Improper disposal of HHW – such as pouring them down the drain or toilet, onto the ground, into storm sewers, or even into the trash—can – pollute the environment and contaminate septic tanks or drinking water. Most people don’t realize that throwing these items away can result in physical injury to people or pets, but some cities have started campaigns to increase public awareness.

The City of Indio recently teamed up with the Riverside County Department of Waste Resources to double the amount of free hazardous and toxic waste drop off events throughout the year. These events are part of the city’s “Box It and Bring It” campaign, which it has used for the last few years, and which it plans to continue through 2020.

Because this campaign presented a real challenge for creatively communicating a great deal of information and increasing public participation, The City of Indio reached out to Goldstreet for help educating and engaging the community. The city wanted to create materials that contained an explanation of HHW items, a list of acceptable items to bring to the drop-offs, collection dates and locations, and tips for HHW disposal. They needed comprehensive materials that could be used for several years by simply changing the event dates each year.

Goldstreet Designs, the City of Indio, and The Sustainability Commission all worked together to create the HHW campaign. The three organizations started by focusing on a succinct campaign message, along with a tagline. Next, they turned to the design of the materials, using catchy colors and photo illustrations to complement the message. With so many partners collaborating, the campaign approval process went through several rounds of brainstorming, drafting, and change-making. Both the City of Indio and the Sustainability Commission offered Goldstreet guidance as the agency brought the “Box It and Bring It” campaign to life.

Sara Toyoda, from The City of Indio, says, “I’m happy with the way everything turned out. The community is responding to the events. People tend to bring the items on the list and there is less confusion at the events. There are still some questions, but not many, since the outreach material is clear on what to bring.”

In the end, the “Box It and Bring It” campaign included several types of materials, including bill inserts and social media snackables. The playful visuals of the materials’ photo illustrations have helped get readers’ attention, while the bright colors and bold fonts are perfect for emphasizing the most important pieces of information. A comprehensive PDF is also now located on the website, serving as a resource for all things Household Hazardous Waste and proper disposal.

Toyoda says, “The colors, taglines and branding are all very recognizable. Now people know what to look for and that this outreach is for the HHW collection.”

Through their collaboration with Goldstreet, The City of Indio was able to create a memorable and educational campaign that they’ll now be able to use for years to come.

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Have a Key Message

Before you get started, be sure that you’re clear about the main point you want the public to take away. Trying to cover too many topics at once can water down your message and make it hard for people to remember. Alternatively, one key message that you support through signage, promotional materials and talking points is more likely to have lasting impact.

Think About Your Audience

Now that your clear about your message, it’s time to think about where to deliver it. Is your information targeted to adults, children, homeowners, pet owners? Think about your audience and make sure you plan your event where they might best be reached. Considering budget vs impact is also important. Because outreach resources are often tight, you want to spend more of your budget on programs that have a wider reach and less on those for a smaller audience.

Get the Word Out

Promoting your event is also crucial to its success. You can start generating interest ahead of time through social media, website posts, media outlets, community calendars, etc. A little buzz can go along way!

Don´t Be a Wallflower

When it comes to the day of the event, it´s either go big or be invisible. So make sure you brand your booth with banners, table covers and other signage that stand out and deliver your key message. There´s no such thing as being too visible!

Make Your Booth the Place to Be

Giveaways are always a great way to attract people to your booth. To make them more meaningful, develop promotional items that tie in with your key message. For example, if you want to teach kids about water conservation, you could consider a colorful activity book with teaching points around the subject. To build the excitement, invite people in for a game with the giveaways as prizes. Educating the public through games and activities brings a sense of fun to the learning process and helps them remember your message. Be sure to follow the activities with a take home handout that reinforces your point.

Put Your Best Face Forward

Preparing your staff is key to making your community event a success. After all, these are the people that will literally be the face of your company. Make sure that they are well prepared with talking points that deliver a consistent message. Just as important is being a good host. Branded refreshments and a smile will make people feel welcome and more apt to listen your message.

Need more help with your community event? Goldstreet has developed outreach programs for utilities and agencies across the country. The activities and communication pieces we create will get noticed and resonate with your customers.

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The reality is, it doesn’t matter the reasons you wish you could do more outreach or the reasons you aren’t doing outreach. What needs to be the focus is making the most of the outreach you do provide because, if you create successful outreach, it will garner support from management to create more outreach.

Over the years, we’ve worked with nearly 350 utilities and municipalities on communication plans, public education programs and outreach covering a wide variety of demographics and topics. You name it, we’ve likely covered it; annual reports, communicating rate increases, water reclamation use and education, tracking improper pet waste disposal and reduction, kids outreach and activities for Fats, Oils and Grease, transitioning to online water quality reports, social media content creation, NPDES program development, the list goes on and on.

With this experience, we have seen strong trends in unsuccessful outreach efforts. Or, should I say, the reason for the lack of engagement with outreach materials is consistent.

Here are 5 reasons your outreach may not be resonating and creating engagement with your customers.

1. The quality of your outreach doesn’t match the quality of your department’s work: You are professionals in your field. That field may not be marketing and communications, but you work hard to keep your department running smoothly. Whether that be infrastructure systems, treatment systems, accounting or office management, you work hard to do your job correctly. Therefore, why would you put out outreach that didn’t match the professionalism of your organization? Of, if you aren’t providing any outreach, how professional does that make your department or organization look? If your outreach is not as professional, the your customers won’t respect it and engage with it.
2. There are way too many words and not any or enough engaging graphics: an easy way to think of it is what can you read when you are standing in your grocery line? People are on the go, whether looking a phone, driving by a billboard or opening their mail, people are busy. So, when you are trying to reach them make sure you grab their attention with graphics that are bold and include short, simple content. Provide a link to more detailed information but make sure to get their attention. Too many words means you’ll lose them before you ever had them engaged.
3. Your messaging is not integrated: Integrated marketing, to put it simply, it means that all your outreach is consistent. If you provide outreach to customers through bill inserts, website, social media and radio PSA’s then the content better be consistent and your branding message consistent so customers recognize the communication as a program and engage with it. This needs to include your internal communications to employees too!
4. You aren’t doing enough of it: Providing communication in only 1 area, such as the website is not enough. Or, if you just do a bill insert, it’s not enough. Customers need to be reminded multiple times and in multiple ways so come up with creative ways to reach customers such as bill inserts, updating your website content and social media updates are all ways to share your program goals and information.
5. No call to action: How do you know if your customers are even reading or seeing your information if you don’t provide a call to action? What are they supposed to do? Sign up for a program? Clip a coupon and bring it in? Enter to win? Call? Visit a webpage? click on a link? There are all viable options. so, when you are creating your outreach or education program, make sure you include a way to monitor your program and actually engage your customers.

These tips can help you in our next outreach piece, plan and/or program!

The post 5 Reasons Your Outreach May Not Be Engaging Your Utility Customers appeared first on Goldstreet Designs.

Solution: After careful analysis of the six concepts presented, the design team proposed an illustrative theme that would provide bright colors, simplicity, flexibility and consistency to the campaign. Drafts were presented for a couple of concepts and once approved; the style and design were carried forward to the other messages. Once all artwork and language was approved in English, then translations were done and applied to the Spanish versions. This way, if a Spanish speaking customer saw the sign, they could still get the message through the artwork and vice versa. Street sweeping rules, recycling center information, hazardous waste disposal and general community clean up were all brought to life in a light hearted and eye catching way.

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