PUBLIC RELATIONS PLAN - WordPress.com · 2020. 4. 1. · Lael Wageneck FALL 2016 Santa Barbara County Water Conservation Public Outreach PUBLIC RELATIONS PLAN 314 Arroyo Rd. Santa

Lael Wageneck

FALL 2016Santa Barbara County Water Conservation Public Outreach

PUBLIC RELATIONS PLAN

314 Arroyo Rd.Santa Barbara, CA, 93110

Phone: (805)636-9204E-mail: [email protected]

• On January 17, 2014, Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for the drought in California.

• Lake Cachuma, the primary reservoir for residents of the south coast of Santa Barbara County, was at 38% capacity. By the summer of 2016, the lake had dropped to 13% capacity.

• The Santa Barbara County Regional Water Efficiency Program (RWEP) promotes the efficient use of urban and agricultural water supplies Countywide and provides information and assistance to the eighteen local water purveyors within the County.

• While the water purveyor members of RWEP coordinate individual water conservation campaigns in addition to quarterly RWEP campaigns, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors directed the Santa Barbara County Public Works Department to conduct further public outreach.

SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS

• RESEARCH• Gathered research for the campaign, analyzed the data, and shared the

results with RWEP members and Water Resources division staff.

• PLANNING• Organized meetings and worked with RWEP members and Water

Resources division staff to develop the plan.

• IMPLEMENTATION• Created all campaign assets and worked with Water Resources division

staff to make edits and obtain final approval. I coordinated final printing of all materials and all advertising placement.

• EVALUATION• Analyzed data and shared the results with RWEP members and Water

Resources division staff.

MY ROLES

S

O T

W

RESEARCHSWOT ANALYSIS

OPPORTUNITIES THREATS• Cross-promotional opportunities with

WaterWiseSB.org• Water conservation a campaign issue during

election year• Local and national media interest in drought• Public supportive of water conservation

• Responding quickly to misinformation that could come from a public debate

• “Diminishing returns” of long term conservation• Mixed messages. Potential storm could create

false sense of being out of the drought and November is Flood Preparedness month.

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES

• Board of Supervisors and CEO support• Institutional history of drought and

developing water conservation campaigns• Structure and system already in place for

public outreach• Strong in-house media production resources

• Limited time to develop/implement campaign• Limited staff to handle campaign duties• No resources for translations• Will outcomes will be due to this campaign

or RWEP outreach?

RESEARCHRESEARCH METHODS

• Gathered annual water consumption rate data from four south coast cities and analyzed the trends. I did this to determine customer water use habits over the previous decade and provide baseline data for future measurement.

• Analyzed how previous RWEP campaign messaging was distributed to determine if there were new channels we could use.

• Used Google analytics to see how the public was using WaterWiseSB.org to determine which conservation measures were gaining the most interest.

PRIMARY, FORMAL, QUANTITATIVE

• Analyzed messaging and assets from previous and upcoming RWEP campaigns to learn what messages and tactics had previously been used.

• Performed a SWOT analysis to determine what challenges we would have and what would be reasonable expectations for this campaign.

• Attended meetings with RWEP members and received input from them on their campaigns.

• Spoke with Board of Supervisors members and their staff, and reviewed comments from public meetings to learn about their goals for water reduction.

PRIMARY, FORMAL, QUALTITATIVE

PRIMARY, INFORMAL, QUALTITATIVE

With more time and resources, I would have conducted two additional forms of research.• I would have conducted a telephone survey of

south coast residents before, during, and after the campaign to determine value and attitude changes over the course of the campaign.

• I would have conducted a focus group of south coast residents to understand public perception of the drought.

RESEARCH NOT CONDUCTED

CAMPAIGNMESSAGING

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS GOALS

RWEP campaign messaging focuses primarily on actions residents can take to reduce outdoor water use. Messaging does not addresses the current situation and why conservation is important now more than ever.

County Board of Supervisors wants to communicate the need to conserve water is important now more than ever. One Supervisor called for a 50% reduction which will be near impossible to achieve.

WATERCONSUMPTION

DISTRIBUTIONCHANNELS

Fall residential water consumption declined in the south coast by 24% and 1.5% in the past two years. WaterWiseSb.com website users frequently visit the outdoor water use section. It could be difficult to decrease consumption any further.

RWEP campaigns solely use purveyor website, social media, and television as distribution channels. We could increase channels by pitching stories to the press and using controlled methods of distribution.

FINDINGS

RESEARCH

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Residents on the south coast of Santa Barbara County could face a major water shortage and increased restrictions if they do not adopt additional conservation measures.

GOAL

Increase water conservation in the south coast area of Santa Barbara County and mitigate the public feeling of drought fatigue.

PLANNING

Santa Barbara County EMPLOYEES

INTERNAL EXTERNALSouth coastRESIDENTS

South coastWATER PURVEYORS

South coastNEWS MEDIA

• Employees can be your best ambassadors.• Great potential to share messaging with

4,000+ county employees.

• Requested additional outreach.• Supervisors from the south coast will

be the most interested in the results.• Campaign issue for one supervisor.

• At the greatest risk due to low capacity at reservoir.

• Highest potential to affect consumption (compared with visitors).

• Decrease in water use affects purveyor revenues.

• Important to coordinate our message with purveyor outreach.

• Agenda setting.

Santa Barbara County BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

PUBLICSPLANNING

Objective #1:

In an effort to have an effect on the awareness of drought by south coast residents, increase Santa Barbara County Public Works Department social media followers by 100% by the end of the quarter.

PLANNING

Strategy #1:Rationale: In an effort to expand campaign exposure, identify and utilize communications channels that aren’t used enough.

USE NEW COMMUNICATIONS CHANNELS

• Produce advertisements for radio.• Produce advertisements for buses.• Produce pre-roll video for online distribution.• Provide links to County Public Works social media on WaterWiseSB.

PLANNING

Strategy #2:Rationale: Use new technology to identify residential water users in the south coast and target them to receive messaging.

USE TARGETED DISTRIBUTION

• Use Facebook to deliver boosted posts in the south coast.

• Use Charter pre-roll ads to run on devices in the south coast.

• Run ads on buses that run on the south coast.

PLANNING

3,129 ENGAGEMENTS35,933 IMPRESSIONS

Objective #2:

In an effort to have an effect on the acceptance of drought by south coast residents, increase fall quarter south coast residential WaterWiseSB.org quarterly traffic by 100% from the previous year.

PLANNING

Strategy #1:Rationale: Reasoned action theory. If people believe visiting WaterWiseSB.org is a good thing (because it can help them fight the drought), and if they think the county, water purveyors, and other people want them to use the site, they will be more motivated to visit the site and adopt new water saving techniques.

PROMOTE WATERWISESB.ORG AS INFO SOURCE AND COUNTY AS SUPPORTING AGENCY

• Include the WaterWiseSB.org logo on all advertisements and

assets.

• Include County seal on all assets

• Share WaterWiseSB.org posts

on all social media accounts.

PLANNING

Strategy #2:Rationale: Evidence shows that droughts are occurring more frequently. Use agenda setting to inundate the media with conservation messaging.

PROMOTE THAT DROUGHT IS THE NEW NORMAL THAT REQUIRES ADDITIONAL ACTION

• Use the message that “drought is the new normal” in all interviews and events.

• Pitch stories to the press on water conveyance, reservoir capacity, and conservation.

• Provide access to photographers to off-limits areas of the reservoirs.

PLANNING

In an effort to have an effect on the action of south coast residents, increase fall quarter south coast residential water conservation by 5% by the end of December 2016.

Objective #3:PLANNING

Strategy #1:

• Distribute positive messages that• Mitigates drought fatigue by asking the public to renew their

commitment to water conservation.• reminds the public of the drought.• thanks the public for their current conservation and

encourages future conservation.

Rationale: Situational theory of publics. The public is already involved in conservation. Keep them at the active and aware. Prevent them from becoming a latent public.

ENCOURAGE RENEWED AND ADDITIONAL CONSERVATION EFFORTS

PLANNING

Strategy #2:Rationale: Previous campaigns focused on highlighting conservation methods. Using emotional, logical, and ethical appeal could increase action.

INCREASED RHETORICAL MODES OF PERSUASION IN VISUALS

• Use drone footage that provides a wider perspective of Lake Cachuma to show how little water remains.

• Use before and after footage and photographs to show how quickly the water is consumed.

PLANNING

IMPLEMENTATION

• Scott McGolpin, Santa Barbara County Public Works Director

• Tom Fayram, Santa Barbara County Public Works Deputy Director

• Fray Crease, Santa Barbara County Water Agency Manager

• Duane Stroup, Federal Bureau of Reclamation Deputy Area Manager

• Bruce Wales, Santa Ynez River Water Conservation District General Manager

• Joshua Haggmark, Santa Barbara City Water Resources Manager

• Thomas Mosby, Montecito Water District General Manager

• Bob McDonald, Carpinteria Valley Water District General Manager

• John McInnes, Goleta Water District General Manager

SPOKESPEOPLE

• Santa Barbara County continues to have dwindling water supplies, especially on the South coast.

• Renew your commitment to reducing your personal water use.

• Additional conservation now will help us in the future.

KEY MESSAGES

IMPLEMENTATION

BUDGETBUS ADVERTISING (PRINTING AND DISTRIBUTION): $3,100

ONLINE – SPECTRUM REACH: $3,450

ONLINE – LOCAL NEWS: $4,500

PRINT – LOCAL NEWS: $7,500

TELEVISION – LOCAL NEWS: $4,000

RADIO: $2,000

FACEBOOK BOOSTED POSTS: $100

STAFF TIME: INCLUDED

TOTAL: $24,650

IMPLEMENTATION

INCREASE FALL QUARTER SOUTH COAST RESIDENTIAL WATER CONSERVATION BY 5% BY THE END OF DECEMBER 2016.GOAL NOT MET - WaterWiseSB.org received 6855 overall page views for an increase of 14.7%. This increase was lower than an increase in 2015 (119.7%) and 2014 (520.2%).

OBJECTIVE #2INCREASE WATERWISESB.ORG QUARTERLY TRAFFIC BY 100% FROM THE PREVIOUS YEAR.

EVALUATION

INCREASE FALL QUARTER SOUTH COAST RESIDENTIAL WATER CONSERVATION BY 5% BY THE END OF DECEMBER 2016.

GOAL ALMOST MET – 94% increase. Facebook followers on September 1, 2016 – 351. Facebook followers on January 1, 2017 – 681.

OBJECTIVE #1INCREASE SANTA BARBARA COUNTY PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOWERS BY 100% BY THE END OF THE QUARTER.

EVALUATION AGAINST GOAL

EVALUATION

• Outreach appears to have been successful.• Only non-winter decrease in consumption was during Fall 2016.

• Future campaigns should use a wider variety of research methods.• In-person outreach could help us deliver higher quality information and develop

more trust with the public.• Spring and summer campaigns should receive inceased resources.

GOAL MET - Residential conservation increased by 5% compared with the prior year in three of the four south coast cities/areas. These cities include Carpinteria (4.6%), Montecito (5.7%), Santa Barbara (7.9%), Goleta (6.6%). Total area decrease of 13% from September to March.

INCREASE FALL QUARTER SOUTH COAST RESIDENTIAL WATER CONSERVATION BY 5% BY THE END OF DECEMBER 2016.

OBJECTIVE #3

THANK YOU

Yearly Per Capita Consumption

Quarterly Per Capita Consumption

CAPACITY IS THE KEY MESSAGE

Fall 2016 Spring 2018

Montecito Water Use

Television Ad

Santa Barbara County continues to have dwidling

water supplies,

especially on the south coast. These water supplies

are at historic lows.

We are asking all residents and visitors to renew your

commitment

to water conservation this winter, and to continue to do all you can to preserve

this vital resource.

For more information on how you can conserve

water, visit waterwisesb.org.

This additionalconservation now will help

us in the future.

Facebook Ad2,437 engagements12,741 impressions

Online pre-roll adInteraction rate: 1.08%Completion rate: 63%

Bus Tail Ad

Newspaper Ads

South Coast Per Capita Annual Consumption2010-2017