The City of Red Deer’s 2020 property tax collections were affected by the pandemic. Deadlines shifted, payment options changed and elected officials were making last-minute budget adjustments to manage new challenges and limit financial strain on an already struggling community. Communications were needed to help the community manage this change on top of the many unprecedented challenges they were already facing.
As an internal consultant, Melissa led all communications; she developed and implemented the communications strategy and tactics, including materials development and distribution.
Approach
The strategy saw a complete shift in messaging and approach to property taxes. Rather than focusing on deadlines and payment options, communications acknowledged shared challenges, identified community supports and highlighted actions the City was taking to limit impacts and provide financial reliefs for residents and property owners.
Broad tactics were used to deliver messaging to the community and included traditional and digital media, and paid, earned, shared and owned mediums.
Deliverables
Comprehensive communications strategy following the R-A-C-E formula:
- Research including business need, internal and external research and best practices.
- Analysis including environmental scan, comprehensive audience breakdown (internal and external), and development of communications goals and objectives.
- Communication including developing key messages, themes and proof points, and a detailed action plan outlining a phased approach to implement tools, tactics and messaging throughout the project.
- Evaluation including media monitoring, website and social media analysis, review of tax collection data and feedback from customer service staff interacting with the public.
Materials development for varied media and audiences. Traditional/print materials included media releases, backgrounders and FAQs, brochures and custom envelopes, signage for customer service areas, community billboard content, radio ad scripts and print ad content. Digital materials included internal email and intranet posts, website content, social media content and search and display ads.
Challenges faced
- Constant change and unknowns required flexibility, quick thinking and fast and flawless work.
- The community was already feeling the impacts of the pandemic, and perception of the City collecting taxes while the community was struggling would be poor.
- There was some reluctance to shift our approach, adding time and effort to gain buy-in and deliver a strategy that would fit the situation.
Outcomes
All communications goals and objectives were met or exceeded. Higher-than-average number of tax bills were paid by the deadline, nearly 95% of media articles identified the City’s measures to provide financial relief to residents, and property tax pages on the City website saw increased traffic and lengthened time on page compared to the year prior.
Of equal importance was the extremely positive feedback received from staff managing customer interactions. In a time when customer service staff in all industries were facing increased scrutiny and becoming the brunt of peoples’ frustration and stress, the City’s Tax team noted they had the highest level of positive interactions they had seen in recent memory.
This project received national recognition and was awarded the Silver-level ‘Best PIVOT Award’ in the 2021 CPRS National Awards of Excellence.
Samples
The following samples offer a demonstration of the strategy and materials developed for the project. Note: all materials were developed in collaboration with a graphic designer from Z Design.
