Communications developed a marketing and communications plan and developed website content as part of the club’s brand refresh, aiming to project a modern, progressive image.

Manoverboard

Site with headline: In a sea of digital noise, we bring humanity to the surface.

Website: Manoverboard.com

Client: Graphic Design Studio

Summary: Manoverboard helps progressive organizations advance through bold visual identities and digital platforms. Message Communications created the content for the studio’s website, which won a Site of the Day Awwward in 2022.

Evans Pollock Family Law

Website: pflaw.ca

Client: Collaborative family law practice

Summary: The team at Evans Pollock Family Law is skilled and experienced in alternative dispute resolution, offering collaborative practice, negotiated agreements, mediation, and arbitration. When the firm added a new partner, it used the opportunity to rebrand and launch an updated website. Collaborating with the EPFL principals and a web designer/developer, we created a welcoming site that conveys the firm’s distinct vibe from traditional family law offices.

Prosilience Consulting

The Prosilience website home page with the image of a wavy body of water at the top and the words "Thrive in uncertainty by uncovering the forces preventing change."

Website: prosilience.consulting

Client: Business and team performance consulting

Summary: When the principal and founder of Prosilience launched his consultancy, he did so with a bare-bones website. As the company grew, he engaged us to position his brand as unique in the lean/agile consulting arena. We assembled a team, including a designer and developer, to define the Prosilience brand and visual identity. The company’s new website communicates complex concepts clearly while reflecting the bold, no-nonsense energy behind its brand.

Contact

We’d love to hear from you.

Please call or email us if you need our address information.

1.204.880.4509

hello@messagecommunications.ca