Community Outreach with Impact

Community outreach events break up your routine, get you outside the four walls, and introduce you to new people. They are a great opportunity to meet your stakeholders and network with colleagues. However, there are keys to making your community outreach impactful: understanding the community, identifying your stakeholders, and building brand advocates.

Understanding Your Community

Beginning with market research puts you on a path to identifying needs and developing solutions. What needs have been expressed by members of that community? What are some current events and issues that the media has reported? What are popular lifestyle trends for their demographic? Research their demographics, values and interests. This will help create programs and services to meet the needs of the community you serve.

Identifying Your Stakeholders

What are some of the needs and concerns of the community, your constituents or customers? One way to begin learning this is by getting to know their representatives—city council members, county commissioners, board members, etc.

What issues did the representatives promise to address during their campaigns? What causes do they highlight during public meetings? What programs do they sponsor? What are the annual cultural events celebrated in the community? Contact their representatives to see if there are specific issues they would like your agency to address. This stakeholder group typically knows their communities intimately and can share vital information to make your outreach more effective and impactful.

The next stakeholder group to connect with is your local civic leaders. Constituents involved in civic clubs or community groups are also very active in improving or preserving their community’s character. Frequently, they are the ones who will speak at public hearings, attend board meetings and submit public comments. Their activism has given them the ear of the decision makers and they are routinely consulted to determine the viability of a new program or regulation. They are literally the voice of their community. Their beliefs, opinions and values carry a significant amount of political clout.

Building Brand Advocates

To help prepare your team to serve the community, it's time to educate them. They should have a clear understanding of why the new program, service or regulation is needed and how it will meet the needs of the targeted community. Community outreach events are great opportunities for frontline staff to gain an appreciation for the service they provide to the public.

Because of your active stakeholder engagement, you have also created external brand advocates. Soliciting their participation from the beginning has shown that their feedback matters. They will have a sense of ownership and can help educate fellow community members.

Community Outreach with impact involves taking intentional steps to research your community, having a dynamic stakeholder engagement plan and developing brand advocates that effectively communicate your message.