Community relations at its best is a long-term strategy for businesses, associations and nonprofits to engage with the community around them. In practice, it is public relations at its finest. While larger corporations may impact their community greatly, even smaller organizations have the ability to make a lasting impact.
A good community relations program doesn’t have to be large with large numbers of employees participating, multiple activities and locations around the world to be successful. In fact, the hallmarks of an effective community relations program includes the following features.
Aligned with your organizational mission
Looking inward helps an organization focus on what matters most. You can’t take on every community need, so it’s smart to figure out where your mission and community needs intersect. The reason you need to narrow your focus is because no organization has the resources to tackle every community need. This is why it’s so important to be strategic in your focus.
For example, if you sell pet supplies, helping pets in the community where you are located makes sense.
Comprehensive and integrated
When you create your plan, consider all of the audiences who may be impacted. Then consider how they might either be involved or be informed about your organization’s community relations activities. Your plan could even dovetail with other business goals: recruiting and retaining employees, building brand awareness, and engaging your customers or members.
Your final goals and programs should be integrated into your website, showing:
- Why your program exists
- Who it helps, and
- What impact it is making.
National Instruments, a global company providing “tailored, software-connected systems for engineers and enterprises,” maintains a corporate responsibility section on its website that deftly explains their values and how they are involved in the community – through developing their employees, encouraging students to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) careers, and environmental responsibility.
They have developed a community relations program that reflects their day-to-day business and connects with people they can directly help, inspire or support.
A comprehensive community relations plan also means you are considering how you can mobilize the entire company or organization. It goes beyond a one-time group volunteer activity and can involve matching donations to causes employees select or that meet a company’s chosen focus and criteria, time off for employees to serve on volunteer boards and community initiatives, community scholarships, and long-standing partnerships that aim to solve deep community needs.
Inclusive and diverse
Smart community relations programs factor in how to include everyone. They may even serve outside audiences who are underrepresented. A good example of this is Applied Materials Foundation’s Generation GirlTM initiative that provides funding for community organizations “to increase girls’ empowerment, facilitate leadership development, and provide access to high quality afterschool enrichment programs, including STEM.”
Well-known
If you’re doing good in the community, you have to share the good news. And if you’re doing it right, you’ll be sharing it internally as well as externally.
H-E-B, a Texas-based grocery store chain, has made a name for itself for the good work it does in the community. From supporting local food banks to disaster relief, they have worked diligently to embody the “No store does more than H-E-B” slogan. Learn how they planned and responded to the coronavirus pandemic for example.
Most people think community relations means getting on the television news or in the local newspaper but community relations is more than just good press.
We always recommend that you have some way of reporting your activities on your website so you can measure traffic. Share your news on social media and tag any nonprofit partners you worked with. And, don’t forget your newsletters to employees and to your customers or others you serve. Look to your owned assets first before you jump to securing earned media by pitching the newspaper or lifestyle blog and sharing your news more widely. This is a critical step when it comes time to measure success.
Measureable
Reporting out to shareholders and/or leadership, employees and the public is part of sharing good news. Some do this by posting impacts online or through an annual report. Your impact can be shared via infographic, email, video or even a podcast. In your initial plan, determine how you will determine success. Some ideas for measuring:
- How much was donated and to which charities?
- How many volunteer hours were donated? Yes, you can quantify the value of each volunteer hour. It’s $27.40 in 2020 in case you were wondering.
- If you do nothing else – make sure you have a page or blog post on your website to document your community relations activities. When you receive mentions from social media, your nonprofit partners or media outlets, they will be pointed to your website where you can measure traffic.
Repeatable and sustainable
The best community relations programs plan well from the beginning, so they can increase the odds the campaign is repeatable and sustainable. If your company has more than one location or you are franchise, you can see the wisdom in setting up a community relations plan that is repeatable and sustainable.
If you’re just getting started with community relations, it’s fine to set up a few volunteer opportunities and build those relationships with charities and see which ones are a good fit. As time moves on, think about narrowing your focus and deepening those relationships over time, so you can increase your impact. Creating a sustainable program that benefits your organization or business and the community is a win-win for everyone.
Strategic advisors dedicated to your success
Thinking through all the ways to impact the community can be a heavy lift if you’ve never done it before. This is why hiring a public relations firm that specializes in helping organizations can be a smart move. At Amy Carr Communications, we help businesses, startups, nonprofits, associations, small businesses and solopreneurs get strategic about sharing good news with the community. Contact us today to sign up to get more good ideas and PR advice you can put to use and to learn more.
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