By John-Paul Danon, CAN Sales Director. Originally posted 15 June 2017
When you work in public sector communications, there are few things more invigorating than a Comms2point0 unconference.
I work at The Council Advertising Network where we love helping comms teams do more for less – we give you cold hard cash and run digital campaigns for 80% less than traditional channels. I wanted to hear what other organisations were doing to make budgets go further so I pitched a session on tips and tricks to do more with less.
Here are the top tips I gleaned from Comms2point0 sessions.
Partnerships
Map all the organisations whose objectives align with your campaign, reach out, share your plans and see where combining forces and channels could add value – Key success point: Avoid committing to every idea, but select and plan the most dominant activities and keep communication flowing.
For example
Leeds City Council ran a Dying Matters Campaign in partnership with their local NHS Trust. They found that palliative care nurses made excellent advocates and that people trusted and listened to them more than they would to generic broadcast messages.
Sponsorship
Your channels, campaigns and events are valuable. If you let carefully selected brands and organisations know what you are planning, they are often more than happy to contribute to your marketing budget, resources and channels to support your campaign.
For example
British Gas helped fund a DWP campaign to support the elderly in areas with higher rates of fuel poverty.
Leeds City Council found a company that specialised in New Orleans style funerals for the BME community. BME males were a key target audience for the Dying Matters campaign so the company contributed funds and a jazz band and were glad to be involved in the campaign. Win win.
Your existing assets
You probably send out hundreds if not thousands of emails every week. Your website is visited by thousands of people. Your social media channels reach unique and sizeable audiences. These channels must be used in order to boost campaign reach or generate income to supplement future marketing budgets.
Your colleagues
People trust people, not brands or corporate identities. Placing your people as the voice of your campaign increases its impact. Comms teams have been surprised at how eager staff are to be featured and to help drive social media interaction.
If you would like to contact any of the people who contributed the ideas above, please email me and I will put you in touch: johnpaul.danon@counciladvertising.net