11. Overview
We evaluate all our work
If it doesn’t work
we do it differently;
if it does – we do more of it!
12. Overview
We are lucky!
Nothing succeeds like
hard work – but you
need the breaks as well
13. Communications and Marketing Agency –
a potted history
• Shared service created in 2006
• Brief to drive greater efficiencies
• Increasing the profile of Bolton
• Four core teams to deliver this remit
– Consultation and research
– Marketing
– Communications and media
– Marketing Bolton
14. Key factors contributing to our success
• Bolton Brand
• Consistent experienced management team
• New Chief Executive
• Council restructure
• Leadership, ‘place’, partnership and reputation agendas
• Right move at the right time - that element of luck!
• …and a lot of hard work
17. Brand origins
We consulted widely before developing the brand with
people who live, work, visit Bolton.
Brand values
• Open
Friendly, welcoming, inclusive
• Colourful
Characterful, distinctive, interesting
• Sound
Decent, reliable, trustworthy
Brand essence … ‘family’
18. What the brand means…
For council staff
• A joined-up approach to communicating;
consistent, clear communications drive positive
perceptions of our organisation
For Bolton people
• Builds a sense of ‘place’
• Enhances a sense of community ‘Bolton Family’
• Brings in the ‘big players’ from industry and
commerce
• Gives Bolton a strong identity
19. What the brand means
The brand helps
us to communicate
strong and
positive messages
(like these …)
20.
21.
22.
23.
24. The brand at work…
…welcoming and gives Bolton an identity
31. The brand promotes council services and
celebrates Bolton’s diverse community…
32.
33.
34.
35. Our strategic focus – Shifting to proactive
reputation management
• We played the long game – it takes time!
• We grabbed opportunities
– New Chief Executive
– Council restructure – one council approach
– The brand
• (Eventually) we got a seat at the top table
• We moved from reactive to proactive comms
• Forward planning – the team began to attend director
and informal Executive Member briefings; we held
Agency-wide planning meetings; we kept talking
36. Strategic communications – what we did
From the outset …
• We integrated our communications, marketing and
consultation work, reflecting our key aims and
themes (understanding the ‘vision’)
• Key aims
– Healthy; Achieving; Prosperous; Safer; Cleaner and greener
Strong and confident; (Value for money)
• Key themes
‘Ensuring economic prosperity for all’
‘Narrowing the gap between the most and least well off’
THIS VISION IS NOW OUR BEDROCK
But we had to work at it! (DVD)
37. Reputation management and the
‘reputation gap’
• Key outcome for us – resident satisfaction
• Nationally and locally – overall performance /
perception gap
• BVPI service scores for Bolton better than overall
satisfaction score
• Reflects a national trend with only a minority of
exceptions
• Huge initiative internally to ensure buy-in
38. The reputation gap
• Key outcome for us – resident satisfaction
• BVPI service scores for Bolton better than overall
satisfaction score
Year 2008 2007 2006 2005
Overall satisfaction with council 43% 52% 50% 48%
Average satisfaction with 59% 71% 68%
services
• Reflects a national trend with only a minority of
exceptions
39. Factors influencing satisfaction
Q: Which of the following most influenced your answer to “overall
how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the way the authority runs
things?”
• How well the council is performing
• Your experience of using or benefiting from council services
• How well informed the council keeps you about services and
benefits it provides
• The value for money your council tax represents
• What you’ve heard or seen about the council in local media
• Your experience of contacting or dealing with the council
• What the council spends its money on
40. Factors influencing satisfaction
Q: Which of the following most influenced your answer to Q22 “overall
how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the way the authority runs
things?”
• Your experience of contacting or dealing with the council (1)
• What the council spends its money on (2)
• The value for money your council tax represents (3)
• Your experience of using or benefiting from council services (4)
• How well informed the council keeps you about services and
benefits it provides (5)
• How well the council is performing (6)
• What you’ve heard or seen about the council in local media (7)
41. “I get my info about the council from…”
…materials provided by the council 33%
…local media 27%
…council web/intranet 12%
…word of mouth 8%
…direct contact with council 8%
…my local councillor 1%
42. How communication links to reputation –
externally and internally
1. We have a strategy to underpin all communications and
marketing with a common purpose; presenting messages that …
Bolton Council
= efficient, well-run, value for money
= direct benefit to people and place
2. Helping the organisation to maximise and understand effective
communication
Bolton Council
= employees as ambassadors - beyond service
= recognising and promoting good news
= recognising and managing bad news
43. Our common sense approach to
reputation management
• Perception of the council is key to performance
– Telling our story
– Showing how we provide value for money etc
• Four key ways …
3. Maximising effectiveness of media management
4. ‘Corporate publications’: eg Bolton Scene, Bolton
Plan; Town Centre publication
5. Internal communications and staff engagement
6. Managing cross-cutting communication priorities
51. Media management: Forward planning
• When staff are planning a policy, they are
encouraged to think about its effect on public
perception of Council
• Vital to be given advance warning of potential issues
and crises and advance warning of big stories – to
give us chance to ensure that story is presented in a
balanced or positive way
52. Media management: Evaluation
From: Communications and Marketing Agency (Mar 6)
The following stories about Bolton Council have appeared recently in the local, regional and national
media.
Main story of the week:
Bolton Evening News: Council gets four stars for service (Mar 5)
•
The Bolton News:
• Council scoops awards (Mar 5)
• Top class campus given go-ahead (Mar 5)
• Go ahead for £82.9m schools plan (Mar 4)
• Street art up for national honour (Mar 2)
• Gateway gallery plan (Feb 28)
• What a show at the museum (Feb 28)
Manchester Evening News:
‘Honour shot soldiers’ (Mar 6)
•
£90m for ‘innovation zone’ colleges (Mar 6)
•
53. Our councils are stars of town hall league table (Mar 5)
•
Other regional and national news:
•
24dash.com: Bolton Council wins Beacon award for housing services (Mar 4)
•
Crain’s Business Manchester: Bolton MBC to exhibit at MIPIM (Mar 3)
•
Health Club Management: Bolton relocates leisure provision (Feb 27)
Bolton press releases
The following press release is one of those issued about Bolton Council and its partners over the last
week.
All press releases are detailed in full on our website www.bolton.gov.uk
Click on the link to view a copy of the full release:
• Free advice from new Business Bolton website
• School’s investment plans to continue
• Plans to improve pedestrian crossing at busy junction
• Young people get involved in play areas
Bolton enquiries
The following enquiries are a selection of those received by the press office during the last week:
• School admissions
• Private James Smith
• Lillian Hamer
Bolton issues monitor
The following stories and issues have appeared in the national media this week and may affect Bolton Council and Bolton.
Click on the link to view a copy of the full story:
Warning of primary places crisis
Thousands of four and five-year-olds in England could be without a primary school place in the next six years, it is suggested
BBC
Schools 'flouting rules to pick pupils by family backgrounds'
Schools have been accused of flouting Labour's rules on admissions as figures showed thousands of pupils failed to get preferred
places this year
Telegraph, pg 8
We’d love to hear your views! If you have any comments or questions, or anything you would like to see included in this bulletin, please contact
Leena Chauhan,
Communications Support Officer on 01204 332238 or email leena.chauhan@bolton.gov.uk
54. Some other tools
• Bolton Summed Up – coverage by …
– publication
– tone
– Advertising value
– position
• Agency forward plan, including timelines
• Efficiencies document
55. Corporate publications: their power as
tools for communicating messages
• Part of the wider strategy for communicating the work
of the council
• Effective corporate publications can help us to tell our
story in ways people can understand
• Two way process – communicate, listen, evaluate,
communicate again
• 87% turn to us first for news about the council
• Bolton Scene is, by far, our most effective
promotional tool
57. Corporate publications: a strategic
approach
• A strategic approach to the editorial process
Brief overview
• Editorial meetings
• Review meetings
• Proofing meetings
• Sign-off
58.
59.
60. Internal communications
We aim to:
• create an effective mentality – no silos
• keep staff up to date with important news and
developments within the council
• value staff opinions, listen to their suggestions for
improvement and act on them
• help staff communicate effectively
61. What staff think
2008 staff survey results:
• 75% of respondents (2,421) were satisfied with their
current job
• 73% were either very or fairly satisfied with Bolton
Council as an employer
• 67% were proud to work for Bolton Council
• 46% were satisfied with council communications
62. How we manage our internal
communications
• Intranet
• Bob – staff magazine
• Update Online
• Team briefings
• Regular team meetings with line managers
• Induction presentations
• Departmental newsletters
• Director and Chief Executive briefings
• Regular staff survey
• Bolton 100 club
• Bolton’s Best - staff awards
63. Strategic communications and reputation
management – bringing it all together
• Monitoring and measurement – helps to prove the
worth of the team
• Evaluation and consultation – helps to develop even
better communications
• Forward planning – ensures the team knows what’s
on the horizon – must be done regularly
• Issues management – makes comms more effective
• Media management – develop a relationship with the
media … it can help enormously
• Reputation issues – encouraging staff to think about
the consequences of their actions is key
• Corporate publications – vital to get message across
64. The challenges
• It doesn’t happen overnight - it takes years …
• Don’t expect miracles - resistance is common –
sometimes worse!
• Are you the icing or the currants?
• Develop a long term strategy – and stick to it
• Ensure you build a team with strategic awareness
and planning skills
• Who are your allies? Who are the assassins?
• Some of it will be planning – but some of it is luck!
• Be prepared for early setbacks, but you’ll have some
early successes to as people start to ‘get it’
65. The strategy
• Build an evidence chest – evaluation/monitoring/surveys/
efficiencies
• Develop relationships based on trust, by proving your
worth…
– with chief officers
– with councillors
– with HR (internal communications)
• Build relationships with the media
• As your chest fills up – go to work …
– Present to Directors and senior managers
– Remind them of successes
– Remind them how you helped them through issues/setbacks
– Begin to make your case for the seat at the top table
• But the top table is just the start …
66. The strategy
• Once you have their trust you’ll reach a tipping point
• ‘It really works!’; ‘you help me to do my job better’
• This creates new issues in terms of workload
• Your team’s skills really start to matter
• You need to learn to absorb information fast
• Expect it to hurt – SWOT/PESTLE – nice to have!
• Strategic comms can be stressful at times
BUT
• You become aware of issues early on
• You think through all the possibilities
• You start to see the results in the coverage you get
67. The political dimension …
• Can be difficult to manage
• Councils effectively have two sets of ‘senior managers’
• One is ‘on message’ the other … well, it depends on
their political allegiance!
• Generally have the best interests of the place at heart
• ‘The Bolton way’
• Educate to gain understanding (brand)
68. The opportunities
• A chance to prove your professionalism
• A chance to make a difference (foster care)
• A chance to develop a strategic mindset
• This makes you valuable
• Wider corporate knowledge than some top managers!
• Your skills can be interchangeable – promotion awaits!
• This approach is still innovative in the public sector
• A lot of council comms teams are ‘task and finish’
• Many still don’t participate in ‘guiding coalition’
• Growing awareness – so you are well placed
