Building a direct channel to state education leaders
What we did
Strategic positioning
Executive thought leadership
Message development
Editorial strategy
Policy translation
Community building
Client
Where
National
The challenge
Watershed first approached us about a traditional thought leadership strategy built around a series of op-eds. But it quickly became clear that:
1) They had far more strong ideas than could realistically be placed in a year.
2) Their audience wasn’t the general public — it was a relatively narrow group of people shaping state education policy and practice.
They didn’t need to be in the New York Times or even Education Week to reach the right people. A huge portion of their target readership was already in their professional network. What they needed was a way to consistently share more ideas on more topics with more depth.
The work
Instead of chasing placements, we built an owned platform: The Delta, a LinkedIn newsletter that reaches thousands of education leaders directly in their feeds and inboxes.
Partnering with Watershed, we named, launched, and sustain this newsletter with sharp, fresh insights every week. Each issue breaks down timely, complex policy questions into clear language, with concrete examples and practical guidance for leaders driving change in their states.
“Week after week, the Be Clear team turns our brain dumps into bite-sized, fun-to-read columns with advice for state policymakers that make big goals feel actionable.”
Jessica Baghian
President, Watershed Advisors
“People approach me all the time to tell me they read The Delta every week and love what we write. Chiefs and policy staff regularly reach out to say, ‘We shared this with our team,’ or ‘This helped frame our thinking.’”
Kunjan Narechania
CEO, Watershed Advisors
The results
Through The Delta, Watershed Advisors has grown a highly engaged network of state education leaders who actively use their insights in their work.
Its audience includes state chiefs, legislative staff, philanthropic partners, and governors. Guest contributors have included Colorado Governor Jared Polis, MacArthur genius Angela Duckworth, and John Bailey, former director of education technology at the US Department of Education.
Instead of relying on a handful of op-ed placements, Watershed has published nearly 100 timely, state-focused pieces, with hundreds of thousands of article views. They didn’t need an external gatekeeper to reach their audience. They just needed a creative, targeted strategy and a talented writing team that could bring their bold ideas to the page.