Communications for smaller housing associations by National Housing Federation

Communications for smaller housing associations

Introduction Most organisations use communications techniques all the time. Giving customers basic information, asking their opinion, reaching out to partners or showcasing their work is all about communicating. Housing associations are no different. You are communicating day in, day out whether you have a formal strategy or not. Why not make the most of the resources you use by planning that communication with results in mind? Many smaller associations already do this brilliantly. They know their audience and their message and engage in a way that’s effective, professional and that promotes dialogue. If you think you don’t have the time or money to take a strategic approach to communications – think again. All it means is looking at what you already spend on communicating and making sure it’s focused on achieving your objectives – whether that’s to be recognised by partners for your innovation or valued by your residents for your amazing service.

This guide will give you some simple steps to producing a communications strategy that works and a quick tour of the tools of the trade. It’s only a starting point but will help you:

• raise the reputation of your association and your work • advance your corporate objectives • defend yourself against unfair criticism • help improve the image of the sector as a whole.

The National Housing Federation runs iN business for neighbourhoods in partnership with members to promote the neighbourhood work of housing associations.

Your strategy To start with it’s a good idea to have a communications strategy. Producing one is a simple process by which you’ll define your: • objectives • audience • key messages. It will also help you decide how to deliver your messages and how to measure your success.

Get buy-in If yours is a small association that hasn’t traditionally done communications work, you need to maximise buy-in of your project, from the top and from people across the organisation. You might want to set up a working group to review and manage the development of your strategy. Keep it small, give it tight terms of reference and a chair who can make decisions. You could involve residents as well as managers and staff.

Do an audit Before you start, an audit will help you assess what communication you do now and how effective it is. Begin with your organisation’s corporate objectives from its business plan and look at your vision, values and long-term goals. They will need to be reflected in all your communications work. Look at the methods you use to talk to people internally and externally. Examine the feedback you receive and consider surveys or focus groups to find out what people think. This should cover residents, staff, key partners, decision-makers and the media. Review your publications and literature, your branding and your website. How effective are they and what do they say about your organisation? Look outside your organisation too. See how you compare to other associations of a similar size. A Swot analysis that looks at your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats can help with your strategy by giving you a clear idea of the areas you need to work on. If you have one, get your working group to brainstorm ideas. You can do this work yourself or you could consider using an independent consultant.

Ask yourself • what are our objectives as an organisation? • who are the audiences we speak to and how do we do it? • when we look at all of our material together, what impression does it give? • what do organisations similar to us look like from the outside?

Communications for smaller housing associations

Your objectives

Once you’ve got the results of your audit, think carefully about what you want to achieve through your communications. You should have a clear goal; an overarching purpose for all the things you do. You should also have a series of objectives that will contribute to achieving your goal. Your objectives should be Smart (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound).

Your audience As well as knowing what you want to achieve, you need to be clear about who you will target and the things that will attract and motivate them. While some audiences will be common to all housing associations, others may vary. Here’s a list of potential audiences for you to consider: External audiences • residents (tenants and leaseholders) • their family members and carers • local community members • the media. Influencers and decision makers • the Government – MPs, ministers and shadow ministers • local government – councillors and officials • industry bodies, including the National Housing Federation, the Homes and Communities Agency and other regulators. Partners Partnership organisations can help you deliver your strategy by endorsing your messages, giving credibility to what you say. Consider: • • • • • •

health authorities the police developers suppliers lenders other housing associations.

Think about each of your audiences and what drives their decision making. Internal audiences • staff • board members. Don’t ignore these. To be effective your staff and board members need to be properly involved and consulted. Your staff can help you understand what residents want, test out new ideas and become valuable advocates for your organisation.

Messages Your messages will come from your goals and objectives and should be geared towards your audience. They should be clear, compelling and memorable. Ideally you will have: • One main message – it will hold your communications together, so make it simple and direct and something with broad appeal. • Secondary messages – they will support your core message and explain how it will be achieved. They should still be concise but can be tweaked and targeted to audiences as relevant. Refine your messages to get them right: • think about your audience and what will motivate them • good messages combine the rational with the emotional – they appeal to people’s hearts and heads • avoid jargon, clichés and acronyms • be positive – engage your audience by motivating them to act.

Talking points Be ready to back up your messages with plenty of evidence; include case studies, facts and figures frequently asked questions, quotes and soundbites.

Communications for smaller housing associations

Your objectives

An example Organisation: a small housing association specialising in supported housing for older people in one area. As well as offering excellent homes and services, its objectives include helping residents to maintain an independent and active lifestyle.

HINT For maximum effect link your messages directly to the objectives that drive your business decisions.

Main message: we believe that age should lead to wisdom, not isolation. Secondary messages for potential residents: we offer the support you need to live your own life, the way you want to live it. We want you to feel that moving into your home is an exciting new beginning. Secondary messages for local councillors: we make decisions with our residents, not for them. We support our residents to play an active role in the local community. Facts and figures: • our resident panel meets monthly to raise management issues and help set our business priorities • our customer satisfaction ratings are high – 95% of residents would recommend our homes to a friend • for those who want to get involved, we help residents to volunteer for local charities and attend neighbourhood meetings.

Communications for smaller housing associations

Resources

Your brand

Your team

Before you do anything else it’s important to give your corporate brand a health check. Your brand is a difficult thing to quantify but it’s essentially what people think of when they think of you. It’s a mix of your corporate image and your visual identity, so it takes in your reputation and your logo. Once you’ve done your audit and defined your message and audiences, it’s worth seeing if your brand measures up; if it communicates your message and properly reflects the image you want to portray.

You will need someone to manage and deliver your new strategy. You may already have a communications manager or team in place, but for many small housing associations communications is part of another role. If you are using inexperienced staff, invest in proper training.

You should set out rules for using your logo and the other elements of your visual brand. This includes how your corporate colours and typefaces should appear in print and online. It may also include rules on the sort of imagery to use and a style guide that sets the tone for your written communications. If you want to rebrand or refresh your existing visual identity, you’ll need help from a professional design or branding agency. Talk to a few agencies, get quotes and recommendations, but don’t go on price alone. The agency will use your audit and strategy to inform their work and make your brand fit seamlessly with your aims and objectives. Once you have your visual identity there are a few basic places where it should be used. Have your designer produce layouts for these and include them in a design manual that staff and designers can use for guidance:

Alternatively, think about employing a PR consultancy to work with you. As with branding, talk to a few consultancies about the things you are trying to achieve and choose the one that’s best for you. Ask your regional group for recommendations of consultancies and training providers.

Spokespeople In addition you’ll need to identify key spokespeople and corporate ambassadors for your organisation. These are people who will present your messages in an eloquent and convincing way; through the media, at public meetings, through social media and to influencers. They will also need to be the public face of the organisation if things go wrong. They are likely to be senior staff, board members and specialists. Think carefully about who you choose and the image they present and ensure you provide them with enough support and training.

Stationery – letterheads, business cards and presentation templates. Digital media – websites, emails and bulletins need to reflect your branding too. Publications – make these consistent by developing a literature system for any printed materials such as newsletters and annual reports. Keep it flexible so it will work with basic reports and give you the scope to be more creative if you need to. Marketing materials – leaflets, adverts, posters and banners all need to be on-brand.

Communications for smaller housing associations

Resources

Develop a diary Get organised with a diary of opportunities. This will help you plan your communications, maximise opportunities and avoid awkward clashes. An Excel spreadsheet looking a year ahead, should do. Populate it with events you have planned, key dates for your organisation and milestones (your AGM, your 100th home, the launch of a new scheme). Include national dates that you can contribute to (Black History Month, Energy Saving Week, Dementia Awareness Day) and key news events (the Budget, the Queen’s speech) that might present news opportunities or that should be avoided. Make sure staff are aware of your diary and that all your communications activity, including publications, is included. Someone should have responsibility for managing it and keeping it up-to-date.

HINT If you’re a Federation member, join your regional communications group. There’ll be networking opportunities, the chance to share best practice and to find out about local suppliers who can help you with the strategy and its delivery.

Manage your database If you don’t already have a database of contacts you will need to put one together. This is an important tool for reaching your audiences, especially the influencers, so again someone needs to manage it and make sure it is accurate and kept up-to-date.

Case studies and research Commissioning research can give credibility to your communications. Case studies of real-life experiences will also have a huge impact, bringing your messages alive. Use personal accounts told in residents’ own words together with film or photography. But remember to have a proper permission system in place so people know what they are signing up to.

Communications for smaller housing associations

Bringing your strategy alive Once you know what you want to say and who you need to reach, you need to put all of this into action.

There’s a wide and ever growing list of communications channels out there. The trick is pulling together a package of tools that work well together and are suited to your audience and message.

Media relations Media relations can be a key way of reaching your audience. Done right it is cost effective, powerful and adds credibility to your message. The media feed on stories but good coverage can only be secured if yours are genuinely newsworthy. To attract the attention of journalists you need something that’s relevant to their audience and current and timely. Before contacting the media always make sure your story has a news hook, by asking “what is the story?” and “why should anyone care?” Your hook might be: • • • • •

something unusual, entertaining or fun a new statistic or report a real-life, human interest story a great photo involvement of celebrities and potentially MPs, businesses and schools • a new or local angle on a big national story. Try to understand your target media, whether local, national, consumer or trade. Journalists need your stories and you need to get your message out, so it’s worth cultivating a good relationship. Get to know your local papers, radio stations, websites, forums and newsletters. Read and listen to them regularly, so you understand their content and audience and can gear your stories to them. It’s an idea to meet their reporters too.

How to contact the media • A well-written, timely press release emailed out is still the standard way of issuing news to the media. It will alert journalists and give them enough information to report on your story. • A good photo could secure you coverage, regardless of news value, as can good film footage for online and broadcast media. • Follow up a press release with a call to a contact you’ve made or the newsdesk, but be aware of deadlines – start the conversation by asking if it’s a good time to talk. • Tweet your news stories as soon as you issue them. • Invite journalists to events, photocalls and briefings, which are well organised and newsworthy. • Have a list of experts who are media trained and willing to give interviews. • Write letters to the editor or add your comments to online news stories and forums to state your position on issues and correct misinformation.

Do • Meet deadlines if responding to queries, even if it’s only a short holding statement. You’ll build a reputation for being quick. • Set up your own events far enough in advance. • Only issue press releases that are newsworthy, well written and accurate. • Cultivate contacts with local journalists. • Help them out with the facts, analysis and case studies to flesh out your story if needed. Don’t • Exaggerate, mislead, or overstate your case. • Make enemies. If you feel you’ve been misrepresented, deal with it professionally and sensitively.

Communications for smaller housing associations

Bringing your strategy alive

Tips for a good press release • Give it a punchy, informative headline. • Include all the key information in the first paragraph, as journalists often cut from the bottom up. Make sure your first paragraph answers the questions who, what, where, when and how. • Make it factual and informative with precise figures rather than vague adjectives. • Bring it to life with a good quote, which can include opinion but should reinforce your message. • Keep your language clear and simple and your sentences short. Avoid jargon and acronyms. • Proofread it carefully; check spelling, grammar and all facts and figures. Make sure it’s consistent throughout and be especially careful with name spellings. • Use double spacing, date it and include your contact details. • Tailor your releases to the media you’re targeting.

Managing your reputation

Tips for good photos • Use a professional photographer experienced in taking news pictures if you can. • Go for lively and interesting action shots – discuss ideas and props you could use with the photographer before you start. • Avoid large groups of people and especially lineups, cheque presentations and other clichés. • Caption your photos carefully. They may be used without your press release so the caption needs to get your message across succinctly. Check name spellings and job titles carefully. • Have a permission form to ensure that members of the public who appear in your photos understand how you plan to use their image. Remember, it’s a legal requirement that you get parental permission for any photos of children. • Email out your photos immediately. For print media send high resolution images (300dpi).

In a crisis • If you’re caught out don’t answer questions straight away, go away and prepare a response. • Decide who will speak to the media, make sure they are well prepared, have good delivery and will stay on message. You may want to restrict the number of people who speak to the media or consider issuing a written statement. • Always respond by the deadline you’ve been given, earlier if possible. • Make sure the person leading the response knows everything there is to uncover, even if the media don’t know it yet. • Be as transparent and open as possible, don’t lie or be evasive. • If you’ve made a mistake, apologise and explain what you are doing about the situation.

It’s your most valuable asset and can take years to build, but your reputation could be ruined in hours. This is especially true in today’s world where social media and 24-hour news mean damaging stories can build rapidly. How to prepare • Make sure you monitor news and social media carefully, so you know what people are saying about you and you don’t get caught out. • Be ready for the unexpected by being clear about anything in your organisation that could target you for criticism. Also think about campaigns and projects and what might go wrong. Address the problem now and prepare clear lines and responses in advance. • Have good internal communications in place and agree who will act as your spokesperson if needed. Keep up-to-date lists of out-of-hours contact details and make sure your communications team always has access to senior people.

Communications for smaller housing associations

Bringing your strategy alive

Digital media Your website With growing numbers of people choosing to interact with organisations online, it’s important you have a website that’s easy to use, informative, properly maintained and that reflects your brand. You can set up your own website using software such as Wordpress but it’s worth having it professionally designed. It doesn’t need fancy functionality but as a minimum should contain: • all your contact details – address, email, phone numbers • the basics about your organisation – where you operate, what you offer and who your key employees are • information for residents – what to do in an emergency, how to report a repair, how to make a complaint. Also consider: • a jobs section – all your vacancies and how to apply • publications – download your annual reports, newsletters and leaflets • news – all your press releases plus media contact details • online services – eg ability to report repairs and anti-social behaviour and pay rent • a handbook – details of all your residents’ rights and responsibilities. The key thing with your website is to look after it. It’s a growing resource that needs maintaining and adding to frequently. Keep it up-to-date, make sure the copy is clear and accurate and that all names and contact details are correct. Ensure that everything on your website has a purpose and contributes to your strategic aims. If you are giving residents the option of contacting you online, make sure you check for messages and respond quickly.

Social media This takes in social networking sites, mainly Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, as well as blogs and forums. They are useful because they allow you to have a two-way conversation with your audiences; to put information out and get instant comment and feedback. They are also cheap and easy to use and can rapidly generate awareness and drive traffic to your website. Again though, if you are going to do social media you need to commit to using it regularly, building your profile and keeping up with new developments. Some ideas for using social media: • Have a Facebook page – many of your residents will use Facebook anyway, so it’s a good way to reach them, but keep it current and interesting and remember to comment on relevant pages from local residents’ associations and other partners. • Create a Twitter account for your organisation. You may want to encourage key staff members to tweet too, but think about a social media policy with clear rules about using Twitter in a professional context. Again, if you’re going to tweet, do so regularly to maintain momentum. • Use LinkedIn to build networks with partner organisations and influencers. • Think about a regular blog on your website that you can promote on Twitter. But you will need to commit to producing it and responding to any comments. Whether you actively use social media or not, it may become a channel for people to comment about you, so you need to monitor it closely for complaints. Check for comments on Twitter, Facebook and neighbourhood news sites and forums. Have a plan in place for responding and be swift to do so.

Communications for smaller housing associations

Bringing your strategy alive

HINT Events A programme of events will showcase your organisation and give you personal contact with your audiences. Examples include official openings of schemes, celebrations of landmarks and anniversaries, receptions and seminars. To make your event a success think about:

As a housing association you are currently required to publish an annual report for your tenants. So think about how you can use it to maximum effect in communicating your key messages. For tips on producing annual reports visit www.housing.org.uk and search on annual report toolkit.

Timing – set a realistic date that gives you plenty of time to organise it and promote it to your audience. Audience – decide who needs to attend and how you will reach them. Venue – make sure it’s comfortable, convenient and pleasant – but avoid anything too lavish. Materials – plan your audio visuals, backdrops and press kits. Make sure they are accurate and onbrand. It’s worth producing generic banners and stands that can be used at different events. Planning – have an agenda and timetable and practise to ensure everything works logistically. Evaluation – get feedback from your guests or delegates to evaluate the event for future.

Publications and marketing materials Publications used to be central to communications work but times have changed and there are lots of other tools out there. Print is expensive and has an environmental cost, so if you are going ahead with print you need to be super-critical to make sure it’s working as hard as it can. Every piece of print and design should advance your objectives, present your key messages and be on-brand. You will need excellent distribution methods to get it out to your audience and evaluation mechanisms to review quality for next time. Have a distribution list for your publications that includes key local venues such as libraries, GP surgeries and shopping centres.

Communications for smaller housing associations

Evaluation

It’s always worth measuring your communications work to check how effective it’s been. Are you reaching the people you said you needed to? How can you improve in future? By planning how you will evaluate in advance, you stand a better chance of getting an accurate picture when it’s time to judge whether you met your objectives. Comprehensive and robust evaluation can be expensive, but don’t let that put you off altogether. Some information is always better than none, and there are ways you can keep track of your success for free.

• analyse your website and social media – you can sign up to useful tools such as Google Analytics or HootSuite for free

• monitor your media coverage for quantity and quality – you can pay a clippings agency to do this, even club together with other organisations to reduce costs, or simply keep a file of your coverage as you spot it

• make a note of comments by the people you want to influence, such as local MPs or councillors, whether they are good or bad – looking back over these can give you a clue about whether you are making progress

• make your objectives quantifiable – eg we want X number of residents to take part in our consultation or by this time next year every local councillor in our area will be able to describe who we are and what we do

• consider surveys and focus groups to analyse the effectiveness of your communication with tenants, or your events and publications.

Communications for smaller housing associations

13 Communications checklist To get the best out of your communications, you should aim to have in place: • a communications strategy with agreed objectives, audiences and key messages, that has buy-in from the senior team • a clear understanding of the resources available including people and budget • a plan of how you will deliver the strategy for both external and internal audiences • a package of tools including a your diary, database and brand guidelines • a plan for measuring the effectiveness of your communications, identified from the outset.

Useful links • visit www.housing.org.uk/regions for details of regional practitioner groups in communications • visit www.housing.org.uk/events for training • visit www.guardian.co.uk/housing-network search communications for more tips • try the Media Trust www.mediatrust.org for training and events.

Communications for smaller housing associations

The National Housing Federation is the voice of affordable housing in England. We believe that everyone should have the home they need at a price they can afford. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why we represent the work of housing associations and campaign for better housing. Our members provide two and a half million homes for more than five million people. And each year they invest in a diverse range of neighbourhood projects that help create strong, vibrant communities.

National Housing Federation Lion Court 25 Procter Street London WC1V 6NY Tel: 020 7067 1010 Email: info@housing.org.uk Website: www.housing.org.uk

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