Hero Work Communication Plan

N O T- F O R - P R O F I T

HEROWORK

Strategic Communication Plan Expanding to Burnaby, BC

Emma Rossum Sara Wasouf COMM 392 Royal Roads University Susan Tinker March 6, 2022

Executive Summary HeroWork is a not-for-profit organization that has provided over a dozen meaningful transformations to not-for-profit charities in Victoria, BC since 2014. The organization is now looking to expand to Burnaby, BC, and wants to develop stakeholder connections and increase engagement in the city. HeroWork’s major publics are made up of producers, customers, and enablers. HeroWork will use special events, newsworthy information, alliance and coalition, news pegs, newsworthy information, and transparent communication to achieve the goals of this plan.

With the challenge of a low budget, this plan will provide strategic and low-cost tactics with the goal of increasing awareness of HeroWork, enticing action from volunteers and donors, and making a positive impression on the public. This will be achieved through a strong and effective message strategy that persuades and informs the public.

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Table of Contents Executive Summary……………………………………………………………………………..…….….....2 Situation Analysis……………………………………………………………………………..…….………4 Organization Analysis………………………………………………………….………….……….

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Publics Analysis………………………………………………..…………….…………….……….

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Strategic Approach………………….…………………………………………….………………..…..…. 7 Goals and Objectives…………………….………………………………….….………………....

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Action and Response Strategies……………………………………….………………………...

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Developing Message Strategy………………………………..…………………………………………...

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Selecting Communication Tactics…………………...……………………………….…………………...10 Implementing the Plan……………………………………………………………...…………………....…12 Monthly Schedule…………………………………………………………………………..…….…. 12 Budget………………………………………………………………….…………….………......….. 15 Evaluating the Plan……………………………………………………….………………………..…....…. 16 Additional Evaluation……………………………………………………………………….…....…. 16 References……………………………………..…………………..………………………………....…….

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Appendix A……………………………………..…………………..………………………………......….

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Situation Analysis Today, HeroWork has an opportunity to expand to Burnaby, BC. Expanding into a new city thrusts the organization into various new challenges and opportunities. With a limited budget, HeroWork will have to focus on specific, strategic, and creative approaches to reach this new city.

Expanding into Burnaby means that the organizational goal of, “replicating our program into many communities to change a nation,” comes to life in this bigger market. The significance of this project is that it will bring about great community involvement. Through this, HeroWork will further increase in the number of volunteers, donors, supporters, and potential investors when introduced to a new city (Smith, 2021). There’s an opportunity to join a new market in Burnaby, a city that is home to a significant number of not-for-profits. We assume that the time frame in which this project will be implemented will be the next 2 years until Winter 2023. Once HeroWork has made a name in Burnaby, expansion to other surrounding cities such as Surrey and New Westminster will be seamless. If this communication plan does not meet the objectives and goals, HeroWork will not be able to maintain a position in Burnaby’s market. This communication plan is essential to expanding HeroWork into Burnaby, BC.

Organizational Analysis In considering the quality of HeroWork’s performance, this plan looks at the rating of 4.8 out of 5 on HeroWork Victoria’s Facebook page (2022). It is clear that HeroWork has a strong team of passionate and dedicated volunteers and donors in Victoria, BC. However, there is little coverage in other cities around the country. Although HeroWork is fairly recognizable in Victoria, we assume that more than 25% of publics in Victoria do not have a full understanding of the organization's projects or needs. We suggest further research on this. The current reputation of HeroWork is positive. DCM Durwest, a construction company donating supplies and time to HeroWork, states that HeroWork provides a renewed sense of belonging and community to vulnerable groups. HeroWork volunteers rated a 96% satisfaction with their experience (HeroWork, 2022).

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With the shift from a smaller market in Victoria to a bigger market in Burnaby, HeroWork may face the challenge of a decreased donations due to the abundance of other not-for-profits accepting resources. HeroWork heavily relies on volunteer’s time, labour, donations, and resources to achieve its goals. This is a challenge the organization faces as its operations are entirely reliant on the efforts of others, whose only incentive to support HeroWork may be the personal sense of philanthropy one achieves through volunteering.

There are external oppositions to HeroWork’s plan to expand, such as a not-for-profit competitor with a similar organizational plan: Habitat for Humanity. Potential donors, volunteers, and construction companies may already be comfortable staying with Habitat for Humanity, therefore HeroWork is competing for resources.

Entering a new market will require time and marketing to promote the incentives of working with HeroWork, which we assume may take upwards of 3-6 months until volunteers and donors are aware and on-board. With no monetary incentives for volunteering and a lack of donations in a new city, HeroWork will be challenged with low funding. Funding is essential for HeroWork to build a new site in Burnaby and to market the organization’s mission.

That being said, this communication plan will focus on low-budget strategic approaches to communicating HeroWork’s message to this new city.

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Publics Analysis The major publics for HeroWork are producers (donors and volunteers), customers (notfor-profit registered charities that will be affected by HeroWork), and enablers (BCIT trades association). The strategic publics for this situation are Burnaby residents, BCIT students, Burnaby Charities, and Burnaby construction companies.

Burnaby residents between the age of 15 and 44 years old are seen as possible donors, whether that's through donating their time, labour, or supplies. We’ve selected this demographic specifically as according to Statistics Canada, 58% of Canadians between the age of 15 and 24 years old and 54% of Canadians between the age of 35- and 44-years old volunteer (2015).

Next, the donors and volunteers that makeup HeroWork’s producer stakeholder group are trades students at BCIT seeking volunteer experience or apprenticeship hours. As well as Burnaby-based construction companies that make a minimum of $800,000 per year and who possess the means and interest in donating time, supplies, or hands to HeroWork projects.

Finally, the Burnaby-based charities that makeup HeroWork’s customer stakeholder group in this situation are those that serve vulnerable populations, own a building needing renovations, maintain financial health and security for long-term use of the transformation, and demonstrate community involvement - a charity that shows what the impact of renovation will do for their economically vulnerable populations. This group is in Burnaby and has a net-worth revenue of $20,000 or under per year from donations, grants, and memberships. This group is the first to be affected by HeroWork’s initiative in this new city.

This strategic plan will target the Burnaby residents, BCIT students, Burnaby charities and Burnaby based construction companies mentioned prior. To increase the list of customers served, HeroWork must have the supplies and volunteers to do so. The interest/influence grid presented in Appendix A is an effective way to map out and analyze HeroWork’s stakeholders in this situation of expanding to Burnaby.

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Strategic Approach Goals and Objectives

From a positioning perspective, HeroWork wants to expand as a reputable not-forprofit into Burnaby, BC. The goal is for HeroWork to increase public support through donations of supplies from Burnaby construction companies, participation from BCIT trades students by attending HeroWork workshops and volunteering, and Burnaby charities to reach out for assistance. Overall, this is a task management goal.

The objectives for this goal are as follows:

o Awareness: To move from current 5% awareness to 65% awareness of HeroWork with BCIT trades program students and Burnaby based construction companies within 1 year. This growth in awareness will be measured using surveys by mail.

o Acceptance: To increase conversation in the next 3-6 months with consistent growth in 1 year about HeroWork in Burnaby among construction companies and BCIT trades programs about engaging with workshops, social media, and events, volunteering their time, and donating supplies. This will be measured by observing social media profile and website visits, inquiries, and quantity of sign-ups. HeroWork could further measure this acceptance by survey.

o Action: To create participation from 600 BCIT trades students and 30 construction companies to volunteer with HeroWork by Winter of 2023. HeroWork will measure this increase in sign-up engagement and project turnout. HeroWork will aim to transform 5 charity buildings in Burnaby by the end of 2025.

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Action and Response Strategies The following proactive strategies will be beneficial:

Action Strategies: These are the tangible deeds undertaken by HeroWork. o Special Event: Activities to engage with potential stakeholders, such as a grand opening for HeroWork’s new site in Burnaby. o Alliance and Coalition: Cultivate relationships with other not-for-profit organizations and influential community leaders in Burnaby.

Communication Strategies: The attention given by the news media about HeroWork. o Transparent Communication: Being open with the public about HeroWork’s financial situation and to increase knowledge and understanding of what HeroWork is coming to do in Burnaby. o Presentation of Newsworthy Information: Open discussion about the issues that vulnerable populations face and the ways in which HeroWork helps, focusing on the immediacy of issues certain not-for-profits face. o News Pegs: Contribute to conversations on news media and social media that are already happening in Burnaby, get hands-on in other charitable projects to show not tell.

No reactive strategies such as crisis communication are necessary but are available if need be. The communication and action strategies will be aimed towards the chosen publics. As Shanto Iyengar and Donald Kinder’s (1987) Priming Theory suggests, our focus on using the media to align with HeroWork’s mission to expand to a larger market will affect people's thoughts and feelings towards the organization. The concept of priming explains that people’s attention to recurring topics in the media, “creates a framework for relatively uninformed audiences, calling up past information and applying it to present situations” (Smith, 2021). While communication strategies applied through the media will resonate with the public’s emotions, actionable strategies will bring in volunteers to HeroWork’s doors and forge relationships with other organizations.

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Developing Message Strategy To help the community understand HeroWork’s goals and attract potential volunteers’, donors’, and stakeholders’ support, we will identify and use the following key messages. The messages will follow a combination of an information and persuasion-based model. HeroWork offers the public with information on the purpose behind the organization (3,4) and persuades them by applying the pathos appeal, which uses the positive emotions of the sense of community, giving back, making a difference, and overall heroic and philanthropic work. The messages are:

1. Join the heroes making the work happen 2. Motivating volunteers to contribute to a rewarding cause 3. Lending a helping hand to the charities in our community 4. Believing in social wellness for our communities

The right spokespeople can relay these messages in a strategic and effective way.

HeroWork would benefit from the following spokespeople: o Main spokesperson representing HeroWork (Hired based off experience and connections in the field) o Current volunteers and past trades students to join speaker’s bureau and speak at BCIT presentations / workshops o Celebrities and influential people in the community (ie. mayor, members of Burnaby council, charity board members)

The main spokesperson holds strong credibility and control built through their intensive expertise, connections, and competence in the field of not-for-profit organizations. But one party that the audience can relate to on a personal level are the volunteers who give insight on their firsthand and rewarding experience at HeroWork. This establishes charisma. HeroWork also looks for charismatic personalities when aiming to be supported by influential members of society.

Through strategic repetition, these key messages will make their way into the depth of the community surrounding HeroWork, calling them to take action to volunteer or donate to the organization. Giving them a positive experience and a sense of contentment and reward is the goal, and this message strategy echoes that.

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Selecting Communication Tactics HeroWork will implement a combination of interpersonal and organizational tactics to increase volunteer and donor participation, make an impression in the new city of Burnaby, and increase awareness within the community, potential donors, and volunteers. HeroWork’s low budget is taken into consideration, so the following suggestions are low-cost activities, omitting the dependence on paid advertisement and thus relying on word-of-mouth.

Our tactics aim to achieve all 3 objectives of raising awareness, increasing acceptance, and creating action with HeroWork in Burnaby. Although, the table below arranges each individual tactic in terms of frequency and timing to further demonstrate its exact, initial position and importance in working together in reaching the success of this plan by meeting the defined objectives of raising awareness from 5% to 65% in 1 year, increasing acceptance and action from volunteers and potential supply donors in 1 year.

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Developing Message Strategy

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Implementing the Plan Monthly Schedule

We have created a general breakdown of the tactics that this communication plan suggests for HeroWork. BCIT and company demonstrations encourage workshop turnout. BCIT workshops and the public BBQ event provide content through photos, videos, and testimonials for social media, blog, and newsletter content. This plan will begin next month, April 2022.

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Budget With an objective-based budget, HeroWork can focus on a budget that will achieve the results of this plan. This way of budgeting aligns well with the already identified goals and objectives. (Smith, 2021). By having a speaker’s bureau established for HeroWork, knowledgeable volunteers can host the public event and BCIT alumni can present the BCIT demonstrations and workshops.

An estimate of main cost drivers:

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Evaluating the Plan The evaluation of this plan for HeroWork’s goals and objectives is as follows: Objective 1: Awareness To move from current 5% awareness to 65% awareness of HeroWork with enablers such as BCIT trades programs and potential donors such as construction companies in Burnaby within 1 year.

Measurement: This growth will be measured by calculation of media impressions and post-campaign surveys after the August 2022 public event.

Objective 2: Acceptance To make an impression within the next 12 months in Burnaby among construction companies and BCIT trades programs.

Measurement: This objective will be measured by audience feedback during and after BCIT demonstrations, by requests for information, by observing website and social media visits, questions, and inquiries, and by student surveys after each BCIT demonstration.

Objective 3: Action To create action of at least 600 BCIT trades students and 30 construction companies, and an increase in volunteer participation with HeroWork within 1 year.

Measurement: This objective will be measured by the quantity of sign-up engagement and project turnout results to HeroWork’s first Burnaby project.

Additional Evaluation Furthermore, after 3-6 months, HeroWork will evaluate by the following questions: o Have quality relationships begun to form?

After 6-9 months, HeroWork will measure the success of this plan through: o Have the workshops gone as planned? o Has the turnout increased at each BCIT workshop?

After 1 year, HeroWork will also measure the success of this plan by: o Have the tactics met expectations? o Are Burnaby locals, charities, organizations and BCIT talking about HeroWork?

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References

Adobe Stock. (2022). Images.

BCIT. (2022). British Columbia Institute of Technology. https://www.bcit.ca/ Blumbers Charity Data. (2022). HeroWork Program Society. https://www.charitydata.ca/charity/ herowork-program-society/841198583RR0001/ HeroWork. (2022). Home: HeroWork Canada. https://www.herowork.com/ Smith, R. (2021). Strategic Planning for Public Relations. New York: Routledge. 6th edition.

Statistics Canada. (2015). Volunteering in Canada. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11- 008-x/2012001/article/11638-eng.htm#a7 Talent. (2022). Charity Salary in Canada. https://ca.talent.com/salary?job=charity#:~:text=How%20 much%20does%20a%20Charity%20make%20in%20Canada%3F&text=The%20average%20 charity%20salary%20in,up%20to%20%2435%2C100%20per%20year.

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Appendix A Influence / Interest Grid Keep satisfied: Meet their needs, consult on interest area, try to increase level of interest.

Engage + Consult: Key players, focus efforts on this group.

Monitor: Inform.

Keep informed: Show consideration, consult on interest area.

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