10 Steps to Building Knock-out Education & Promotion Strategies

A Recycle Coach WebinarBarbara McConnell, APRWednesday, Nov. 9, 2016

Welcome & Introductions

Barbara McConnell, APR

Has worked as a communication specialist for municipal solid waste management Strategic planning Program design Tactical planning and implementation Measurement and monitoring Evaluation

President McConnell Weaver Strategic CommunicationCommunication Coach for Recycle Coach

This Webinar

Series of 4 Strategic Communication Planning Webinars

1. April 20, 2016

2. May 18, 2016

3. November 9, 2016

4. December 14, 2016

Today:1. Dynamic plans in 10 steps2. Intelligent campaigns3. If you can do only 1 thing4. Ready-to-go template

About Municipal Media

• Founded in 2001

• Headquartered in Toronto

• Created RecyclingCalendars.com

• Launched my-waste® App in 2011

• Launched ‘my-waste® website plug-in widget in 2014

• Launched Recycle Coach ® in2016

RecycleCoach.com

Strategic Planning for Intelligent Campaigns

1. Change your mind-set to embrace program measurement strategies, even though they introduce the idea of accountability.

2. Develop a new culture of “just do it”.

3. Banish the thought of “under promising and overdelivering”.

Start “delivering intelligent campaigns” (strategic plans that establish mechanisms that generate benchmark and tracking data relative to you program and that you use as a means of assessing the success of your campaign against the goals).

Develop a Strategic Communication Plan

Using these 10 Steps:

1. Situation 6. Target Audience

2. Goal 7. Key Messages

3. Measurable Objectives 8. Creative Approach

4. Measurement Metrics 9. Communication Tactics

5. Collect & Analyze Data 10. Evaluation

Step 1 – Write the Situation

Every campaign must have context

What is the new opportunity/issue/problem, etc. that you want to address?

Write it down in detail

Note the cause, impact on your program and planned steps to address the situation

What do you want to do?

Tip - If you can only do 1 thing…

Step 1 – Write the Situation

Write the key points of context in three bullets answering the following:

What situation you want to address?

Why it is important?

What you want to do to address it?

Step 2 - Goal

Sets the ultimate desirable outcome and is solution-oriented; it is a statement of the “vision”

Be specific

Usually there is only one goal but in some circumstances there could be two

Objectives would have to address both goals

What do you want to accomplish?

Example: “Increase the recovery of plastic bags and overwrap for recycling. This will be accomplished by building

awareness among residents that they can recycle these materials by taking them to

the new collection bins located at the transfer

station.”

Tip - If you can do only 1 thing…

Write a simple goal statement describing what success looks like.

Example: Increase recovery of plastic bags by motivating residents to take them to the collection bins at the transfer station.

Step 3 - Measurable Objectives

Write no more than 3

Describe what needs to change and by how much to achieve the goal Example: Decrease unacceptable materials by 10% over three months

Important to record this step; provides context for the results

Check back mid-campaign (to adjust if necessary) and at end of the campaign

Will be able to see performance against desired outcome

What needs to change?

Writing Measurable Objectives1. S.M.A.R.T

S – be specific

M – include measurement factors

A – make them attainable

R – make them realistic

T – link them to a time deadline

2. 3 Ws Identify who, what, when

3. Use Action Verbs Identify, create, report, compile, measure,

evaluate

Tip - If you can only do 1 thing…

• Record most important outcome and use a metric that sets a target of success

• Example:

To improve the proper set out of plastic bags and overwrap collected in residential recycling bins by 20% over three month period from September to end of November. This would be measured against a benchmark curbside recycling audit conducted in July, 2016.

Step 4 - Measurable Metrics

Metrics are measurable data points

Collected before, potentially during and after a campaign or program

Allow time in the development of your strategic plan to undertake collection of benchmark (pre-campaign) data

Post campaign measurement results (called tracking) are compared to the “pre” data to assess progress

How will you measure progress?

Options for Measurable Metrics Set out rates Qualitative Research

(focus groups) Curbside/Multi-Unit

Curbside audits Quantitative Research(online survey panels)

All recyclables Only unaccepted materials All recyclables & garbage

MRF audits Recorded town hall meetings

Number of people

MRF recorded visuals Neighbourhood kitchen table meetings

Comparisons with other nearby,similar programs

Bin visual audits Tracking customerservice calls

Newsletter & media analytics

Weigh scale data Website analytics

Depot exit surveys Social media analytics

Strategic P&E Plan Development Timeline

Start writing plan, including measurement

metrics

Execute measurement metrics, get

results

Analyze data & complete plan using results

Launch campaignAssess/measure

results

Apply learnings to next

campaign

Tip - If you can only do one thing…

• Curbside audits – tells you what your residents are doing (but not why and that’s a gap)

• Combined with as much pre and post dataalready being collected as well as walk-around observation qualitative data points as possible

Collecting Data

Step 5 – Analyze Data

Analyze data to reveal barriers to success

Wrong to rely on your gut instinct

Empirical and secondary – both are valid

Assess audience – who do you need to reach out to? (Are some segments recycling better than others? Focus attention where it is needed)

What does your audience know and not know

Look at previous campaigns – what indicators were there that you can use here? What worked, what didn’t

Gather as much data as you can…

Tip - If you can only do one thing….

Mine curbside/multi-unit audits and the other data collected from monitoring systems to look for problem areas that need to be addressed for example, are certain neighbourhoods better

or worse recyclers than others?

And, study resident demographics to understand the composition of your community, and

to look for insights into why neighbourhoods might be different

Step 6 – Define Your Audience

Not all residents are the same.

Study demographics and research information to divide your residents into segments For example, age matters, not everyone consumes information in

the same way

Primary – the people you want to take action Can be multi-layered: age, neighbourhood

Secondary – who else needs to be in the loop?

Who Do You Need to Talk To?

Primary Audience Segments

• Residents

• Single family householders

• Multi-unit Householders

• Householders with children under 18 at home

• Householders with no children under 18 at home

• Demographical distinctions: socio economic; education; ethnicity; language, plus age:

• Silents,

• Boomers,

• GenXers,

• Millennials

Need these groups to take action

Secondary audiencesInternal & external individuals, groups, organizations that need to know or can help you influence campaign outcomes

• Schools & school clubs

• Youth groups

• Ratepayers

• M-U property owners, managers & supervisors

• Cultural organizations

• Media (print & electronic)

• Community environmental leaders & NGOs

• Mayor, CAO, council, senior managers

• Advisory groups

• Business improvement groups

Tip - If you can only do 1 thing…

Think sequentially

Decide on 1 or 2 segments that willrealize results….choose 1 this year

Do your homework

Target them relentlessly

Once you have them on board, expand to the next segment

Step 7 – Key Messages

Keep messages brief

Include a call to action – tell them what you want them to do

Use a hook that the audience will remember and react positively to

Answer “why” and “how”

Avoid jargon and acronyms

Use active verbs

Direct them to where they can get additional information

What words & images work best?

Step 8 – Develop Creative Approach & Implementation PlanUse word/image combination to increase recall and

comprehension

Develop creative that resonates with the segmented audience

Follow the 5 – 8 second rule

Ensure your brand is clear and consistent (not just logo: colours, type face, graphic look and style, too)

Test the creative approach with audience before campaign launch; adjust as necessary

https://www.plastics.ca/ResourcesAndEducation/ImageBankHome

Free Resource:Canadian Plastics Industry Association Image Bank

This is an example of a communication piece that grabs and holds

attention in 5 to 8 seconds

Tip - If you can do only 1 thing…

Write a brief message for a single theme campaign

Have a graphic designer develop it for all mediums – print, billboards, website, digital ads and social media posts

Step 9 – Communication Tactics

3 Broad Categories-•Paid•Earned•Owned

Your campaign outreach strategy will have to be broader than it has in past years to cater to both younger and older demographics.

Paid MediaEverything you would pay for (hard costs)

Print:• Newspapers (+CNA, OCNA)• Magazines• Direct mail • Brochures, flyers, postcards, collection schedules

Electronic:• Radio, television, cable• Social – Google, FB ads

Outdoor:• Billboards, transit shelters, rolling stock

Earned Media

Anything that can raise profile through media (softcosts as they require time and effort)

• News releases – traditional and social media

• Feature stories

• Opinion (submitted)

• Letters to the editor

• Photo opportunities

• Public Service Announcements (PSAs)

• Interviews

• Online blog

Owned Media

• Social media

• Websites (regular and vanity*)

• E-newsletters

• Customer Service Representatives

• Website and social media analytics

• Blogs

*memorable URL

Tip - If you can only do 1 thing…

Go Social…

Digital outreach

Earned media

Social media

Website

Website widgets and apps

Step 10 - Evaluate

At campaign end, replicate the metrics measurements and compare

Will generate credible qualitative and quantitative data

Use the data as the benchmark for the next campaign and strive for continuous improvement

Measure your plan intelligence quotient

Step 11 - Start again

Dive into the next planning exercise

Avoid falling back into old habits and routines

Takes repetition to establish new behaviour

Don’t fall back into the mud of routine thinking and same-stale activities with no measurement mechanisms.

Next webinar – Wednesday, Dec. 14

John MacDonald

Territory Sales Manager

T: 1.855.343.3363 ext.119

E: jmacdonald@recyclecoach.com

Barbara McConnell, APRbmcconnell@recyclecoach.com

Julie Huangjhuang@recyclecoach.com

Content copyright Barbara McConnell, McConnell Weaver Strategic Communication,s 2016