COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES TOOL - United States …

1 COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES Description Required Activity COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES are plans for communi- No. cating information related to a specific issue, event, situation, or audience. They serve as the blueprints Making it Work for communicating with the public, stakeholders, or even colleagues. When significant events or issues arise, a communi- cation strategy can help organize the information COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES should: that needs to be communicated, identify concerns that may be raised, and ensure the proper audi- outline the objective/goals of the COMMUNICATION , ences are reached. identify stakeholders, define key messages, Why pinpoint potential COMMUNICATION methods and vehicles for communicating information for a The first step toward developing a COMMUNICATION specific purpose, and strategy is to determine the reason why the com- specify the mechanisms that will be used to munication is necessary and defining the desired obtain feedback on the strategy.

2 Objectives. You, as the Community Involvement Coordinator (CIC), should ask yourself, What is COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES do not have to be the issue to which EPA is responding? or What is formal written documents. They can simply the action that EPA is taking that warrants develop- involve taking the time to think about a communi- ment of a COMMUNICATION strategy? before deter- cation problem or issue and determining the best mining the need for the COMMUNICATION . CICs approach for communicating the message or should then ask themselves, What do we want to information. Such an approach is especially true accomplish by communicating this information? . for simple issues that need to be conveyed about Objectives may include: low-risk sites that have not generated a high level of public concern. However, at sites with high providing information;. levels of public concern or site cleanup issues that increasing awareness.

3 Are expected to be controversial, a more formal encouraging action;. written strategy may be needed to ensure that all building consensus;. stakeholders are reached and all key messages changing behavior;. are communicated effectively. promoting community participation;. resolving conflict, or COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES are different from asking for input. Community Involvement Plans (CIPs), which are required under the National Contingency Plan. A Who CIP is a site-specific overall plan to enable mean- ingful community involvement throughout the Once your reason for communicating is determined, Superfund cleanup process. A COMMUNICATION you can focus on defining the audiences you need strategy can be one component of a CIP, but it to reach and how you want to reach them. Ask addresses a specific event, issue, or concern, such yourself the following questions: as an emergency response to a release, or commu- nicating risk at a site.

4 The CIP, on the other hand, Who is involved, affected, interested? describes an overall strategy for conveying and Is there an obvious audience? receiving information throughout the cleanup Are there others who may be affected? process at a site. Are there traditionally underrepresented groups that need to be reached? 1. COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES What information does each stakeholder already message will increase if the same message is have? distributed several times and via multiple methods. What information does each stakeholder need? Keep in mind you may have different communica- What are their concerns? tion goals and therefore may need to use different How is each stakeholder likely to react? COMMUNICATION tools for different groups of people. Delivery methods can include: Keep in mind that the demographics, knowledge, and concerns of your audiences play an important Briefings role in determining the key messages.

5 Exhibits Fact Sheets What Internet Mailings Once the previous steps are complete, you may Presentations schedule a meeting with the site RPM or OSC and Public notices other members of the site team to discuss the Responsiveness summaries COMMUNICATION challenges facing them. This Telephone discussion could involve coordinating with all Site Translation of documents into other languages Team members about community involvement goals spoken by community members and objectives and might involve brainstorming and Videos prioritizing potential messages. Focus on two or three key messages and rank them by importance, timeliness, or other factors. It is possible that you have key messages that are only constructed for Example 1: opportunity for Public Review one or two of your identified audiences. and Comment of Proposed Plan How One CIC faced the challenge of informing stakeholders about an opportunity to Once you have identified your key messages, you review and comment on the proposed need to determine the vehicle for delivering your cleanup plan.

6 After identifying the mes- messages. Keep in mind that you may choose sage and the audience, the CIC decided to different mechanisms to meet different stakeholder hold a public meeting to announce the needs. Here are a few options: opportunity and to invite interested parties to a public participation workshop. By Availability session/open house holding the public meeting at a library on Celebrations/special events a Saturday afternoon, he captured a wider Electronic media, including email, , list serves audience than if he had held it during a or website weeknight. He then identified participants Face-to-face meetings with key stakeholders to attend a workshop for the following Focus groups Saturday. The workshop included informa- Media, including cable TV, display ads, news tion about: 1) requirements for public releases, and press conference review of and comment on site activities; 2).

7 On-scene activities documents supporting the proposed plan, Public hearings and how the proposed plan is organized;. Public meetings and 3) how citizens can maximize their Public or private schools contributions. A workshop handout Social media tools, , YouTube, Facebook, offered step-by-step instructions for Twitter reviewing the site information (including Workshops what to look for) and for filing comments. The result: more than half of the workshop As a CIC, you should be able to determine how you attendees submitted comments on the want to deliver your message to produce the best proposed cleanup plan. results. Note that the reach and impact of your 2. COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES Delivering your Message Example 2: Deletion of the site from the NPL. In assessing your total COMMUNICATION strategy, ask At a Superfund site where the cleanup was yourself, What resources are readily available to completed, enabling site deletion from the me to communicate my message?

8 Once you have NPL, the CIC crafted one final communi- identified your needs and resources, review poten- cation strategy. First, she recognized that tial constraints you might face and develop strate- her challenge was to reach a broad gies for overcoming these challenges. Determine audience. The CIC also realized that when the COMMUNICATION will be best received. communicating a deletion from the NPL. Determining the best timing involves thinking about should include both State and regional whether your audiences prefer to be reached on officials who could give the cleanup weekdays or weekends, mornings or evenings, at success the attention it deserved by hold- work, or at home. Keep in mind that community ing news conferences or communicating demographics play an important role in determining with their elected representatives. The the best methods for message delivery. Older successful site cleanup was primarily due populations or communities in remote locations may to community partnerships and an impor- not be comfortable with or have access to the tant technological advancement developed Internet, and some ethnic groups may prefer radio at the site that cut cleanup time by 50%.

9 Or a community newspaper to television as a news these became the focus of her message. source. Build in time for producing materials and Once she had considered her audience advance notice of events. and framed the message, she reviewed the Media many delivery vehicles available to her. She decided that delivering the message The media can play an important role in the com- via network/cable television or a front- munication process. Therefore, if your communica- page newspaper article would garner the tion strategy includes use of the media to convey high visibility COMMUNICATION that the story your message, you should work closely with your warranted. By pushing the technological regional site press officer to ensure that the local angle, her messages got front-page cover- media has the most important and accurate infor- age in the major city newspaper, and were mation about the issue or event that you want to picked up by the local television station.

10 Communicate to your audience. Know the media deadlines in advance and take these into consider- ation when timing your COMMUNICATION . more effective strategy if television coverage is the preferred medium for conveying your message. Budget Considerations Similarly, you may determine that you cannot rely on e-mail to notify stakeholders of an upcoming Many of the best COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES also are event, and will have to mail notices. the most cost-effective, but sometimes a communi- cation strategy will require COMMUNICATION methods Feedback that take considerable resources. Therefore, it is important for CICs to know the resources that are When delivering your key messages, ensure your available to them and to take possible resource messages are clearly communicated and have limitations into consideration when developing the integrity. Encourage your audience to provide COMMUNICATION strategy.