How can the project be developed?

A regular media contact programme should be established to maximize all future publicity opportunities. As the working relationship develops, there may be opportunities to work together with the media on a joint sponsorship, where the company underwrites the costs and the media partner guarantees the publicity. This can be on either a local, regional or national scale, involving either newspapers, radio or television. The sponsorship can sometimes be so successful that it is difficult to know who is the official event sponsor and who is just the programme sponsor.

Ongoing awareness can be enhanced by producing either a community involvement brochure (which gives an overview of the community involvement programme and its objectives) or, if you are a site-based company, creating an A4 site community newsletter, which informs local opinion formers, residents and employees about current developments and site based projects. To support this, it is vital that you have appropriate photographs and can develop complementary displays and exhibitions.

A community programme should also have a clear policy on branding initiatives relating to advertising hoardings, community adverts, e.g. forewards in programmes, raffle prizes and reception display boards. Every opportunity should be used to feature your company’s logo and carry the corporate message, as frequency of viewing leads to greater retention.

This is clearly demonstrated by Cola-Cola’s sponsorship of a football competition where not only does it have title sponsorship but the name Coca-Cola is prominently featured on virtually every item which has potential television coverage from the pitch to advertising hoardings to branded baseball caps given to the winners to wear. The bottom line benefit is that awareness research clearly shows that their target audience is aware of their support for the sport of football.

The final added value opportunity is to seek opportunities to project the overall sponsorship programme as a best practice role model by undertaking conference speaking opportunities sand the publication of written features.

Measurement and evaluation criteria

A community involvement programme is traditionally difficult to measure in terms of quantifiable results. However, this should not be seen as a deterrent, since if community involvement is to be seen as a key contributor to the business, it must be judged like any other activity, with its main components evaluated and measurable. Such a programme will usually be measured by key performance indicators of:

• publicity achieved;

• employee feedback;

• value for money;

• creativity;

• comparable external benchmark;

• thank you letters appreciation;

• measured opinion former perceptions.

Business benefits of the programme

As previously stated, the community relations strategy must be linked to your business objectives. The following outlines how this can be achieved, based on the three factors of cost, performance and quality.

1. Cost – by creating awareness of the company’s values, innovative approaches, resultant media coverage and matching funding obtained, you will seek to maximize the value for money of the investment. This information should be provided in a monthly report to senior management. The report should also highlight your progress in achieving your key performance indicators.

2. Performance – create a role model profile based on performing to the highest achievable standards and establishing your programme as a recognized industry best practice. This success should then motivate employees to get involved and must be linked to their own desire for quality personal development opportunities.

3. Quality – use the latest communication techniques for delivery and evaluation of the strategy and, wherever possible, create opportunities within the programme to inform your target audience about the strengths of your product base, focusing sponsorships in areas where your products are popular or where your key customers and suppliers are based.