Communications Business Plan
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1 5. Team Letter 7. Mission, Vision & Values 6. What is Citizen-Centric? 9. Organizational Chart CONTENTS 14. SWOT 20. Audience Demographics 16. Department Highlights 23. What We Do 18. Collaboration Workload 24. Five Year Implementation Table by Goal 2 10. Executive Summary 11. Benchmarking: Statistically Valid Survey 11. Industry Trends & Best Practices 12. Citizen Survey Data CONTENTS 32. Fiscal Outlook 33. Future 34. Staff Time 3 David Graham Assistant City Manager Sarah Prohaska Communications Director Nicole Hricik Marketing Supervisor & Communications Liaison Melissa Yunas Project Manager Maureen Kenyon Social Media Coordinator/Digital Storyteller Benjamin Elliott Digital Video Producer Matt Dutiel Digital Video Producer Avi Monina Digital Media Production Coordinator Gustavo Nadasi Digital Technology Coordinator Patricia D’Abate Web Content & Graphic Specialist Alyssa Taylor Graphic/Digital Content Specialist 4 Team Letter The last decade has ushered in dramatic change in the ways people receive news and information. The evening television news and the morning newspaper are no longer the definitive source of news. People now have a multitude of channels from which they receive information – a 140-character tweet, a Facebook video, local news blog or live streamed video. Technology has provided an ever- expanding host of venues for sharing information with names like Meerkat, Instagram, Periscope and Snapchat. People can download and digest information anywhere at any time with tablets and smart phones. For a large, diverse City like Port St. Lucie, it can be challenging to communicate to every audience in the particular ways that resonate with each one. However, the City’s communications team enjoys and thrives on these challenges. We are always working to find new, innovate ways to tell our story and reach our citizens. The year 2020 pushed the department to innovate in new ways because of our new virtual reality ushered in because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Staff became early innovators using the Zoom platform for public meetings, allowing City Council meetings to continue undeterred during the pandemic. Staff also became experts in the best ways to conduct virtual public workshops. What is the best way to get relevant, important information to our community and the public? Share what’s happening in our city? Let people know about a new program or public meeting? We look at these as opportunities to celebrate our city, inform our residents, and educate people about topics that impact their daily lives. Most importantly, we want our residents to know exactly how the City is accomplishing its strategic goals that will guide Port St. Lucie as we grow. We’re also reaching beyond our neighborhoods and the City limits to engage our citizens in dialogue at the state and national level though platforms like our popular social media. Always, the citizen is at the heart of everything we do. For us, this means relationships are built by listening and responding to the needs of our citizens, not only today but as well as in the future. The City strives to deliver citizen-centric communication by staying true to our goals of service: • Providing accurate, diverse and transparent information, on a timely basis, on the channels, devices and platforms that our citizens prefer. • Creating opportunities for our citizens to become more engaged with topics that are important to them and the community and creating actionable insights from the learnings – such as the Citizen Summit and National Community Survey™. • Delivering high-quality and consistent experiences to ensure a high level of citizen trust and satisfaction, which reflects PSL’s positive reputation. • Shifting from City-focused to citizen-focused communications. • Building a program of continuous feedback and improvement. With the implementation of this plan, we’ve worked hard to stay true to our departmental vision to be innovative influencers utilizing cutting-edge technology to reinvent government communication. At the same time, we are always focused on the City’s overall vision to be a safe, beautiful and prosperous City for all people – Your Hometown. Sincerely, 5 What is Citizen- Communication?Centric There is no such thing as one-way communication with your government anymore. We embrace two-way, multi-platform, collaborative communication strategies. This philosophy helps drive: Collaboration with other agencies and across silos Technology and innovation Adaptation to the changing needs of the public Constructive feedback and data-driven decisions 6 Mission To tell Port St. Lucie’s story and engage with the community as driven by the City’s Strategic Plan. Vision To be innovative influencers utilizing cutting-edge technology to reinvent government communication. Values Act with INTEGRITY. Learn through INNOVATION. Excel through COLLABORATION. Deliver exceptional SERVICE. Create a culture of ACCOUNTABILITY. 7 Gustavo Nadasi Digital Technology Coordinator Benjamin Elliott Digital Video Producer David Graham Assistant City Manager Matthew Dutiel Digital Video Producer Nicole Hricik Marketing Supervisor & Sarah Prohaska Communications Liaison Communications Director Patricia D’Abate Web Content Graphic Specialist Melissa unas Project Manager Alyssa Taylor Graphic/Digital Content Specialist Avi Monina Digital Media Production Coordinator Maureen Kenyon Social Media/Digital Storyteller 8 Executive Summary The Communications Department’s Strategic Plan creates a blueprint for providing the best possible communication with the City of Port St. Lucie’s residents, community partners, businesses and visitors. The development of this plan happened over 12 months and is based on the following foundations: • Consultation of City of Port St. Lucie’s leaders and city staff. • Review of best practices in Port St. Lucie and other communities across the nation. • Multiple audits of our current state of communication including our communication vehicles, the architecture and user-end functionality of the City’s website, social media and brand communications. Those steps provided the foundation for this document, with a central communications department mission for staff to be thought leaders while telling PSL’s story and engaging with the community as driven by the City’s Strategic Plan. This mission is rooted in four, attainable goals: 1. Tell Our Story so residents know where PSL started, where we are now and where we’re going. 2. Engage the Community through every platform available. 3. Be Innovative by trying new things and staying on the cutting-edge of technology. 4. Collaborate through teamwork by building strong relationships with city staff, citizens, other agencies and partners. This plan was built upon consistent research and feedback from the public, most notably, our annual news survey and the statistically-valid annual Community Survey. The department has attached concrete measurements to each goal in order to gauge impact and return on investment. While always focused on the citizen, the department leads and assists PSL’s communications through four pillars: Internal (staff); External (citizens); Elected leaders (City Council); and Legislative (state and federal officials). The department’s efforts resulted in more than 36 awards from various private and government organizations in 2020. Every staff member is expected to provide exceptional customer service, be innovative problem solvers, work with a positive attitude and integrity and always continue to learn. Adaptability is critical to the success of this plan, making this a “living document” that is meant to be regularly updated to meet the needs of our organization and customers. Succession Planning Cross training staff and offering quality external training are two foundational pillars for the Communications Department. They also are key in the department’s succession planning efforts. Each staff member is cross-trained to be able to stand in for another person on each of these teams: website/ graphics, content and video. This not only allows staff to acquire a new skill set and develop their career path, it also allows for a seamless transition if a staff member leaves the organization, is promoted or is moved to a different position. Leadership development also is highly encouraged. Outside leadership training is offered to those identified as potential future departmental leaders. Staff members are also encouraged to take on leadership positions in their professional organizations outside of the City. For example, several departmental staff members voluntarily serve on the board of directors for communications-related professional organizations. Another professional development tool utilized within the department is every staff member, no matter how senior, is empowered to “lead” and “own” a project. A project leader has the ability to offer direction to others on the project team and take ownership and accountability of the final results. 9 Industry Trends and Best Practices Like many industries, the world of Communications is undergoing a tremendous amount of change. The following are six key identified trends that are particularly relevant to the City’s ability to effectively communicate to citizens. 1. Growing alignment of public relations and marketing A recent survey indicated that 60% of marketing executives believe that the public relations and marketing disciplines will become more closely aligned within the next five years (Global Communications Report, 2017). This closer integrated project team