Planning & Using Council Channels - City of Tea Tree Gully

The City of Tea Tree Gully highlighted the problem of illegal dumping in a media friendly way, whilst building a strong sense of community and promoting other council services by making the most of council channels with a detailed plan, learn more. 

The City of Tea Tree Gully took part in Garage Sale Trail for the first time in 2015, with outstanding results, Topping the charts with the highest number of sales in the state. They share their key learnings for making the most of the campaign.

"​For us one of the key priorities was to highlight the issue of illegal dumping in the area.  It’s a big problem in Tea Tree Gully and the program gave us a way to talk to about the issue with residents and in a way that was appealing to local media too. We also saw the program as a way to build a stronger sense of community in the area and to promote other initiatives we run at council, for example our library and other waste services."
Kelly Morris, Cultural Coordinator at City of Tea Tree Gully Council

​Support from Executive Management is critical

A cross-functional working group was established with representatives from Arts and Culture, Environment Services (i.e. Waste) and Marketing. This program was driven and monitored by the Director, Community and Cultural Development.

​Establish how the program supports your strategic objectives

The first step in the process was for the working group to link the program outcomes to Council’s strategic objectives. This provided the ‘why’ behind the program and allowed the working group to explain the importance of the program to key stakeholders. It also assisted in the establishment of the key message for the program. 

​Example of strategic objectives:

• Reduce the amount of waste going to landfill (strategic plan – 4.4)
• Inform and educate our community regarding environmental issues (strategic plan 4.1).

​Be clear on what success looks like

Once strategic linkages were established, the working group developed two KPIs for the program. Development of the KPIs was critical to measure our return on investment and understand the impact of the program on our community. We took into consideration the fact that this was our first year we had been involved in the program when setting these KPIs. 

​Example of KPIs:

• 50 sales in 5092 (15 km’s around) by reaching 10,000 residents three times with key messages 
• Increase rating in annual community satisfaction survey by 2% (from 60% to 62%) for the question – ‘We will do more to protect our environment and better manage our resources’. 

Set clear agreed communications objectives and actions

By applying the Plan, Do, Check, Act method the working group developed communications objectives which were underpinned by a series of actions. These were developed over two meetings and then tracked and reported on via email.

​Example of communication objectives:

• Promote Council involvement in the trail and encourage the community to put their sale on the trail FOR FREE 
• Get the community involved and buy up big on Saturday 24 October 
• Promote Council based garage sales - Council asset activation. 

Have a plan

In order to ensure our KPIs were achieved, a comprehensive communications plan was developed and endorsed by the working group. This plan covered:

• Program objectives 
• Communications objectives 
• Key dates 
• Key messages 
• Key audiences (internal and external) – including reference to our Customer Personas 
• What does the audience/s want to know?

​Also included in the communications plan was a comprehensive list of actions that underpinned the communications objectives. Each action identified the audience, tool, key message / information, timing, responsibility and budget. Clearly articulating these actions allowed us to have an understanding of responsibilities for each member of the group. It also allowed us to track the progress of the agreed set of actions and report on the program.

10 Ways to get the word out through Council

1. At meetings – take a minute to either spruik Garage Sale Trail quickly chat about how the Garage Sale Trail benefit their community outreach, enviro outcomes, team building or ask if they can spread to the word to other groups or committees they belong to. Remember to bring – flyers, business cards and posters.
2. Target council staff who have a direct line to the community: library, community centres and recreation centres – as they talk to the community all day long.
3. Ask if you can have a display at the library, community centre or recreation centres or place flyers on their counters.
4. Get the Children’s Librarian on board- they can chat to schools on your behalf. 
5. The Children’s Librarian can also distribute the Garage Sale Trial colouring sheets –provide colouring pencils as a prize.
6. Ask if the library can host a library sale
7. Ask if the depot wants to get rid of stuff – they can have a sale too
8. Send an email to staff
9. Send an email to all council volunteers – or talk about it at their next meeting
10. Book a meeting a week, be the guest and only stay for the first 5 mins. Take the opportunity to tell them what you do too. ​

Community Promotion

• Spruik at any community meeting you can get to – church, craft group, sport group etc. (or delegate to someone)
• Find a service providers meeting and attend (usually hosted by community development, local health org or local MP) these groups have local NGO’s, opp shops, multicultural groups, legal aid, health groups etc. They will spread the word.
• Send emails to a variety of community groups or individuals you have worked with in the past.
• Find the local business or main street association and ask if you can present or if they can promote it for you.

This case study was kindly provided by Kelly Morris, Cultural Coordinator and Elissa Graves, Manager Customer and Communications at City of Tea Tree Gully Council.