Municipality of Chatham-Kent Community Human Services and CAO’s Office Community Attraction & Leisure Services and Corporate Communications Information Report To: Mayor and Members of Council From: Evelyn Bish, Director, Community Attraction and Leisure Services and Amy Wilcox, FCPA, FCMA, PMP Manager, Corporate Initiatives Date: June 4, 2019 Subject: Chatham-Kent Marketing Initiatives Update ______________________________________________________________________ This report is for the information of Council. Background Various municipal initiatives occur corporately which promote Chatham-Kent internally to existing residents and businesses, and externally to prospective residents and visitors. One area that is primarily focused on this work is the Community Attraction and Promotion (CAP) section of the Community Attraction and Leisure Services Division. CAP is tasked with the following initiatives: Marketing and promoting Chatham-Kent to attract new residents, visitors and conference attendees through the VisitCK and LivingCK brands. Examples include: o External marketing campaigns are primarily delivered digitally through website and social media channels and include video, posts and advertising content. Select print ads are also used. Recent campaigns have included “That’s LivingCK” and “DeTourism” o Speaking engagements at National, Provincial and Regional conferences o Promoting Chatham-Kent career opportunities at Job Fairs outside the community o Partnering with various community groups and advisory committees such as the Tourism Stakeholders Advisory Council, the Southwest Ontario Tourism Corporation, and with external content creators such as travel writers, bloggers, and other influencers Developing initiatives that support community economic development, retain existing residents, and enhance community pride. Examples include: o Outreach to support CK-based employers with their hiring needs
Transcript
Municipality of Chatham-Kent
Community Human Services and CAO’s Office
Community Attraction & Leisure Services and Corporate Communications
Information Report
To: Mayor and Members of Council
From: Evelyn Bish, Director, Community Attraction and Leisure Services
Various municipal initiatives occur corporately which promote Chatham-Kent internally to
existing residents and businesses, and externally to prospective residents and visitors.
One area that is primarily focused on this work is the Community Attraction and Promotion
(CAP) section of the Community Attraction and Leisure Services Division.
CAP is tasked with the following initiatives:
Marketing and promoting Chatham-Kent to attract new residents, visitors and conference
attendees through the VisitCK and LivingCK brands.
Examples include:
o External marketing campaigns are primarily delivered digitally through website and
social media channels and include video, posts and advertising content. Select print ads
are also used. Recent campaigns have included “That’s LivingCK” and “DeTourism”
o Speaking engagements at National, Provincial and Regional conferences
o Promoting Chatham-Kent career opportunities at Job Fairs outside the community
o Partnering with various community groups and advisory committees such as the
Tourism Stakeholders Advisory Council, the Southwest Ontario Tourism Corporation,
and with external content creators such as travel writers, bloggers, and other
influencers
Developing initiatives that support community economic development, retain existing
residents, and enhance community pride.
Examples include:
o Outreach to support CK-based employers with their hiring needs
o Supporting CK Tourism operators with their marketing and experience development
activities
o Offering Connect to CK supports that include community orientations and information
with the aim of attracting and retaining residents –
a Welcome Package (digital and paper-based) tailored to prospective resident
needs, to provide to employers and community groups for them to welcome their
groups
community tours showcasing Chatham-Kent
providing ongoing Community Connections support to residents to assist with their
settlement
o Initiatives that build a better Chatham-Kent for young people – “baCK to CK”, “Your
Roots are Always in CK” tree plantings, and “CK to the Power of Young People”
o Chatham-Kent Local Immigration Partnership – a Partnership Council of 39 local
stakeholders which come together to assist in immigrant settlement - activities include
the CK Welcome Network, and the “CK Diverse City Party”
o Promoting Chatham-Kent career and lifestyle opportunities at Job Fairs and events
within Chatham-Kent
o Assist with housing connections and working with realtors/local landlords on
promotions and needs assessment
o Increasing the capacity of local organizations and employers to welcome and engage
newcomer immigrants through information and resource sharing, training opportunities
and celebrations
o Market all of the great things Chatham-Kent has to offer to existing residents so they
can be ambassadors to friends and relatives who visit CK and to those who may wish
to move here
Another important area that promotes Chatham-Kent is Corporate Communications, which is
tasked with the Chatham-Kent website.
The 2007 municipal website requires significant changes to its navigation, look and usability. To
this end, Corporate Communications is undertaking a project to redesign the Municipal website.
During the month of June, the first phase of community engagement and review of user
experiences will be launched. Website users, when accessing the municipal website, will be
asked whether they would like to participate. Results from the survey will be used during the
development of the website. Corporate Communications will also be meeting with each
business unit to identify the weaknesses of the current website and develop a list of tools they
would like incorporated in the site.
Understanding the limitations of the current website and the length of time needed for its
redesign, a temporary website entitled “Experience CK” has been developed. Experience CK
will be launched at the Chatham-Kent Chamber of Commerce’s Business After Hours Event on
June 19, 2019.
Experience CK will help users locate information on living, visiting and investing in Chatham-
Kent. This website will direct people to storyboards. The storyboards will show a map with
points of interest. Some of the storyboards will be: places to eat, places to stay, places to shop,
CK Trails, listings of museums, historical sites, beaches, etc. The storyboard tool will be
incorporated into the new municipal website design. Internal business units will continue to add
content to this tool. There will be no cost for any point of interest to be present in this tool.
Attachment A shows examples of the Experience CK website.
Comments
For Chatham-Kent to be successful in all of its endeavours, it is important to engage with the
entire community.
One such potential partnership is Connecting2CK, a private industry-lead enterprise in
partnership with the not-for-profit and municipal sectors.
Opportunities abound for enhanced initiatives to attract and welcome residents and businesses
to our community.
The Community Ambassadors program would be an enhanced program to existing
municipal initiatives which would welcome residents and support employers
Connecting the two websites through linkages would enhance CK’s marketing presence
Working together on Talent Attraction and Retention initiatives would be beneficial to
ensure Chatham-Kent has the skilled labour required for businesses to be successful
Consultation
Municipal staff have met with the organizers of Connect2CK to discuss this initiative.
Financial Implications
There are no financial implications in the writing of this report.
Prepared by:
___________________________ ___________________________ Evelyn Bish Amy Wilcox Director, Manager, Community Attraction and Leisure Services Corporate Services
Reviewed by:
___________________________ April Rietdyk, RN, BScN, MHS, PhD PUBH General Manager, Community Human Services
Attachment A: Examples of Experience CK
P:\RTC\Community Human Services\2019\CALS\Reports\CAP\CAP Info RTC June 2019.Docx
Attachment A
Wireframe of Municipal Website-Home Page
2
Wireframe of Municipal Website-Landing Page
3
Proposed Timeline for Refresh CK Project
July: Redesign initial wireframes for home and landing pages based on user feedback
End of July: Second phase of community engagement with the public on new navigation and design of the website
August: Determine cost to redesign the municipal website and create RFP (work with ITS) and if there are internal resources to complete project
There are internal resources that can be added to the project:
August: Meet with ITS on wireframes
August-September: Work with ITS, administration and community
October: Review of designs with Council, EMT, SharePoint Committee, administration, community (i.e. Let’s Talk Design review)
October-November: ITS works with contractor to make necessary design changes
December 2020: Launch of re-design website
If no internal resources can be added to the project:
September: If there are no internal resources available for web development, complete RFP process and award project-DRAFT and FINALIZE RFQ with the help from ITS for contractor to complete community consultation and redesign of municipal website
October: Post RFQ (2 weeks)
October Review RFQ responses (Corporate Communications and ITS) (3
weeks)
1tt week of November: Meet with RFQ companies, if required
Mid-November and December: Contractor works with ITS, administration and
community
Week 1- Week 2 of January: Contractor creates design options for our review
Week 3-Week 4 of January: Review of designs with Council, SharePoint
Committee, administration, community (i.e. Let’s Talk Design review)
February 2020: ITS works with contractor to make necessary design changes
March 2020: Launch of re-design website
4
Screen Shot of Experience CK Website-Home Page
5
Screen Shot of Experience CK Website-Landing Page-Living CK
