Mark Buzan, APR – Principal and “Chief Magnifier” of Action Strategies

A senior association and non-profit professional, specializing in strategic communications and government relations

Learn about Mark Buzan, Principal of Action Strategies

Mark A. Buzan, APR is a senior and expert professional with 14 years of experience as a relationship builder in public relations, lobbying, social media, stakeholder relations in roles as a Stakeholder Liaison, Senior Communications, Membership Recruiter, and Association Management Consultant.  Mark is the Principal and Chief Magnifying Officer in Action Strategies.  

As the the driving force behind Action Strategies’ success, he has developed advanced skills in association/ non-profit strategy planning in governance, public affairs, board/ employee relations, marketing communications, advocacy and public relations. Mark is accredited in Public Relations from the Canadian Public Relations Society. He is also the Co-Author of Online PR and Social Media for Not-for-Profits and Associations.  

Fully trilingual (Spanish, French & English), Mark Buzan has developed comprehensive public affairs campaigns for non-profit organizations and associations worldwide. He has used his savvy to engage nonprofit stakeholders online and offline resulting in higher membership recruitment and retention levels, and increased event attendance for his association clients. 

His media relations successes are proven with coverage gained for his clients on TSN, Bloomberg Business Newswire, the Atlantic Business Journal, Toronto Star, Maclean’s Magazine, CTV and Fox Morning News and many more.  Thorough research skills, his broad experience in government, the private sector, and the association world have all allowed him to take complex issues and communicate them to legislators and stakeholders alike.  With the Canadian Hydropower Association, he secured the young association’s first ever presentation before a government caucus.  At the Canadian Construction Association, he lobbied and succeeding in attaining inclusion of industry concerns into the respective election platforms of all of the parties in parliament. 

Mark is the co-author of “Online PR and Social Media for Not-for-profits and Associations”.  He has trained, counseled, and managed a number of associations in successfully navigating their way to maximizing the power of social networking so that they can achieve their online advocacy initiatives.  He has special knowledge of integrating social networking strategies with traditional government relations, media relations, and all forms of public relations.

Core strengths:

• Member Services & Retention: Membership Recruitment, Donor Loyalty, Donor & Sponsor Recruitment
• Grassroots Advocacy Campaign Design: Direct marketing, Email campaigns, Advocacy Group coordination, eAdvocacy
• Media Relations & Public Relations: Social Media, Press Releases, Marketing Communications, Media Training, Public Relations Plans, Strategic Communications Plans, Public relations crisis management
• People Management & Human Resources: Employee Retention Campaigns, Human Resource Planning

• Stakeholder Relations: Focus Group Coordination, Stakeholder Engagement, Employee Communication, Brand Reputation, PR Strategy, Community Consultation, Stakeholder mapping
• Government Relations: Lobbying, Public Affairs, Regulatory Affairs, Meetings with Members of Parliament, Issue management, Policy Development
• Marketing/ sponsor strategy: Online marketing, Sponsorship, Advertising, Marketing design, Social marketing strategies
• Internal Communications: Corporate communication, Employee engagement, Effective communication skills, Communication skills training, Staff communication, Interpersonal communication skills
• Change Management: Project management, Risk Management, Business management, Non-Profit Governance / Association Governance, Organizational change, Turnaround Management

• Social Media Strategy: Social networking, Viral marketing, Social media optimization, Online marketing strategy, Social media monitoring, Social media public relations
• Budget Management: Project management, Financial management, Project management tools
• Grant Writing: Non Profit Fundraising, Government grants, Proposal writing, Non profit grants
• Organizational Leadership: Change management, Organizational development, Leadership Skills, Team leadership