JAKE LLOYD is an experienced Communications Specialist who has worked for various organizations including Arukah in the past and the BBC where he worked at the BBC Radio 5 radio station. In his time there, he learned a few things on how to build a relationship with those you serve. Here, he shares some key points..
How did you ensure that you had a good relationship with your listeners?
We saw our audience less as people to speak to and more as people to have a conversation with. In practical terms, we would travel to where our audiences were. Very often the presenters would not present the show from the studio, but from somewhere people go about their everyday lives like a marketplace, hospital or factory. We would also give them a chance to give their opinion or help produce stories back at the studio.
From this experience, you have developed a formula called PART to help connect better and inspire those around us..
Yes, PART stands for Present, Approachable, Responsive and Targeted.
Be Present. Be in the spaces that your community spends their time. These might be physical spaces like a marketplace or community center or cafe, or they might be online spaces like Facebook or WhatsApp. You want your audience to know that you are active in these places. This could involve holding a regular event in a community center, or knocking on doors in your community.
Be Approachable. It's one thing to be visible in these spaces, but people should also feel that they can approach you. And so you should always make it clear how people can connect with you and that you want them to. This can be as simple as a friendly smile and hello, or it could be leaving contact details on a leaflet, or inviting people to comment on a social media post.
Be Responsive. There's no use in being present and approachable if you're going to ignore the people who approach you. Remember that we all want to know that we are being listened to, so be consistent and reliable in responding to people.
Make sure you reply to people on email or social media and then in your community, make sure people know that you have understood what they've said to you and that you will take appropriate action in response. However, make some clear boundaries. You cannot and should not be available 24 hours a day.
Be Targeted. We all have limited time and resources and can't be everywhere at once. It's better to do one or two things very well than to do lots of things very badly. So for example, don't try and be on all social media platforms all the time. Pick the places where you think you can have the most impact online. This might be Facebook or WhatsApp. In person, it might be at a community center or shop.
How present, approachable, responsive and targeted are you currently? How can you do these things better? What plans can you put in place to build this relationship with your audience?
Take some time to meet as a group and discuss this together and see where PART can take you.
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