With a background in public sector communications and a history of working with other suppliers to the public sector, engaging with communities is something we know a thing or two about. And it’s not just the public sector that can benefit from better community engagement – everyone can! So, whether you are a public sector organisation that wants to improve your engagement with stakeholders, a supplier to the public sector or a commercial business who wants to improve their marketing with some community engagement tactics – you’re in the right place…
Our credentials
Marcomedia was partly established (all those years ago) to provide the public sector with a better type of supplier. Our founder, Surinder, had spent many years working in the public sector, running engagement campaigns, and saw a need for a commercial supplier that understood community engagement and public sector procurement whilst also being innovative and commercially-savvy. Over the years we have run everything from public health to town planning campaigns.
First things first
How well do you know the community you need to engage with? What is their preferred communication method? Where do they hang-out, shop, eat, drink? There’s no point holding an event in a community centre if your community doesn’t use it or hitting the streets when your community won’t be there. There are techniques you can use to plan the best way to engage with your community – it might be by using local data, browsing local online groups or putting together a steering group. However you do it, investing in making sure you know everything there is to know about your community can save you considerable time and money down the line.
On reflection
Will your community see themselves reflected in your campaign? How will they know it is aimed at them? Does it represent them? We’ve blogged in the past about best practices when it comes to representing communities in our campaigns. This can be tricky to get right and easy to get completely wrong, even with all the best intentions. Which is another reason to consult your communities before launching your campaign.
Word on the street
Once your community engagement plans are in place, we can help you get the word out there with:
- Signage
- Banners
- Flyers
- Brochures
- Websites
- Landing pages
- Apps
- E-campaigns
- Digital advertising
- Print advertising
- Social media
- Event branding
- Pitch decks
- Branded clothing and give-aways
- And anything else you can think of involving design, print and web
But what do they think?
The success of any community engagement campaign is not in how the organisers think it went but how the community feel about it. The most effective way to gage success is to build an evaluative strategy into your campaign from the very beginning. This is also a good way to ensure that the focus remains on your target community throughout the planning process. Our experience of working with (and within) the public sector means that we can help you build evaluative strategies into your community engagement campaigns so you can prove your successes, learn from them and build even more successful ones next time!
Whether you are a public sector professional who wants to engage more with your communities or a brand that wants to benefit from community engagement best practices, call us on 0208 590 0922 or email info@marcomedia.co.uk Our experienced team is ready to engage with you!