For organizations of every size, community relations activities play an important position in their communications playbook. The nature of being in business means you have a relationship with your community. But you have the opportunity to create a community relations strategy that is intentional, meets your business and corporate citizenship goals and stands the test of time.
Communicating well involves careful research and a targeted communications strategy to a specific audience to reach a specific, measurable goal.
A community relations campaign can be part of a larger public relations and external communications strategy. It’s true that many people think of media relations and broadcast interviews when they think of public relations, but done well, it ishttps://annetiedt.com/f/the-benefits-of-a-community-relations-program much more with lasting benefits.
Here’s what community relations, corporate social responsibility and corporate citizenship plans and programs can look like no matter your organization’s size.
Building your reputation
Can community relations build your reputation? Yes, it can. But if no one knows about how you are contributing, who you are, what you stand for and why the community should value your participation, then you have a golden opportunity to pursue.
This is also why we tend to describe community relations success as getting interviewed on the news or in a magazine. It feels like a win when you see a business being interviewed for their successful mentoring program or how they are partnering with a nonprofit to extend their reach and advance their mission.
Effective community relations cultivates authentic interactions with a sustained commitment over time. For example, H-E-B, an award-winning grocer with more than 300 stores across Texas and Mexico, is known for its community involvement. After Hurricane Harvey landed in 2017, H-E-B sent mobile kitchens, tanker trucks filled with fresh water, and other disaster relief help along the Texas Gulf Coast including Houston, Victoria, Rockport and Beaumont as they coordinated with local authorities. They did this because “providing aid in times of need is the cornerstone of H‑E‑B’s Helping Here philosophy, which promises to stand by communities during times of crisis.”
After the storm passed, H-E-B continued engaging with the community sending volunteer teams to help families with flooded homes, donating to local charities providing long-term assistance and setting up ways customers can easily donate to disaster recovery organizations. The press coverage they received was very favorable, and they are much beloved for their acts of caring in times of crisis.
Because disaster preparedness is an integral part of their community relations program, they have someone on staff who keeps watch for these types of needs. In this way, the supermarket can prepare in advance, then step in and respond. It’s not one news story that makes the success, it’s an aligned strategy that emulates their mission and culture that sets their community relations efforts up for the long haul. Their integrated community relations program is communicated internally and externally with media outreach. It’s part of the reason why they are known as “The supermarket chain that cares for Texans.”
What do you support in the community?
Community relations can also help you share who your organization is and what you stand for. This is another dimension to building your reputation and brand equity, a way of describing how the public values who you are and what you do.
Organizations that are creating a community relations strategy for the first time typically start by reviewing their mission. If your mission statement is your reason for existing, then your community relations program should advance your mission statement.
For example, will you sponsor children’s sports teams for children in underserved neighborhoods, lend leadership skills to a nonprofit’s board of directors, advocate for the importance of art education, take on the cause of food insecurity or work toward cleaner air quality? There are many ways to engage with community, here are a few:
- Mentoring program – giving access to up and coming talent
- Grants or donations to charities – funding for unmet community needs
- Volunteer programs – active partnerships in community initiatives
- Awards – recognizing good deeds, community leadership
- Joining community boards – sharing leadership and connections to advance charitable causes
Community relations, donations and fundraising
You’re also contributing to your community relations program when you make donations that support charities, schools and other educational, cultural or professional organizations with unmet needs.
The Texas Bar Foundation is known for its mission to advance justice in Texas, especially for the underserved. Their community relations program includes distributing grants to charitable organizations that advance the rule of law and make legal services accessible to more people. Organizations that receive a grant are asked to publicize how the money they receive from the foundation makes a difference.
Another way organizations can partner with charities is by helping them fundraise for an important cause. Maybe they sponsor a team of runners raising funds such as Hand to Hold’s Team Hand to Hold campaign which raises money to help families with a baby in the NICU. Or, give goods and services to help a charity share their message with a broader audience in order to raise essential operating funds, as was the case with Urban Roots. A sponsor took a video of their mission in action before and during the COVID-19 pandemic to help them fundraise for their urban farm and youth leadership organization.
Diversity, equity and inclusion
When nationwide protests began in the summer 2020 in response to several high profile cases of police brutality, it became even more important that organizations of every size consider how they should respond. Many acknowledged the uncomfortable truths of institutional racism and discrimination by revisiting and re-investing more in diversity, equity and inclusion efforts internally and externally. This is another example of what community relations can look like.
LaShanda Reed-Larry, former Director of Inclusion, Diversity and Affirmative Action Compliance at Essilor of America, partnered internally with company leaders to create programs that promote inclusion and diversity. They focused on raising awareness about the impact of cultural competency and unconscious bias to create welcoming spaces for all. Why? Besides it being the right thing to do, she says “if we don’t make an effort to create welcoming spaces for all, we stand to lose their business…inclusion and diversity are another way that we are fulfilling our mission of improving lives by improving sight.”
Taking a stand and being transparent
Disasters, news events and conversation may make it appropriate for your organization to take a stand on an issue that is important to you. Part of being a good citizen and a good neighbor is sharing news that the community may need to know about and quell unfounded rumors before they spread too widely.
If an action could be seen as unpopular, it is even more important to create ways for external audiences to give their opinion, create community buy-in and create talking points that answer questions clearly and concisely.
Schools struggling to decide when it is safe to resume in-person school during COVID-19 illustrates a need for community relations. In this situation over-communicating to the community about school opening decision-making processes, timelines even if they are changing, and how to learn what is going on with each campus is paramount. Even if you don’t have all the answers, it’s smart to be honest about details you can share.
Need a strategic partner?
Community relations can be more comprehensive and impactful when you have a long-term strategy in place that measures outcomes. The Amy Carr Communications team excels at helping you get crystal clear about your business goals, so we can help you with an actionable plan that gets results. Sign up for our newsletter to receive news you can use and contact us to set up a strategy session.
Image Source: Canva.com/SDI Productions
