ONLINE STAKEHOLDER DIALOGUE AND ENGAGEMENT
[ A complete multi-media communications toolkit ]
WHAT IS
StakeholderTALK™ StakeholderTALK™ is a complete multi-media communications toolkit. Developed by IMS Consulting, StakeholderTALK™ meets the needs of both private and public sector organisations wanting to develop two-way communications with their key target audiences. StakeholderTALK™ provides customised, online delivery of information and two-way communication between you and your stakeholders.
THE BENEFITS OF
ONLINE ENGAGEMENT
WHY USE
StakeholderTALK™ Improve stakeholder communication: StakeholderTALK™ is a powerful set of online tools and methodologies developed to improve the way your organisation communicates with stakeholders.
Fast and effective deployment: StakeholderTALK™’s modular format enables engagement, dialogue and communications programmes to be built quickly and deployed effectively.
Manage and measure: using the latest generation web technologies, StakeholderTALK™ delivers a communications toolkit that makes stakeholder engagement manageable and measurable.
Rapid deployment
ONLINE ENGAGEMENT
Appealing for those with limited time or mobility
By linking the online functions of StakeholderTALK™ with the sector knowledge and communications expertise resident at IMS Consulting, clients benefit from a unique dialogue and engagement package. Some organisations use specific StakeholderTALK™ modules for one-off projects, whilst others undertake an ongoing communications programme utilising the entire toolkit.
Takes consultation directly to the stakeholders Conducted in the stakeholder’s own environment Confidentiality possible, resulting in more honest responses Information presented in a number of different formats, appealing to different groups Utilises one of the most widely used communications tools – the internet
STAKEHOLDER DIALOGUE AND ENGAGEMENT Communicating sustainability with your key stakeholders, internally and externally, provides real dividends. A properly structured strategy will help to strengthen relationships with customers and employees, create a competitive advantage for your business and improve your licence to operate.
CUSTOMERS SUPPLIERS
EMPLOYEES
GENERAL PUBLIC
NGOs
MEDIA
INVESTORS
WHO ARE YOUR
Stakeholders? The starting point for all communications programmes should be the proper identification of audiences. This is particularly important when communicating messages on an organisation’s actions with regard to sustainability. Most organisations want to broadcast their actions and achievements to a wide range of stakeholders. However, it is important to understand that different stakeholder groups will have differing views of the originator of the messages and they will almost certainly have different levels of understanding and comprehension of sustainability. But who are your stakeholders? One definition is: a person, group, organisation or system that affects, or can be affected by, an organisation’s action. Remember, internal stakeholders – usually employees – are a key audience that are often overlooked in engagement programmes. Depending upon your business, the stakeholder groups will vary, but there are a number that will remain broadly constant. These are illustrated here:
SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS
GOVERNMENT AND LEGISLATORS
StakeholderTALK™Report!! ONLINE REPORT PUBLISHING
THE TOOLS
Research carried out on behalf of clients by IMS Consulting has shown, not surprisingly, that many people prefer to view CSR and sustainability reports online. Most companies are unable to do anything more than provide a PDF of their report on their corporate website. By comparison, StakeholderTALK™Report! delivers a full, chapter-by-chapter, indexed report, complete with search engine, download capabilities and a range of presentation formats.
Here are just a few typical examples of how the StakeholderTALK™ tools can be used to improve your organisation’s stakeholder communications: CLICK ON THE HEADINGS TO VIEW LIVE EXAMPLES CUSTOMER APPLICATION: Waste Recycling Group publish their CSR report online, using StakeholderTALK™Report!
StakeholderTALK™Resource!! INTERACTIVE RESOURCE LIBRARY StakeholderTALK™Resource! is an interactive multimedia resource library that can be used to disseminate and share information between different stakeholder groups. At its simplest level, Resource! can be used to store and deliver documents, video, audio and multimedia content for viewing. More comprehensively, the tool can be used by the stakeholders themselves to upload and share resources, review and update files and work on joint ‘living’ documents. An easy to navigate library interface and the ability to provide different access levels to different groups means this versatile tool is ideal for stakeholder dialogue.
CUSTOMER APPLICATION: Waveney District Council selected StakeholderTALK™ as the online engagement aspect of a Defra Pathfinder Project on coastal erosion. StakeholderTALK™Resource! provides the library facility within this important community engagement initiative.
StakeholderTALK™Case Study! ONLINE EVIDENCE DATABASES Building up a bank of evidence of best practice is an important part of ongoing stakeholder communications. StakeholderTALK™Case Study! provides a dynamically updated resource library of case studies that can be accessed using a variety of search options. In its most advanced form, the engine uses an interactive multimedia platform to deliver video clips, project information and case studies.
CUSTOMER APPLICATION: At Morgan Sindall Group Plc, StakeholderTALK™Case Study! provides project information in HTML and PDF format. Cross-referencing via a menu of sustainability features, divisional projects, key word search or related projects, provides users with a powerful evidence resource.
StakeholderTALK™Survey! VALIDATION THROUGH FEEDBACK Feedback from customers, staff and other influencers can help your organisation shape the way it operates. The StakeholderTALK™Survey! tool, gathers valuable information, which is provided as a written report, complete with analysis of quantified results. Satisfaction surveys, employee engagement programmes and customer feedback can be undertaken using StakeholderTALK™. Data is gathered online using intelligent skip-logic technology which takes users through a unique questioning path. The results are then analysed within the toolkit to provide real market intelligence on the views and reactions of stakeholders.
CUSTOMER APPLICATION: Many companies find the Survey! module useful in assessing the effectiveness of their CSR or sustainability reports. The Concrete Centre use StakeholderTALK™ to gather opinion on the Sustainable Concrete Forum’s Concrete Industry Sustainability Performance Report.
StakeholderTALK™News! EFFECTIVE AND MEASURABLE E-MARKETING StakeholderTALK™News! allows you to communicate regularly with your stakeholders using e-newsletters that are engaging, visually pleasing and cost-effective. Utilising graphical HTML design and well written copy prepared by IMS, our e-marketing system ensures your mail arrives with the right person, at a good time and in the right place (ie. inbox not junk-box). Links to hosted presentations and case studies encourage readers to engage with your organisation whilst detailed email tracking and analysis allows you to measure exactly how well your campaign is performing.
CUSTOMER APPLICATION: The Bristol Environmental Technology Sector trade association (BETS) recently used StakeholderTALK™News! to keep its broad membership base updated on activities. The number of visitors to the new BETS website (also developed by IMS Consulting) doubled during the campaign.
StakeholderTALK™Interactive! INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA PRESENTATIONS StakeholderTALK™Interactive! provides a tailored, interactive, web-based presentation that explains the key issues for your organisation. Using Flash technology, broadcast-quality video clips, interactive menus and downloadable PDFs, Interactive! encourages stakeholders to engage with your organisation online. Whether detailing a sustainability agenda or explaining your company’s sector expertise, Interactive! is the ideal reference point, presenting information in a way that’s easy to understand and appealing to view.
CUSTOMER APPLICATION: StakeholderTALK™Interactive! was used to create an online ‘World of Sustainability’ for Skanska AB. The tool uses interactive video to explain the company’s approach to sustainability and links directly to the latest case studies on construction best practice.
StakeholderTALK™Channel! NEWS AND INFORMATION CHANNELS IMS Consulting offers a range of media relations, news gathering and copywriting services. These are combined into a single online service using StakeholderTALK™Channel! Key information and intelligence on your organisation, the sectors you operate within and news items important to your operations can be produced by the IMS team. This news is delivered via a dedicated website. Traffic is tracked and analysed in detail, providing an accurate picture of what information is important to your stakeholders.
CUSTOMER APPLICATION: With over 2 million hits and 30,000 unique visitors a year, WaterBriefing is the UK’s only daily news and information service dedicated to the water industry. StakeholderTALK™Channel! provides the backbone for the delivery of news, intelligence, tender opportunities and a comprehensive Supplier Directory found on www.waterbriefing.org
AT THE HUB OF
EFFORTLESS
INTEGRATION
Stakeholder
DIALOGUE AND ENGAGEMENT At the hub of stakeholder dialogue and engagement StakeholderTALK™ tools can be used independently to provide rapidly deployed project-based solutions to stakeholder engagement. Increasingly though, organisations are turning to IMS Consulting to provide a complete stakeholder engagement hub, utilising a number of the StakeholderTALK™ tools, that engages and informs stakeholders on a number of levels. A recent project, consulting communities and businesses on coastal erosion in the UK, is a good example of how the StakeholderTALK™ tools can be combined to great effect. An online hub was built consisting of a resource library, multimedia learning tools, discussion forums, interactive surveys and a news feed. Combined, these tools engage and consult the various stakeholder groups involved. The hub provides easily digestible information on coastal change (a complex issue) to encourage learning, and then facilitates a two way dialogue between the stakeholders and the client in order to collect opinion on how best to deal with coastal change and land loss.
All the StakeholderTALK™ tools have been built to allow easy integration with social media and online communication channels. Messaging and information from a StakeholderTALK™ engagement project can be automatically redistributed through sites such as Twiter, LinkedIN, Facebook and Digg It. Republishing of content by the stakeholders themselves is made easy using social media buttons and tools. RSS feeds allow interested users and third parties to have content delivered straight into their inbox or republished on their own websites – allowing consultations to be shared and widely adopted.
StakeholderTALK™
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMMES
IS BEING USED SUCCESSFULLY FOR THE FOLLOWING WEB-BASED STAKEHOLDER DIALOGUE APPLICATIONS:
CASE STUDY DATABASES
INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS
HOSTED WEBSITES
ONLINE SURVEYS AND FEEDBACK
OUTBOUND E-NEWSLETTERS
NEWS AND INFORMATION CHANNELS
INTERACTIVE VIDEO PRESENTATIONS
TWO WAY
COMMUNICATION
WHO USES
StakeholderTALK™
StakeholderTALK™ tools can be used independently to provide project-based solutions to stakeholder engagement or be built into a complete multi-faceted stakeholder hub that provides two-way communication.
USING
StakeholderTALK™
TO IMPROVE CSR AND SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING In CSR and sustainability communications, StakeholderTALK™ can help you: Measure the effectiveness of CSR and sustainability initiatives Quantify the impact of your CSR or sustainability report Select target audiences for dialogue Provide measurable KPIs for communications programmes Create competitive advantage Promote sector expertise and experience internally and externally Close the feedback loop on stakeholder dialogues
StakeholderTALK™ is new. It is rapidly becoming the online dialogue tool of choice, in the public sector, with national and international NGOs, small and large companies. StakeholderTALK™ has already been successfully applied for one-off and ongoing engagement programmes, to improve communications with multiple stakeholder groups and to deliver information more effectively on the web.
WORKING TOGETHER WITH IMS CONSULTING IMS Consulting develops and delivers communications and stakeholder engagement programmes. We provide marketing consultancy services that help to improve your organisation’s relationships with its stakeholders. Working with clients to ensure the message and medium are developed according to the desired audience, we help you answer the questions: l Who do you want to talk to? l What do you want to communicate? l How will the messages be communicated clearly?
EXPERTS IN SUSTAINABILITY Our team understands the social, environmental and economic drivers that create the opportunities and challenges faced by the public and private sector in today’s business environment. We also have extensive experience communicating on issues related to energy, water, waste and construction
WHAT USERS THINK OF
StakeholderTALK™
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The UK-GBC used StakeholderTALK™ to undertake the first full survey of our membership. The consultation was live for two and a half weeks and during that short period of time we received responses from over 50% of member organisations. This is a very encouraging result, as the survey was comprehensive and some of the questions fairly detailed. The main benefit of the StakeholderTALK™ project is that the results were quantifiable and they have given us the opportunity to shape our future activities based upon solid feedback from our stakeholders. PAUL KING
COMBINING KNOWLEDGE WITH SKILL At IMS we combine our sector expertise with the ability to deliver communications programmes online and offline, locally, nationally or globally, internally or externally. IMS Consulting’s staff includes; researchers, writers, web developers and marketing experts. Together, we build the communications channel that is most appropriate to your needs.
Chief Executive UK Green Building Council
Both the message and the medium are carefully considered. IMS helps clients create exciting and memorable communications campaigns. We also ensure that outcomes and results are measurable; a vital aspect of successful communications. l Online stakeholder communications - StakeholderTALK™ l CSR and Sustainability Reporting l Communications Consulting IMS Consulting works with large multinationals and listed companies, national and global NGOs and SMEs to deliver multi-stakeholder communications programmes. The audiences can be internal or external, highly focused or very broad.
Developing and Delivering Communications and Stakeholder Engagement Programmes
IMS Consulting St Nicholas House, 31-34 High Street, Bristol BS1 2AW, UK Tel: +44 (0)117 315 5239
www.imsplc.com info@imsplc.com
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