Curbside Value Partnership Boot Camp Webinar: Blueprint for a successful education campaign

Blueprint for a Successful Education

Campaign

A Step-by-Step Case Study

July 21, 2010

KAB Webinar Series

Webinar Agenda

• Brief CVP background• The education landscape today• The importance of the Web• Cool ideas• Spotlight on Hillsborough County

– Planning– Execution– Results

• Top 5 take-a-ways• Stuff to check out• Contact info

Background on CVP

• Now in Year Two of partnership with KAB

• CVP helps communities grow participation in curbside programs and the volume collected by:– Partnering with communities to develop, launch and measure education campaigns

– NOTE: CVP contribution is at no cost to the community

• We then share what we learn as best practices to recycling coordinators, KAB affiliates, etc. so everyone can benefit

• Arizona: City of Phoenix*• California: City of Huntington Park**• Colorado: City of Denver• Florida

– Brevard County (2 campaigns)– City of Orlando– Hillsborough County– Indian River County – Pasco County

• Georgia– City of Conyers– Griffin Regional Hub (2 campaigns)– Savannah Regional Hub (2 campaigns)

• Louisiana: City of Baton Rouge• Maryland: Frederick County*

• Minnesota– McCloud County– St. Louis County– Western Lake Superior Sanitary District (city

of Duluth)• Missouri: Kansas City• Nebraska: City of Omaha• New Jersey: Burlington County• North Carolina

– Charlotte/Mecklenburg County– Greenville

• Pennsylvania– Lancaster County (Lancaster)– York County (York)

• Virginia: – Arlington County– City of Norfolk*

* Newest CVP partners, in planning phases** WMRA Partner

Our Partner List

What We Do In Partner Communities…. What We Do In Partner Communities…. • Planning

– Goal setting– Develop PR plan and strategy– Materials development/design– Campaign theme/tag-line

• Execution– Launch event/announcement– Ongoing media relations– Marketing to residents– Third party engagement

• Measurement– Data measurement (pre and post)– Future planning– Share best practices!

Education : Then and Now …

Back Then….

• Any communications is good, “follow the leader” and replicate past efforts

• Show the materials and the bins so people make the connection

• Traditional media is key (print, TV, events)

• Talk to the converted• Risk-averse• What Website?

Today• Anything is still better than nothing,

but we should step it up and be more strategic

• Be creative, recycling is easy to “get” but now must catch attention

• Non-traditional media must be integrated into plans

• Talk to non-recyclers and sometimes recyclers

• Take some chances• A Website is a must

Web Usage Patterns

• Internet users in the U.S.:– 73% of all adults use the internet(147 million adults)

• Internet use is at an all time high (Was 66% in Jan 2005)– 72 million U.S. users go online every day

• Top activities online:– Send e-mail (52%)– Get news (32%)– Use search engine to find information (29%)– Surf the Web for fun (23%)– Do a search to answer a specific question (19%)– Research a product/service before buying (19%)

Sources: Pew Internet & American Life Project

Web Usage Patterns (cont.)

• Average U.S. Internet Usage, Combined Home & Work, Monthly– Website sessions (person/month) - 36 (home); 64 (work)– Web pages visited per person- 1,527– Page views per surfing session - 47 – Average duration of a Web page viewed- 51-57 seconds

• How Little Do Users Read?– On the average Web page, users have time to read at most 28% of the

words during an average visit; 20% is more likely

Sources: (Nielsen Online, July 2008, Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox)

CVP Web Survey

2008• 69 percent of sites updated monthly or

weekly, 23 percent updated just ONCE A YEAR.

• 70 percent require visitors to dig a little or a lot to find basic information.

• 76 percent do not allow visitors to sign up for a bin online; only 6 percent have plans to add the feature in the future.

• 41 percent do not measure traffic or otherwise keep track of who is visiting.

• N/A

• N/A

2010• 64 percent weekly/monthly and 19 percent

ONCE A YEAR. 11 percent have no Website.

• 73 percent require visitors to dig a little or a lot to find basic information.

• 79 percent do not allow visitors to sign up for a bin online; only 2 percent have plans to add the feature in the future.

• 27 percent do not measure traffic or otherwise keep track of who is visiting.

• 77 percent have a short URL; 16 percent says theirs is too long.

• 43 percent have incorporated social media. (FB most popular at 83 percent.)

Just a Few Examples of Creative Outreach Tools …Just a Few Examples of Creative Outreach Tools …

Some More…..

SPOTLIGHT ON HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY

Community Overview

• About Hillsborough County :– 240,000 households – 1,000 square miles

• Recycling program:– Dual-stream recycling, 3 haulers– Curbside tonnage flat over past few years, want to see an increase

Barriers and Needs

• Economy down, recycling and trash volume down.– How will this impact results? – Can/do we offset for this in judging campaign success?

• County did not have Web page dedicated to recycling, where do we direct people? How do we address?

• Campaign Period: September – December 2009

• FULL PLAN AVAILABLE: www.RecycleCurbside.org/Planning

STEP ONE: Planning – Phase One• Developed Communications Plan:

– Objectives/goals (S.M.A.R.T.)• Increase volume by 10 percent within three months• Grow participation and/or bin requests by 15 percent over

year prior within three months– Strategy

• Use a combo of paid and earned media to generate county-wide awareness

• Streamline communications through new Website.– Key messages: Convenience, focus on bins, new

Website– Target audience: Homeowners– Timeline

• Set measurement standards

Planning – Phase Two

• Campaign Development– Developed branding – “Famous Bens” campaign – Established a contest– Defined a clear call-to-action (get bin, enter contest)

STEP TWO: Execution: Putting Our Plan Into Action • Built Website

– Obtained internal buy-in– Engaged stakeholders– Set a long term plan– Secured domain name– Kept content/pages short and sweet

• Engaged third parties

• Developed materials– PR: media documents– Marketing: ads, booklets, bill stuffers

www.HillsboroughRecycles.orgwww.HillsboroughRecycles.org

Execution (cont.)

Launch media eventLaunch media event

Marketing hand outs & water bill stuffer

Marketing hand outs & water bill stuffer

Transit ads, radio traffic spots, billboards, cinema spot

Transit ads, radio traffic spots, billboards, cinema spot

• Ongoing media relations

• Events

• Ongoing media relations

• Events

DID WE MAKE ANYTHING HAPPEN?

STEP THREE: Measurement:Bin Requests and Set Outs• 4,014 MORE bins requested Sept-Dec 2009 vs. 2008• 547% increase in bin requests… Goal was 15%!

• Average monthly set outs: 339,628 (Sept-Dec 2009) vs. 325,659 (Sept-Dec 2008) = a 4.3% increase.

2008(Sept-Dec)

2009(Sept-Dec)

On-line bin requests (N/A) 2,797 sets

Phone/email requests 734 sets 2,437 sets

Total bins requested 734 sets 4,748 sets

Monthly average 184 sets 1,187 sets

Top 5 Take-a-Ways

1. Start with a plan.

2. Evaluate your Website and URL.

3. Start small – are there simple things you can do to spice things up today?

4. Kick it off. Consider an event to drive media coverage and generate buzz.

5. Sustain it! (think Beatles, not one-hit-wonder)

Find Out More

• FREE Resources (PSAs, toolkits, templates):– CVP: www.RecycleCurbside.org– www.HillsboroughRecycles.org– Earth 911: www.Earth911.org– Download the plan: www.RecycleCurbside.org/planning

• Other cool campaigns to check out:– www.Re3.org– www.RecycleMoreMinnesota.org– www.YouGottaBeKidding.org

Contact Us

www.RecycleCurbside.org

CVP:

– Lena Davie

[email protected]

(813) 775-6207

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY:– Katie Brown

[email protected]

(813) 276-2924