New Visions for Lawrence County Communication Plan

New Visions for
Lawrence County
Communication Plan
Block Communications
Lindsay Schich and Jennifer Wise
December 1, 2014

The Process
Table of Contents
01 Pages 3-4
02
Client Interview
Pages 5-12
Communication Audit
Pages 13-26
Website Logistics
Pages 27-30
03
Target Audience
Pages 31-34
Audience Personas
Pages 35-36
Objectives and Tactics
04 Pages 38-71

The Process
How did we get here?
A step-by-step process how we got from the initial stages to the final presentation

4
How did we get here?
The Process
section 01
•Picking the client
and establishing
initial contact.
Step 1
•Developing
questions for and
conducting client
interview
Step 2 •Conducting
website and social
media audit
•Client Interview
Step 3
•Analyzing results
of client interview
and audits
Step 4
•Developing
objectives and
tactics to
communicate New
Visions’ message
Step 5 •Developing
website
wireframes
•Compiling
presentation
Step 6

The Discovery
Phase
The Client Interview
Communication Audit
Site Audit
Social Media Audit
Search Engine Optimization
Usability Discussion

7
What is New Visions?
It is a non-profit organization that “seeks to spark
change and pride in New Castle and Lawrence County
through collaboration and partnerships.”
So how have they impacted the community thus far? It has generated $12,000
for downtown business and have received $136,745 of in-kind donations.
The 300 volunteers have contributed more than 3,000 hours and participate in
the Stand-Up for New Castle campaign.
The plans detailed on the website is expected to take 3-5 years. In 5-7 years,
New Visions hopes to expand and have offices county wide, specifically in
Ellwood City and New Wilmington.
What is the end goal?
“A strong local economy [that] will help keep
our young people here and attract new
residents needed to reverse our population
loss.”
http://www.newvisionslc.org/what-is-new-visions/
section 02

8
What do they have to offer?
One of New Visions’ biggest strengths is
that it is a grass-roots campaign.
The organization is a place where anyone can volunteer to
help improve Lawrence County. They are currently
focusing on New Castle because it is the main commercial
center and if downtown is revitalized, it would spread into
the surrounding areas in a type of ripple effect. One way
they hope to achieve this is to increase foot traffic
downtown.
One of their biggest weaknesses is the
community is not aware of their
presence and the services they provide.
New Visions was founded in 2011. Even though they are a
growing organization, they are still getting the word out.
They started with the downtown businesses, mainly using
face-to-face communication and the website to
communicate with their action teams. Besides those
modes, they do not engage other audiences.
They are currently working with one of the downtown
business owners to develop a liaison with City Hall.
section 02
“The broader mission is to help make
Lawrence County a more desirable place to
live and we said, “How do we start that
process?”

9
Modes of Communication
Volunteers
General
Public
Business
Owners
Primary mode of communication
is the Facebook page, where
meeting times and locations are
posted. Information on how to
become a volunteer is located on
the website, under the “Action
Teams” tab
There is a monthly meeting
with the downtown
business owners. These
meetings have a large
attendance, even the ones
during the winter have 30-
40 attendees.
“We’re on a first name
basis for most of the
downtown businesses.”
section 02
Volunteers act as ambassadors
to the community to relay
information. Most
communication with this
audience is face-to-face.

10
Thoughts on Online Communication
“I don’t think we’re using [Facebook] the way it should be. We put something
up there and think, “Oh, we got that covered.’ But it’s not going anywhere –
nobody sees it.
“How can we get more traffic? We’re pretty boring; how can we run
more information? What I say is we need to start a dialogue, put our
opinion out there.”
section 02

11
Brand Image
section 02
“We’re about collaboration, connection, community
conversation and transparency.”

12
Marketing Techniques
New Visions hasn’t used many
marketing techniques, other than social
media, the New Castle News, and
personal conversations.
In the future, they hope to begin using other forms of low-
budget social media, such as YouTube, and fliers. So far,
they feel as if they have a good response from the
community. Their primary channel of gaining support is
the personal communication between the ambassadors
and the general public.
Who contributes to the marketing efforts,
other than the ambassadors?
Other volunteers have access to the Facebook page. It is a
way to keep the volunteers involved, but they worry about
having a consistent message.
section 02
“When you do becomemore formal, you need
to control the message. If everyone has a
differentmessage, the message isn’t going
to get out.”

14
What we found
The Website Audit
The layout of
every page is
almost identical.
The viewer
knows they are
on the same site,
but it becomes
predictable,
Layout
The Facebook side bar
is only on one of the
pages. Also, there is
no logo or contact
information. The
social media share bar
is at the bottom of
every page and the
organization name at
the top of the screen
takes the viewer back
to the homepage.
section 02

15
What we found
The Website Audit
There are large
blocks of text
with very little
variation or
pictures.
Text
On several of the
pages, there is
use of bullet
points but they
appear as a
block of text, with
little separation
between them
and the rest of
section 02
content. There is also inconsistent bolding
on “It All Starts with New Castle.”

16
What we found
The Website Audit
The URLs do not
contain any
random letters or
numbers and
correspond with
the webpage
title.
URL/Links
The only additional
website the New
Visions site links to
is the New Castle
News. The other
news articles
located on the site
are organic.
section 02

17
What we found
The Website Audit
There are only 3
pictures on the
site and no
graphics .
Pictures
The pictures are all
clickable, but each
picture takes the
viewer to a different
web location. Two
pictures open in a
separate tab while the
third opens up a non-
existent Pinterest
page.
section 02

Facebook
Twitter
Social
Media
Audit

19
Facebook
The types of posts vary; some are text-based while others
are pictorial-based. There were several pictorial posts
that had a lot of text on them, which made them difficult to
read.
The profile picture is an appropriate size because it shows the complete image on
bot the organization page and also on the follower’s news feed,
The “About” section: “New Visions of Lawrence County, is a new group of citizens
seeking to spark positive change and pride in New Castle and the surrounding
communities.”
The page is primarily for the volunteers and doesn’t have many conversations
between the organization and the public.
Social Media Audit
608 Likes
Updated approximately
once a day
Page links to the
website, but not the
Twitter or print material
section 02

20
Facebook
Social Media Audit
section 02

21
Twitter
There are only four tweets on the account and two
promote other organizations, one is just a link and the
most recent tweet is asking for more followers.
The profile picture is also an appropriate size to fit in both boxes on the page.
There is no banner photo or bio for the account.
None of the tweets received likes or were retweeted. There are links on the
tweets but when the links were clicked on the “404 Error” appeared on the
screen.
Social Media Audit
section 02
18 followers
Following 45 accounts
Last updatedOct. 31,
2012

22
Twitter
Social Media Audit
section 02

Spark New Castle
New Visions Newsletter
Brochure
Print
Media
Audit

24
Spark New Castle
This pamphlet features a list of the businesses in
downtown New Castle- the walking map of the
Diamond District.
Each of the businesses are categorized as “A New Appetite,” “A New Idea,” “A
New Adventure,” “A New You” and “A New Community.”
There is also a map on the opposite side of the spread and each of the business
locations are numbered.
On the back of the pamphlet, there is a “2014 Downtown Event Calendar” that
shows when the events are, with a short summary and who to contact for more
information.
Print Media Audit
section 02

25
New Visions Newsletter
The newsletter details much of the same information
that is on the website – what New Visions is about, the
action teams, upcoming events and their impact.
The timeline details what New Visions has done monthly from Mar. 2011 to Nov.
2013
At the end of the newsletter, there is also a list of the board of directors and who
to contact for more information
There are also more pictures of New Visions inaction – which could be useful to
post of the website.
Print Media Audit
section 02

26
Brochure
The brochure contained much of the same content as
the other printed material and the website.
It detailed the goals, mission and vision of the organization. It also talks about
New Visions’ impact and structure, including the action teams.
There was also a section detailing the relationship between the community to
develop strategic and coordinated activities to improve New Castle.
While the brochure does contain contact information and the office location, the
different pieces of information are scattered throughout the content so the reader
will have to look to find the specific piece of contact information.
Print Media Audit
section 02

Search Engine Optimization
UsabilityWebsite
Logistics

28
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
What is Page Rank and why is important?
It is a link analysis algorithm used by Google that assigns a number or rank to each
hyperlinked webpage within the Internet.
Its purpose is to list webpages from the most important to the least important, based
on the search results of the keywords someone types into Google.
Page Rank evaluates all of the links in a particular webpage. The more links a
webpage has, the higher it will rank.
The ranking goes from 0 (an obscure page) to 10 (a highly visible page) and gives
visitors an idea about the page’s popularity.
New Vision’s Page Rank
Homepage – 0/10; The other pages
resulted in an error message
Links to other sites
Internal links to other site pages-
once the link is clicked, the message
“no page content is found” appeared
on the screen
New Castle News
Website Logistics
http://www.brickmarketing.com/define-pagerank.htm
section 02

29
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
What is Trust Rank and why is important?
“It is the level of esteem Google has for your website and website content.”
By having a high trust rank, Google is saying “This site is great; the information is
important so if it’s published on this site then [we] think it is going to be the best
place for [our] customers to read it.”
Google isn’t always right with Trust Rank. Excellent content can be published on
new sites it doesn’t know about yet. Drive more people to the website and start a
conversation on the website and about the content to try to encourage Google’s
attention and overall Trust Rank.
New Vision’s Trust Rank
0.06/10
Site geolocation: Provo, Utah
Keywords: new visions, visions
lawrence, county, grassroots, citizen
volunteers, latest news, starts new
castle
The webpage is primarily reflected in the
URL, with a few additions of random
letters and numbers
Website Logistics
http://www.commercetuned.co.uk/SEO-articles/google-trust-rank.php
section 02

30
Usability
Website Logistics
section 02
Readability
Page
Elements
Grade level: 6th (easily
read by 11-12 year
olds.
“Back to the Top” tag is
located on web and
mobile versions.
Website is compatible across many web
browsers and also on mobile devices.
Website takes 5.60 seconds to load and is
slower than73 percent of all websites.
Performance Grade: 79/100
There is only global navigation on the top
section of the screen and local or breadcrumb
navigation.
There are no all tags on the images.
The site is very easy to read and the text is
aligned to the left
It does not appear to have all of the important
information above the fold.

Target Audience
Audience PersonasThe
Audience

32
Overview
Average volunteer age is
55 years old.
New Visions is hoping to
reach more volunteers
in the age group of 16-35.
County wide
New Vision’s primary
audience groups are the
volunteers, downtown
business owners and
county residents
They are currently partnering with
Cityscape, a similar group located in
Youngstown, Ohio. They have been
meeting with them for guidance on
occasion for 17 years but they do not
have a formal relationship.
Many of the audience
members are familiar
with technology use.
They communicate primarily through
e-mail, the Facebook page and
website, but they would open to new
forms. The Facebook page is most
popular with volunteers and e-mail is
preferred for older people.
Target Audience
section 03

33
Volunteers
Target Audience
section 03
60%
50 years old and older
Many have been employed in the
workforce, come from a two-
income family and have adult
children. They have additional
time to dedicate to volunteering.
30%
30- 50 year olds
Some volunteers come
from the lower income
spectrum, but most are
business owners or from
upper levels of
management. Many are
attracted to organizations
like New Visions.
10%
30 years old and younger
Looking for more volunteers,
specifically juniors or seniors in high
school. They should be involved with
extra-curricular activities but still have
adequate time to devote to
volunteering. Previous volunteer
experience is preferred and they also
want to improve the county so it can
move forward
Time is the most
important qualification
for a volunteer to have.

34
Businesses and Prominent Figures
Target Audience
section 03
New Visions is in close contact with
many of the downtown businesses,
almost on a weekly basis.
First
Manor
Bank
The
Confluence
Two
Rivers
Artisan
Coffee
Lanigan’s
Irish Pub &
Eatery
PA Work
Wear
Wegmans
On the Board:
Head of commissioner
County District Attorney
Owner of Pizza Joe’s
Director of United Way
VP of PNC Bank
Head of a local group that works with disadvantaged children
Head of the Common Pleas court

35
Volunteers
Brandon Smalls, 18
Senior at New Castle High School
Plans to go to Penn State University and major in Business
Administration
He is very involved in extra-curricular activities, such as
vice president of Student Government, president of the
community service organization, a member of the National
Honors Society and works for the student newspaper.
Last summer, Brandon traveled to Mississippi to help with
the hurricane clean-up efforts.
Susan White, 52
Married, stay at home mom for 2 children – Abby, who is a
senior in high school and Madison, who is currently away
at college. She does freelance writing and photography in
her spare time.
While her children were still in elementary and middle
school, she volunteered in their classrooms and also in the
community.
Audience Personas
section 03
Susan has a lot of free time when her
husband travels for business and hopes
to get re-involved in the community

36
Owners and Prominent Figures
Andrew Burkowikz, 43
Married, with 3 children – Alex, 12,
Jessie,13, Erin,16.
Alison Cooper, 29
Single and an attorney at a local law firm. She graduated
from Harvard Law in 2008 and attended University of
Pittsburgh for her undergraduate degree.
She was very involved in college, including Habitat for
Humanity, Colleges Against Cancer and Pittsburgh
Historical Society.
.
Audience Personas
section 03
Andrew is the owner of a local jewelry store. The original
store was located in Ohio but was recently re-located 14
years ago to New Castle because of his wife’s work.
He donates small portion of his sales annually but he is
hoping to become more involved in the revitalization
process, instead of just writing a check.
In her spare time, she likes go on
vacation and ski. She hopes to become
more involved in the community but
doesn’t have a lot of time for physical
labor

The Recommendation
Phase
Objectives and Tactics
Website Wireframes

Volunteers
Website
Social Media
County Residents
Businesses
Revitalization Efforts
Objectives
and
Tactics

39
To Communicate with Action Teams
The main information the action teams are interested in
are meeting agendas, announcements about what is
going on in (specifically in downtown New Castle) and
what the other actions are participating in.
The primary modes of communication are the Facebook page and the website.
New Visions would also like to post new business announcements through the
Facebook page.
Volunteer Objective
section 04
“Internal
communication
is critical to
them.”

40
To Foster Communication Within
Action Teams
Volunteer Strategy and Tactics
section 04
EmailBlasts
To send out the most important information to the
volunteers in a professional and concise manner. This
is also a way to send out newsletters and other
materials about the Action Team
Group texts would be
effective for last-minute
information or
brainstorming ideas.
Google+ Hangouts simplify all modes of
communication by creating one central
location for messaging, email and video and
voice chats. All members can be added to
the group and can see all information shared
with the group.
A Facebook group could be created for
each of the action teams and could work
in cooperation with the New Visions’
Facebook page to communicate event
and meeting details.
This will help strengthen the
relationships between the volunteers in
each of the action teams. They would
work cohesively as a team rather than
individuals.

41
To Foster Communication Between
Action Teams
section 04
Team
Building
E-mail
Blasts
Google+
Hangouts
Facebook
Group
This will help strengthen the
relationships between the action
teams and help educate all of the
volunteers on what each action team
is doing. This is also an easy way for
the action teams to brainstorm for
additional project ideas.
organization. It would also be useful to
post meeting details and questions to be
able to have the majority of the volunteers’
opinions
A Facebook group is a
simple and effective way
for the action teams to
communicate with each
other without meeting in
person and it starts a
conversation inside of the
The e-mail blasts would function in a similar
manner to the Facebook group, but it would be
a more professional form of communication and
would not be conducive for immediate feedback.
They would also be a way to distribute e-
newsletters and other digital material.
It is the most effective way to
have “face-to-face”
communication without meeting
in person. It combines all of the
information in one place and
would be an efficient way for the
Action Team leaders to
communicate.

42
To Gain a Wider Volunteer Base,
Particularly High School Juniors and
Seniors
The majority of new volunteers seek out New Visions,
rather than New Visions recruiting them. The primary
way these volunteers find out about the organization is
through Facebook or the New Castle News.
Once the interested volunteers make the initial contact, New Visions reaches out
to them with additional information.
This group wants to know what makes New Visions different from other similar
organizations and how they can make a difference, rather than simply sitting in a
meeting.
Volunteer Objective
section 04
“I want them to
know why groups
like us are relevant
today and that is
important because
it’s not like they’re
joining a rotary or
Lion’s Club – we’re a
different type of
group.“

43
To Create a Conversation with
Influential Figures in Students’ Lives
section 04
Employers Teachers
Parents
Inform employers how
volunteering can be
good not only for their
employees but the
company as a whole.
The employees are a
representation of the
company, regardless if
they’re wearing a
uniform or not. People
will see them helping
out and they may be
more willing to support
the company because
the company supports
the community.
Discuss how volunteering
looks good on college
resumes or job applications.
It can also encourage
students to pursue bigger
goals because they are able
to see the difference they
made in a community in such
a short period of time.
Emphasize how volunteering will help their child
become a more well-rounded student and help them
manage their time better, a skill that is greatly
needed later in life. Also talk about how helping in
the community is good activity for character building.

44
To Communicate via Channels
Frequented by High School Students
section 04
Twitter
YouTube
Instagram
One of the primary ways to communicate with
younger people, especially juniors and seniors in high
school, is through social media.
Twitter is the most common form because you can communicate your
message in 140 characters or less, while appealing to the “cool factor” of
social media. More young people use Twitter because their older family
members haven’t begun using the platform.
Instagram is gaining popularity because people are becoming more interested
in visual content, rather than words. New Visions can post copies of print
material or pictures of volunteers in the community.
YouTube is popular because many students watch hours of videos daily. New
Visions could create a v-log (video blog) of the action teams volunteering in
the community. This can give the students a taste of what they would doing if
they volunteer and could also encourage them to sign up.

45
To Demonstrate How New Visions
Can Be Rewarding
section 04
Making a
Difference
Relevant
Different
Type Of
Organization
The work New Visions offers the community is meaningful work by revitalizing New Castle
and then moving out to neighboring areas.
Many students have lived in Lawrence County their entire lives and it is a way to make the community better by cleaning up the
environment, which would make Lawrence County more viable and would hopefully attract more residents.
New Visions is relevant because it focuses on issues New Castle has. Currently, it is the only organization of its kind in the New
Castle area so the students would be a part of something new and a type of “game changer” in the community. Many teens are
into the latest and greatest and New Visions is that type of organization.
While there are revitalization efforts in the county, New Visions tackles a wide variety of efforts rather than focusing on one of
them. It also provides the teens with meaningful work with immediate gratification because they can see the difference they
made.

46
To Improve the Website
The volunteers currently
use it the most. In the
future, the website’s
purpose would be to
communicate with the
community, particularly
about the organization
and how to volunteer or
donate.
Website Objective
section 04
“Right now,
the website is
mostly used
by internal
users, but it’s
not designed
for that.”
“We’re still in
our infancy –
we’re the new
kids on the
block.”

47
To Drive More Traffic to the Website
Website Strategy and Tactics
section 04
One of the primary ways to increase website traffic is
through internal means. Creating links to other pages of
your website would increase user accessibility and
would be more likely to stay on your site rather than
searching for the information elsewhere. Linking to
outside sources adds credibility. The outside sources
would be more likely to link to your site as well,
increasing the number of people who have knowledge
of the site.
Internal
sources
External
sources
Social
Media and
Email
Print materials are useful to
promote the website because the
reader is already interested in the
organization and the website would
feature more in-depth information
than the print materials would.
Word of mouth would be a
seamless way to promote the
website because the organization
primarily communicates this way.
Promoting through radio and
television would be a cost-effective
way to reach a very broad
audience at one time.
Promoting the website on social
media is a free way to cross-
promote the organization on a
variety of platforms. It also an
effective way to begin an internal
dialogue for the organization. E-
blasts and e-newsletters are
ways to communicate
information with a variety of key
audiences and linking to the
website will provide these
audiences with a way to find out
more information or how to
contact New Visions.

48
To Drive More Traffic to the Website
Design
Simple HTML design that looks very
similar to the webpage design
Link to donate page and social
media accounts at the very top
Test in several browsers on multiple
computers to see if the design
remains the same and the pictures
load.
Content
Limit to 500 words maximum
1-3 main items, only include the
necessary information, don’t include
information just to include it
Avoid third person language, use
first or second
Source and Frequency
Constant Contact, MailChimp,
iContact, Email Now
Only send 1 to 3 e-mails or e-
newsletters a month
section 04
How to Design Better E-Newsletters
Allow users to opt-in or out of the e-mails and e-newsletters. Include spot for
people to submit their contact information. Also, include a “Thank you” page
after the users submit their information and send out an confirmation email.

49
To Improve Site Design
section 04
Layout
The primary layout for all of the website pages were large blocks of
text, broken up with several headings and subheadings, and also the
inconsistent use of bullet points. This layout made it difficult to find
the information on the page.
Creating “chunked’ information and the use of white space on the page will help readers
navigate through the page and information accessibility.
Using squarespace.com would be a useful way to streamline the website and give users
control over the content and design. It is a drag and drop service so once you lay out the
content and pictures, that is how it will appear on the finished website.
It would also be beneficial to spend some money to customize the web address of New
Visions, so people would be able to find the site easier to find and if someone was typing in
the web address and not having to use random filler characters.
Using register.com will help check to see if the domain name is available. It would be
beneficial to include any common misspellings of the name so the webpage will still appear if
the web address is spelled incorrectly.

50
section 04
Layout
Pictures and graphics would also create visual appeal by
displaying information in a new and interesting way. Studies
have also shown that viewers are more likely to recall visually
based information, rather than large blocks of text.
Canva.com is a useful site to create graphics to advertise upcoming events to post on the
website and social media.
Pictures containing real people are the most interesting to the majority of viewers and will
attract the most attention.
Obtain image release forms from and clearances from people you regularly come in contact
with so you are able to use their images on the website and social media.
Remember to test your website on multiple browsers on various computers and mobile
devices to ensure proper loading and layout design.

51
section 04
Usability
As a whole, the website is not very user-friendly. Each webpage
contains a large amount of text that viewers have to scroll through to
find what they’re looking for, rather than just search for it or using the
global navigation.
The site does have a global navigation bar at the top of every webpage but it only contains
one or two drop-down items maximum. Most viewers have to click from page to page to find
what they’re looking for instead of using the global navigation.
There is also no breadcrumb or local navigation on the inner pages of the website so viewers
would not know what pages they went through to view the page they are currently on. These
navigation tools are essential for a user-friendly site.
A search box would increase user-accessibility as well because many people are not familiar
with the website so they may not know what tab of the global navigation to look under.
Widgets and interactive features are also crucial to the usability of a website. One of the most
familiar interactive features is the contact forum. This feature must be on every webpage so
the viewer has a way of contacting you at any time they’re viewing the site. This also helps
build relationships and credibility with your audiences.
Avoid linking to a PDF file,
except for applications or
other forms

52
Home Sample Page
Website Wireframes
section 04
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Information
FOLD
Important Riverwalk Public Meeting Today
OCTOBER 22, 2014
Hello New Visions Volunteers, Just a last minute friendly reminder about
today's Riverwalk Public Meeting. I encourage you to attend… [Read More...]
Downtown New Castle Riverwalk Takes Step Forward
OCTOBER 24, 2014
See story and photos under Action Teams, then Water Ways. … [Read
More...]
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53
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section 04
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Information
FOLD
Types of Action Teams
Communication
Clean and Green
Destination Downtown
Celebrate
How to Volunteer
Communication Action Team
The mission of the Communication
Action Team is to communicate good
news that promotes and inspires
positive community change. The
Communication Action Team meets 6
p.m. first Tuesday of each month at
The Confluence, 214 East
Washington Street, downtown New
Castle. Local businessman Joe
Seminara, a chairs the Communication Action Team. Action teams are
Home > Action Teams > Communication Action Team

54
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section 04
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What is New Visions?
Mission and Vision
Impact to Date
Goals
Will New Visions Succeed?
It All Starts with New Castle
Mission and Vision
To establish Lawrence County
as a more desirable community
in which to live
Home > Action Teams > What is New Visions? > Mission and Vision
Mission
To assist in developing a
comprehensive plan that
addresses and leads the public
interests in a greener, cleaner,
safer community
To create a more prosperous
Lawrence County and through
collaboration make that plan a
reality.
Vision

55
Contact Us Sample Page
Website Wireframes
section 04
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Home > Action Teams > What is New Visions? > Mission and Vision
Full Name
E-mail Address
Telephone Number Submit
Yes, I would like
to receive updates
from New Visions.

56
To Adapt Message to Specific
Audiences
section 04
General
Public
Revitalization
Efforts
Fundraising
New
Volunteers
How to volunteer, what types of action teams
there are, meeting details and minutes,
volunteer opportunities and who to contact
What supplies and monetary
donations are needed, where
to donate, event details,
impact of donations
Action Team participation, what
businesses and organizations New
Visions is working with, detailed
project plan
Mission and Vision, where
and what to donate, main
location, event and meeting
details, how to get involved,
contact information

57
To Gain a Larger Social Media
Presence
Social Media Objective
section 04
Platforms
Expansion
Volunteers
The main audience
group who uses the
Facebook page is the
volunteers.
Additional platforms, such as
Twitter and Instagram, will help
reach a wider (and younger)
audience demographic.
New Visions can use social media not only
as a way to get the word out to the
community, but also reach new volunteers,
particularly ones in the younger age range.
One of the goals of social
media is to create
meaningful conversations
with key audiences.

58
To Drive More Traffic to Social Media
Platforms
Social Media Strategy and Tactics
section 04
Promote social media
through outside sources
Create interactive and
user-friendly
environment
Cross-promote related
accounts
Promoting social media
accounts on print materials
would create a larger audience
who knows about the accounts.
If the accounts are not well-
known, many people won’t know
they exist. Links to the
accounts could also be added to
the website so users can click
on them and be taken directly to
the account, creating quicker
way to drive views to the page.
One of the main advantages of
social media is the interaction
between the organization and
the general public. People like
to share their opinions and feel
like those opinions have been
heard and taken into
consideration. Asking questions
would help the organization gain
insights into the users’ opinions
and lifestyle, but also gain
personalized content for the
future.
Social media is designed to not
only create a relationship
between the organization and
the audience, but also to form
relationships between
organizations. If New Visions
promote another local
organization on their social
media accounts, the other
organization is more likely to
promote New Visions on their
accounts. This will drive more
users to both sets of accounts,
increasing overall awareness.

59
To Expand the Number of
Communication Channels
Social Media Strategy and Tactics
section 04
Twitter
Pinterest
YouTube
Instagram
Instagram would be best to post pictures
and videos of the action teams working
It would also be helpful to look at other
non-profit organizations to see what
they are posting.
around the community.
Twitter is a good place to promote the meetings, but
include a link to the website that includes the essential
information. This platform is also good to promote
New Visions as a community leader, by posting
articles about New Castle,
Lawrence County and
anything pertaining to
revitalization.
YouTube would be best
utilized to post meeting
recording and other
important videos.
It would also be useful to post “behind-the-scenes”
videos of action team volunteering in the
community.
Pinterest allows users
to categorize
information by topic.
New Visions could create boards for before and after
shots of the areas volunteers work on, DIY
revitalization projects people can do at home and
volunteer spotlights.
.

60
To Educate the General Public about
New Visions and its services
The New Castle News, Facebook page and website
are the primary forms of communication with
community.
New Visions wants to communicate with the community about their history, vision
and why they’re around.
They would also like to explain how this organization is different from others and
why they are still relevant.
County Residents Objectives
section 04
“A lot of
people think
we’re a
duplicating
agent and
we’re not”

61
To Distinguish New Visions From
Other Similar Organizations
County Residents Strategy and Tactics
section 04
Action
Teams
Grassroots
campaign
Action teams are unique
to New Visions because
they involve the
community and they are
completely comprised of
volunteers. Other
organizations pay
certain people to work
for them rather than
being completely
volunteer driven.
New Visions is a
grassroots campaign,
entirely made up local
people. This is would
useful because all of the
volunteers have a
connection with the area
and would be more likely
to be invested in the
cause. Other
organizations are
nationally based and have
local chapters, and they
don’t have as much of a
local focus as grassroots
efforts.

62
To Communicate How to Volunteer or
Donate
section 04
Website
Social
Media
The website is the optimal
place to promote donating or
volunteering because all
users would have to do is link
on the link or visit the page.
It would require minimal effort
on their part and they would
be more likely to help out.
The best place to locate the
information is above the
global navigation on every
page so it is very easy to find
and users will not have to
search the site looking for it.
A “Donate” button will also
attract viewers’ attention.
Social media would equally
effective in driving donations
and traffic to the website.
Many people come across
Facebook pages that appear
on their sidebar, but don’t
know anything about the
organization previously.
Creating a link on the social
media accounts to the
donation page on the website
will assure users the donation
site is legitimate and will
inform them about what the
donation is going toward.
Users can then click on the
website donation button.

63
Donate
section 04
Print
Materials
Word of
Mouth
Print materials would not be
the most effective way to
encourage people to donate.
There would be too many
steps in the process and the
majority of people do not
have the inclination to go that
far out of their way. There
are a few people who would
and just simply getting the
word of that New Visions is
accepting donations could
generate a few.
One of the primary ways New
Visions communicates with
its key audiences is through
word of mouth. Informing
people about donation would
have a similar outcome as
the print materials, but
because a personal
connection was made,
people may be more willing
to donate if they see the
human side of the
organization rather than a
piece of paper or a computer
screen.

64
Donate
Use guidestar.org to search for New
Visions’ information
Justgive.org connects with the Guide Star database that
verifies organizations are 501(c)(3), tax exempt. There is a
pay per transaction fee.
Donationpay.org requires a monthly fee, but it is one of the
most reasonably priced donation services.
There is a 3-5% charge for online donations, but do not ask
donators to incur the cost. If you do, it will cause a drastic
decline in donations
Avoid using PayPal at all costs; many people
see it as part of the e-commerce system and
not for donations.
Never solicit donations directly through email. You can put a
donate button in an e-mail, but the e-mail’s main purpose should
not be asking for donations.
Incorporate New Vision’s logo and other branding so people
recognize the site and are sure they are on the correct site.
Have a “continued” or “recurring” giving option on the donation
page and give donators an option to give in another person’s
name, such as “in honor of” or “in memory of.”
Things to Consider when Setting Up a Donation Page
section 04

65
To Inform The Public About Events
section 04
Website and
Social Media
New Castle
News
Local
Businesses
Fliers could posted in clearly visible places in local
businesses. Since New Visions is currently focusing on
New Castle, more people would know about the events
and potentially have a personal connection because it
would affect local areas and businesses.
New Visions also uses the New
Castle News on a fairly regular basis.
Promoting events there would draw
an older demographic who are more
willing to volunteer and donate.
The website and social media would reach the largest
audience. They would also be effective because a calendar
featuring all of the events could be posted, rather than
advertising one event at a time. This would help people
plan ahead and could potentially lead to a larger turnout
because events wouldn’t be last minute.

66
To Grow Relationships with
Revitalization Groups Throughout
Lawrence County
New Visions would also
like to work with the
dormant agencies who
have a related missions.
They are starting to see them “spring
back to life,” and can carry out tasks
New Visions cannot.
Community Objective
section 04
“Starting to see other revitalization groups
pop up but we aren’t ready to start having a
dialogue and say, ‘How can we help you
too?’ because we’re still focused on New
Castle. Eventually, we would start to
working with smaller communities outside
of New Castle in a similar fashion as we did
inside of New Castle.”

67
To Communicate with Current
Revitalization Groups
Community Strategy and Tactics
section 04
Google+
Hangouts
Constant
Contact
Meetings
Google+ Hangouts can be useful to communicate
with key decision makers in other organizations
by providing them a wide variety of centralized
modes of communication.
Constant Contact allows
users to create e-mail
address lists to send
personalized e-newsletters
to certain group of people.
These newsletters can be
done ahead of time and be
scheduled for distribution. It
is a paid service with
different rates, but it allows
you to communicate with
larger groups of people.
Meetings can be useful
as a way to bounce
ideas off of other people
and coordinate with
them so there aren’t
duplicate ideas or
events. It is also a
way to help plan
co-sponsored events
of a larger scale.

68
To Help Dormant Agencies Revive
their Services
section 04
Success
Stories
Help
Create
Events
Develop a
Plan
It would be helpful for New Visions to share what
has and hasn’t worked for them. This way the
other organizations would not have to start from
scratch planning their efforts. Both organizations
are in the same area so New Visions would know
what be most effective for New Castle and
surrounding areas. This would also help form a
relationship and trust between the two
organizations.
Developing a plan would help
the dormant organizations
focus on what they have to do,
when they have to do and
where they are headed in the
future. It would also help the
new agencies thrive because
they would have a general
routine.
By having New Visions
helping to create and/or co-
sponsor events would be
effective in several ways.
The first would be the newer
organizations would have
guidance and assistance
while building relationships
with New Visions. It would
also be effective because
New Visions would be able
to get their name out to more
people in the community.

69
To Help Coordinate County Wide
New Visions is in the midst of a 30 year plan to
revitalize Lawrence County, beginning in New Castle
and working out from there.
They are currently working with the city, county, chamber of commerce, tourism
promotion agency and volunteers to accomplish this because they do not have
enough manpower individually.
One of their ongoing projects is the river walk downtown. They are hoping to
create trails that connect the riverbank with the surrounding neighborhoods and
downtown. This will be a way to encourage more foot traffic.
Community Objective
section 04
“If we are successful
downtown, in a small
area, we’ll start to
spread into the
neighborhoods and
then begin to
undertake some
projects [in the
surrounding
neighborhoods].”

70
To Help Coordinate County Wide
Community Objective
section 04
“New Castle is a hard nut to crack. It used to have 50,000
people, now it has half of that. The thinking is if you can
turn around New Castle, you can revitalize it so it’s not
using people.”
“We’re not going to say ‘Just because it looks better, it’s better. It’s going
to have to be quantifiable, increased businesses downtown, that people
are not leaving the neighborhoods, that the population is growing.”

71
To Coordinate County Wide Projects
Similar to the Ones in New Castle
section 04
Websites
Word of
Mouth
Newspapers
Newspapers would be effective because New
Visions could submit an advertisement in the
main part of the paper and also include their
event in the community calendar, if the
publication has one. Each of the main districts
in Lawrence County has a specific publication
so the message would be wide spread. Fees
vary depending on the publication.
Word of mouth would create a
personal connection and
people would be more likely to
attend an event if it is
connected with someone they
know.
The events could be
featured on the New
Visions website and also
the websites of local
publications and
businesses that are
affected. This would
benefit all parties
involved and it is a
cheap, if not free, way to
advertise to a very large
audience.

New Visions for Lawrence County Communication Plan

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