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6.27.2023 Marketing Essentials Webinar Resources

These are the resources that the presenters would like to share from the June 27th webinar presented by the FBA Marketing Committee.

Stakeholder engagement is crucial for successful fiber rollouts and customer acquisitions. Stakeholders become customers.

  • Plan & engage early—not after something unexpected happens—be proactive, not reactive.
  • Make the necessary investment of time, money, & resources—seek advice and operational support from communications & stakeholder engagement experts.
  • Match your strategy to the specific community—each one will have different needs and challenges.
  • Bring the community along on the fiber journey to create buy-in, understanding, and alliances when there are inevitable challenges.
  • Build political will, grow community support, and ultimately drive take rates.

Transparency

  • Communicate frequently with consistent key messages.
  • Be honest and build trust over time.

 Listen

  • Engage with every type of community group.
  • Actively listen, understand their specific concerns, and respond right away.
  • Ask meaningful questions to discover opportunities.
  • Learn, assess what you’ve heard, and align these findings with your messaging.

Educate

  • Promote your fiber build with outreach campaigns.
  • Don’t assume the public understands the logistics and challenges of fiber rollouts—or even the benefits of fiber.
  • Host community presentations and instructional workshops—how the internet works, how all the different technologies work, why residents might be encountering connectivity problems, explain the terminology, and basic concepts.
  • Create knowledgeable and empowered ambassadors in each community to help spread the word and build trust with neighbors & friends.

Research

  • Track every comment, letter, & complaint—code them.
  • Aggregate the data and educate the larger community and council members about these specific concerns.
  • Tell the story effectively.
  • Protect against misinformation.

 

Community Outreach Ideas:

Town Halls

  • Facebook Live events with different experts to discuss the importance of connectivity and what it looks like in everyday lives.
  • Town Halls in a variety of formats: FB, in-person, and telephone town halls—always meet people at the level of participation that works best for them.
  • “Bang the Table” website—a community engagement platform out of Boulder, CO. Easily create different levels of engagement based on individual preferences.

Neighborhood Champion Campaigns

  • Educate residents on basic internet and fiber terminology and upload/download speeds.
    • Create a network of knowledgeable community ambassadors.
  • In rural areas, don’t rely on social media posts, use direct mail.
    • Variable data (personalized) postcard campaigns using customer aggregation software.
  • Host workshops, trainings, & dinners
    • Fiber trivia game with prizes

 

For additional strategies, tips and best practices, click here.