J
Getting
In Step
A Guide for
Conducting
Watershed
Outreach
Campaigns
New and improved tips and tools for
creating awareness, educating specific
audiences, and motivating positive
behavior change to improve water quality
-------
Getting In Step
A Guide for Conducting Watershed
Outreach Campaigns
December 2003
EPA841-B-03-002
Getting In Step: A Guide for Conducting Watershed Outreach Campaigns was
prepared by Tetra Tech, Inc., under a contract with the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA). This publication is a product of the Information Transfer and
Outreach Workgroup established by the State-EPA Nonpoint Source Management
Partnership. It is based on the original guide Getting In Step: A Guide to Effective
Outreach In Your Watershed, published in 1998 by the Council of State Governments,
pursuant to a cooperative agreement with EPA.
As a companion to this guide, EPA and the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food
jointly developed Getting In Step: A Video Guide for Conducting Watershed Outreach
Campaigns (EPA 841-B-03-001). The 30-minute video includes four in-depth case
studies that showcase successful outreach programs from around the country and
highlight key tips from this guide.
For copies of this guide and the companion video, contact
National Service Center for Environmental Publications
Phone: 1-800-490-9198
Fax: 513-489-8695
Web site: www.epa.gov/ncepihom
or visit EPAs Nonpoint Source Web site at www.epa.gov/nps
Mention of any commercial product, publications, reports, etc. does not constitute
endorsement or recommendation for use by EPA.
-------
Foreword
Nonpoint source pollution is our nation's largest remaining water quality problem. It is not caused by
discharges from big factories or from sewage treatment plants. Rather, it is generated by all of us, a prod-
uct of millions of actions that we take each day, including activities such as applying pesticides, fertilizing
our lawns, or the manner in which we dispose of oil. While most of our individual actions have relatively
small impacts on water quality, the cumulative impacts of how we choose to interact with our land and
water is huge. However, by becoming more aware of the effect of our actions on our rivers, streams,
lakes, and oceans, we can all develop more water-friendly habits and practices that will enable us to pro-
tect and restore the quality of these waters.
This guide offers advice on how watershed groups, local governments, and others can maximize the
effectiveness of public outreach campaigns to reduce nonpoint source pollution and protect the lakes,
rivers, streams, and coasts that we treasure. It expands upon a 1998 publication by the Council of State
Governments, titled "Getting in Step: A Guide to Effective Outreach in Your Watershed." This update has
benefited greatly from new information from the growing field of community-based social marketing, and
contains significant additions in every section. It is intended as a reference that pulls together principles,
techniques, and information for effective watershed outreach into a single, user-friendly source.
I am particularly pleased to note that this guide was produced by a unique partnership of the U. S. Envi-
ronmental Protection Agency (EPA) and our state colleagues and jointly sponsored by EPA and the As-
sociation of State and Interstate Water Pollution Control Administrators (ASIWPCA). The guidebook was
developed jointly by the State/EPA Nonpoint Source Information Transfer and Outreach Workgroup, which
include active representation from EPA and 12 states.
A companion video, suitable for viewing by stakeholders, educators, or others interested in generating wa-
tershed outreach campaigns, is available to reinforce the steps outlined in this guide. The video includes
four varied examples of watershed outreach campaigns that utilize the principles presented in this guide.
I hope this guide is useful in continuing the important work of raising awareness of nonpoint source issues
and changing individual behaviors that will lead to cleaner waters for your community and our nation.
Diane C. Regas, Director /s/
Office of Wetlands, Oceans, and Watersheds
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
-------
Contents
Introduction i
Purpose of this guide /
Why is outreach needed? //
What's being done? ///
How can outreach help get the job done? ///
How can outreach help change behavior? iv
What's inside v
Part 1. Developing a Watershed Outreach Campaign Plan 1
Step 7. Define the driving forces, goals, and objectives 7
Driving forces 7
Goals 3
Objectives 3
Setting up the evaluation process 5
Process checklist 5
Step 2. Identify and analyze the target audience 6
Segmenting the audience 7
Geographic location 7
Demographics 7
Occupation 7
Behavior patterns 7
Deciding which segment to target 7
Picking the low-hanging fruit 9
What information do I need about the target audience? 9
Demographics 9
Knowledge of the issue 70
Attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions 70
Communication channels 70
Social data 70
How do I get information on the target audience? 77
Demographic databases 77
Public agencies 77
Trade associations 72
Surveys by mail 72
Surveys by phone 72
Surveys by E-mail/Web 13
Personal surveys 77
Focus groups 77
Community/neighborhood discussions 78
Observation 79
Community cultural assessment and characterization 20
Social Maps 27
Contents
-------
Analyzing and understanding the audience 23
Barriers to action: Why do they do what they do? 23
Social norms: Everybody's doing it! 24
Critical mass 24
The roles people play 25
Financial incentives 26
Process checklist 26
Step 3. Create the message 27
Crafting the message 27
Getting their attention 29
Getting a response 30
Messages with incentives and rewards 31
Deciding which behaviors to focus on 31
Message delivery 33
Process checklist 35
Step 4. Package the message 36
Linking the needs of the audience to the format 36
Format considerations 36
Repeating the message 37
Format options 38
Mass media formats 38
News coverage 39
Why use the news media? 39
The news is free! 39
What makes the news? 42
How do I "do" the news? 43
Establishing a relationship with the media 44
Levels of doing the news 44
News coverage formats: News releases 45
News coverage formats: Video news releases 48
News coverage formats: Letters to the editor 49
News coverage formats: Query letters 50
News coverage formats: News conferences 50
Advertising 57
Advertising formats: The radio PSA 57
Advertising formats: The TV PSA 54
Videos 56
Print materials 58
Design and production 58
White space 58
Typefaces 58
Layout of text 59
Contents
-------
Making your text come alive 59
Hooks 59
Logos 59
Using artwork and photos 60
Brochures 67
Flyers 62
Posters 62
Displays 63
Billboards 63
Presentations 64
Events 65
Community fairs and festivals 66
Field trips 68
Open houses 68
Public hearings and meetings 69
Targeted events 69
Giveaways 70
What to give away 70
Bumper stickers 77
T-shirts and promotional items 77
Mascots 77
The Internet 72
Registering a domain name 73
Designing your Web site 73
Marketing your Web site 74
Partnering with other Web site hosts 74
Using listservers 75
What does it cost? 75
Process checklist 77
Step 5. Distribute the message 78
Who delivers the message? 78
Size does matter 79
The mail 79
Post cards 79
Letters 79
Large envelopes and newsletters 80
E-mail 80
Timing is everything 80
Staffing the effort 87
Recruit volunteers 82
Piggybacking your message 82
Go on the road 82
Work with local businesses 83
Process checklist 83
Contents
-------
Step 6. Evaluate the outreach campaign 84
Why evaluate? 84
When to evaluate 84
Types of evaluations 85
Process evaluations 86
Impact evaluations 87
Context evaluations 88
Process checklist 90
Where do I go from here? 90
Part 2. Implementing the Campaign 91
Developing an operating plan 91
Scheduling 93
Determining resources and support 93
How partnerships can help 93
Where to find partners 94
Securing funding 94
Foundations 95
Nonprofit organizations 95
Federal funding sources 95
State funding sources 96
Local and private funding sources 96
Keeping up the momentum 97
Overcoming barriers to success 97
Poor coordination and planning 98
Lack of communication 98
Political wrangling and changing regulations 98
Fear of the unknown 99
Letting money drive the process 99
Letting the process bog you down 700
A final thought 700
Appendix A: Building Blocks Worksheets A-1
Appendix B: Identifying and Removing Barriers to Behavior Change .... B-1
Appendix C: Behavior Selection Matrix C-1
Appendix D: Outreach Campaign Evaluation Questions D-1
Appendix E: Want To Know More? E-1
Contents
-------
Purpose of this guide
The purpose of this guide is to provide the tools needed to develop
and implement an effective outreach campaign as part of a state
or local water quality improvement effort. Whether you're charged
with developing a watershed management plan to restore impaired
waters or protecting your local water resources for the future, this
guide will help you understand the importance of reaching out to
people and motivating them to act. It will help you understand the
audiences in your watershed, create messages that resonate with
them, find appropriate ways to communicate your message, and
prompt changes in behavior to reduce water pollution.
This guide is an update of the 1998 publication Getting In Step: A
Guide to Effective Outreach in Your Watershed. This updated version
includes more specific information on how to work with the mass
media to conduct an outreach campaign. It also provides new infor-
mation on how to incorporate social marketing techniques into your
campaign to generate sustainable behavior changes that will protect
water quality. The guide will teach you how to listen to the needs
of your audience rather than just blindly handing out fact sheets
or reports that sit on shelves and collect dust. It will show you the
important roles that audience research and program evaluation play
in changing personal behavior. The step-by-step approach to social
marketing and outreach planning and implementation in this guide
will help you to determine the most effective vehicle to reach the
target audience and motivate behavior change.
As a companion to the guide, the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) and the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food
have jointly developed a how-to video called Getting In Step: A Video
Guide for Conducting Watershed Outreach Campaigns. This 35-minute
video provides background on the six steps for conducting an envi-
ronmental outreach campaign and includes four in-depth case studies
that showcase successful local outreach programs from across the
country. The video icon Q Q in this guide highlights information
from the video case studies.
What's in the
Introduction
• Purpose of this guide
• Why is outreach needed?
• What's being done?
• How can outreach help get the
job done?
• How can outreach help change
behavior?
• What's inside
Outreach and education
can help create an
awareness of the value
of our water resources,
educate people on what's
threatening the resources, and
encourage protective action.
1
In addition to the outreach guide and video, EPA recently published
a new guide in the Getting in Step series on stakeholder involvement.
-------
,
ii
X
Point versus
nonpoint
Point source pollution is defined
as pollution that comes from
factories and sewage treatment
plants. It is usually discharged to
waterbodies through pipes.
Nonpoint source pollution (also
called polluted runoff) comes
from many diffuse sources. It
occurs when rainfall or snowmelt
moves over and through the
ground. As it moves, this runoff
picks up pollutants like dirt, oil,
and fertilizers and carries them to
lakes, rivers, coastal waters, and
even our underground sources of
drinking water.
Getting in Step: Engaging and Involving Stakeholders in Your Water-
shed was released in February 2003. The Stakeholder Guide features
information on how to generate interest and participation in water-
shed assessment, planning, and management. Web-based versions
of all these guides are available on EPA's Web site at www.epa.gov/
owow/watershed/outreach/documents.
Why is outreach needed?
We've made a lot of progress cleaning up America's lakes, rivers,
and streams since the passage of the 1972 Clean Water Act. We don't
have fires on rivers anymore. Fish kills are down, and the quality of
sewage treatment has improved dramatically. But even with all our
laws and regulations, about 40 percent of the nation's waters are still
too polluted for fishing, swimming, and other uses. Compounding
the problem is a lack of public awareness. In a survey for the Ninth
Annual National Report Card on Environmental Attitudes, Knowledge,
and Behaviors (May 2001), the National Environmental Education
and Training Foundation found that 45 percent of respondents believe
that the most common cause of water pollution is still factories.
Some of the worst problems have been solved. The Clean Water
Act has focused a powerful array of regulations and resources on
improving wastewater discharges from cities, factories, and other
facilities. Billions of dollars have been spent on new treatment
plants, permitting systems, and inspections. But many of America's
waters are still contaminated by sediment, sewage, disease-causing
bacteria, fertilizers, manure, toxic metals, and oil and grease. Some
of our stream corridors, riverbanks, and lakeshores lack stabilizing
vegetation and continue to erode, further degrading water quality
and aquatic habitat.
Today, polluted runoff is the source of most of the contamination in
the nation's waters. Heavy rains and melting snow pick up pollut-
ants and transport them downhill toward the nearest body of water
or leach through the soil, carrying pollutants toward ground water
supplies.
Runoff from an urban or suburban area, for example, is likely to con-
tain the following:
• Fertilizer and pesticides leached from lawns
• Oil and antifreeze washed off driveways
• Bacteria and organic matter from pet waste
• Sediment from construction sites
• High storm flows and increased stormwater temperatures
Runoff from farms, homes, or factories in rural areas can contain
many of the same pollutants. Multiplied by hundreds or thousands of
acres in a watershed, the cumulative effect of polluted runoff can be
devastating to the receiving waters downstream.
Introduction
-------
What's being done?
EPA and state and local governments are ad-
dressing these challenges by focusing on
some of the remaining major sources of
water pollution (e.g., urban streets and
parking lots, livestock farms, septic tanks).
They're implementing best management
practices (BMPs) to reduce polluted runoff
and launching new initiatives to educate
people and motivate them to change their
own personal behaviors to help in the effort.
But the problems are so widespread that fighting
polluted runoff requires the efforts of individu-
als and communities nationwide. Most people don't
realize that many of the things they do every day in and
around their homes contribute to polluted runoff. Those
individual behaviors need to be changed. Making a change from
pollution-generating behaviors to pollution-preventing behaviors will
require education, enlightenment, and new attitudes. When people
know, understand, and change how they do things, polluted runoff
problems can be solved.
How can outreach help get the job
done?
Many state and federal agencies require some form of outreach
or public education and involvement as part of their water qual-
ity laws and regulations. For example, Phase II of EPA's National
Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) stormwater
regulations, which calls for small municipal separate storm sewer
system operators to develop and implement stormwater manage-
ment programs, requires that localities provide opportunities for
citizens to participate in the development of the program and that
they distribute educational materials on stormwater runoff. Develop-
ing an effective outreach campaign not only will help gain the critical
support and compliance that will lead to the ultimate success of the
stormwater management program, but also will help meet the federal
requirements EPA has set. If your program requires the cooperation of
the public to meet its legal obligations, making the audience aware of
the issues, educating them on what needs to be done, and motivating
them to take action will help you meet both your regulatory and water
quality objectives.
Using a
watershed
approach
Much of the current
effort at the federal
and state levels to
clean up pollution
and protect water
quality is organized
through a watershed
approach focused on
geographic boundaries
defined by drainage basins
instead of political or jurisdictional
boundaries. This approach provides
a flexible coordinating framework
that focuses public and private efforts
on targeted problems within specific
drainage basins. The guiding principles
of the approach are stakeholder
partnerships, a geographic focus, and
sound science. Thousands of projects
over dozens of years have shown that
involving the people affected by watershed
management decisions in making those
decisions generates high levels of long-term
support and success. Even more important,
however, is motivating changes in individual
behaviors in the watershed to help achieve
watershed results after watershed plans
have been developed.
Constant feedback is necessary to
determine whether the practices used
actually help clean up or protect the lake,
river, stream, wetland, or ground water
source of concern. Throughout the
process, there is a continuous need
to inform, engage, and motivate
water quality managers, "sideline"
stakeholders, cooperating
agencies, elected officials, so-
called "bad actors," and the
public. Outreach campaigns
can be powerful tools in
this process.
Introduction
-------
!
IV
How can outreach help change
behavior?
Changing behavior through education and developing responsible
attitudes among watershed citizens and communities is not a simple
task, but experience has demonstrated that it can be done. Think of
times when you've changed your own attitude or behavior, perhaps
when you finally realized that it really isn't so hard to separate the
recyclables from the trash or decided to get serious about a diet or
exercise program. A few things happened before the behavior change
took place. First, you received information on the ramifications of
your current behavior—specific data on the problem. Then you linked
your actions to something you cared about—your health or your
pocketbook, for instance. Finally, you decided to do something about
it. Maybe you haven't achieved the success you ultimately want, but
you're trying and you're better off now than you were.
That's the approach needed to address polluted runoff. Although it's
important to let people know about the water quality problems the
professionals have found, sometimes simply informing and educating
people on the issues is not enough to initiate behavior change. The
most effective way to get people to change their behavior is through
social marketing.
Social marketing means looking at the target audience as consum-
ers. Instead of selling products or services, social marketing sells
ideas, attitudes, and behaviors. The goal of social marketing is not to
make money, but to improve our society and the environment. Social
marketing might be most familiar to you in terms of preventing drunk
driving or forest fires. Everyone knows the popular slogans—"Friends
Don't Let Friends Drive Drunk" and "Only You Can Prevent Forest
Fires." These social marketing campaigns persuade the public that a
problem exists that only they can solve. The campaigns benefit the
public at large and the environment.
Social marketing involves identifying and removing the barriers
that have prevented the consumer from "buying" the recommended
behavior. For example, if you're trying to get people to test their soil
before they apply lawn fertilizer, you can make it easier for them:
sponsor a soil test day on which a local garden supply store hands
out free soil test kits and demonstrates their use. This approach will
go a lot further toward getting people to test their soil than merely
sending out a flyer in the mail. The key to effective social marketing
is talking and listening to the people you're trying to reach.
Introduction
-------
V
What's inside
Getting In Step provides the overall framework for developing and
implementing your outreach campaign in concert with an overall
water quality improvement effort. It presents the outreach process
as discrete steps, with each step building on the previous ones. The
steps are as follows:
• Define the driving forces, goals, and objectives
• Identify and analyze the target audience
• Create the message
• Package the message
• Distribute the message
• Evaluate the outreach campaign
Appendices A-D include worksheets to help you develop your out-
reach plan. They may be photocopied and used as templates for
preparing your plan. Appendix E provides information on additional
resources for outreach and education. It includes publications, Web
sites, phone numbers, and other available outreach materials.
Throughout the guide, sidebars provide specific examples, key con-
cepts, and recommended resources for obtaining more information.
So let's get started on developing an effective watershed outreach
campaign...
The key to successful outreach
is targeting your message to a
specific audience and having
them respond to your message.
Introduction
-------
Part 1: Developing a
Watershed Outreach
npaigi Ian
To develop an effective outreach campaign, you need a plan. Just
as you would never drive through unfamiliar territory without a
map, you should not conduct an outreach campaign without a plan.
The planning process presented in this section follows well-defined
steps, and it's important to identify the elements and information
needed to complete each step before proceeding to the next one.
Each step is more or less defined by the previous one, so it's vital to
go through the steps sequentially and completely before moving on.
Too often, someone starts in the middle of the process, and important
steps—identifying measurable objectives or defining target audiences,
for example—are ignored. Such an unfocused approach is often inef-
fective and wasteful.
What's in Part 1
• Stepl: Define the driving
forces, goals, and objectives
• Step 2: Identify and analyze the
target audience
• Step 3: Create the message
• Step 4: Package the message
• Step 5: Distribute the message
• Step 6: Evaluate the outreach
campaign
• Where do I go from here?
Define the driving forces,
goals, and objectives
Once you've decided to take on an outreach campaign, you'll need
to identify its driving forces. You'll also need to set goals and
objectives to guide the process of engaging and informing those who
are contributing to water quality degradation and motivating them to
adopt more appropriate behaviors.
Driving forces
Identifying the forces that are driving the need for an outreach cam-
paign will help determine the scope of the campaign and focus it on
exactly what will get the job done. The driving force for a campaign
often centers around a specific issue, such as a violation of state or
federal water quality standards, the need to upgrade an NPDES per-
mit to expand wastewater treatment capacity, or unmanaged develop-
ment that has led to increased flooding and water quality problems.
What's in Step 1
• Driving forces
• Goals
• Objectives
• Setting up the evaluation
process
-------
For example, the City of San Diego faced two powerful driving forces
when addressing stormwater pollution—one political and one regu-
latory. The city initiated "Think Blue" (www.thinkbluesd.org), a
stormwater education and pollution prevention campaign, in response
to a city council vote to reduce beach postings and closures by 50
percent based on public pressure. In addition, the city's stormwater
permit specifically required documentation of behavior change and an
increase in stormwater awareness among city residents.
Q Check out the Getting In Step video.
Building Blocks:
Driving Forces, Goals, and Objectives
Herndon County (a hypothetical locality) is suffering the effects of rapid development. The county's
population has increased by 107 percent over the past 20 years. Many watersheds in the county are facing
serious water quality problems, including phosphorus and nitrogen overloading caused by urban runoff,
sedimentation and erosion, bacterial contamination, and flooding due to impervious surfaces.
To overcome many of these problems, Herndon County developed a watershed management plan to provide
a planning framework for the county to make the most supportable, cost-efficient decisions on management
practices that will restore and protect water quality. The county's overall goals for the plan are the following:
• Maintain the environmental goals set for the county's streams and lakes by the
• Reduce nutrient runoff from residential and commercial areas
state
• Reduce the potential for flooding as development occurs
•
Increase awareness about water quality problems and solutions to protect water quality
Strengthen the linkage between land use activities and water quality and flooding
Satisfy the requirements of the NPDES Storm Water Phase II regulations
The overall goal of the county's public outreach program is to "increase the involvement of the community
atershed protection activities through awareness, education, and action." The public outreach program
will directly support the watershed management goals.
The following are some of the objectives that county staff identified to help achieve the outreach program's goal:
• Research the level of awareness in the county through focus groups and a phone survey in the spring
Make residents aware that they live in a watershed and that their day-to-day activities affect water
quality
Increase awareness of residential nutrient runoff by 25 percent within 1 year and encourage
behaviors that will reduce nutrient pollution in local streams and lakes
Through a 6-month media campaign, educate residents and businesses about the link between
land use activities and water quality/flooding, as well as about the county's role in protecting water
resourc
sand managing s
tormwater
Step 1: Define the Driving Forces, Goals, and Objectives
Parti
-------
3
Development pressure was the driving force in west Michigan, where
protection of the Bear Creek watershed meant gaining public buy-in
for the development of stricter ordinances outlining where homes
could be built. The Bear Creek Watershed Project organizers launched
a hefty outreach campaign to spread their message.
Q Check out the Getting In Step video.
Development of a Total Maximum Daily Load, or TMDL (the maxi-
mum amount of a pollutant that a waterbody can receive and still
meet water quality standards), can also generate the need for an
outreach campaign (see box). Once a TMDL is calculated for a water-
body, stakeholders in the watershed should be educated on what
they can do individually to help meet the objectives of the TMDL.
Such stakeholder involvement is a very important part of the process.
To find out how to effectively engage stakeholders in water quality
protection, read the companion guide, Getting In Step: Engaging and
Involving Stakeholders In Your Watershed. The stakeholder guide
is available on EPA's Web site at www.epa.gov/owow/watershed/
outreach/do cuments.
Goals
Keeping the driving forces you identified in mind, you can now
develop goals and objectives for your campaign. Goals are general
statements that express the broad focus of your effort.
Make sure that your goals link back to the driving forces. For ex-
ample, in response to declining fisheries, the goal of your watershed
project might be to protect and restore a local trout fishery. You've
decided that outreach is needed to increase public awareness about
the importance of the trout fishery to the community and increase
community involvement in protecting and restoring the fishery. Later
on, you'll develop and implement a wide range of specific measur-
able objectives to support those goals.
In some cases, there might not be an overarching water quality
improvement effort driving your campaign. For example, if your
community's trout fishery is not yet in trouble but you would like to
preserve and protect its pristine nature and ensure its quality for fu-
ture generations, the goal of your outreach campaign might be simply
to generate awareness of the importance of the fishery and the need
to protect it. No problem is necessary before a campaign can begin.
Prevention is the best medicine. Remember that awareness is the first
step toward behavior change.
Objectives
The objectives developed to achieve a goal should be specific,
measurable, action-oriented, relevant, and time-focused (SMART).
You'll probably develop several objectives for each goal you're trying
TMDLs as a driving
force
A Total Maximum Daily Load
(TMDL) is a calculation of the maxi-
mum amount of a pollutant that
a waterbody can receive and still
meet water quality standards, and
an allocation of that amount to the
pollutant's sources.
For the past 10 years, TMDLs have
increasingly become the driving
force behind major water quality
improvement projects across the
country. In 1998 states reported
more than 41,800 impairments
affecting some 20,000 waterbod-
ies. An estimated 36,000 TMDLs
for these waters might need to
be completed in the next 8 to 13
years. Many states are subject to
even shorter, court-ordered sched-
ules for their TMDLs.
Is it a mission, a
vision, or a goal?
Many people get hung up on the
terminology when setting their
goals. The important thing to
remember is that it is a hierarchy:
you move from the broad (goals or
mission statements) to the specific
(objectives and tasks). Each sub-
sequent level should answer the
question "How?" from the previous
level. For example, if your goal is to
restore the trout fishery, the next
level down should answer "How
would you restore the fishery?"
Parti
Step 1: Define the Driving Forces, Goals, and Objectives
-------
4
X
v
^^^^5^^
During a 2001 focus group study,
EPA found that although some
people have heard the term wa-
tershed, few people understand it
well enough to be able to define it
and, more importantly, few people
see the importance of understand-
ing what a watershed is in ad-
dressing the problem of nonpoint
source pollution. Linking the prob-
lem to the causes is often the most
important stage of education.
to achieve. Keep the desired outcome in mind when forming your
objectives. Do you want to create awareness, provide information,
or encourage action among the target audience? It's very important
to make your objectives as specific as possible and to include a time
element as well as a result. This approach will make it easier to
identify specific tasks and will enable you to evaluate whether you've
achieved the objective. For example, an objective for the goal of
increasing community involvement in the protection and restoration
of the trout fishery might be to start a citizen volunteer monitoring
program by next year.
It's important to remember that as you progress through the phases
of developing and implementing an outreach campaign, your out-
reach objectives and activities will change. As the target audience be-
comes aware of the issues, you'll focus your efforts toward action. For
example, during the early stages of the planning process, it might be
necessary to generate basic awareness of watershed issues and define
polluted runoff; but as problems are identified, your objectives will
focus on educating the target audiences on the causes of the prob-
lems and the potential solutions. Finally, your objectives will change
to motivating action by the target audience to reduce adverse water
quality impacts. Listed below are some general watershed project
goals, with examples of the types of outreach objectives that should
be considered for each goal:
Goal: Create a grassroots watershed association.
Objective: Within 6 months, identify five organizations willing to
become project partners by signing a Memorandum of Agreement.
Goal: Develop a shared community vision or goal for the water re-
source.
Objectives: Hold two meetings in July to solicit comments from
stakeholders and the public on what they envision for the water-
shed in the future; communicate elements of the agreed-upon goal
or vision at both monthly watershed association meetings and town
council meetings.
Goal: Conduct a baseline assessment of watershed conditions.
Objectives: Through local media outlets, notify organizations and the
public the first week of March that baseline studies are under way;
encourage those with information on abandoned dump sites or other
possible contaminant sources to contact the planning team by the end
of May to ensure that the information is included in the assessment.
Goal: Identify and prioritize stressors or problems preventing attain-
ment of the vision.
Objective: Educate the target audience about how the identified stress-
ors affect water quality, the types of management practices that might
be needed, and how the prioritization process works through presen-
tations and exhibits at three currently scheduled community events
[county fair, Stream Cleanup Day, and Lions Club Antique Festival).
Step 1: Define the Driving Forces, Goals, and Objectives
Parti
-------
Goal: Evaluate watershed management program success, and adjust
approach if necessary.
Objectives: Recruit volunteer monitors to gather long-range informa-
tion on water quality trends; conduct five volunteer monitoring train-
ing courses over the next 2 years.
Once your objectives are defined, you'll need to prioritize them. You
should evaluate which objectives are most important to help meet
your overall goal. The priority goals and objectives you focus on
might change from year to year because of political, economic, or
climatic influences.
Use the Building Blocks worksheets in Appendix A to help you define
the driving forces, goals, and objectives for your campaign.
Setting up the evaluation process
Although Step 6 of this guide provides more in-depth coverage of how
to evaluate your outreach campaign, building in evaluation from the
beginning and during every step will ensure that you stay on the right
track and meet your program objectives. Ideally, feedback generated
after each completed step will help you carry out the tasks for each
subsequent step more effectively. This guide includes specific evalu-
ation questions after each step to help you along the way. Keep in
mind, however, that what is successful in one region of the country
might not work in another region, state, or even county. By the same
token, failure of a particular method of outreach for one issue or in
one area does not necessarily mean that it won't work for your cam-
paign. In the next step you'll learn how researching your target audi-
ence will help you determine what might work best for your situation.
PROCESS CHECKLIST
Step 1: Define your driving forces, goals, and
objectives
Are the objectives consistent with the planning team's goals?
Are the objectives specific, with time limits and measurable com-
ponents?
Will the objectives be accepted and understood by the people
that will be affected by them?
Will I be able to evaluate whether the objectives were accom-
plished?
Do I have the resources to accomplish the identified objectives?
••i
"We conduct an annual phone
survey that reaches about 450
households to determine changes in
behavior and increased awareness
of watershed issues. We use the
information to help shape our media
campaign for the next year, decid-
ing where to put our resources and
what issues we need to focus on."
—Deborah Castillo, City of San
Diego Storm Water Program
www.thinkbluesd.org
Check out the Getting In
Step video.
Parti
Step 1: Define the Driving Forces, Goals, and Objectives
-------
!1
What's in Step 2
• Segmenting the audience
• Determining what information
is needed
• Gathering audience profile
information
• Analyzing and understanding
the audience
iJ Identify and
1 target audience
Once you've identified your goals and objectives, you need to
identify the audiences you'll target to achieve your objectives. The
target audience is the group of people you want to reach with your
message. In some cases it might be obvious, but in others you'll be
able to identify it only after conducting research. For example, if you're
trying to decrease lawn fertilizer applications, do-it-yourself residents
and lawn care companies might be target audiences. If you want to in-
crease streamside vegetated buffers, property owners along the stream
corridor might be one of the target audiences. If you want to discour-
age people from purchasing toxic household products, your target
audience might be stay-at-home parents who do most of the household
shopping. Raising general awareness of the value and function of a
water resource, however, will necessitate a very broad target audience.
And remember, although raising the general awareness of the audience
is an important first step, it should not be the final goal of your effort.
In reality, there is rarely just one audience. The messages you develop
need to be tailored to the different segments of the community that
you wish to reach. For example, a campaign to reduce shoreline ero-
sion caused by heavy boat wake at a lake should be targeted at two
different audiences—homeowners with shoreline property and docks
as well as summer and weekend lake visitors. Each audience uses
the lake differently and might place a different value on its resources.
Both, however, will benefit from the collective reduction in boat wake
action along shorelines.
In all cases, break down the target audience into the smallest seg-
ments possible that still retain the characteristics of the audience so
that when you reach the audience with your message, they'll help
you achieve your objective. If the audience is too broad, chances are
you won't be able to develop a message that engages and resonates
with the entire target audience.
Think of the audience as your customer. You're selling a message.
You want the audience to "buy" behaviors and attitudes that will
achieve your goal. For the audience to want to buy those behaviors
and attitudes, you need to persuade them that the behaviors will
satisfy their needs. Although your "customers" should be informed of
the link between their actions and water pollution, you should also
be aware that most people are primarily interested in saving time,
saving money, or gaining social prestige—more so than protecting
the environment. Ask yourself, "What's in it for them?" Finding out
what's important to the audience will help you craft the message that
will resonate with them most effectively.
Step 2: Identify and Analyze the Target Audience
Parti
-------
Part I: Developing your plan
Be sure to read Step 2 fully before you begin to identify and segment
the audience. The section "Analyzing and understanding the audience"
(page 23) will help prepare you for researching your audience.
Segmenting the audience
Target audiences can be grouped in several different ways depending
on your objectives. Four common groupings follow. (Keep in mind that
segmentation using these groups is a starting point only. You will have to
define the audience further in Step 2.]
Geographic location
Audiences are segmented based on specific geographic areas in the wa-
tershed such as school districts, county boundaries, residences along a
specific stream corridor, or ZIP codes.
Demographics
Audiences are segmented based on demographic characteristics, such
as ethnicity, gender, age, income, recreational activities, organizational
affiliations, or ownership of specific types of property (e.g., forestland,
undeveloped waterfront).
Occupation
Audiences are segmented based on the primary occupations of the tar-
get audience in the watershed, such as owners of lawn care companies,
developers, county commissioners, automobile service station manag-
ers, loggers, or livestock producers.
Behavior patterns
Audiences are segmented based on current practices, e.g., residents who
don't recycle, homeowners who dispose of leaves and grass clippings on
stream banks, or farmers who plow and plant riparian corridors.
The target audience definition can consider more than one of the above
groupings. For example, if you want to generate awareness among stu-
dents about the degradation of Lake Townsend, you might want to target
the audience based on demographics and geography (e.g., schoolchil-
dren ages 12 to 17 within the Lake Townsend watershed).
Deciding which segment to target
One of the keys to knowing which segment of the target audience you
need to focus on is understanding the concept of social diffusion. This
means that when a new idea or behavior is adopted by 15 to 20 percent
of an audience, it has the critical mass to spread on its own. Dr. Everett
M. Rogers developed this theory after more than 30 years of research.
In his book Diffusion of Innovations, Dr. Rogers discusses five catego-
ries of people within an audience that generally adopt new behaviors
fc.
Kids Organized to Protect Our
Environment (KOPE) in Utah
targeted its outreach efforts on
the trustees of the Sugarhouse
Community Council to persuade
local decision-makers to pass
an open space ordinance. KOPE
wanted to protect a local stream
from being turned into a shopping
center parking lot.
R5FI Check out the Getting In
Step video.
Parti
Step 2: Identify and Analyze the Target Audience
-------
8
X
in sequential stages and at a fairly predictable rate: (1) innovators, (2]
early adopters, (3) early majority, (4) late majority, and (5) laggards.
Identifying which category members of the audience might fall into
will help you understand how to motivate them. The people in these
categories adopt new behaviors at different rates and require different
amounts and types of encouragement.
• Innovators are often seen as venturesome. They frequently have
high education levels, high social status, and upward social mobil-
ity. They are usually better able than others to cope with uncer-
tainty and high risk.
• Early adopters are second only to innovators in the speed with
which they adopt a new behavior. Others often view them as deci-
sive and influential.
• The early majority is the segment of the audience that is more
deliberate than the innovators or early adopters when making
decisions. People in this category tend to be cautious and seek a
lot of information on an issue before they make a decision.
Neighborly outreach
The Empowerment Institute (El), a consult-
ing company that specializes in designing
behavior change programs, has developed
a Livable Neighborhood Water Steward-
ship Program, a residential nonpoint source
behavior change and outreach program. The
program may be used in a generic format or
can be customized to meet the specific needs
of a municipality or non profit organization.
It is delivered by municipal or non profit staff
who receive program materials, comprehen-
sive training and coaching from El. Partici-
pants receive El's Creating a Water Friendly
Lifestyle handbook, which identifies over 30
specific actions they can select from, such as
"No Phos-for-Us" (phosphorus-free car wash-
ing), "A No Rainer" (installing a rain barrel),
and "Catch It While You Can" (creating a
rain garden). Citizen participation is achieved
by identifying the most motivated persons
in a neighborhood to start the ball rolling.
This Team Leader then
convenes and leads
a Water Stewardship
Team consisting of five
or six neighborhood
households. They meet five
times over a 2-month period
and support each other in carrying out the
actions. The program piques citizens' interest
in getting to know their neighbors better and,
most important, finding out how they can
become good water stewards. The Team mem-
bers help each other to reduce water pollution
and engage in other practical, water friendly
behaviors. The program teaches participants
how to reach out to their neighbors, host in-
formational meetings in their homes, and start
new teams. Behavior changes are documented
through baseline and follow-up questionnaires.
Visit www.empowermentinstitute.net to
learn more.
Step 2: Identify and Analyze the Target Audience
Parti
-------
Part I: Developing your plan
• The late majority is the largest of the five categories. These people
are conservative, often set in their ways, and skeptical about trying
new things and adopting new behaviors.
• Laggards are the most resistant to change. They are the least likely
to adopt a new behavior no matter how hard you try to educate and
motivate them.
Picking the low-hanging fruit
Many outreach campaigns fail because organizers believe they need
to focus heavily on targeting the late majority and laggards segments
since they encompass the greatest number of people. However, the late
majority and laggards are the hardest people to reach and the hardest
to convince that they should change their behavior. It is much easier to
reach and convince innovators or early adopters.
Once you've reached the members of these categories, they can become
partners to start the diffusion process in their own circles. Because they
are considered to be leaders and are well respected, their peers will be
more likely to pick up the new behavior. When it comes to changing
behavior, success means "preaching to the choir." Focus your efforts on
those most likely to adopt the new behavior and then let them spread the
message or behavior in their own spheres of influence.
Once you've identified the target audience, you'll need to gather infor-
mation on them before proceeding to the next step. Conducting at least a
rudimentary analysis of the target audience is a task that's often ignored,
but such an oversight can render the rest of the outreach plan useless.
To develop an effective message that resonates with the audience, find
out what they think about the issues and what messages might engage
and motivate them.
What information do I need about the target
audience?
First, remember that the target audience is your customer. You want to
sell your customer a product (e.g., environmental awareness, membership
in an organization, participation in a stream restoration project, or some
voluntary behavior change). So you need to find out what will make the
customer buy the product. Keep in mind that you cannot assume that the
customer's reasons or values will be the same as yours. Several types of
information are needed to characterize and assess the customer.
Demographics
Collecting demographic information will help define the socioeconomic
structure of the target audience, the appropriate education and age levels
for proposed messages, and the types of organizations that could be
engaged to implement outreach activities. For example, retired persons,
with more free time, are able to volunteer more often.
fe,
Basic information
needed about the
target audience
• What are the demographics
of the audience?
• What is the knowledge base
of the audience regarding
watershed issues?
• How does the audience
receive information?
• How do members of the
audience communicate
among themselves?
• Does the audience think
there is a problem?
• If so, who do they think is
responsible?
• How does the audience per-
ceive your organization?
Parti
Step 2: Identify and Analyze the Target Audience
-------
10
Reaching Amish farmers
In Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the Natural
Resources Conservation Service learned
that to convince Amish dairymen to
keep the cows out of the stream to
reduce pollution, traditional outreach
methods using television, radio, or
phone calls were not options. Instead,
they turned to one-on-one chats with
the farmers themselves.
"The Amish were going to be our
focus since they own most of the land
and are all dairymen. The problem
with working with the Amish is that
they don't have phones. If you want to
see an Amish man, you've got to jump
in your car and drive out and look for
him."
—Frank Lucas, Pequea-Mill Creek
Project Leader, Natural Resources
Conservation Service
R5FI Check out the Getting In
Step video.
Religious groups promote
the environment
In Louisiana environmental leaders
used religious commonalities to help
reach environmental goals. Religious
congregations throughout the coastal
area joined to sponsor a series of public
forums to engage local citizens in ef-
forts to protect and conserve Louisiana's
coastal wetlands. The forums were
held in local churches and synagogues,
which provided a neutral atmosphere
that fostered cooperation among the
attendees.
Knowledge of the issue
Determining baseline knowledge of watershed issues among mem-
bers of the target audience will establish where you need to begin to
define your issue. For example, does the target audience know what
a watershed is or understand what causes polluted runoff? If not, you
have to define those terms before you use them in your messages.
Attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions
Exploring what people in the target audience think about an is-
sue or problem and what they value and believe will help you link
watershed issues with the audience's concerns. If they don't believe
a problem exists or don't understand how it affects environmental
resources they value, you'll need to educate them before expecting
them to take action.
Remember: Perception is reality. How is your organization perceived
by the target audience? If not favorably, you might want to have
someone else deliver your message.
Communication channels
Finding out how the target audience gets its information will help you
to develop, format, and distribute your message. What newspapers,
magazines, or newsletters do they read? To what organizations do
they belong? Do they receive information in other forms such as com-
munity radio programs? Do they watch local news or cable television?
Do they even have televisions? Understanding what communication
channels the target audience uses and trusts will help lend credibility
to your message. It is important to use communication channels that
the target audience perceives to be unbiased.
Social data
Collecting information on the types of relationships and cultural beliefs
and norms present in your community can help you identify the bar-
riers to changing behavior, better ways of communicating your mes-
sage, and the formats that might be most appropriate to deliver your
message. Social data will also give you insight on who talks to whom,
who makes decisions, and who follows others. Understanding commu-
nity culture and its wide range of distinct and shared values, attitudes,
behaviors, and beliefs can help you understand what people care about
and why, as well as what motivates them to take action. Knowledge
about racial, religious, and cultural heritage in your community can
help you understand why people behave in certain ways, hold certain
beliefs, or communicate in certain ways. By collecting social data, you
can gain a better understanding of how a community's values and
beliefs relate to environmental issues. In addition, social data, such as
what social or religious groups have strong memberships among the
target audience, might help you identify additional ways to distribute
your message. These groups are often well respected within a commu-
nity, and because they already have the ear of your audience, it will be
easier to communicate through them.
Step 2: Identify and Analyze the Target Audience
Parti
-------
Part I: Developing your plan
11
How do I get information on the target audience?
Now that you know what kinds of information you need from the target
audience, how do you get it? You can use several different tools depend-
ing on the makeup of the target audience and your available resources
[time and money). Any information you collect will make your campaign
stronger, so don't worry if you don't have access to a Census Bureau
database or can't make your survey results statistically significant. Re-
search other campaigns targeted at the audience by other organizations
or municipalities and learn how they collected information. Find out
whether any of the information they collected might help your cause and
save you from reinventing the wheel. A good place to start would be at
the U.S. Census Bureau Web site (http://factfinder.census.gov) or at Rop-
erASW (www.roperasw.com), a commercial site focused on consumer
attitudes, shopping styles, and media habits.
If you don't have ready access to the information you need on the audi-
ence, the following tools will help.
Demographic databases
All sorts of databases that contain information on the demographic
makeup of potential target audiences are available. Census data are
collected every 10 years and were last collected in 2000. These data
are available through the Internet from the U.S. Census Bureau at
www.census.gov and from local libraries. If you don't have access to
these files or don't have the resources needed to extract the informa-
tion, consider asking a college marketing class for assistance. They
could be looking for real-world projects, and they might be willing to
conduct a detailed analysis of the target group at no charge.
Pros/Cons. Databases can provide consolidated demographic data and
can sort the data by different parameters. However, the data might not
be current, and you might not have the staff or equipment to manipu-
late the data. In addition, although the data might provide informa-
tion on ethnic populations and distribution, those data will not help
you understand the cultures in the audience. For more information on
collecting cultural information, see the section "Community cultural
assessment and characterization" on page 20.
Public agencies
Local public agencies, such as planning departments and property valu-
ation agencies, can be valuable sources of information on the makeup of
the target audience. Be sure to contact them early in the data-gathering
process. Information collected in this manner should be held in confi-
dence: circulating perceptions and other information provided in private
can seriously harm your credibility and effectiveness.
Pros/Cons. Public agencies might have access to large populations and
have information on the target audiences collected over a long period
of time. The agencies might not, however, have this information in a
readily available format. Agency personnel might not be forthcoming
Tools to gather
audience profile
information
• Databases
• Public agencies
• Trade associations
• Surveys
o Mail
o Phone
o E-mail/Web
o Personal
• Focus groups
• Community discussions
• Observation
• Community cultural assess-
ment and characterization
Parti
Step 2: Identify and Analyze the Target Audience
-------
12
with personal information on the composition, perceptions, or values
of the target group.
Trade associations
Trade associations keep track of marketing research and other infor-
mation on their members. If the target audience is associated with
a trade group, contact the organization to see what's available. For
example, if you want to collect information on auto repair shops that
recycle used motor oil, an automobile parts trade association might
provide you with names, addresses, and association meeting sched-
ules. Your local Chamber of Commerce can also provide information
on local businesses and the demographic makeup of the community.
Pros/Cons. Trade associations might have information specific to the
target audience and could possibly serve as a distribution mechanism
for your message. The data might be biased toward their constitu-
ency, however, and might not be available for outside use.
Surveys by mail
A mail survey is an excellent way to obtain baseline information
about target audiences. It can also be used to conduct a post-project
evaluation to measure changes in attitudes or behavior in the target
audience. Before conducting a mail survey, make sure you'll be able
to obtain current addresses for the portion of the target audience you
are surveying. Keep in mind what information you want to collect,
how you're going to use that information, and how the data will be
tabulated. This planning can save a lot of anguish once the results
come back. Make the survey relatively short, and explain up-front
how long it will take the respondent to fill it out. State the objective
of the survey clearly, make the format easy to read, and include a
self-addressed stamped envelope to increase the return rate. If you
want your results to be statistically meaningful, consult a marketing
professional or college instructor for suggestions on survey design,
random sampling techniques, follow-up prompting, and other con-
siderations. You might also want to offer giveaways to survey respon-
dents as incentives to participate.
Pros/Cons. Mail surveys allow participants to think about their an-
swers before they respond, can reach large numbers of people, and can
gather data from people who might not be accessible in person. The
disadvantages of mail surveys include printing and mailing costs, staff
time for tabulating results, and the potential for low response rates.
Typical survey response rates range from 40 percent to 20 percent or
less. In addition, the people who complete the survey are likely to be
those interested in your topic, which can introduce bias in your results.
Surveys by phone
Surveys by phone can also provide good baseline (and post-project)
information on the target audience. Again, make sure you have access
to current phone numbers for the portion of the target audience you
are calling and the resources available (phones and volunteers) to
Step 2: Identify and Analyze the Target Audience Parti
-------
Part I: Developing your plan
13
Don't soil our waters
For years the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has worked to educate the public
about soil erosion and its detrimental effects on water quality. However, phone surveys continued to show
that the public knew very little about the effects of soil erosion on water quality or how to address them.
Before implementing a statewide educational campaign on the issue, DEP worked with two focus
groups to obtain input on citizens' ideas, thoughts, and behaviors regarding soil erosion and water pol-
lution. The focus groups helped DEP decide which communication materials—newspaper ads, radio ads,
and direct mailings—to use in a pilot advertising campaign.
Follow-up telephone surveys conducted after a test ad campaign revealed
that the newspaper and radio ads were most effective. The direct mailings
were not as effective because the cost per response received was greater
than that of the other formats. Of those who remembered seeing or
hearing the newspaper and radio ads, nearly 70 percent could describe
at least one action that they could take to reduce soil erosion. For more
information, visit www.state.me.us/dep/blwq/doceducation/dirt.htm.
carry out the survey. The success of phone surveys tends to vary
geographically: rural audiences can sometimes be more willing than
urban audiences to take the time to answer questions. Standardize
the greeting used by all of your volunteers, and practice proper phone
skills. If a person called does not want to participate, thank the per-
son and move on to the next one. Hold practice sessions to be sure
that all surveyors ask the questions the same way. Schedule calls at
mixed times—some during weekends, some during the day, but most
in the early evening.
Pros/Cons. Phone surveys allow data gathering from people who
might not be accessible in person, elicit immediate responses, and
can accommodate many participants. In addition, the anonymity
might allow people to be more honest. The disadvantages include
the need to access correct phone numbers for participants, the lack
of time for participants to think about their responses, the level of
resources involved, and exclusion of those who will not respond to
unsolicited calls or do not have telephones.
Surveys by E-mail/Web
Done correctly, an e-mail or Web survey offers an anonymous way for
your target audience to communicate with you and tell you how they
really feel about your organization and your programs. E-mail surveys
can be sent through your organization's e-mail system so respondents
can access the survey and respond using their e-mail programs. If
you place surveys on your Web site, respondents visiting the site can
respond to the survey through online forms.
Parti
Step 2: Identify and Analyze the Target Audience
-------
14
How to conduct a survey
Select the sample
Your survey participants should be members of the target audience. Ideally you should choose the number
of people you need to survey to yield statistically significant results. You might be constrained, however,
by time, staffing, or funding. In 1999 the Center for Watershed Protection (CWP) conducted a survey of
Chesapeake Bay residents' behaviors and attitudes regarding three practices that contribute to nutrient
pollution—lawn fertilization, septic system maintenance, and picking up after pets. Telephone interviews
were conducted among a random sample of 733 residents in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. For
your survey, a small, representative sample could reflect the larger group, but the larger the sample, the
more precise your survey results will be. Keep in mind, however, that the rate of improvement in precision
decreases as your sample size increases. For example, increasing a sample from 250 to 1,000 only doubles
the precision; it does not quadruple it.
Design the questionnaire
Keep your survey short and simple. Long questionnaires get less response than short questionnaires as a
general rule, so try to stay well under 5 pages or 20 minutes by telephone. The CWP's survey contained 35
questions and was limited to 5 to 7 minutes to increase the likelihood of participation. (The final report and
survey instrument are available online at www.cwp.org/UNEP_all.PDF.) Also consider how you will handle
and analyze the responses. Will you use a computer program while conducting the survey or will you enter
the data later? Making these decisions early on will make tabulating the results quicker and easier.
Subjects are also more likely to respond to a survey based on question content, particularly if they are
involved and interested in the issue. Include an introduction or welcome message at the top to give your
respondents as much information as possible. Questions can be multiple choice, ratings or agreement scales
(such as the Likert Scale, which measures attitudes), or open-ended fill-in-the-blanks. The visual format
also makes a difference. Maintain a logical left-to-right flow for minimal distraction. And try to keep your
answer spaces in a straight line, horizontally or vertically. Be sure to leave a space at the end for "Other
Comments."
Conduct the survey
You've identified the issues, selected your sample, and designed the questionnaire. Now it's time to conduct
the survey. Surveys are traditionally administered by phone, by mail, or in person. In recent years online
surveys through e-mail or on the Internet have become popular. These formats are discussed in detail
starting on page 13.
Analyze the data
Once all the results are in, the data must be analyzed. For those on a low budget, it may be as simple as
tallying the results on paper. For those with a bit more funding, several commercial software packages are
available to design and conduct your surveys and provide statistical analysis. Many are available on the Web.
Additional resources
Web Surveyor, www.websurveyor.com
StatPac, Designing Surveys and Questionnaires, www.statpac.com/surveys
Survey System, Survey Design, www.surveysystem.com/sdesign.htm
Step 2: Identify and Analyze the Target Audience —
-------
Part I: Developing your plan
Tips for reducing bias
i
It is virtually impossible to conduct a perfectly unbiased survey. But by taking a few
precautions, your survey can be closer to being 100 percent accurate and objective. The main
sources of bias in a questionnaire are
• Nonrepresentative sample
Ensuring a representative sample is the first step to preventing survey bias. For example, daytime-
only phone surveys reach stay-at-home parents or non-working people, so results won't represent
your target audience as a whole. Web surveys are limited to those with Internet access and are not
necessarily representative of the range of residents in your target audience.
• Non-return bias
If a large number of people fail to respond to your surveys, bias toward those that did respond is
introduced. Be sure to use up-to-date addresses and phone numbers. If your survey is short, concise,
and attractive and you promise to make the results of the survey available to each participant, you are
more likely to get responses.
• Leading questions
Do not ask leading questions that indicate the preferred answer. When you state what you think, the
person might feel that you're introducing bias into any subsequent answers. People are reluctant to
disagree with the interviewer's "authority." An example of a leading question: "You know that using a
lot of fertilizer on your lawn is bad, right?" The participant might not have known that the overuse of
fertilizer is not recommended, and this information could cause him or her to answer the rest of your
questions based on the assumption that he or she knows the consequences of fertilizer overuse.
• Question misinterpretation
When talking to respondents, speak in their language; this draws them out and helps you understand
how they truly feel. Avoid questions that can be answered with a simple yes or no. You can elicit more
information from respondents using open-ended questions, which encourage them to talk and provide
salient details. However, phrase questions so that the respondent understands them easily. Long,
complicated questions will quickly lose the participants' interest, and they might skip the survey entirely.
Keep in mind that answers to open-ended questions take more time to evaluate once the survey is
complete, which can increase your costs.
The City of San Diego conducts telephone surveys every year to gauge the community's awareness
of stormwater pollution prevention. After asking to speak to the youngest person over the age of
18, the questions turn to the sources of polluted runoff and how the citizen might or might not
be contributing to the problem. The questions are concise and easily understood, allowing the
respondent plenty of options and opportunity for additional comments. Once the data are collected,
an outside market research firm provides a final report with findings and recommendations (available
atwww.thinkbluesd.org/literature.htm). The City is able to change the direction of its outreach
program, if needed, based on the survey results.
— Step 2: Identify and Analyze the Target Audience
-------
(16
v
To send an e-mail survey, you'll need a bank of e-mail addresses
for members of your target audience. If you have an organizational
listserver, you could use it, but this might bias the survey results be-
cause those participants are most likely already aware of and active in
your cause. When you do send your survey, the e-mail can be either a
plain text message (text-based survey) or an e-mail attachment (form-
based survey created through Microsoft Word or Corel WordPerfect,
for example). After recipients fill out the survey, they can send it back
simply by replying to your message.
A Web survey will gather responses from citizens that have access to
the Internet. Upload the survey on your organization's Web site and
put plenty of advertising on the homepage. People visiting your site
will have the opportunity to anonymously fill out the survey at their
own pace.
Pros/Cons. E-mail surveys take a short amount of time, are self-
paced, and provide the sender with fast results. Computer issues can
cause problems, however, if a server goes down or if the user has
problems downloading attachments. Web surveys assume that mem-
bers of your target audience visit your Web site regularly. Keep in
mind, however, that most visitors to your site might also be aware of
the issues and your efforts. In addition, visitors to your site might not
be in your target audience and could skew the survey results.
For more information on conducting surveys, see the boxes on pages
14 and 15.
Farmers' views on TMDL development and implementation
In response to a presentation at a local Farm Bureau to introduce water quality issues and TMDLs, the
Yolo County, California, Resource Conservation District convened a focus group composed of area
farmers. Their concerns, listed below, provide valuable context for outreach and education projects
targeting agricultural activities and practices:
• We don't have time to come to meetings.
• We don't want a bunch of outsiders that know nothing about farming to tell us how to farm.
• We want to be the only decision-makers on these projects.
• There are issues of private property rights.
• How are we going to afford to make the changes in practices?
• We don't want to do something now and then have an agency come to us in a few years and
tell us what we did was wrong and then have to change it.
• We don't feel there is enough scientific data in place to tell us what we should be doing.
—Katy Pye, Yolo Resource
Conservation District, California
Step 2: Identify and Analyze the Target Audience
Parti
-------
Part I: Developing your plan
17
Personal surveys
Surveys conducted in person (interviews) allow the interviewer to
ask questions or administer the survey in a variety of ways (e.g., on
the street, by appointment, in people's homes). However, they can
also be time-consuming and labor-intensive. Potential interviewees
must first be contacted to see if they're interested in participating.
Then the survey must be conducted around the interviewee's sched-
ule and availability. Interviews should be conducted at locations
that are convenient and familiar to the participant, such as a local
library or park or in the participant's home. If the participant is in a
comfortable, familiar environment, you're more likely to get honest,
in-depth answers. Interviews are effective for establishing rapport
between the interviewer and the participant, which is especially
important if the subject matter is sensitive.
Pros/Cons. Personal interviews allow the interviewer to record the
participant's body language and tone during the interview, helping to
gain a better understanding of the answers. However, personal inter-
views remove the anonymity that might have resulted in more honest
answers in a phone or mail survey. In addition, having to arrange the
interview around the participant's schedule and availability could
draw out your collection effort for several months. Finally, the skills
of the interviewer can make or break the interview.
Focus groups
Focus groups provide an opportunity to meet with several members
of the target audience at once and allow them the chance to expand
on comments and ideas. The focus group participants may be select-
ed through surveys, recommended by a member of the target audi-
ence, or selected at random. Focus groups can also be formed based
on demographics such as age group, place of residence, or occupa-
tion. Try not to accept volunteers because they are likely to already
have an interest in the message. If possible, pay the focus group par-
ticipants a small amount ($10 to $50) as an incentive to participate
and to thank them. If you don't have the funds to pay them, at least
provide food or other incentives.
Typically, up to 12 members of the target audience are asked to partici-
pate for 1 or 2 hours. Be sure to schedule the focus group at a time and
place convenient for the participants. For example, many people have
jobs during the day and are available to meet only after 5:00 p.m.
The focus group should be handled by an outside moderator to avoid
introducing bias into the results. A series of questions are asked to
the group, and the answers are recorded on flip charts or video/audio
tape. Be sure to ask open-ended questions that result in detailed an-
swers to collect as much information about the audience as possible.
Remember that this is an opportunity to collect information, not to
explain the issues to the group. Focus groups also enable you to start
building a network of people you might be able to tap into later to
help deliver your message.
Focus group checklist
1. Identify target audience.
(4 months prior to selected focus
group date)
2. Define goal of focus group.
(2 months prior)
3. Determine payment amount and
method. (2 months prior)
4. Compile mailing list for invitees.
(6 weeks prior)
5. Identify moderator. (5 weeks prior)
6. Develop questions. (4 weeks prior)
7. Arrange and reserve session site.
(4 weeks prior)
8. Write and send invitations.
(4 weeks prior)
9. Follow up invitations with phone
calls. (2 weeks prior)
10. Determine room arrangements
(seating, audio/visual aids such as
flip charts). (2 weeks prior)
11. Place reminder call to participants.
(2 days prior)
12. Make arrangements for food or
beverages. (2 days prior)
13. Conduct the focus group.
14. Distribute payments, (immediately
after focus group)
15. Send thank-you letter to
participants. (2 days after)
16. Review tapes or notes from focus
group and summarize.
(2 days after)
17. Analyze focus group summary and
write report. (1 week after)
Parti
Step 2: Identify and Analyze the Target Audience
-------
<
18
The value of building rapport in focus groups cannot be overstated.
Telling the participants about the reason for the focus group, how the
room is set up, and why there are microphones or observers makes
the participants feel smart and valuable. Giving them ground rules
such as "speak one at a time" and "avoid side conversations" or
"respect the opinions of others" means that the moderator saves time
by not having to play traffic cop later. Giving participants a reason for
the discussion, e.g., "We're going to talk about connections between
human activities and environmental problems," gives them an idea
of what to expect, helps them access memory, and keeps the answers
flowing freely.
Ask participants to introduce themselves using name, age, occu-
pation, and where they live, and ask each participant a question
related to the purpose of the focus group to allow the participant
to feel more comfortable speaking in front of strangers and to see
where he or she fits in the group. This process also allows the focus
group moderator to create rapport with each participant through eye
contact that demonstrates the moderator's willingness to listen and
openness to new ideas.
Strongly consider recording your focus group on audio or videotape
to pick up on tone of voice or body language. Sometimes these audi-
tory and visual clues can help you better interpret how the focus
group participants feel about certain issues. Remember: Body lan-
guage is 60 percent of communication. And if you plan to record the
session, be sure to let the participants know in advance. If someone
doesn't want to be "on the record," find another participant.
Choose a setting that is appropriate and makes the participants feel
comfortable. What message does the setting send? Is it corporate,
cozy, informal, or sterile? Does the setting encourage conversation?
[For example, are the chairs arranged in a circle or are they facing
one direction? Do what you can to the room layout to foster commu-
nication, such as rearranging the chairs.]
Pros/Cons. Focus groups can provide insights about the target
audience's composition, perceptions, and beliefs; provide interac-
tion among participants; and build support for further actions or
outreach communication. They can give community members a
sense of inclusion in the community process by providing them with
a forum to express their opinions. The disadvantages are that focus
groups can accommodate only a few participants, the time demand
on participants is considerable, and their success depends largely on
the skills of the moderators. In addition, focus groups might not be
suitable for certain cultures where peer pressure or deference to oth-
ers could inhibit discussion.
Community/neighborhood discussions
Community discussions are somewhat similar to focus groups, but
they involve more people, are more open-ended, and can be less
Step 2: Identify and Analyze the Target Audience
Parti
-------
Part I: Developing your plan
19
I
focused. Speaking directly with the target audience is a great way to get
information straight from the source. A community discussion might
involve citizens that have volunteered for the discussion or are in atten-
dance because of a prior commitment. For example, many homeowners'
associations and local communities hold public meetings quarterly and
are willing to spare some time to discuss important community issues.
If your group has the funds and resources, you might choose to rent
space in a nearby hotel or community center and advertise a meeting
devoted to your organization's needs.
Schedule discussions on weekday evenings and weekends to attract
working and nonworking residents. Try to get as much information as
you can in as short a time period as possible because your attendees are
likely to have busy schedules. Be sure to develop an agenda, stick to it,
and have someone serve as a timekeeper to keep things on track. Allow
a short amount of time after the meeting for individual questions and
concerns. You may also want to bring surveys and questionnaires with
you for residents to fill out and drop off or send back.
Pros/Cons. A community or neighborhood discussion will help your
organization gather information directly from affected residents. You
won't have to wait for results because you'll get immediate responses
from attendees. On the other hand, these types of meetings typically
attract people already interested in the subject. You might not reach any
citizens who don't know about your issue. Piggybacking on existing
meetings will help you avoid this bias because the meeting attendees
will have come to talk about other things.
Observation
Observing how the target audience behaves can help you gain insight
on people in your target segment and ways that you might encourage
behavior change. This method helps you get a picture of what people
actually do, as opposed to what they say they do. When asked, most
people say that they care about water quality and believe that protect-
ing it is important. When observed, however, those same people might
be found dumping motor oil down storm drains or not picking up after
their pets. Observations can be made during or after the behavior is
completed. During the behavior, the observer makes notes about what
triggered the behavior, how much effort the person exerted for the
behavior, and what behaviors (facial expression, body language, etc.]
accompanied the target behavior.
Pros/Cons. Observing what people do instead of listening to what they
say they do is a good way to get a clear picture of how people behave.
However, observing how they behave in certain situations can be
viewed as an invasion of privacy. Be sure that all observations are car-
ried out in public locations. If the people you're watching notice you,
explain what you are doing and why. Often you might have to observe
people for hours before you see them engage in the target behavior, if at
all; thus the time commitment for this method is unpredictable.
Parti
Step 2: Identify and Analyze the Target Audience
-------
2O
For more detailed infor-
mation on community
cultural assessment, obtain a copy
of EPA's Community Culture and
the Environment: A Guide to Un-
derstanding a Sense of Place (EPA
842-B-01-003) from the National
Service Center for Environmental
Publications at 1-800-490-9198 or
e-mail ncepiwo@one.net. It's also
available in PDF format on the Web
at www.epa.gov/ecocommunity/
pdf/ccecomplete.pdf.
Asset Map
Source: Community Culture and the Environment: A Guide to Understanding a Sense of Place, U.S. EPA, 2003.
Community cultural assessment and characterization
Understanding the social and cultural aspects of a community can be
very important when there's no baseline information on the target
audience. For example, if you've just moved from San Francisco to ac-
cept a job as a watershed coordinator in a small town in West Virginia,
you might not fully understand what makes the citizens in your new
hometown tick. The things that San Franciscans care about and what
motivates them to act might be quite different from what you'll find in
West Virginia.
Cultural assessment and community characterization are also useful if
previous efforts at reaching and motivating the audience have failed. A
cultural assessment doesn't just describe the community's makeup. It
goes a step further by analyzing the cultural and ethnic preferences, be-
liefs, and attitudes present in the community. You can carry out cultural
assessments by collecting and analyzing cultural information on your
community obtained through state and local social service agencies; edu-
cation agencies; the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,
and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; and annual
reports prepared by cities, counties, and
states. Cultural demographic informa-
tion can also be researched through all
of the methods already discussed in this
section (e.g., focus groups, community
meetings). Once you know and under-
stand the types of cultures present in
your community, you'll be better able
to craft messages that resonate with
members of each culture, select appro-
priate formats, and determine the best
distribution methods.
Collecting information to characterize
the community might help you under-
stand why past outreach efforts might
have failed and what can be changed
to achieve your objectives. In addi-
tion, if your goal is very broad, such as
raising general watershed awareness,
characterizing your community mem-
bers might help you to better focus
your objectives based on who talks to
whom in the community, how informa-
tion flows through its members, and
how individuals view their community
and watershed issues. Characterizing
the community will help you answer
key questions about the community's
values, attitudes, and beliefs and how
they relate to your organization's goals
and objectives.
Step 2: Identify and Analyze the Target Audience
Parti
-------
Part I: Developing your plan
Pros/Cons. Although understanding the cultures present in the target
audience is important to developing and distributing your message, cul-
tural misunderstandings could result during the collection and analysis
of such information. For instance, the audience members might feel
they are being selected or "picked on" because of their cultural or
ethnic preferences and beliefs. Information collected during a cultural
assessment should be kept highly confidential and used carefully and
only when appropriate.
Social maps
Many of the methods listed previously can help you characterize the
community and analyze community processes. An additional method
of collecting this information is called social mapping. Social maps are
drawings used to collect, organize, and analyze social data about a com-
munity obtained from actual community members or collected through
surveys, focus groups, and community meetings. They illustrate issues
or problems, causes and effects, and relationships of organizations and
individuals. Social maps can be used to present information on physical
layout of a community or watershed, perceptions, demographics, com-
munication patterns, and more. Maps can be drawn during focus groups,
community meetings, or other gatherings of target audience members.
There are four types of social maps—asset, cognitive, concept, and social
network. Each type of map is explained further in the following sections.
Asset maps
An asset map can be used to de-
scribe the assets that individuals,
groups and organizations, or institu-
tions can offer to solve water quality
problems. It can help you gain ac-
cess to other resources and services
you might not have been aware of to
help distribute your message, obtain
funding, or collect data.
Cognitive maps
Cognitive maps help individuals and
groups visualize how they perceive
their community and surround-
ings through self-made drawings.
Based on the maps, you can learn
what different people see as the
community's center, which elements
of their community are most impor-
tant to them (e.g., parks, churches,
schools), and their perception of the
community's environmental charac-
teristics. You might also learn where
members of the target audience
spend their time, which will aid in
the distribution of your message.
Cognitive Map
Source: Community Culture and the Environment: A Guide to Understanding a Sense of Place, U.S. EPA, 2003.
Parti
Step 2: Identify and Analyze the Target Audience
-------
Concept Map
Public's Lack of
Education abtjutthc
Wood Ral
1
DLCL1NE Oh' WOOD
RAT POPULATION
Luck ul' Natural
Predators
Decline in Cuoci
Hunting
Conservation >L
Achieves/Fails )
Mission /
CAUSE
CONCEPT/ISSUE
EFFECT
Source: Community Culture and the Environment: A Guide to Understanding a Sense of Place, U.S. EPA, 2003.
Social Network Map
Derrick McGinty
Mark Plotkin
Source: Community Culture and the Environment: A Guide to Understanding a Sense of Place, U.S. EPA, 2003.
Concept maps
A concept map identifies the rela-
tionships between causes and effects
of environmental problems, such as
the link between land use decisions
and nonpoint source pollution. Your
organization might ask community
members to draw a concept map
depicting their thoughts on how non-
point source pollution occurs in their
community. Once the map is fin-
ished, you can see what stereotypes
might be present in your community,
what perceptions create barriers to
change, and where you might need
to focus your campaign's attention.
Social network maps
A social network map will help you
learn how information is disseminat-
ed throughout the target audience.
It describes patterns of communica-
tion, relationships, and information
flow. Participants depict their own
personal social networks and then
compare them with those of the rest
of the group. You can tailor your
distribution methods to fit with
how members of the target audi-
ence currently communicate. Using
social network maps will show you
to whom people go for advice in the
community (opinion leaders), who is
the most "connected" in the com-
munity (information disseminators),
which individuals or groups bridge
gaps between different social groups
(gatekeepers), and which individuals
or groups are isolated from the rest
of the community and thus might
require more education and aware-
ness before they can be expected to
take action. Some groups could be
isolated by language barriers, cus-
toms, or beliefs. Social network mapping may be especially valuable
for small communities or rural areas because those populations are
often less segmented.
Pros/Cons. The largest obstacle to conducting mapping exercises is
the need for group participation. Mapping is not very effective unless
Step 2: Identify and Analyze the Target Audience
Parti
-------
Part I: Developing your plan
23
several members of the target audience help create the maps. Asset
mapping is particularly useful for large groups of people, where vi-
sual and easy-to-understand graphics enhance communication and
the expression of community values. Cognitive mapping allows you
to see the community through the eyes of members of the target au-
dience. In addition, participants get the chance to analyze the data,
which might provide unique insights that only members of the
target audience could provide. One of the disadvantages of cogni-
tive mapping is the tendency of people to spend too much time on
the artistic quality of the map instead of its content. A concept map
is a great way to show the relationship between both the perceived
and real-life causes of problems and the associated effects on the
environment. Social network mapping might be useful in large
communities where information flow among members of a diverse
target audience might be poorly understood by project leaders.
Analyzing and understanding the audience
Now that you've identified the target audience and collected some
information about them, you need to analyze and understand them.
What drives them to engage in the behaviors you'd like to change?
What are the barriers to modifying their management practices or
behaviors? Learning the answers to these questions will help you
understand how your audience thinks and how you can tailor your
message to motivate changes in behavior.
Barriers to action: Why do they do what they do?
There are many reasons why people do not choose sustainable
behaviors. They might simply be unaware of the impact their
behavior has on water quality. They might believe that doing the
right thing is too expensive, takes too much time, is inconvenient,
or is socially unacceptable. And unfortunately, when it comes
to the environment, most people simply do not believe that a
change in the personal routines and habitats of just one person
will make a difference. These reasons are called barriers. Barriers
prevent people from taking positive steps toward improving
the environment. Barriers can be physical (such as the lack of
facilities to collect household hazardous waste), economic (high
cost), psychological (a perception that lush lawns are prized), or
knowledge-based (lack of understanding of how to conduct a soil
test). These obstacles must be minimized or removed so that the
benefit outweighs the cost or effort of the action.
To address these barriers, you need to think about what motivates
people not to engage in environmentally friendly behavior. For exam-
ple, many people do not pick up after their pets. Most think that pet
waste is a part of nature and that it biodegrades quickly. Many even
view it as fertilizer. They don't realize that dog droppings are one of
the leading causes of pathogen contamination in streams; each gram
Mapping resources
Decision Explorer: Getting Started
with Cognitive Mapping by Fran
Ackermann, Colin Eden, and Steve
Cropper
www.banxia.com/depaper.html
Mental Maps by Peter Gould and
Rodney White
Available from Routledge Publishers
www.routledge.com
Understanding barriers
Audience research conducted by Toronto's
Public Health Office uncovered many
barriers to widespread implementation of
integrated pest management (IPM) prac-
tices by landlords, building managers, and
residents, including the following:
Limited knowledge of IPM
Lack of trust in IPM's effectiveness
A misunderstanding that IPM costs
more than traditional spray methods
An expectation of immediate elimina-
tion of pests
The stigma associated with cockroach-
es, making information-sharing difficult
Poor understanding of factors that con-
tribute to pest infestations
Lack of awareness about health risks
associated with pesticide sprays
Armed with this information, health offi-
cials developed a comprehensive education
campaign that ultimately led to a reduc-
tion in the amount of pesticides used by
the target audience.
For other cases studies like this one, visit
www.toolsofchange.com, a Canadian
community-based social marketing Web
site that includes more than 70 case stud-
ies on community programs across North
America.
Parti
Step 2: Identify and Analyze the Target Audience
-------
Survey says:
Neighbors' opinions
matter when it
comes to lawn care
In 1999 the Survey Research
Center of the University of
Georgia conducted a telephone
survey of homeowners on behalf
of the Pollution Prevention Assis-
tance Division of the Department
of Natural Resources. The pur-
pose was to assess the attitudes
of Georgians toward a variety of
topics related to lawn and land-
scape maintenance that affect
environmental pollution.
The surveyors found that more
than half of those polled consid-
ered it moderately to very impor-
tant to have a yard appearing
as attractive as their neighbors'
yards. In addition, they learned
that the principal source of
gardening information used by
Georgia homeowners
is friends and neighbors (64
percent), followed by television
(60 percent).
of dog poop has more than 20 million E. coli bacteria colonies in it (not
to mention the nitrogen and phosphorus it contains). Others believe
they don't have time to stop and scoop or that it is just too unpleasant.
Researching your audience to understand the barriers to getting people
to pick up pet waste in their yards, on the beach, or wherever they
walk their pets will help you craft your message to change their percep-
tions. Your message might include a photo of someone walking their
dog on a beach where children are playing in the sand. Overcoming
the perceived barriers to scooping the poop will result in more people
changing their behavior. Appendix B provides a worksheet that will
help you identify the barriers to adopting the behavior you're promot-
ing and tips on how to overcome or reduce those barriers.
Social norms: Everyone's doing it!
Social norms are the standards of attitude and behavior perceived as
normal, acceptable, and expected among the members of a community.
For example, because most people buy red, white, black, or green cars,
it becomes socially unacceptable to buy a hot pink car, even if hot pink
is your favorite color. Car manufacturers don't even make cars in hot
pink because they know people won't buy them. Social norms affect
environmental issues in much the same way. If everyone else on your
street maintains a bright green lawn by putting down lots of fertilizer
four times a year, you're likely to follow suit whether your lawn needs
fertilizer or not, feeling that you'll be judged by your neighbors if your
lawn is not as green and lush as theirs.
So how can social norms be overcome? Outreach campaigns should
be structured so that they give people new norms. They should
inform people of the new acceptable behaviors. The agricultural com-
munity does this through farm demonstration projects. Farmers are
more likely to adopt a new practice if they've seen that a neighbor
is doing it and is benefitting from it. In addition, many manufactur-
ers have become partners in a growing effort to reward sustainable
behaviors through eco-labeling. Buying products labeled as ozone-
friendly or recyclable makes people feel good about themselves and
shows other buyers that they are environmentally savvy. Bumper
stickers, T-shirts, and other rewards for environmental behavior are
often great ways to establish new environmental social norms in your
community. The goal is make it unacceptable to continue the behav-
ior that has negative effects on water quality.
Critical mass
As mentioned previously, sociologists have found that when a new
idea or behavior is adopted by roughly 15 to 20 percent of the audi-
ence, it will then have the critical mass it needs to permeate the rest
of the audience, by word of mouth and observation. This social diffu-
sion can be achieved by identifying the innovators and early adopters
in the community, who are the most likely to try something different.
Use them to set the new trend.
Step 2: Identify and Analyze the Target Audience
Parti
-------
Part I: Developing your plan
25
The roles people play
People engage in different behaviors based on the role they're playing at
the time. Whether they're acting as parents, environmentalists, business
owners, or developers makes a difference in what sustainable behaviors
they'll adopt. When developing your outreach campaign, you might
want to create different messages to address the different roles people
have or use different formats and distribution mechanisms to reach
them in those roles. If you're having trouble getting business owners to
adopt recycling practices, for example, approach them as homeowners
first. They might be more likely to overcome their perceived barriers to
recycling at home before they're willing to do it at work.
TARGET
AUDIENCE
Building Blocks:
Target Audience
One of the objectives of the hypothetical Herndon County's watershed management plan is to
reduce nutrient runoff coming from residential areas. The county's watershed planning committee
agreed that focusing their efforts on reducing nutrient runoff will greatly improve water quality
in the county. The county identified two audiences that need to be reached to reduce residential
nutrient runoff: (1) homeowners and (2) homeowners' associations and apartment/condominium
landscape managers. Two focus groups were held for each group in different parts of the county.
In the focus groups, the county learned the following:
• Local garden and lawn supply stores recommend fertilizing twice a year
• Most homeowners get advice on lawn care from neighbors, friends, and family
• Busy schedules prevent many homeowners from taking an active role in environmental
efforts
Many residents have attended gardening workshops at the local community college
Apartment/condominium landscape managers fertilize three times a year
Apartment/condominium landscape managers are driven by the need to attract new
residents with lush green lawns
lus
In
Both homeowners and apartment/condominium landscape managers are interested in
protecting water quality
addition, to measure awareness levels and to understand current lawn care practices, county staff
conducted a random-digit-dialing survey of county residents. They learned that only 25 percent of
county residents were aware that lawn fertilizer is a significant contributor to local water quality
degradation.
Parti
Step 2: Identify and Analyze the Target Audience
-------
!
26
Financial incentives
Financial incentives can also change the behaviors of people who believe
that protecting the environment is too time-consuming or expensive. The
new "Get Green" campaign, developed by the environmental advocacy group
Environmental Defense and produced by the Ad Council, uses humor to offer
viewers simple, everyday ways that they can help the environment. Get Green
highlights how people can help the environment "get green" while helping
themselves "get green" by saving money. Five TV public service announce-
ments (PSAs) humorously depict the simplicity of incorporating environmen-
tal actions into daily lives. One PSA shows a man inflating his tires properly
and saving money on gas. "Yeah," he says. "I save Mother Nature from pollu-
tion. But more important, she's already saved me 30 bucks!" Another shows
a man who has just had his car tuned. It conveys the same message—saving
the environment while saving money.
PROCESS CHECKLIST
Step 2: Identify and analyze the target audience
Have I defined the audience in a way that separates it from the general
public?
How many target audiences or segments have I identified?
Have I identified the opinion leaders, information disseminators, and
gatekeepers in the target audience?
Have I segmented the target audience so that I can develop messages for
each subgroup?
Is the target audience for each objective sufficiently defined?
Have I identified the communication channels used by the target
audience?
Have I collected enough data on the target audience?
How long will it take to collect survey data on the target audience?
Do I understand the target audience?
Do I know what is important to the target audience?
Do I know what barriers prevent the target audience from changing its
behavior?
Are there barriers to accessing the target audience that can hinder the
plan?
Step 2: Identify and Analyze the Target Audience —
-------
27
Create the message
After gathering information on members of the target audience,
you're ready to craft a message that will engage the audience's
members and help achieve your water quality objectives. To be effec-
tive, messages must be understood by the target audience and appeal
to the people on their own terms. Your message should be clear, spe-
cific, and tied directly to something the target audience values. In ad-
dition, the message should articulate what actions the receivers should
take. These actions might include letting vegetation grow taller along a
stream, pumping septic tanks, or conducting soil tests before fertilizing
lawns. Messages that are vague or that don't contain specific calls to
action—"We all contribute to nonpoint source pollution"—might help
to build general awareness but are ineffective at changing behaviors.
Remember that your message is not simply a restatement of your
objective. Your message will help achieve your objective, but the
two are not the same. Objectives describe final
results; messages prompt the knowledge, at-
titudes, and actions needed to obtain them.
What's in Step 3
• Crafting the message
• Getting their attention
• Getting a response
• Using incentives and rewards
• Focusing on behaviors
• Message delivery
Crafting the message
Messages are designed to raise general aware-
ness, educate, or motivate action. If people aren't
familiar with an issue or problem, awareness
and education will have to precede any calls for
action. For example, it is unrealistic to expect
voters to approve a stormwater management
bond referendum that will raise their property
taxes by 4 percent unless they know what the
money will be used for, why the expense is
necessary, and who will benefit. Awareness and
education activities—discussing the inadequacies
of the current stormwater system, perhaps, and
reviewing possible improvements—are usually
required before asking people to take an action
that will cost them time, resources, or money.
A careful analysis of your overall goal (e.g.,
improve water quality) and supporting objec-
tives (e.g., reduce nutrient loadings, control
sedimentation) will help you determine the best
way to craft a message for the target audience. A
variety of approaches are available. For example,
in some cases the message might stress what
Messages already out there...
After you flush, it just doesn't go away—City of
Portland, Oregon
Clean water, a bargain at any cost—Water
Environment Federation
Water Watch: What boaters can do to be
environmentally friendly—National Marine
Manufacturers Association
Are you contaminating your drinking water?—EPA
Pollution prevention: it's everyone's job—U.S.
Department of Energy
The Bay begins at your front door—Santa Clara Valley
Nonpoint Source Pollution Control Program
Our environment... begins with your yard—Virginia
Department of Forestry and City of Virginia Beach
Go with the flow—understanding watersheds—New
York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Scoop the poop—City of Austin, Texas, and
Anchorage Waterways Council
Please don't feed the storm drain—Texas Commission
on Environmental Quality
Parti
Step 3: Create the message
-------
(
In Pennsylvania Amish country,
convincing dairymen to fence their
cows out of the stream worked
only when the message appealed
to the dairymen themselves. Creat-
ing a message that focused on
herd health or other issues that
the dairymen were interested in is
what really worked.
Discussing your goals and objec-
tives with members of the tar-
get audience through individual
contact, focus group meetings, or
audience research is highly rec-
ommended when developing the
message.
RSFI Check out the Getting In
Step video.
might be lost if the desired actions are not taken (water quality),
rather than individual benefits (increased sense of social responsibil-
ity) . Other approaches include highlighting potential threats, ap-
pealing to a common vision for improved conditions, and portraying
the targeted behavior as cool, sophisticated, or otherwise desirable.
Always pretest your message on a subset of the target audience and
adjust it as necessary. Keep in mind that if your message is focused
on getting people to take a specific action, they will be more likely to
take part if the message also has a component that helps build aware-
ness at the same time. A message like "Don't dump used motor oil
down the storm drains" is much more effective if you add "because
our storm drains drain to the bay." According to Fostering Sustainable
Behavior by Doug McKenzie-Mohr and William Smith, campaigns
should simultaneously inform and suggest acceptable behaviors.
People tend to do the right thing when they observe others doing it
first. An example in Fostering Sustainable Behavior describes a group
of psychologists performing a study on norms and recycling in 1990.
They placed flyers on every windshield in a library parking lot. When
a person was seen throwing the flyer in a trash can, no one else
littered. When the person threw the flyer on the ground, over one-
third followed suit.
Messages can appeal to the audience's hopes, fears, sense of respon-
sibility, or personal benefits. Exploring the attitudes, perceptions,
and beliefs of the audience regarding the subject of your message
(through the research conducted in Step 2) can help you uncover
messages that will resonate with the audience members. For example,
a land manager might be more interested in the amount of time and
money he can save by scaling back his existing mowing program than
he is in the amount of nutrients and sediments trapped by the result-
ing vegetation. One developer might be most interested in comply-
ing with local erosion and sediment control ordinances and avoiding
fines, whereas another might want to preserve habitat in an area of
the river she fishes.
Be careful not to create a message that will easily become outdated. If
your message involves getting people to support a new zoning ordi-
nance that protects riparian corridors, you might be wasting your time if
that ordinance is being spearheaded by a local politician who could be
ousted in the next election. Don't ask residents to have their septic sys-
tems inspected if sewer lines are expected to be extended to their area
within the next year. Make sure your message won't fade with current
events or changes in administration. Consider omitting dates from print
materials if they will be used for years to come.
The language and style of the message should match those of the
target audience. If you're unsure about the reading level of the target
audience, pretesting the message with representatives of the audience
to determine its appropriateness will help. Consider displaying the
message graphically if the target audience is not fully literate. If the
Step 3: Create the message
Parti
-------
target audience's primary language is not English, lead off with their
native language first and include an English version underneath, if
needed. Always seek to understand and to be understood.
Getting their attention
Of course, the message will need to capture the attention of the target
audience. Cutting through the clutter of the daily news, school sched-
ules, work commitments, and social outings to grab the audience can
be difficult. You need a hook—a way to make the message both lively
and personal so that it resonates with the audience and prompts
them to respond. The "package" or format of the message can help
with this, but the message itself must command attention if it is to be
acknowledged.
Effective hooks vary according to the audience. Technical audiences
might be drawn to detailed trend charts, modeling results, or data
displays on the effectiveness of best management practices (BMPs).
Developers might want to know how much bang they're getting for
their buck—what's the relative effectiveness of the proposed con-
trol measure, and how much will it cost? More general audiences
might be engaged by information linked to the local drinking water
sources or messages that have powerful emotional connections.
The challenge will be finding a way to engage the audience directly
without resorting to hyperbole or other inappropriate distortions.
Humorous messages can also attract attention. Keeping your mes-
sage lighthearted makes people feel more comfortable with the topic
and helps them feel less intimidated. For instance, if you're trying to
generate stakeholder interest in providing input on a new watershed
management plan, you might hold monthly backyard barbecues with
the message "Come Grill Us About Your Watershed!"
Analogies or stories that vividly portray the scope of a problem, com-
pelling questions, and appeals that stress rewards or threats can all
help grab the attention of the target audience. For example, consider
the following set of approaches for presenting similar information:
Less vivid More vivid
There are about 26 million septic systems in the United
States.
Every month about 6,000 cubic yards of sediment is
transported down the Red River.
Hog production in the five-county area generates
approximately 750 tons of manure per day.
Population is expected to increase about 15 percent
annually over the next 5 years.
Septic systems treat and release about 4 billion gallons of
wastewater per day.
The Red River carries the equivalent of 1,000 pickup truck
loads of dirt every month.
Hogs in our coastal counties produce more manure each
day than a city of a half-million people.
We'll need to build 10,000 homes, 6 schools, and a
hospital by 2008 to keep up with current growth trends.
Parti
Step 3: Create the message
-------
'
3O
Using the information you collected on the target audience in Step 2,
determine what will get this group's attention. Talk to people knowl-
edgeable about the audience, convene focus groups of audience
members, or research how others targeting that audience develop
their outreach or marketing materials. Focus groups are particularly
good venues for testing and obtaining feedback on various versions
of outreach materials, messages, and other aspects of the effort. In a
focus group conducted by EPA in 2001, participants mentioned that
messages that clearly and dramatically demonstrate the immediate
cause-and-effect relationship between personal polluting behaviors and
resulting pollution are most effective. Messages aimed at educating
teenage audiences must include elements that target that age group:
the messages should be bold, hard-hitting, irreverent, and provocative.
Striking a balance between engaging the audience with a compelling
hook and putting them off with hype, overwrought threats, or scare
tactics requires careful consideration of the objective, the message,
and the audience. Take time to explore how your message will be
received and what reaction it is likely to evoke before you finalize
and release it. Don't overwhelm your audience by trying to cover too
many bases in one message. Keep it simple so the idea is not diluted.
Delivering too much information at once doesn't work, even if you're
addressing a complex issue.
Getting a response
Ask people to do something in your message, and let them know
why it's important. It's not likely that they will do anything unless
you specifically ask them. Below are some action steps an outreach
campaign might promote:
• Recycle your motor oil at any auto parts store in town.
• Seed and mulch bare ground within 14 days after removing veg-
etative cover.
• Save plastic grocery bags, and use them to scoop the poop from
your pooch.
• Have your septic system inspected every 3 years and pumped as
necessary.
• Make your lakeshore a no-mow zone!
When asking people to take action, be very clear about what they
should do, and make it easy to remember. Think about what behav-
iors are currently the norm and what behaviors you hope to make the
norm. If you can reinforce the desired behavior by noting others who
are engaging in it, so much the better. For example, farmers are much
more likely to upgrade their livestock waste management practices if
others are doing it. Asking people to take action is where the rubber
meets the road in the world of voluntary BMPs. In many cases, your
whole water quality improvement effort might be based on convinc-
Step 3: Create trie message
Parti
-------
31
ing X number of people to take Y number of Z actions. If this is the
case, your outreach strategy needs to explore very carefully what type
of appeal is most likely to work.
Make sure your message includes achievable personal goals, such as
having your car inspected for leaks every 3 months. Reasonably achiev-
able goals are more likely to be reached by small behavior changes that
you might suggest. Provide incentives and rewards to encourage people
to change their behaviors. Keep in mind that you're trying to get people
to actually do something. Activities like distributing brochures, hosting
workshops, placing ads on the radio, and holding field days are sup-
porting tasks, not the objective itself!
Messages with incentives and rewards
Using financial incentives is one of the best ways to get people
involved in your cause. Financial incentives are best used when
research on the target audience suggests that people are unlikely to
change their behaviors without an incentive. For example, providing
discount cards from local businesses for participating in a household
hazardous waste recycling event might encourage a few more resi-
dents to participate than would have otherwise. Other examples in-
clude paying homeowners a small stipend for agreeing to participate
in focus group meetings, offering rebates for purchasing low-flow
showerheads, and offering subsidized interest rates or tax breaks.
Be sure that you build in ways to make people notice your incentive.
Include information on financial incentives at the point of sale or in
bill inserts so that people notice them at times when they are already
thinking about money.
On the other hand, disincentives, such as fines for overwatering or
cutting down trees within 50 feet of a stream bank, discourage people
from taking actions you want them to avoid. Disincentives, like the
rising cost of water due to high wastewater treatment costs, can be
mentioned in printed materials and on radio and TV.
Bear in mind that when people are already motivated to change their
behaviors, the use of financial incentives could undermine their
motivation. In addition, if the incentive is taken away later on, that
original motivation might be lost.
Deciding which behaviors to focus on
To create messages and encourage actions that will help you achieve
your overall water quality objectives, you need to decide which be-
havior changes will give you the most for your money. Will you gain
a greater reduction in overall sediment pollution by asking developers
to avoid projects along streams and waterways or by asking construc-
tion site managers to plant vegetated buffers along stream banks?
Which behavior change will be easier to measure? Which one is the
Free mowers mean
more natural lawns
Every April King County, Wash-
ington, cosponsors a program
to offer discounts on mulching
mowers. The program began in
2000 when the county asked one
local neighborhood to forego
lawn chemicals and embrace grass
mulching. Each of the households
in the neighborhood was given
a free Black and Decker electric
mulching lawn mower (donated
by Black and Decker), free lawn
care consultations, and free en-
vironmentally friendly lawn care
products. In return, residents were
asked to pull weeds by hand, wa-
ter their lawns less, and dispose of
all their chemical pesticides.
(http://dnr.metrokc.gov/
swd/ResRecy/events/
naturalyard.shtml)
Parti
Step 3: Create the message
-------
32
audience more likely to adopt? Which behavior shows the most direct
link to the problem? Which will be the easiest to promote, financially
and technically? What barriers need to be overcome to motivate peo-
ple to engage in that behavior? Thinking about these questions will
help you choose the behaviors you should target in your campaign.
To make the behavior selection process easier, use a table like the
one presented on page 34 for the Building Blocks case study box. A
blank matrix is provided in Appendix C. By answering the questions
in the table, you'll be able to score the potential behaviors you're
considering and decide which behavior you should focus on to meet
your goals and objectives. For example, when answering the ques-
tion "Which behavior will be the most affordable to promote to my
audience?", be sure to consider both the short-term and long-term
costs you might incur while trying to encourage the adoption of each
behavior. Think about the costs of outreach materials and formats,
how the materials will be distributed, and who will help you dis-
tribute them. If the cost to promote a behavior is particularly high,
you might want to focus on another behavior that will achieve the
same result. The answers to most of the questions in the table will
be found during the target audience analysis process you conducted
earlier. Having focus group participants complete the table together is
also a good way to zero in on behaviors. For each question, rank each
behavior, starting with 1 as the behavior least likely to result in the best
outcome for that question. Hints on how to answer the questions are
provided in Appendix C along with a blank matrix.
Zeroing in on behavior through social marketing
As discussed in this guide, community-based social marketing is the most effective way
to encourage behavior change. One of the leading experts on social marketing, Dr. Doug
McKenzie-Mohr, an environmental psychologist specializing in designing programs to pro-
mote sustainable behavior, published Fostering Sustainable Behavior: An Introduction to
Community-Based Social Marketing in 1999. Dr. McKenzie-Mohr's approach involves identify-
ing barriers to a sustainable behavior, designing a strategy that uses behavior change tools to
overcome barriers, piloting the strategy with a small segment of a community, and evaluating
the impact of the program once it has been implemented across a community. The behavior
selection matrix on page 34 follows a similar path in that it is designed to help organizations
choose the behavior that will be the easiest or most important to change.
For more information on Dr. McKenzie-Mohr's work, visit the McKenzie-Mohr & Associates
Web site at www.cbsm.com.
-------
Message delivery
The next section (Step 3) discusses formats and delivery mecha-
nisms for your message; that is, how to get the message packaged
and distributed. It's helpful to give some thought to message delivery
when you're crafting and refining your message because the way it's
delivered can significantly affect what happens next.
For example, outreach messages targeting business owners are better
received and more powerful if a member of the business community
delivers them. Integrating personal communication with a member
of the target audience or another person during message delivery
increases the chances that the desired action will be taken. Personal
involvement can also help model the desired behavior and provide
additional outreach and support for the message—and the target ac-
tions—after the initial outreach phase has been completed.
TARGET
AUDIENCE
Building Blocks:
Creating the Message
WKOWKI1VES
IN
One of the objectives of the hypothetical Herndon County's watershed management
plan is to reduce nutrient runoff coming from residential areas. The county's public
outreach committee agreed that focusing their outreach efforts on homeowners,
homeowners' associations, and apartment/condominium landscape managers would
greatly improve water quality in the county.
To help the committee members decide which behavior changes would give them the greatest benefit, they
developed a behavior change matrix to compare six nutrient-reducing behaviors. The committee scored each
behavior based on the results of the research it had conducted when identifying and analyzing its target
audience. The behavior that received the highest score, reducing the number of times fertilizer is applied
each year from twice to once, is the behavior the committee decided would provide the greatest reduction
in nutrient runoff, considering the inclinations of the target audience. The matrix is shown on the following
page. (See Appendix C for instructions and a blank matrix for you to use.)
After the committee selected which behavior to focus the campaign on, the county set out to create its
message. From Step 2 (Identify and analyze the target audience), the county had learned that although many
residents are interested in protecting the environment and their water resources, most simply do not have
the extra time to take action. The county knew that it would be important to stress that reducing fertilizer
application would save residents time and improve water quality while giving them a healthier lawn at the
same time. The outreach campaign's message became the following:
Fertilize in the Fall. That's All!
With slow-release or organic fertilizers,
you need to fertilize only once in the fall
to help your grass grow new roots
and store nutrients for next year's growth.
Parti
Step 3: Create the message
-------
Sample Behavior Selection Matrix
Water Quality Objective: Reduce nutrient runoff from residential areas
Behavior
Pick up pet
waste
Reduce fertilizer
application
from twice a
year to once a
year
Plant
streamside
vegetation
to filter out
nutrients
Have septic
systems
inspected every
3 years and
pumped as
necessary
Leave grass
clippings on the
lawn
Plant native
plants that
require less
fertilizer
Evaluation Questions
Score from 1 to 6 (1 being the least likely; 6 being the most likely).
Note: Behaviors may receive the same score if applicable.
Which
behavior
will result in
the highest
reduction in
pollution?
4
6
5
3
2
1
Which
behavior will
be the most
affordable
to promote
to my
audience?
6
5
2
1
4
3
Which
behavior will
be the most
affordable
for my
audience to
adopt?
5
6
2
1
4
3
Which
behavior is
the most
attractive to
the people
in my
community?
1
3
4
2
5
6
For which
behavior will
it be easiest
to show a
link to the
problem?
5
6
1
4
2
3
Which
behavior is
the most
sustainable?
4
5
6
3
2
3
Which
behavior
will have
additional
water
quality
benefits?
1
6
6
5
3
4
Which
behavior
will
get the
highest
consumer
response?
6
3
4
1
5
6
Which
behavior
has the
fewest
barriers to
overcome?
6
5
2
1
4
3
Total
Score
(sum of
columns
1-9)
38
45
32
21
31
32
w
*
Instructions:
1. Score each behavior based on the evaluation questions (1 being the least likely; 6 being the most likely).
2. Total each behavior score by adding the scores for each question.
3. The behavior with the highest score is the recommended behavior.
Note: The results of this matrix will vary between communities. The factors may change depending on input from the target audience.
-------
PROCESS CHECKLIST
Step 3: Create the message
Is the message relevant and accessible to the target audience?
Is the language of the message appropriate to the target audience?
Is the message specific for each audience, and will it resound
with each?
Can the message be understood by the target audience?
Is the message vivid and memorable?
Have I included personal goals in the message?
Have I road-tested the message with members of the target
audience?
Can the target audience respond to the message in an easy,
convenient way?
Have I successfully identified which behaviors to ask the target
audience to change?
Does the message motivate behavior or attitude change?
Have I considered how the message will be delivered?
Positives outweigh
negatives
After engaging the members
of the audience and exposing
them to your message, you can
provide other information you
feel is important, such as envi-
ronmental benefits. It's advisable,
however, to let the audience
members know first what their
direct benefit will be. A word to
the wise: Studies show that posi-
tive messages ("do this") tend
to be more effective in changing
people's habits than negative
ones ("don't do this").
Parti
Step 3: Create the message
-------
!
36
Package the message
What's in Step 4
• Linking the audience and
formats
• Considering formats
• Repeating the message
• Using the mass media
• Making videos
• Using print materials
• Conducting presentations
• Holding events
• Giveaways
• Mascots
• Using the Internet
Stoney Creek
HEALTHY
oor
You've defined the objectives, assessed the target audience, and
crafted the message. Now it's time to determine the best package
or format for the message for eventual delivery to the target audi-
ence. The information you collected in Step 2 will help determine the
most appropriate format. A farming community might respond more
positively to field day events, door-to-door visits, or articles in farm
publications than to an Internet and e-mail campaign. When selecting
your message format, think about where the target audience gets its
information.
Linking the needs of the audience to the format
Making sure that you choose the right message format for the target
audience is one of the most important steps in outreach. Several fac-
tors about the audience come into play:
• Size of the audience: If the target audience is large, a door-to-door
campaign might not be feasible; if the audience is small, a grandi-
ose community festival could waste valuable time and money.
• Geographic distribution of the audience: If the audience is
widely distributed (such as across a rural county), presentations
given at workshops might not be the best choice because partici-
pants would have to travel a long distance to get to them.
• Level of awareness and education: If the audience consists of
new immigrants from non-English-speaking countries, newslet-
ters or other written formats might not appeal to them; radio or
TV public service announcements (PSAs) in their native language
would be a better choice.
• Preferred formats: If the research you conducted on the audience
revealed that most of the audience members have access to the
Internet and use it regularly, a campaign-specific Web site might
be an important element to include in your campaign.
Format considerations
In some cases, the format will define the distribution mechanism
(newspaper articles, radio spots, public events). Keeping in mind the
possibility of using multiple formats, consider the following:
• Is the package appropriate for the target audience?
• Is it user-friendly?
• Does it clearly communicate the message?
• How will the target audience access and use the information?
Step 4: Package the Message
Parti
-------
• Is it something they will see once and discard, or refer to often?
• Can it be produced in-house with existing resources?
• How much will it cost, and who will pay for it?
• Are there existing formats or templates that can be tapped into?
• Will it fit in a standard-sized envelope?
Keep in mind that the package and venue for any message are usu-
ally linked. For example, printed materials containing environmental
messages are often criticized if they're not produced with high post-
consumer-content recycled stock. Be mindful of the links between
message, format, and distribution. In practice, this might mean an-
nouncing a river festival on brightly colored recycled paper or using a
radio show on car maintenance to reach automotive do-it-yourselfers.
Repeating the message
In addition to being promotional vehicles for messages, formats
often dictate the frequency of message presentation. Frequency
is important because it determines how well the message will be
remembered. Professional marketers know that the more times you
Sharpen your writing skills
There are no hard-and-fast rules or magical formulas for "good writing," but there are some
solid guidelines that could add sparkle and strength to almost anyone's words.
• Make sure that your message targets the audience and will resonate favorably. Write simply
and directly.
• Pay attention to grammar and punctuation, and avoid careless mistakes and typos. Consult
a writing stylebook to double-check just where that comma or apostrophe should go, or ask
someone with experience and a keen eye to edit the piece.
• Use the active voice.
• Write in simple declarative sentences. Make each word work. Avoid overuse of the
thesaurus or your writing will sound stilted or pretentious. Use descriptive
adjectives, but not too many.
• Make sure your writing conveys your intentions.
• Sometimes a new perspective and a fresh start are needed, so don't
hesitate to start over if necessary. If you come down with a case of
writer's block, you might be making too great a fuss over what
you're writing. Sometimes it helps to just start writing, even
if you begin at the middle or end of a piece. You can always
go back and edit or enhance it later. Getting something on
paper is the most important part.
• Avoid the use of technical terms, jargon, and acronyms unless
the audience is familiar with them.
-------
38
see their advertisement for a product, the more likely you'll remem-
ber the product and the more likely you'll buy it. Educating stake-
holders and citizens on watershed or polluted runoff issues is no
different: people remember what resonates with them and what is
in front of them. As the saying goes, "out of sight, out of mind." So
if your message is short, you might want to display it on a refrigera-
tor magnet and keep it in front of the audience for months or even
years. Other packages—rain gauges, calendars, Frisbees, news me-
dia pieces, printed materials, and so forth—all have their own pros
and cons. Take time to explore them to see if they fit your program
by linking objective, audience, and message.
Format options
The following is an overview of some popular formats; however, it is
not meant to be comprehensive. Choose one format (or more) that
helps achieve the desired result with the available resources. Combin-
ing formats can reinforce your message considerably. For example,
promoting environmentally friendly agricultural practices through
newspaper articles, farm field days, and "conserve our soil" ball caps
can create interest in and support for such practices. Keep the target
audience in mind while considering various formats.
If your campaign will last for a relatively long period of time, you
have the option of using multiple formats over time. In fact, formats
should change over the course of your outreach campaign to reflect
the different phases of outreach—awareness, education, and action.
This continuum calls for a broad, generic message at the outset to
raise and increase awareness. As the target audience becomes aware
of and interested in the issue (s), the messages and formats should be-
come more specific. For example, generic radio and TV PSAs can lead
into specific ads regarding pet waste, fertilizer use, and vehicle care.
Each format has advantages and disadvantages, and you need to
weigh these as you decide which format will resonate most and is
most appropriate for the target audience. Other considerations when
choosing a format include cost, staff time needed, setup time, produc-
tion time, schedule, legal requirements, and audience type, level of
education, and involvement in the issue. The table on pages 40 and
41 lists some of the pros and cons of each format and the circum-
stances under which each format is best applied.
The following sections present the formats from the table and provide
tips for increasing the effectiveness of these formats.
Mass media formats
If your message needs to be understood and embraced by the public,
it must be covered by the mass media. The media are the most cost-
effective and efficient way to get your message delivered. Partnering
Step 4: Package the Message
Parti
-------
39
with the news media—newspapers, TV, magazines, radio—is not
difficult, but it requires some orientation and basic training on how to
involve them in your outreach effort.
Opportunities to place your message in the media include informa-
tional news stories, people features, issue analyses, PSAs, interview
programs, call-in shows, editorial columns, and feature items related
to sports, recreation, or outdoor living. Each of these formats requires
different techniques, which are discussed below.
Formats using the mass media can be broken down into two major
categories: news coverage and advertising. News coverage includes
interviews, news stories, letters to the editor, and event coverage. Ad-
vertising includes the development of PSAs. Publicity generated from
news coverage is dependent on the news organization, whereas you
create radio, TV, and newspaper advertising yourself. In many cases
the advertising that you do can be leveraged later into news coverage.
For example, one state bought informational ads on agriculture-related
water quality issues from a country station and received as a benefit
some free news coverage of the issues during the year.
News coverage
Why use the news media?
Americans are voracious consumers of news and information, and
information on water and other science issues is not much different
from information on health, economics, or sports. A survey conducted
by Lake Research, Inc., for the Upper Mississippi River Basin found
that 47 percent of watershed residents get their information on river
issues from local television news, 27 percent from local newspapers,
and 18 percent from radio news. Only 2 percent of those surveyed
mentioned environmental mailings as their first or second news
source, and meetings didn't even make the list. Nearly every study
conducted in the United States over the past decade has concluded
that most people—even those involved in scientific or water resource
issues—get their environmental information from the news media. Ob-
viously, the news media have tremendous reach when it comes to com-
municating watershed messages to both targeted and broad audiences.
The news is free!
The news media are effective, available, and free. Surveys repeat-
edly show high public interest in environmental issues and in water
quality, particularly as it relates to drinking water, public health, and
recreational uses. Reporters are always looking for news—informa-
tive articles, features on people or issues, or regular columns—to fill
their pages or broadcasts. Packaging your messages as news stories
can help distribute your information to mass audiences at virtually no
cost. You have to buy an ad, but placing your message in the news is
free. The trade-off is that you do not control the message, timing, or
frequency of the news story.
Other
Mail
Sources of
Environmental News
Parti
Step 4: Package the Message
-------
4O
Choosing the Right Format
Format
Pros
Cons
Uses
TV news
coverage
Creates awareness, publicity, and
recognition
Most popular source of
environmental information
Free
Can reach a large captive audience
Can include graphics and video
Most people would rather watch
than read
Working with reporters takes time
and patience
Reporters might change focus of
desired coverage
Training on giving interviews might be
needed
Events
Weekly reports
Hot topics
Controversial issues
Public education
Advertising
with TV or
Radio PSAs
Can be free to air
Can reach a large audience
Can focus in on target audience
Can provide follow-up through
toll-free medium (hotline or Web
site)
TV ads provide high impact and
the ability to demonstrate a
behavior
Stiff competition for air time
Very passive
Difficult to evaluate effectiveness
Can be expensive to produce TV
PSAs of suitable quality
Short format often does not allow
for more than awareness
Little control of time of airing without
paying; sometimes aired late at
night
Message can be obscured by
commercial clutter
Target audience might not
be watching/listening when
advertisement is aired
Events
Fundraisers
Building awareness
Videos
Can discuss an issue in depth
Have control over the content
Can be visually appealing
Can air on cable television stations
High costs
Hard to do well
Need a good distribution mechanism
Workshops
Public education
Schools
Printed
formats
such as
newsletters
and
brochures
Can reach a large audience
Can be more technical than other
formats
Can tailor messages for specific
audiences for different publications
Go beyond building awareness by
providing detailed information
Reach more educated audiences
Audience can clip, reread, and think
about the material
Might provide more credibility
Often low-cost (with unit prices
decreasing with quantity)
Good to use as a follow-up
mechanism
Printing and mailing are costly
Require staff time
Passive, not participatory
Only as good as the mailing list used
or kiosks and help desks where placed
Audience must have the interest to
pick them up and read them
Small ads might not be noticed
Articles and interviews
Events (announcing
and summarizing)
Workshops
Scientific data
Requesting feedback
from public
Public education
Step 4: Package the Message
Parti
-------
41
Choosing the Right Format (cont.)
Format
Pros
Cons
Uses
Events
Good for persuasion
Can model positive behavior
More personal
Offer two-way
communication
Might be difficult to reach entire
audience
Require staff time
Could be expensive
Potential low attendance
Require significant planning time
Require publicity for success
Can damage reputation if not done well
Awareness and
recognition
One-on-one
communication
Encouraging and
modeling behavior change
(motivating action)
Presentations
- workshops
- conferences
- group
meetings
Can be participatory
Good for persuasion
Can model positive behavior
More personal
Reach small audiences
Require staff time
Can be too technical
Hard to get commitment to attend;
need to offer incentives
Person delivering the presentation could
make or break it
Getting feedback from
attendees
Awareness and
recognition
Public education
Giveaways
Increase awareness
Inexpensive
Easy to produce
Very short message
Not very persuasive
Materials themselves might be
considered "pollution" or "junk"
Awareness building
Distribution at events and
workshops
Incentives for participation
Behavior reminders
(prompts)
Web sites
Can reach a large audience
Inexpensive
Easily maintained
Offer up-to-date information
A challenge to market
Difficult to evaluate effectiveness
A long-term project
Public education
Returning visitors if
material is updated
frequently
Internet
Listservers
Can reach a discrete audience
Inexpensive
Easily maintained
May be spreading the message to an
already educated audience
Long-term project
Ongoing projects or
complex campaigns
Public education
Displays
- libraries
- malls
- fairs/events
Can reach a large audience
Visually pleasing
Reusable
Require staff time
Must be durable
Can be specific to an event, which can
date the materials
Awareness and
recognition
Billboards
Can reach a large audience
Visually pleasing
Very short message
Drivers might not read billboards that
require high amounts of attention
Generally high costs
Awareness and
recognition
Behavior reminders
(prompts)
Reporters often cover water quality issues debated at public meetings
and other events. Expanding coverage through a planned, proactive
approach can help build and support new attitudes, generate interest
in remediation projects, promote possible solutions to water quality
problems, introduce and explain policy or funding proposals, and
motivate or reinforce volunteers in the field. Public agencies are dis-
covering that working with the media helps in building awareness of
agency activities, responding quickly to public concerns, explaining
technical issues, and clarifying enforcement programs.
Parti
Step 4: Package the Message
-------
42
When using the media, or any other message distribution format, it's
helpful to remember the standard formula for producing results in
marketing campaigns: Reach x frequency = results.
The number of people receiving your message (reach) multiplied by the
number of times they receive it will determine the results of your effort.
Hitting the target audience once with a great message just won't do the
job. They have to hear it over and over again—just like preschoolers
learning their ABCs. That's why you see the same ads broadcast time
after time on TV and radio. After a while, the marketers know their
message will break through the clutter and resonate with you, possibly
motivating you to buy the product or vote for the candidate.
Delivering educational, promotional, or motivational messages
through the news media is similar to distributing them through other
mechanisms. If you want results, you need to repeat the message
frequently and link it to something the audience values. Covering
watershed issues from several different angles can help accomplish
this. Orienting yourself to the workings of the media and the needs of
reporters will help keep your program focused and effective.
Becoming a student of the media (rather than just a consumer) can
help you discover important information about how a particular media
outlet covers the news—things like who reports on environmental
issues, what's been covered so far, and what topics are the subject of
editorials. Developing some knowledge of a media outlet will help later,
when you're discussing possible coverage for your events or issues.
What makes the news?
Certain key elements apply to what is covered as news. Good news
stories have at least one of the following attributes:
• Involve local people or issues/documented statistics
• Focus on unique or unusual attributes
• Relate to significant issues or events
• Quote well-known or respected members of the community
• Affect many people throughout a region
• Involve controversial issues or strong emotions
• Include a celebrity figure
• Are timely
Your outreach or educational messages won't be required to have all
these significant elements, but the more they have, the more likely
they'll be covered by the media. This aspect of media involvement
shouldn't be discouraging: a quick look at any newspaper or TV news
broadcast provides a glimpse of how thin the thread of "significance"
can be. The news is filled with information on research studies, gov-
ernment activities, business developments, societal trends and fads,
Step 4: Package the Message
Parti
-------
sporting events, and other sometimes less-than-weighty concerns.
The involvement of a celebrity can provide a huge boost to your out-
reach effort by generating significant media interest. When Backstreet
Boys singer Kevin Richardson created the Just Within Reach Founda-
tion (www.justwithinreach.com) to push for greater environmental
responsibility in his native Kentucky, media coverage of water quality
and other issues skyrocketed. With a little thought and planning, you
should have no problem placing your message in the news.
How do I "do" the news?
If you've considered what makes a message newsworthy, you'll have
no problems packaging your watershed outreach and educational
information for reporters. The simple recipe is to identify the nug-
get of your message that contains the news (the elements noted in
the previous section), and incorporate other information designed to
educate, engage, or motivate the audience. The news nugget (think
"headline") will determine the likelihood and type of coverage, so it's
important to think about how it can best be presented to achieve the
intended outreach objective without boring the audience. To educate
or motivate, it's necessary to attract and hold the attention of the
target group. Watershed issues can be vibrant, complex, engaging,
compelling, and incredibly interesting—much like the watersheds
themselves. Reflect this in your messages.
How can you do this? First, think like a reporter: What would be
interesting? It doesn't have to be earth-shattering. Consider the fol-
lowing headlines, which summarize news nuggets you can build an
article or broadcast feature around:
• Monitoring results show no gains in water quality
• Workshops improving sediment controls on building sites, group
says
• Neighbors take a break from lakeside mowing, watch wildflowers
bloom
• Health Department urging septic system inspections
• Mayor Smith to host stream restoration workshop at local
restaurant
You get the idea. You're doing a lot of interesting stuff. Make your
news appealing to reporters so they can make it interesting to the
target audience.
Keep in mind that our society is experiencing information overload, so
it's crucial that you get your information out in plain language, in eas-
ily digestible chunks, and in a form that will be used. Because of the
immediacy of the Internet, many reporters and writers no longer have
daily deadlines. Stories are often posted as soon as they're written.
Parti
Step 4: Package the Message
-------
44
Get the reporters in
your corner
In Utah, the Kids Organized to
Protect Our Environment (KOPE)
developed a personal rapport
with local TV news reporters to
gain coverage of their efforts to
protect an urban stream from
being converted to a shopping
center parking lot. The reporters,
who then became advocates on a
personal level, turned out to cover
city council meetings, cleanup days,
and community festivals organized
by the kids to protect the stream.
According to Lynn Olsen, a parent
volunteer for KOPE, "The reporters
would write their stories in order to
tell the children's point of view."
RSFI Check out the Getting In
Step video.
Establishing a relationship with the media
After you've become oriented to the perspectives of the media and
have packaged your outreach information accordingly, you'll be ready
to discuss coverage with reporters or news editors. Establishing a
relationship with reporters and editorial staff is just as important as
developing the news element of your message—perhaps even more
important. This point cannot be overemphasized. In fact, it's highly
recommended that you introduce yourself to the news staff and start
developing a relationship before you submit anything for coverage.
Establishing a dialogue with reporters on what you're trying to ac-
complish with your outreach program will help both of you deter-
mine how to meet each other's needs.
After the reporting staff knows who you are and what you're doing, they
might call and ask you to respond to questions on other water quality
news stories. If you don't have anything to offer, ask them about their
deadline and try to get the information to them before the deadline.
You're trying to establish and maintain a positive, helpful relationship
with the news staff so both of you can better serve the public.
It's important to realize that reporters are usually working under the
pressure of a deadline and don't like runarounds. They become agi-
tated and suspicious if you are slow to release information, especially
if it's public information subject to the Freedom of Information Act.
Also, remember that very few reporters are trained in the sciences. It
will be your job to provide a rudimentary education on watershed sci-
ence—why things like suspended solids, dissolved oxygen, phospho-
rus, bacteria, and riparian cover are important.
Developing a relationship with reporters and helping them to under-
stand your issues will pay off in increased reporting, better media
relations, and fewer factual distortions. Providing reporters with ap-
propriate background information (no more than three or four pages
unless asked) and identifying interview subjects also helps. Be proac-
tive rather than reactive.
Levels of doing the news
At the most basic level, "doing the news" means providing a steady
stream of interesting, educational, informative material related to
a news nugget that appears in the first paragraph of the release. In
a watershed outreach program, releases should support objectives
identified by the planning and management team. They should be
designed to educate, inform, engage, or motivate members of the
target audience or to build general awareness, support, and interest.
If an event is being planned, a news advisory can be issued to tell the
media where, when, and why it's occurring and who will be there.
Step 4: Package the Message
Parti
-------
If there is significant interest on the part of the media and their audi-
ence, you might consider proposing more in-depth coverage. Feature
articles, interview programs, status/trends analyses, and news forums
all provide an opportunity for informing and educating the public and
policy makers on the sometimes complex array of issues and answers
related to water quality problems. Be forewarned: These projects can
involve a lot of research and a lot of work. Producing a biweekly col-
umn on water monitoring trends for Ten Mile Lake, for example, will
entail a significant commitment to collect the data and meet printing
deadlines. But the opportunity to reach thousands of people with this
information might make such an endeavor worthwhile. People think
about only what's in front of them. Water quality issues are for the
most part public policy issues, and the more you can help the media
explain these issues and review what needs to be done, the better the
ultimate solutions are likely to be.
News coverage formats: News releases
News releases provide reporters with the basics they need to develop
a news story. They can be written in a news style so that they can be
used "as is," although good reporters will prefer to rewrite your story
in their own words. News releases include the who, what, when,
where, why, and how of your story. In large cities TV stations and
newspapers receive many releases each day, so it's important to hit the
high points without going on ad infinitum. One- or two-page news re-
leases are standard. If a reporter chooses to expand your news release
into a longer story, he or she will contact you for more information.
When reviewing news releases, reporters typically look for one pri-
mary element—a local connection. Releases that indicate reporters
should "insert name of county here" are often tossed immediately.
Mention a local person or the appropriate city, county, river, lake, or
stream in the first paragraph to generate maximum interest.
News releases are an efficient way to alert the public about a wide
variety of issues. Use them to announce public events, summarize
water monitoring information, discuss policy development issues,
provide perspectives on improving water quality, or encourage the
adoption of appropriate management practices. "Think Blue," San
Diego's stormwater pollution prevention outreach program, protects
local beaches with TV and radio PSAs, brochures, fact sheets, and
more. When the program won four Emmy awards for its TV PSA, it
announced the win in a news release (see box on page 46). Note the
mention of the local city, San Diego, in the first line of the release.
0 Check out the Getting In Step video.
Bringing the
media to you
Taking reporters out on monitoring
field trips in the summer might be
the most beneficial thing a public
agency or private organization
can do to further the education of
reporters—and, more important,
their audiences—on water qual-
ity issues. The news business is
typically slow in the summer, and
reporters have time to spend in the
field. Taking them out to collect
macroinvertebrates, monitor lake
water quality, conduct field sur-
veys, sample dissolved oxygen and
pH, or count bacteria colonies in
the lab gives you an opportunity
to get to know them on a more
personal basis, without the pres-
sure of phone tag, deadlines, or
hot issues.
Reporters are naturally inquisitive
people, but most know little about
designated uses, use-based water
quality criteria, types of criteria,
TMDLs, best management prac-
tices, and the like. In the field, you
can explain the role of your orga-
nization and provide a summary
education to reporters on water
quality issues of importance to
your area. Later, when an impor-
tant or controversial issue arises,
the reporters will have a good idea
of who you are and what you're
doing and will likely call you to dis-
cuss the perspective of your group
before releasing a story.
Parti
Step 4: Package the Message
-------
,
(46
X
^ 28th^nnu^on. ^ ds ^ £es
categ°f ,1;' ated winning in four of the National
CPSA) dominate Southwest Chapter
awards were **&%£» ^nces in a cere^^£ Ac,ieve-
levrsron Artsa* . Qutst ra_
agency has the ow residents,
###
Be sure to send the news release in a timely manner. Releases sent
too early might get lost on the reporter's desk, and releases sent too
late might not make it into the newspaper. If you'd like reporters to
attend a coming event, send releases 5 days in advance. Other releas-
es should be sent a few days before the newspaper's deadline. Make
a follow-up call to each reporter to confirm receipt of the release and
respond to any questions.
Step 4: Package the Message
Parti
-------
47
How to write a news release
News releases are usually one page long, but they can be longer if the subject is sufficiently im-
portant. When writing a news release, start with the local connection and "news nugget"—the
most important element—first. Then present supporting information, putting the least impor-
tant material at the end. It's important to grab the reporter's attention in the first paragraph.
Quotes from a spokesperson can be included, although many newspapers might want to con-
firm direct quotes prior to publication.
What makes the news? To increase the chances that your release will be used, keep in mind the
elements reporters look for in a news story. Your release doesn't need to have all the elements
listed below, but the more of them you include, the better your chances for coverage:
• Involve local people or issues/documented statistics
• Focus on unique or unusual attributes
• Relate to significant issues or events
• Quote well-known or respected members of the community
• Affect many people throughout a region
• Involve controversial issues or strong emotions
• Include a celebrity figure
• Are timely
How to send the news release to the media outlet
The news media are a target audience just like any other audience. Get to know the reporters
that cover the environmental beat ahead of time, and ask them how you should format your
releases. Many now prefer e-mail but want the text pasted into the body of the e-mail mes-
sage rather than included in attachments
because of potential virus threats. News-
papers and TV news programs often want
relevant graphics like photos or graphs of
News release nuts and bolts
water monitoring trends. Ask reporters
what type of format they prefer and how
material should be delivered.
Here are some tips for writing news
releases:
• Keep sentences short
• Avoid jargon
• Write in the active voice
• Keep paragraphs short
• Ask for peer editing
Proofread, proofread, proofread!
Include "For immediate release," the date,
and the name and phone number of the
contact person at the top
Use a catchy headline, touching on the
news nugget
Include short paragraphs telling who, what,
where, when, why, and how
Add "###" at the bottom center of the
page to indicate the end of the document
If the document has two pages, put
"more" at the bottom of the first page
rather than "###"
Parti
Step 4: Package the Message
-------
'
48
News coverage formats: video news releases
A video news release (VNR) is the TV equivalent of a written press
release, and it is becoming an increasingly important piece of out-
reach campaigns. A video news release greatly increases your odds
that TV news programs will cover your story. As you would for a
written news release, you establish the story angle and control the
content, but stations are free to embellish or otherwise change the
story before they decide to run it. And just like a news release, the
media may reject your story altogether. That's why it's important to
ensure that your message is newsworthy, well presented, and well
produced.
A VNR is a pre-produced (pre-taped, edited, and narrated) news item
for TV. It is typically 1 to 3 minutes long, often with an additional 3
to 6 minutes of b-roll (raw footage). A VNR often includes interviews
with experts who provide effective sound bites that bring out the
core of your message, as well as supporting visuals. It usually opens
with a background slate (a text screen that contains summary infor-
mation such as the date, the name of your organization, the name
of the project, and contact information) that stays on the screen for
about 5 seconds. The VNR should be shot in a broadcast news style
with quick cuts, steady shots, offset interviews, and the like. Here are
some other tips for creating effective VNRs:
• Hire a professional production company to do the script-writing,
shooting, and editing, unless you have access to staff members or
partners who have such talents.
• Include a very brief, one-sentence summary of the story on the
opening slate as the "Suggested Anchor Lead," which a local
news anchor can read at the top of the story.
• Ask the experts interviewed for the VNR to look at the inter-
viewer slightly off-camera to the right or left, not directly into the
camera.
• Encourage the press to call the key interviewers or other experts
directly to confirm the information they have received.
• Use graphics and animation to illustrate key points of technical or
complex stories.
• Ask the production company to present all the names and titles
of people interviewed in or speaking on the video (called "su-
pers" or "chyrons") on a slate at the start of the VNR rather than
on the tape during the VNR. This approach will allow a station
to recreate this information in its own type style. Be sure the
sequence of names on the slate matches the order of appearance
in the VNR.
• Shoot, edit, and reproduce the VNR in a broadcast-quality format
such as Betacam, DVC-Pro, or Mini-DV. Check with the station to
find out which format(s) it uses.
Step 4: Package the Message
Parti
-------
The VNR is an effective way to get press coverage of a particularly
newsworthy issue or event. With TV news budget cuts, there is an
escalating demand for more pre-produced material. A well-produced
VNR can often receive excellent pickup from local news stations.
The VNR is sent directly to local TV stations or can even be transmit-
ted via satellite feeds to regional or national audiences. For local or
regional campaigns, follow up by calling the stations on which you
would like to see your VNR aired. VNRs are used by many stations
because it saves them time and effort they would otherwise spend
producing stories from scratch. Though more costly than a press re-
lease, a well-produced VNR can potentially propel your message into
millions of homes. Many companies can provide this service or assist
you in this effort.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources spends about $80,000
annually to produce VNRs that reach more than 8 million viewers each
year (a cost of about one cent per person—an extremely low delivery
cost). Read more about Minnesota's VNRs at www.dnr.state.mn.us/
new/vnr/faq.html.
News coverage formats: Letters to the editor
A letter to the editor is a good way to raise awareness of issues,
concerns, or conditions that should be brought to the attention of the
public. Individual citizens and organizations often write letters to the
editor to clarify previously printed articles or to introduce a subject
that someone believes should be discussed. When sending a letter to
the editor, check out the newspaper's requirements. Most papers ask
that letters be 250 words or less and reserve the right to edit your let-
ter before publishing it. Include your contact information in case the
paper would like to speak with you further. Many newspapers have a
page on their Web sites where you can submit your letter online.
Tips for writing a letter to the editor
• Be brief, clear, and to the point
• Sign your name and note your affiliation
• Talk about the issues; don't get personal or petty
• Type your letter and limit it to the paper's length restriction (make it
significantly shorter if possible)
• One letter per month per person is the limit for most papers
• Send your letter to a single paper; most papers require published letters to be exclusives
Parti
Step 4: Package the Message
-------
5O
News coverage formats: Query letters
A query letter is sent to the editorial staff to determine potential inter-
est in a story idea. Prior contact with the staff is recommended before
you submit a story or even write it. Give the editor a chance to reject
or redirect it before you expend any significant resources. Usually the
query is made through a letter, but e-mails can be sent if the editor
accepts them. Check each organization's Web site or call and ask the
news desk for its preferred format. The inquiry should describe the
general content of the proposed piece, state the title or working title,
if there is one, and address why the issue is relevant to the commu-
nity. The topic should be well researched, and the query letter should
be no longer than one page.
News coverage formats: News conferences
If you have some breaking information or an event that's too im-
portant for a news release, a news conference might be appropriate.
Don't call a news conference unless there's big news. Calling a con-
ference to cover routine issues or to generate publicity is like "crying
wolf" to the media and could hurt your turnout for more important
news conferences.
News conferences are important events that require thoughtful plan-
ning. A good moderator—one who can control the event without
stifling the reporters—is needed. Usually a news conference opens
with the distribution of a news release that explains the reason for
the conference and provides informative quotes from people involved
in the issue, background information, and contact information. The
moderator then makes a few welcoming/introductory remarks and
introduces other speakers or makes a statement (which is often read).
Remarks by all speakers should be carefully prepared. The floor is
then opened for questions, which usually can be anticipated and pre-
pared for beforehand. Spend a little time in the days or hours before
the news conference generating a list of likely questions, so you'll be
able to respond confidently and accurately.
Make sure you invite all news outlets in the area to your conference,
and send a news release immediately afterward to those who didn't
show up. News conferences can be held almost anywhere but are
usually indoors with plenty of seating provided. Backdrops and other
props are good elements for enhancing TV potential. Holding a news
conference at the edge of a polluted stream, in front of a storm drain,
or at another location that leaves a lasting impression will add interest
to your news; however, you should arrange for a contingency location
for bad weather. After the news conference (usually a half-hour), in-
vite reporters to accompany members of your group on a prearranged
tour, if appropriate, to provide additional insight on the issue.
Step 4: Package the Message
Parti
-------
Advertising
Advertising differs from news coverage in that you are in control of
what is aired or printed. Videos are increasingly becoming popular
formats to showcase projects or organizations. However, the most
common form of advertising is the public service announcement.
A PSA is an effective way to use TV or radio airtime to raise public
awareness about an issue, inform the public about a coming event,
or recruit volunteers. A PSA can be written or presented in audio or
video format. Though PSAs cover less material than news releases,
they include the same "who, what, where, when, why, and how."
Advertising formats: The radio PSA
Even in this TV-focused world, radio remains a strong media contender
because of its affordable production cost and creative possibilities.
Radio is everywhere and nearly everyone hears it sometime, some-
where, every day. According to Arbitron, an international media and
marketing research firm, radio reaches 96 percent of people over age 12
each week and 77 percent each day! Of course, those same universal
qualities are what dilute its impact: it can become background noise.
Your message must be repeated often to reach listeners at various
times. Targeting specific audiences—young people, farmers, public
radio listeners—is relatively easy to do in radio, given the specialized
formats in most markets. To saturate whole markets, you'll need to dis-
tribute your message to many stations. Get right to the central theme
[the point you want to project) because you don't have much time.
Getting the facts from the station. Radio stations play PSAs on free
or purchased airtime. Purchasing airtime will increase the frequency
at which your PSAs are played. Use the target audience demograph-
ics to help select the radio stations you want to broadcast your PSAs.
Request a rate kit from all of the AM and FM radio stations in your
geographic area. The average rate kit should contain statistical pro-
files of the age, gender, and consumer buying patterns of the station's
audience; a breakdown of listener activity by time; descriptions of
network affiliates; sample advertising packages; and a rate card. The
rate card is a cost guideline only; in broadcasting, nearly all prices are
negotiable.
The station's advertising sales representative will work with you to
assemble a media schedule that fits your objectives and your pock-
etbook. Remember the reach and frequency factors. When working
with a small budget, frequency is what matters most. That's because
you might need to run your ad several times a week to make your
message sink in. If you spend your advertising budget reaching many
people just a few times, your investment will be in vain. Instead of
reaching 100 percent of the audience once, reach 10 percent of the au-
dience 10 times. That's the best way to get quality results on a limited
budget.
* $
To pay or not to pay
Although technically you can
have your PSAs aired on TV at no
cost (free airtime), you will not
necessarily hit your target audi-
ence. By purchasing airtime, you
can ensure that you'll reach your
audience and can often leverage
additional coverage.
San Diego's "Think Blue"
program leveraged the air-
time they purchased for their
PSAs for more than $250,000
with 32 local broadcasters to
receive additional coverage
for free. Local broadcasters
contributed 774 free airings
of the PSAs, 40 news story
features, and other promos
for an in-kind value in excess of
$160,000.
$
Parti
Step 4: Package the Message
-------
52
Watershed Radio
The Watershed Radio program,
an environmental education
project for the Chesapeake Bay
watershed, produced a series
of 1-minute radio PSAs that
highlight different aspects of
the watershed. Twelve radio
stations spread out over the
watershed broadcasted the
Watershed Radio PSAs. One
of the PSAs is used as an ex-
ample in the box " How to write
and format a PSA" on page
53. For more information, visit
www.serc.si.edu/watershed/
index.htm. Watershed Radio
was created by the Smithsonian
Environmental Research Center
and the Sierra Club.
Sea & Shore Radio
In 2001 the Maine Coastal
Program, the Maine Sea Grant
College Program, and the Wells
National Estuarine Research
Reserve reached a wide audience
with basic information about the
Maine coast's environmental re-
sources through a 1-minute radio
series called the Sea & Shore
Educational Radio Program. The
series featured a range of coastal
and marine environmental topics,
including beach health, marine
debris, and salt marshes. For
more information about the
series, contact Paul Dest, Maine
Coastal Program, at
dest@wellsnerrcec.lib.me.us.
Radio stations typically do not guarantee the frequency or times for
playing PSAs during free airtime. Many people think that the Federal
Communications Commission requires radio and TV stations to allo-
cate a certain amount of time to public service. However, the National
Association of Broadcasters says that broadcasters are under no obli-
gation to grant time to any specific group. In recent years, the govern-
ment deregulated the industry to reduce the amount of paperwork
required for radio and TV stations, and it gave stations the ability to
set their own standards for PSA usage on both free and paid airtime.
Local radio stations often have feature programs but don't cover news
in depth. Public stations might devote more time to news, analytical,
or educational programs, but they might not reach the target audi-
ence. Although the extremely short nature of spot news coverage on
radio does not lend itself well to deep analysis and lengthy informa-
tion delivery, radio can play a valuable role in building awareness
and reinforcing other outreach efforts.
What does it cost? If you plan to produce a recorded PSA, first
determine how you will produce the message itself. Because radio
is not a visual medium, a radio PSA "must be even better and more
creative than television, even though you will spend a lot more on TV
production," notes Roger Vilsack, an award-winning producer with
more than 25 years of experience. "Because you don't have visual
images, you have to create them with words and sound effects." Hire
talented persons comfortable with acting out their parts rather than
simply reading aloud. Vilsack recommends budgeting from $1,500 to
$10,000 for the radio production, depending on the number of actors,
music, and sound effects. If you hire a director, writer, or actor, the
cost could increase an additional $2,500 to $5,000.
Asking a college or public radio station to help produce your radio
spots might pay off. College students are usually interested in water-
shed issues and are often looking for projects that can be listed on
resumes for consideration by prospective employers. Your campaign
can help students develop experience and professional skills while
raising awareness and support for watershed issues.
Tools of the trade. Once you've determined how you will produce
the radio PSA, find out which format you need to use for submission.
In the past radio stations accepted cassette or reel-to-reel tapes. Now
the preferred format is CD-ROM. The production company will provide
a music disc with the PSA track included for you to distribute. If you
produce multiple PSAs or one PSA in multiple languages, include
them all on the same CD-ROM to save time and money.
Remember to label your CD-ROM and its case with the PSA's title and
length, and your contact information. Some types of CD-ROM packag-
es are DiskPac (lightweight plastic case with a four-color printer cover
that is glued to the plastic shell), wallet style (wallet-sized pocket
Step 4: Package the Message
Parti
-------
How to write and format a radio PSA
1. Use paper with the organization's letterhead.
2. Type "Public Service Announcement" at the
top middle of the page.
3. Skip a few spaces.
4. Type the requested air date.
5. Insert the organization's contact name,
phone number, fax number, e-mail address,
and PSA length.
Example:
6. Skip a few lines.
7. Insert the PSA's title in bold letters.
8. The script should provide a brief de-
scription of the event/issue, including
the who, what, when, where, why,
and how.
9. The script should close with the name
of your organization and where to go
for more information.
10. Close the document with "###" at
the bottom middle of the page.
irD^e: February 15, 2002
Watershed Radio
, ,
iens,h; 60 second?
(music]
###
Parti
Step 4: Package the Message
-------
Going online?
With the increased household use of
the Internet, many outreach campaigns
are relying more on placing PSAs online.
Leading market research firms believe
that before this decade ends Ameri-
cans will get most of their information
from the Internet and other interac-
tive technologies. Although only 21
percent, or about 40 million American
adults, were connected to the Internet
in 1995 (National Science Foundation,
www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/seindOO/
frames.htm), today more than 167
million adults regularly log on at home
or at work (Jim Nail, "Online Advertis-
ing Eclipsed," Forester Research, 2001).
The Ad Council recently reported ap-
proximately $391 million in donated
advertising space generated from online
placements alone—an increase of 500
percent from the year before. The dif-
ficulty with online placement is finding
out what sites your target audience
visits. If your ads are aimed at children,
it would be appropriate to post ads on
Yahooligans (www.yahooligans.com),
the Yahoo! page dedicated to kids.
folder printed on heavy-duty card stock), and script booklet style (an
SVz-inch by 11-inch folder that can include a script booklet, CD-ROM,
and evaluation reply card).
Script booklets can help radio stations learn more about your topic
and your organization. They can include the recorded PSA script, ad-
ditional live announcer scripts, and contact information. The Make-
A-Wish Foundation, for example, used a script booklet to provide
additional media information for the radio stations and a list of its
local office locations.
To minimize production costs, prepare and send in scripts for live ra-
dio. Typed and double-spaced copy is required for community calen-
dars and other public notice programs. Tying your release to a special
day or event (such as Earth Day) and updating it with different angles
later will make it more attractive. Take time to ensure scripts are writ-
ten for the ear, and support your submissions with follow-up calls or
letters, or even promotional items like posters. Remember that airtime
for PSAs is available for free, but sometimes the time slots are late at
night or very early in the morning. Avoid basing a significant part of
an outreach campaign on free radio PSAs unless you are sure that this
is the best way to reach the target audience. If possible, purchase air-
time for your PSA to expand its reach.
Find a good radio voice to deliver your message (if the radio an-
nouncer is not the reader). You'll know such a voice when you hear
it: it's full, rich, and resonant with good intonation and pronuncia-
tion. The pace must be comfortable and natural, not racing or lan-
guid. The voice embodies the message, so consider the relative merits
of a man's voice or a woman's, a young voice or one more mature,
the smooth professional sound or the homey conversational tone. As
always, consider the target audience. Pay similar attention to other
sounds that will be used because in radio sound provides the picture.
Sound effects and background music are now available on compact
disc or the Internet. Make sure it's legal to use the sounds or music
you're considering. When in doubt, leave it out.
Advertising formats: The TV PSA
According to Nielsen Media Research's 2000 Report on Television,
Americans watch an average of more than 4 hours of TV a day, or 2
months of TV a year. Television is picture-oriented and action-driven.
TV news, according to an industry publication, is always about
people. In addition, TV stations search for stories that have emotion,
controversy, conflict, and great video and are engaging and compel-
ling. According to a 1997 survey of public affairs directors by the Na-
tional CASA Association, 47 percent of television PSAs were affiliated
with nonprofit organizations. In addition, public affairs directors were
more likely to consider children's issues than any other cause.
Step 4: Package the Message
Parti
-------
TV PSAs are a very effective method for educating the public. The TV
PSA format varies from a short announcement on the local news to a
professional video resembling a commercial, depending on the orga-
nization's priorities and budget. TV stations put PSAs at the bottom of
the advertising ladder (paid commercials get first choice, followed by
station promotions), but they do air PSAs as a public service with free
airtime. Look for PSAs currently on the air, and develop your PSA in a
similar manner. TV PSAs last 30 seconds or less, similar to the length
of a commercial. Short PSAs of 30 seconds are more likely to be aired.
TV production can be expensive and requires experienced techni-
cians and costly camera equipment. For example, the organizers of
RiverSmart, a new national campaign to encourage people to make
simple changes in their everyday activities to help protect rivers, cre-
ated three creative, professional TV PSAs at a total cost of $30,000.
With today's digital technology and software capabilities, however,
video production doesn't have to be cost-prohibitive. If you know
someone who's good at shooting video, ask that person to volunteer
to help. In addition, journalism students at local colleges and univer-
sities might be willing to help out. Talk to some professors about set-
ting up a class project focused on your effort. Also consider the use
of local public access cable, a format growing in popularity because
organizations can broadcast messages without station oversight.
public access cable studios and their technicians might provide an
additional resource option for developing your PSA.
If you're using TV PSAs, keep in mind that TV stations receive many
PSAs from a wide variety of organizations every day. To increase the
chances of having yours aired, keep your copy simple and to the point,
highlighting the essentials. You should approach stations about 6 weeks
before the PSA would run. Most stations accept videos on 1-inch, 3A-
inch, and Beta tape, though Beta is preferred. DVC-Pro, DV-Cam, and
mini DV are digital tape formats that are growing in popularity.
A face is worth a thousand words, and a famous face...
When possible, use local or national celebrities in your PSA. Many organizations have used
celebrities or elected officials to relay their messages. In 1999 the Louisiana Department of
Natural Resources released broadcast PSAs for the "Save Louisiana Wetlands" campaign
starring performers Harry Connick, Jr., and Aaron Neville, Chef Paul Prudhomme, and Kermit
the Frog (www.savelawetlands.org/site/psa.html).
To gain public interest in stream protection and storm drain stenciling, the City of Honolulu
developed PSAs featuring celebrities like Richard Chamberlain, the late John Denver, Jackie
Chan, David Copperfield, Hawaiian star Jason Scott Lee, and local comedian Frank De Lima.
All of the celebrities generously donated their time. Honolulu's prime time slots were made
possible through an agreement with TV stations to air one free prime time message for every
paid prime time message (www.cleanwaterhonolulu.com).
-------
!
56
PSA Fast Facts
In 2002 West Glen Communications, Inc., a broadcast services company, conducted a survey of public service directors at
1 57 TV stations and 1 27 radio stations in its 2002 Television and Radio Survey. The survey provides a snapshot of what TV
and radio stations are looking for in PSAs. The complete survey results are available at www.westglen.com/pr_news.
Percentage aired
Time of day aired
Average length of rotation time
Preferred length
Preferred formats
Air community calendar information
Types of nonprofits qualifying for free air time
(Stations were asked to check all that applied;
therefore, responses will not tally to 100
percent.)
TV
31 percent
45 percent overnight
55 percent other
3 to 6 months
Radio
35 percent
all day and night
1 to 3 months
(1)30 seconds
(2) 60 seconds
(3) 1 5 seconds
Beta SP or Beta
78 percent
100 percent charitable
73 percent civic
64 percent social/recreation
44 percent labor
40 percent trade
CD or live copy
95 percent
100 percent charitable
89 percent civic
78 percent social/recreation
56 percent labor
54 percent trade
Top 4 Reasons PSAs Are Not Aired
1. Content not relevant 3. Dated materials received late
2. Content too commercial 4. Poor production quality
Environmental PSAs might feature various landscapes or citizens in
action as a background with a narrator emphasizing the highlights.
Organizers of Maine's Nonpoint Source Awareness Campaign, a
collaborative effort between the Maine Department of Environmen-
tal Protection and the State Planning Office, developed a 30-minute
TV show and seven PSAs. The PSAs showed various scenes, includ-
ing a dripping pipe, a fly-over view of a meandering stream, water
flowing over rocks, and their logo and contact information. Maine
PBS journalist Patsy Wiggins provided the narration. Visit the cam-
paign's Web site for more information: www.state.me.us/dep/blwq/
docwatershed/npscamp.htm.
Videos
Videos can be produced to visually showcase your project or issue. To
generate interest in a cause, it's often better to show people what the
problems and solutions are than to expect people to read about them.
People are, by nature, picture-driven. That said, producing a video
is very resource intensive, in terms of both time and money. Getting
it right takes a lot of experience. Think back on some of the home
videos you've watched.
The cost of producing a video can vary widely depending on a variety
of factors such as script writing, use of hired talent, production facili-
Step 4: Package the Message
Parti
-------
Maine DEP's
Watershed TV
PSA
Script: Patsy, voice-over, :30
Polluted runoff.. A lot of it
^ings we do every day WiA
ties, and location. If you are interested in producing a video, check
first with your local public cable access station. You might be able to
get the production time and equipment use for free. The cable access
station that helps produce your video will typically require you to air
it on that station, but that's just free distribution for you.
The Annis Water Resources Institute of Grand Valley State University
in west Michigan produced a video on its Bear Creek water quality
project to share lessons learned with other interested watershed or-
ganizations. The cost of producing the 28-minute video was roughly
$3,500. The Institute paid for a script writer, two actors, and the ma-
terials. They received many hours of free labor, and this cost did not
include staff time. The Institute also had experienced videographers
on staff. Without donated labor or resources, expect to pay $1,000 to
$3,000 per minute of finished v ?o. Thus, a 10-minute video could
cost from $10,000 to $30,000. RBSI Check out the Getting In Step
video.
Keep in mind that cable access stations are different from public
television stations. Public television stations have specific require-
ments for the length of the video and quality of the tape. It must be
broadcast quality. The costs are also higher because public television
stations rent out their facilities and equipment.
Parti
Step 4: Package the Message
-------
58
Calendars
Calendars are a terrific outreach
tool. They can be colorful, the
messages on each page stay
in front of the audience for a
month at a time, and everyone
uses them. Some groups cus-
tom-tailor their calendars and
turn them into activity logs.
People can keep track of the
year's observable water events:
ice-out and freeze-up, waterfowl
migrations and nestings, mam-
mal sightings, insect hatchings,
and the like. You must plan care-
fully for distribution to hit the
market around November when
people are shopping for next
year's calendar.
Other printed
format options
• Newspaper insert
• Water bill insert
• Discount card or coupon
• Children's coloring book
• Restaurant placemats
• Curriculum
• Maps
Print materials
By far the most popular format for outreach campaigns is print. Print-
ed materials include items like fact sheets, brochures, flyers, booklets,
posters, bus placards, billboards, and doorknob hangers. The list goes
on. These materials can be created easily and the target audience can
refer to them again and again. When preparing printed material, be
aware of how the target audience will use the information. If it is to
be faxed or photocopied, you'll want to use a standard paper size and
limit any artwork to line drawings. Dark-colored backgrounds can
seriously limit photocopying, as you've probably discovered. Keep in
mind that your message will compete with a lot of other printed ma-
terial. Costs for high-quality color materials can be considerable, and
the information can become dated quickly. Don't forget these issues
during the planning phase. Check back to pages 40 and 41 to review
the pros and cons of various formats.
Design and production
When designing the layout of your brochure, flyer, or how-to guide,
use restraint, consistency, and quality materials. Restraint should be
used in choosing typefaces or fonts; the kinds of graphics or artwork
selected should be consistent; and quality materials should be used
for photographs and artwork. Invite readers into your material with
appealing, user-friendly layouts.
White space
White space is the space on the page that is left blank. White space
should be treated as a graphic element and used liberally because it
is very effective at drawing attention. Remember Nike's "Just Do It"
ad campaign? Lots of white space, with the Nike logo and that short,
simple phrase. People all over the world instantly know the brand
name and its products.
To create white space immediately, try expanding the margins on
your brochure or flyer. Make your headline wrap onto several lines so
white space is created on the right side of the page. Don't full-justify
your text. Ragged-right creates more white space at the end of each
line. It also makes text easier to read because your brain remembers
the last word in the ragged line above the one you're reading.
Typefaces
Design your materials so the layout draws the eye into and around the
entire work. Select typefaces for readability. Provide variety, but don't
go overboard. A good typeface calls attention to the message, not to
itself. Choose no more than two or three different typefaces for your
piece. DO NOT USE ALL CAPS BECAUSE IT'S TOO HARD TO READ
THE TEXT AND IT PUTS OFF READERS WHO FEEL LIKE THEY'RE
BEING SHOUTED AT. Sans serif fonts (fonts that don't have "feet" on
the letters) are a good choice for headlines and subheads. Arial and
Step 4: Package the Message
Parti
-------
Helvetica are popular sans serif fonts. Serif fonts like Times Roman
should be used for large blocks of text because your eye can read the
words more easily. (This guide uses Frutiger typeface for the headers
and ITC Slimbach for the text, which are similar to Arial and Times Ro-
man, respectively.) Hundreds of fonts are available, but resist the urge
to use them all in one publication. Experiment with fonts to get the
look you want.
Layout of text
Always remember that the ultimate purpose of your materials is to
communicate, so make your text readable. Don't organize text into a
clever shape (like a circle or a Christmas tree) if it will be difficult to
read. Be careful about using graphic images behind the text (water-
marks) because they can make the text nearly unreadable if not done
skillfully. A general rule of thumb is that the narrower the column
of text, the smaller the font size. For example, on 8l/2- by 11-inch
paper, if the text is 6 inches wide, the font size should be 12 point. If
you choose a 2-column format, the font size may be decreased to 10
point, depending on the font. Most desktop publishing software pack-
ages include templates for various publication layouts.
Making your text come alive
Make the text interesting to your readers. Keep the length to a mini-
mum and use the active voice. You can use various formats to make
your text more engaging. Consider telling a story or leading off with
a letter from a concerned citizen. Always try to include a local angle,
and keep your message simple.
Hooks
Hooks are devices that can be used to reinforce information in the
text or to grab the reader initially. Your headline can be a significant
hook to engage the reader. Headers in the form of a question are
always engaging. For example, a booklet on groundwater contamina-
tion could lead off with "Is someone contaminating your drinking wa-
ter?" Consider including a light-hearted quiz at the end of your text to
test the reader's knowledge. Using games, humor, or contests can also
encourage the reader to read all of the material.
Logos
A logo is a visually distinctive treatment of your campaign or orga-
nization. It is the distilled, visual essence of who your organization
is or what your campaign is trying to do. Think of your logo as your
group or campaign's graphic signature. Plan for it to appear on all
of your materials, including letterhead, business cards, brochures,
newsletters, and meeting announcements. However, don't try to con-
vey the objectives of your whole program in one logo. Instead, create
a tag line or slogan to accompany your logo to make your message
clearer.
Keeping costs
down
The cost of printing outreach ma-
terials varies depending on several
factors, such as number of colors
used, size and type of paper, and
number to be printed. To keep
costs down, try the following:
• Always get three quotes for a
printing job. You'll be surprised
at the price differences. Be sure
you're comparing "apples to
apples."
• Allow plenty of time for produc-
tion so you won't have to pay a
rush charge.
• Check for "free color" days. Some
printers print certain colors on
certain days with no extra setup
charges. Be sure to ask first.
• Ask for cheaper paper options.
Sometimes printers have an
overstock of certain kinds of paper
because of job cancellations, prior
sale purchases, and so forth.
• Think big. When deciding how
many materials you want to print,
remember your long-term needs.
Printing charges per item diminish
considerably after the first 1,000.
Parti
Step 4: Package the Message
-------
(60
Tips for using
clip art and
photographs
Keep all clip art files in a
central folder so you can
locate them easily
Leave white space around the
artwork; avoid crowding text
Be sure to obtain permission
from clip art Web site owners
if required
Select graphics that print well
in both black-and-white and
color
Consider using a digital
camera for ease of enhancing
the image later and for use in
electronic layouts, preferred
by most printers. (Remember
to use the highest-resolution
setting on the camera to
ensure print-quality photos.)
Keep the sun at your back to
bring out the most color and
detail
Look for backgrounds that
suggest movement
Dawn and dusk create soft,
rosy, interesting light effects
Midday lighting produces
flat, shadowless images
Take lots of pictures and
screen them later
People are interested in
people, so use human
subjects frequently
Shoot people up close to
avoid tiny, unrecognizable
faces
Kids and animals are almost
always good subjects for
photos
The key to a good logo is simplicity—clean, uncluttered lines and
shapes. Ideally, people will recognize your materials from the logo
alone. Silhouettes of objects often work well as logos. You might be
able to start with a stock image or artwork, which will reduce your
logo design costs. Creating custom artwork from scratch will increase
the cost of your logo design substantially. Keep in mind that a logo
must look good no matter how large or small it appears. You might be
using it on large posters as well as business cards. Choose an image
that's aesthetically pleasing—something you'll be proud to be identi-
fied with and glad to see again and again.
Using artwork and photos
Graphics—photos, logos, artwork, or even well-designed subheads—
are great for breaking up long, gray blocks of text, giving readers a
visual break. Images of lakes, streams, rivers, wetlands, and other
watershed features are naturals for dressing up your message format.
The emotional appeal they elicit can be tremendous. This section
presents ideas for incorporating artwork and photos into your water-
shed message material and presentations.
Incorporating clip art. Clip art refers to drawings or other graphics
used in outreach materials. Before clip art made the leap to computers, it
was clipped from a booklet for use. Now you can use electronic images
to suit your needs. You've most likely seen many examples in newspaper
ads, in brochures, and even on Web sites. Clip art is produced specifi-
cally for the purpose of repeated use. It's easily accessible and most is
not copyrighted.
The quickest place to find clip art is on your computer. Most word
processing and Web development programs already supply many free
graphics for your use. If those aren't appropriate, go online. There are
hundreds of free clip art sites.
When you find an online image that meets your needs, simply right-
click on the image and click on "save as." Once you've saved the
graphic, insert the art into your document by clicking on "insert,"
"graphics," "from file." At all sites, be sure to read the webmaster's
rights of use. Some sites require citations or references to their sites
in return for using their graphic. If you're uncertain about the terms
for use of a particular graphic or you can't agree with the terms, you
should not use the graphic.
Using photos effectively. Using photographs can reinforce your
message dramatically, but it's better not to use a photograph at all if
it's of poor quality. Taking effective photographs takes practice and
patience. Photos of people, especially children, appeal to many audi-
ences. Show action, such as water quality sampling, tree planting, or
festival events, in your photographs. If you borrow photographs, the
photographer might require a photo credit.
Step 4: Package the Message
Parti
-------
61
If you don't have access to a good photographer, consider using
stock photos. These photos are available on CD-ROMs and can
start as low as $25 for a set of 50 good-quality photographs. The
Internet also stocks thousands of images that can be downloaded.
Make sure the resolution of your photos is appropriate for the
format used. Print-quality digital files need high-resolution images
to avoid a "pixelated" look. Lower resolution might be okay for
Web-based formats. If you use a digital camera, you have a perfect
opportunity to take photos of exactly what you need. Use the
highest resolution possible, and save the photos as ".tif" (rather
than ".jpg") images. This setting ensures the best reproduction and
editing capabilities. The higher resolution will help you easily fine
tune and edit the photo's shape and color and allow you to display
the image in various sizes.
Brochures
Brochures are an effective way to present and explain your water-
shed message. Unlike many other communication vehicles, bro-
chures can be distributed in many places. Racks can be set up at
libraries, marinas, and fairs. You can pass out brochures at meet-
ings. You can even organize a direct mail campaign. Think through
the purpose of your brochure and its intended audience before
you begin. You might use the brochure as a way to solicit interest
and involvement, or to promote watershed education and positive
behaviors. Its purpose will significantly influence its appearance
and content.
Clip art on the Web
Here are a few popular clip art Web
sites on the Internet:
• www.barrysclipart.com
• www.graphics.com
• www.clip-art.com
• www.clipartconnection.com
• www.free-clip-art.com
Tips for better brochures
• Use colored or textured paper, graphics,
and an audience-targeted layout
• Explore various sizes and folds, taking
care to fit the layout to the fold
• Collect and review samples to get an idea
of what you like and don't like
• Produce enough extras on the first run to
handle additional demand
• Using colored ink can result in interesting
combinations
• Leave plenty of white space; don't crowd
the content
Include variety in design, but watch
out for an overly "busy" appearance
Use subheadings to break up massive
blocks of text
Use bullets for quick and easy reading
Ask several people to edit, critique, and
proofread
Avoid acronyms and technical jargon;
call nonpoint source pollution "polluted
runoff"
Don't forget to include an address and
contact number for more information
Parti
Step 4: Package the Message
-------
62
Tips for better
posters
• Focus on the
objective, target
audience, and
message
• Sponsor a photo or design
contest to obtain original
artwork
• Use a catchy slogan or theme
• Choose graphic elements that
immediately convey the message
• Make sure the desired size is
economical and tube-friendly
• Use large, bold graphics (photos,
artwork, etc.) to command
attention
• Use a standard size so it's easy to
obtain a frame for the poster
• Think about how the viewer's
eye will flow across the poster
and take in the message
• Consider balance, contrast, and
other aspects of good design
Flyers
Flyers can be extremely effective if they're engaging, concise, and
memorable. They're often used to impart brief, important mes-
sages or implore people to take simple actions. Explore your options
regarding paper and ink colors, typefaces, and type sizes. Keep the
text brief, the letters fairly large, and the design attractive. If your
production involves manual cut-and-paste, incorporate artwork or
pictures by photocopying or by attaching them with spray glue or
double-sided tape. Don't forget to consider the target audience in
the design, composition, and distribution.
Posters
Posters, displayed for months or even years, can be an excellent op-
tion for message delivery. Text, photos, slogans—even graphs—can
be presented effectively on posters. Mostly, however, posters are
used to build awareness ("Save the Bay") or deliver a simple mes-
sage ("If you're not recycling, you're throwing it all away."). Most
posters are produced in full color; however, even less expensive
black-and-white or one- or two-color posters can be compelling if
designed well. Be aware: Production and distribution costs can be
considerable. Mailing tubes and postage can cost even more than
the poster itself. Folding and mailing in large envelopes causes
creases that detract from appearance, but this does not necessar-
ily mean abandoning the approach. Posters can pay for themselves
through sales, but the poster design must be exceptional.
NFS outreach materials
available
As part of the Year of Clean Water
activities, EPA celebrated Nonpoint
Source Pollution Awareness Month
in March 2003. Several outreach
materials were developed, including
a poster (shown here), a bookmark,
a pop-up sponge, two fact sheets,
and a brochure. Adobe Acrobat files
of these documents are available for
download at www.epa.gov/nps/
outreach.html.
Step 4: Package the Message
Parti
-------
63
Displays
When composing any large-format display, treat the entire display
space as if it were a page layout, a photograph, or a painting. The
same basic elements of composition that govern good design and
flow apply. You might consider producing an informative compan-
ion piece, such as an illustrated fact sheet or simple brochure, to
accompany the display.
Watershed project displays at conferences, seminars, or outdoor
events provide an excellent venue for sharing information, educating
and involving citizens, promoting helpful actions, creating linkages,
and building general awareness. You need to compose a display so
it's as aesthetically appealing as a well-designed page. Use an engag-
ing, flowing design that attracts attention, invites the viewer in, and
leads the eye throughout. For example, if your display highlights
your volunteer monitoring program, use a dipnet as the backdrop
and include various sampling instruments in the display. Experiment
with different fabrics to drape over the backdrop of your display to
add texture. Whenever possible, "show" your program instead of
"telling" it.
Avoid the common pitfall of pasting up dozens of 8- by 10-inch
photographs with tiny captions. Try blowing up a significant photo-
graph to poster size and then use additional photographs to support
the primary theme. Produce and distribute brochures or flyers to
convey the details of your project. Again, focus on the objective—
why you're at the event, what message you hope to deliver to which
audience, and what you want to accomplish.
Billboards
Billboards, like posters, can effectively present an outreach mes-
sage or raise awareness if they are well designed and attractive.
Remember to link the billboard location to the target audience. For
example, if your message is targeting boaters in coastal areas, your
billboard location should be within a few miles of the coast. Out-
door advertising venues can expose tens of thousands of people
to your message, but be sensitive to the fact that some people find
billboards objectionable, especially on scenic rural roads. Billboards
offer a chance to present highly compelling, noncommercial mes-
sages that can be engaging, artistic, and memorable. Other positive
aspects of using a billboard include high reach (number of people),
immediacy, and high frequency (number of times seen). A down-
side is that you can convey only a short message to a relatively
nonspecified audience. In addition, it's difficult to evaluate the
effectiveness of the message. Costs can also be considerable and are
based on how many you buy, how long they are up, and where they
are located. If you're considering using billboards, keep in mind that
they are more effective at generating awareness or reminding people
to do something than they are at educating, because people view
them only briefly.
Tips for better
displays
• Make sure you can read the
text from a comfortable
distance
• Interactive displays are ideal;
doing is always better than
just seeing or reading
• Interest kids with something
fun, and their parents will
follow
• Refrain from using your
exhibit as a literature dump
or that's where it will end up
• Be creative with design and
layout, and do things on a
big scale
• Use fabric and materials
to make the display
3-dimensional
Parti
Step 4: Package the Message
-------
(64
Billboards in action
The Texas Commission on Environ-
mental Quality (TCEQ; formerly, the
Texas Natural Resource Conservation
Commission) launched a nonpoint
source outreach campaign in 2001
that targeted watersheds with water
quality problems where the causes
were known. In watersheds where pet
waste was identified as contributing
to these problems, TCEQ developed
a full-color billboard display of a dog
with the message, "Please pick up my poop." The billboards served as a prompt to encourage be-
havior change. For more information, visit www.tnrcc.state.tx.us/exec/sbea/nps/nps.html.
Tips for better
billboards
• The message should
change every 60
days or it will blend
into the background
• Investigate display
opportunities before
designing or producing the ad
• Obtain at least three
production/printing/display
estimates
• Approach local businesses to
request free display for public
service ads
• Design a strong, simple ad
that can be understood
quickly at a distance
• Minimize the text and let the
visuals make your point as
much as possible
Presentations
If you've spent any time at conferences and meetings, chances are
you've seen a few slides or overheads. Firing up a 60-slide PowerPoint
show or dropping slides into a projector and setting up a screen does
not, however, guarantee a successful show. It takes planning and prac-
tice to present your story as a beautifully wrapped package that creates
a coherent and aesthetically pleasing visual journey. Go through the
presentation several times out loud. Get comfortable with it, but don't
memorize it. Avoid saying "ah" or "um." Practice using pauses instead.
Gear your presentation—its content and its style—to the audience.
Once you have a stock of photos and slides to choose from, it's
simple to go back in and add, switch, or delete slides as appropriate.
Avoid reading text slides during a presentation. Use the time to talk
about the subject matter in the text. Focus your slide configuration
and vocal presentation on telling a story based on your knowledge,
experience, insight, and perspective. It's a good idea to create an
outline to make sure that your presentation has a central focus and a
beginning, middle, and end. Self-directed humor is often effective if
used sparingly. Make handouts of the slides if you can so the audi-
ence has something to refer to and to make notes.
Use only visually pleasing, in-focus photos and graphics. Avoid slides
that require introductory apologies (e.g., "I know this is hard to see,
but ..."). Flow charts are notoriously indecipherable from a dis-
tance. Break down the chart items to several slides, or summarize the
process being depicted in a larger format. Monitoring data charts can
look busy or crowded unless carefully thought out in advance. Often,
slides of water quality data are more meaningful and powerful if the
Step 4: Package the Message
Parti
-------
65
PowerPoint pointers
Like it or not, PowerPoint is the preferred medium for slide presentations.
Avoid these pitfalls:
Color choices. In general, if you are showing your
slides in a very dark room, a dark background like
black or royal blue with light text is best. If the room
has some ambient light, a light background with black
text is best.
Color scheme. PowerPoint has a variety of templates
and color schemes that help to make a unified
presentation. Do not introduce more than three colors,
and keep the background color the same throughout.
Sound effects. Attaching sound effects to your text
as it flies onto the screen can be amusing for the first
few slides, but it will grow annoying. Use sound effects
sparingly to emphasize key points.
Monotony busters. Break up the text slides with
full-color photographs or cartoons to avoid the
appearance of the same slide being repeated.
Animation. Introduce some
movement to your slides through
arrows appearing to highlight a key
bullet, or graphics "dissolving" on
the screen.
Text movement. If your text flies
onto the screen from the left, keep
it consistent to avoid making the
audience queasy.
Keep it moving. Introduce your
text in groups, or the whole slide at
once, instead of line by line.
Bells and whistles. Keep the
special effects to a minimum so your
listeners will be more interested in
the content of your presentation.
data are summarized or distilled to an essential point. Keep in mind
that the audience has only about 30 seconds per slide to digest the
information. Always make sure text slides are readable, even from
the back of the room. Don't be afraid to explore different choices of
background themes and color schemes, but once you determine your
choice, maintain it consistently throughout the presentation. Using
default color schemes in presentation software will ensure appropriate
contrast between background colors and text colors. Finally, consider
using a rapid-fire photo montage at some point in the program: Present
a succession of photos with little or no commentary, reinforcing your
message with visual images that create a memorable impression.
When using overhead transparencies, remember to print your text in
at least a 14-point font so it will be readable on the screen. In general,
dark text against a light or clear background works best with transpar-
encies. If using overheads, try to intersperse some nontext materials
[such as a newspaper clipping or cartoon) to break up the presentation.
Events
A watershed event can be the most energizing format for distribut-
ing messages targeted at awareness, education, or direct action. A
community event plays into audience members' desires for belonging
to a group and having shared goals and visions for the community.
They can also help to create new social norms that become incentives
Parti
Step 4: Package the Message
-------
( 66
V
Festival resources
The Groundwater Foundation's
watershed festival series provides
lots of tips for putting on a
community or school festival:
• Making Waves: How to Put
on a Water Festival
• Making Ripples: How to
Organize a School Water
Festival
• Making More Waves: Ideas
for Organizing Your Festival
• Making A Bigger Splash: Best
Ever Water Festival Ideas
Order them online at
www.groundwater.org.
for others to take part in the behaviors you're promoting. In urban
areas, where knowing your neighbors and other members of your
community is the exception instead of the rule, community events
can help to strengthen the fabric of the community by creating and
enhancing community relationships, building trust, and improving
the relationships between government agencies and the public. And
frankly, if done well, they're just plain fun.
If resources are limited and the message is fairly focused, try to pig-
gyback onto an existing event that involves the target audience. Trade
shows and other events for farmers, developers, boaters, fishers, the
automobile industry, and other groups can often be accessed with a little
research and a few phone calls. If you're hosting your own event, noth-
ing can substitute for planning. No detail is too small, and no aspect is
too insignificant to be thoroughly examined, reexamined, and subjected
to contingency planning. Major events are much like military campaigns.
You'll need plenty of advance time, information on the site, logistical
plans, contingency plans (e.g., rain dates), a workforce commensurate
with the objective, and the capacity to accommodate plenty of action.
A major consideration in planning an event is how you intend to
attract attention. As in all outreach, you can't deliver a message to
the target audience if you don't have access to them. Approaches for
generating interest and attention are limited only by your creativity.
Watershed groups have used blues bands, balloons, face-painting,
mascots, dunking contests, interactive displays, video games, give-
aways, clowns, jugglers, and celebrities to draw in crowds. Nearly
any idea that works and does not detract from the message is accept-
able. Increase the exposure of your event by inviting local TV and
radio stations to cover it.
Community fairs and festivals
Festivals and fairs provide great opportunities for hands-on learning
and can be fun for all ages. These types of events get people involved
in different activities that show them that converting their behaviors
to sustainable ones is easier than they thought. When people are
actively and publicly involved at an event, they're more likely to com-
mit to engaging in an activity at home. In addition, getting people to
commit to a small, upbeat activity at a community fair increases the
likelihood that they'll agree to commit to a subsequent, more de-
manding activity, such as organizing a stream cleanup.
Some things to consider when organizing a fair or festival:
• Time and date. Choose an appropriate time of year based on
your geographic location and climate, particularly if your event
will be held outside. Schedule a rain date, if appropriate.
• Size of the event. Decide on the number of attendees (as a range
or target) you hope to have at your event.
Step 4: Package the Message
Parti
-------
67
Facility/location. If you need to reserve a banquet hall, commu-
nity club site, or fairgrounds, be sure to check availability far in
advance. Make sure the venue fits the message and the audience.
Types of activities. Think about the types of activities you'd like
to have at your fair or festival. Will there be games geared toward
children? Will there be more complex concepts geared toward
adults? Do you want attendees to visit each activity in a specific
order or at their leisure? Choose activities that will help meet the
objectives of your water quality improvement project. Make your
activities interesting and enjoyable.
Staffing the event. Choose appropriate personnel to staff each
activity at the event. Use experts from outside your organization
when appropriate to lend weight and knowledge to an issue.
Be creative. Use creative titles for your activities, such as
"What's Buggin' You?" for a stream macroinvertebrate identi-
fication booth. Ask a local band to play, organize a fly fishing
demonstration, or arrange to have costumed characters or local
celebrities talk to kids and have their pictures taken with them.
At the Southern Maine Children's Water Festival, local TV and
radio personalities serve as emcees in a water trivia contest. The
arrangement gets kids interested in participating and enhances
media coverage at the same time.
Use cosponsors. Identify cosponsors early to help support vari-
ous aspects of the event, such as paying for promotional items,
sponsoring a booth, or providing food or music. Solicit cospon-
sors by offering to include their names and logos on all the event
Passport to your watershed
Water quality managers in Rockdale County, Georgia, organized a watershed fair to educate
citizens about the development of a new watershed management plan. The county teamed up
with several local businesses to produce giveaways and staff the fair. A local developer paid for
the production of watershed stickers, while a local paper company provided and
staffed a recycling exhibit at the fair. The county also worked closely with the
local news media to cover the fair and other events related to the watershed
management plan in a series of newspaper articles.
At the fair, county residents and students were given watershed passport
booklets in which they received stamps for completing various activities,
such as solving a watershed knowledge crossword puzzle, identifying
stream macroinvertebrates, and marking which subwatersheds they live in
by placing push pins on large subwatershed maps.
In 2000 the county received an award from the Georgia Water & Pollution Control Association
for the Best Public Education Program for a large utility. The award cited the county's foresight in
creating a public outreach strategy to guide the program and the success of the watershed fair.
Part?
Step 4: Package the Message
-------
!
68
materials. Select your cosponsors wisely. Make sure they are well
liked and trusted by the members of the target audience. You
wouldn't want to ask a local paper product company that's been
involved in litigation for environmental rule-breaking to support
your tree-planting festival!
• Encourage future participation. Provide reminders or incentives
for participants to continue their good stewardship at home or
at work. Bookmarks and refrigerator magnets serve as prompts
to remind people of actions to improve or protect water quality
while at home. Pledge cards can be used to gain small commit-
ments that participants will change their behavior permanently.
For example, in Whatcom County, the Washington Department
of Ecology developed a pledge program that encourages residents
and businesses to reduce watershed pollution through activities
such as redirecting downspouts away from impervious surfaces
and leaving grass clippings on the lawn. By signing up, residen-
tial participants receive a personalized "To Do List" to hang on
their refrigerators and a recycled glass suncatcher. Businesses
receive recognition in local publications and a pledge plaque to
display in their stores or offices.
Field trips
Providing tours and field trips for members of the target audience—
especially elected officials, watershed committee members, and the
media—is a great way to communicate your message. What would
have taken more time to explain on paper or in words often can be
conveyed more easily and more powerfully through field trips to farm
demonstration sites, stream restoration sites, or backyard wetlands.
Field trips allow people to see for themselves how your water qual-
ity improvement efforts are making a difference or what still needs to
be done. River Network sponsors a River Rally workshop each year
for its partners to meet colleagues, talk to funders, and keep staff and
volunteers of river organizations up-to-date on the latest watershed
issues. The workshop includes Whitewater rafting, canoeing, fishing,
and wildlife viewing field trips. The Saugus River Watershed Council
in Massachusetts also sponsors a series of canoe trips to gain support
for improving the natural resources of the watershed.
Open houses
An open house allows the public to tour a facility or displays at their
own pace. No formal presentations are made. This method works well
if you're trying to educate the public on multiple issues at once or col-
lect public comments and feedback. Open houses foster one-on-one
communication and build the credibility of the organization or issue.
Keep in mind that open houses can be more staff- and resource-inten-
sive than other public meetings, depending on the number and kind of
displays used and the type of information being presented.
Step 4: Package the Message
Parti
-------
69
Public hearings and meetings
Public hearings—formal meetings with scheduled presentations—pro-
vide an opportunity for the public to make formal comments on an is-
sue or document. Public hearings are often required when government
agencies develop new rules or regulations or make some other proposal
that might affect the public. However, public hearings do not allow for
dialogue among the commenters and the presenters, which often cre-
ates an "us versus them" setting. In addition, because many people are
not comfortable speaking in front of a group, comments received might
be biased toward more outgoing groups or individuals. Public meetings
are less formal than public hearings and often include presentations
coupled with question-and-answer sessions. Although public meetings
on charged issues might spark more debate than education, most allow
open, friendly dialogue among participants and presenters.
The stakeholder roundtable is another effective way to provide educa-
tion and discuss issues with concerned citizens. It is also an excel-
lent forum for networking and sharing practices, and the atmosphere
of the roundtable can be one of openness and continuous learning.
In 2001 EPA provided Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Listening
Sessions for the public to help improve understanding of the TMDL
program from all perspectives and to identify and discuss ideas for
addressing issues in the TMDL program. People were provided an op-
portunity to talk in small groups with the help of facilitators.
Targeted events
Events focused on a specific activity can help generate support for your
cause by providing the target audience with hands-on experience that
will help them understand the specific water quality problem or issue.
Volunteer stream cleanups, household hazardous waste pickup days,
photo contests, nature walks, workshops, wildlife watches, or other
hands-on activities can be used to generate awareness of your issue,
communicate your message, recruit people to support and distribute
your message, and motivate participation in sustainable behaviors.
The Bear Creek Watershed Project focused on area schools by hiring
a professional playwright to form a theater troupe called the Bear
Creek Players. The group of actors performed at schools and at area
festivals (including the Water Fest), presenting short skits centered on
water quality issues. The stories gave members of the tare t audience
a better awareness of different issues in the watershed. Q 0 Check
out the Getting In Step video.
These types of events are best carried out with the support of one
or more cosponsors. Teaming up with local conservation districts,
businesses, or environmental organizations can bring more people to
the event, help defray the cost of the materials or staff needed for the
event, and lend credibility to your cause.
Water Fest
keeps growing
The Bear Creek Watershed Project
hosts an annual water festival
called Water Fest. It started in
1993 with about 50 participants;
in 2002 more than 300 people
attended. A new activity is added
each year. Kids love collecting
bugs in Bear Creek and then sort-
ing them. One year the project
organizers added a Mexican folk
dancing group, which brought
out members of the Hispanic
community that hadn't partici-
pated previously. Water Fest holds
a pancake breakfast before the
festival every year to attract a
crowd.
BSFI Check out the Getting In
Step video.
Parti
Step 4: Package the Message
-------
fTO
Tips for better
bumper stickers
• Check popular sizes
before finalizing
your design (and
you might want to make sure
they fit in mailing envelopes)
• Present a brief message
in large, bold letters and
keep graphics simple and
recognizable
• Attach a mock-up to a bumper
to ensure readability
Tips for better
T-shirts
• L, XL, and XXL are
the most popular
sizes
• Select 100% cotton or a
blend of recycled cotton and
other post-consumer recycled
materials. For instance,
Fortrel EcoSpun is made from
recycled plastic bottles and is
just as comfortable, durable,
and attractive as cotton
• Don't forget the popularity of
long-sleeved varieties in cool
climates
• Explore options in shirt and
ink colors for variety
• Get quotes from several
suppliers and estimate
quantities carefully to avoid
overstocks
• Use your logo and watershed
name
• Try to get a picture of a local
celebrity wearing your shirt
• Caution: Dated materials are
harder to sell after the event
Giveaways
Most everyone loves getting free stuff! Whether it's pens or coffee
mugs, they are often snatched up quickly. See the list under "What to
Give Away" for some ideas. Giveaways are good for promoting water-
shed organizations, simple actions, and general awareness. They show
others that the participant is actively involved in the cause, helping to
create social norms and encouraging others to get involved.
Giveaways are also visual prompts that remind people to choose be-
haviors that protect and improve water quality. A toothbrush imprinted
with the message "Turn off the water while you brush!" will remind
people to conserve water every time they pick up their toothbrushes.
Try to make your giveaways more successful, make sure the message
they convey is related to the type of giveaway handed out and that the
item will be used repeatedly when the person needs to choose the most
appropriate behavior.
Giveaways vary greatly in cost and desirability. Most expensive and
more desirable giveaways can be reserved for rewarding a certain
level of participation or commitment. Examples include T-shirts or
baseball caps for event organizers or runners that raise money for an
environmental cause and coffee mugs or beach towels for volunteers
at storm drain marking events or stream cleanups.
When choosing a giveaway, keep in mind the alternative message it
might send—for example, "too much plastic is being used"—which
could counteract the environmental benefit of the message. And keep
the target audience in mind. Don't give away golf balls with your logo
to elementary school kids!
What to give away
• Bumper stickers
• Calendars
• Temporary tattoos for kids
• Bookmarks
• Refrigerator magnets
• Stickers for kids
• Pens and pencils
• Pop-up sponges
• Caps
• Mugs
• Beach towels
• Beverage holders
• Key chains
• Barbecue aprons
• Hot pads and oven mitts
Tablecloths
Bottle openers
Buttons and lapel pins
Totebags/canvas grocery bags
Salt & pepper shakers
Pennants or flags
T-shirts
Frisbees
Baseball caps
Rulers
License plate frames
Toothbrushes
Rubber jar openers
Note pads
Compasses
Step 4: Package the Message
Parti
-------
Tips for better giveaways
Check with a printer to see if your design can be
reproduced effectively and inexpensively on a
number of different materials
If you're developing a two-color design, make
sure it also reproduces well in black-and-white
Allow plenty of time for design, production,
printing, and distribution
Carry the design theme or logo throughout all
literature and accessory items
Consider packaging method
and costs for mailing or other
distribution
Check with an advertising
specialties company for ordering in
quantity
Conduct a program to market or
distribute the products
Bumper stickers
Bumper stickers are highly individualized traveling billboards, which
means that some people love them and others are turned off by them.
[Some people collect them but will not display them on their vehicles.]
Because many Americans spend considerable time on the road, chances
for message exposure through bumper stickers are excellent. Keep your
messages positive and focused on the objective (e.g., Save the Bay!).
Composition is easy: Combine a catchy message with a piece of art or a
simple background, and you're in business. Production options include
everything from print shops to silk-screening in a garage. Choose a de-
sign that can be seen from a distance and a color that will beckon from
a bumper. Bear in mind that bumper stickers are usually much better at
raising awareness than at promoting behavior change.
T-shirts and promotional items
T-shirts and caps are popular items and "really get around" to help
spread your message. Use your imagination or work with a graphic
artist on how best to conceive, design, and distribute them. Be sure to
carefully consider cost, and don't be overly optimistic on sales income
because sales rarely achieve expectations.
You can also order any number of other customized items emblazoned
with your logo and message. Prices go down with quantity, but make sure
you'll be able to distribute your supply within a reasonable amount of time.
Mascots
An effective way to communicate your message to the younger set is
through mascots. Mascots become familiar faces that can take on person-
alities, stories, and "lives" of their own. Consider adapting child-friendly
people or critters into puppets, comics, posters, banners, displays, festi-
vals, parades, calendars, contests, skits, student lessons, or activities.
Ollie the Otter
Ollie the Otter was born June 1 2,
1 996, at the Cheyenne Moun-
tain Zoo in Colorado Springs,
Colorado. The Central Wyoming
Regional Water District in Casper,
Wyoming, and Colorado Springs
Utilities both use Ollie to teach
kids about the water cycle, water
treatment and distribution, and
water conservation
and protection.
Ollie has made
community ap-
pearances, thrown
out the first pitch at a
baseball game, and even ridden
in parades. Ollie says, "Every
Drop Counts." To find out if Ollie
can visit your community, visit
www.csu.org/water/ollie/
about.html.
Parti
Step 4: Package the Message
-------
72
RiverSmart Web site
RiverSmart, a national public education
campaign from River Network, shows peo-
ple how simple changes in their everyday
activities can help protect rivers. In addition
to widespread TV, radio, and newspaper
ads, the organization hosts an attractive
and practical Web site. The site provides
interactive games for kids and parents, a tip
sheet for protecting water quality at home,
and downloadable samples of numerous
PSAs. Visitors can also send free electronic
postcards to friends and family and sign
up for the RiverSmart newsletter. For more
information, visit www.riversmart.org.
The Internet
Increasingly, the Internet is becoming a powerful
means of communication. According to a 2001 Nielsen/
Netratings survey, 58 percent of Americans have Inter-
net access in their homes. It provides worldwide access
to hundreds of thousands of sites containing millions of
documents, chat rooms for special interest groups, and
database/mapping features that are almost mind-bog-
gling. Web sites can reach large audiences with rela-
tively minimal effort.
Although the Internet is used regularly and extensively
by agency personnel, environmental group leaders, and
the business community, average citizens still get the
great bulk of their environmental messages from more
traditional venues—especially the TV and radio news
media. Remember, too, that a Web-based approach is very
narrowly segmented, so the odds that you will be able to
reach your intended audience solely through the Web are
not good. Many groups find that approaches based on
the news media, targeted presentations, printed materials,
events, and giveaways are effective ways to draw the audi-
ence to a Web site.
(Tips for designing a Web site
• Keep it simple to keep download times short.
Surfers will move on quickly if the site takes
too long to view.
• Use colors and fonts that are easy to read.
• Provide contact information, including mailing
address, phone number, and e-mail.
• Use a few attractive graphics to make your
site more interesting.
• Make sure the site can be viewed properly
with both Netscape and Internet Explorer.
• Be sure to use alternate text tags
(image tags) for photos and graphics
for better accessibility. Consider the
accessibility of your Web site by testing
it at bobbywatchfire.com. Bobby is an
accessibility software tool designed to help
expose and repair barriers to accessibility and
encourage compliance with Section 508 of the
Rehabilitation Act. Section 508 requires that
federal Web sites allow users with disabilities
to have access to the same information
as those without disabilities. Even if your
organization is not a federal
agency, ensuring that your site is
accessible by all members of the
target audience will broaden the
reach of your campaign.
Limit the use of plug-ins like RealTime or
Shockwave that have to be downloaded.
If a free plug-in like Adobe Acrobat (for
viewing PDF files) is necessary, include a
link to the page where that plug-in can be
downloaded.
Make your site interactive by including
hotlinks, online quizzes, or other features
that draw interest. Remember that surfers
tend to scan a site for only 10 seconds
before they move on.
Update your site frequently! A stagnant
Web site will lose the audience quickly.
When developing your outreach plan, build
in time (and resources) to maintain an up-
to-date Web site with press releases, new
monitoring data, and support.
Step 4: Package the Message
Parti
-------
Registering a domain name
When you're ready to develop your organization's Web site, a few
simple steps can help you get started. You may use free Web site
hosts that allow you to use their domain to host your site (e.g.,
www.geocities.com, www.orgsites.com), but in the long run it's bet-
ter to register your own domain. When choosing your site's name, try
to pick a domain that's easy to identify with your group and easy to
remember. If your organization has a long name, think about using
an acronym or abbreviation that can be remembered easily. There are
many domain registrars on the Web with varying services and fees,
such as www.hostapalooza.com and www.registernames.com. Each
site provides a chance for you to enter the Web site name you want
and takes you through the registration steps. Search around to find
the one most appropriate for your organization. Fees range from $8 to
$70 for the first 2 years, with additional (slightly lower) annual fees
until your Web site is removed.
Designing your Web site
Designing an attractive, interactive Web site is crucial if you want the
target audience to visit your site often. If your organization already has
a homepage you can link to and a Web programmer in-house, soliciting
that person's services will be the most affordable option. If not, several
software packages, such as Macromedia Dreamweaver and Microsoft
FrontPage, allow you to design a Web site without having to learn any
complicated programming languages. Other options include hiring a
Web site design firm if funding is available, or recruiting college stu-
dents majoring in information technology.
Unique Web sites
Following are several Web sites that
might provide inspiration when designing
your organization's site:
• Water Saver Home, http://h2ouse.org
• Washington Department of Ecology Pol-
luted Runoff Page, www.ecy.wa.gov/
programs/wq/nonpoint
• San Diego BayKeeper,
www.sdbaykeeper.org
• Lake Champlain Basin Program,
www.lcbp.org
• Water on the Web,
wow.nrri.umn.edu/wow
• Colorado Water Protection Project,
www.ourwater.org
• Maryland Department of Natural
Resources, www.dnr.state.md.us
• Florida Community College Con-
sortium for Pollution Prevention,
www.fc3p2e.com
Building Blocks:
Package the Message
TARGET
AUDIENCE
With the message "Fertilize in the Fall. That's All!" in hand, the hypothetical
Herndon County now needed to choose the package that would be most
effective. Since most members of the audience are homeowners who do not
have much time to spare, the county needed to identify the time of day that
most of the audience would have the greatest attention
span—during their commute and at night
watching TV.
while
By reviewing a recent subway transit survey conducted by the Greater
t subway tr;
tropolitan Ti
Herndon/Car isle Metropolitan Transit Authority, the county learned that
more than 60 percent of county residents ride the subway twice a week or
more. The county therefore developed five eye-catching subway
transit posters centered around its fertilizer reduction campaign.
The posters were displayed over the course of 6 months.
The transit poster artwork was also used
educational posters and water bill insert
for full-size
Parti
Step 4: Package the Message
-------
74
On the Web...
To design Web sites that attract
the audience and keep them com-
ing back, understand that people
don't read Web pages like they
read the paper. The Communicators
Guide (govinfo.library.unt.edu/
npr/library/papers/bkgrd/
communicators.html) notes the
following:
• Reading rates slow by 25 to
40 percent, so don't include
lengthy blocks of text
• The monitor's flicker causes
eyestrain
• Almost 80 percent of readers
scan text; only 20 percent read
every word
• Readers scan a site for about
10 seconds before they click on
something else, so make your
text count. Put the most impor-
tant and interesting information
near the top of the page
Marketing your Web site
Once your Web site is online, it's time to promote it to the public!
Publicizing your Web address—the Universal Resource Locator, or
URL—to the target audience is the most important step in developing
a Web site. Many organizations overlook this step, essentially wasting
their Web sites' potential. Send information on your site to news-
letters, organizations, listservers, or other Web sites that the target
audience frequents. Include the URL on all your outreach materials-
letterhead, giveaways, brochures, and so forth.
You can add the URL to many online search engines such as Yahoo,
Google, and Infoseek. You can register with each one individually for
free or use a service like Microsoft bCentral Submit It at www.submit-
it.com to submit your listing to about 20 search engines for a 1-year
fee of $49. All you'll need to do is select about 20 keywords for the
search engine to use. Even if you don't register, within a few weeks
many search engines will catalog your site automatically.
Keep in mind that each search engine searches in a different way. For
example, the Excite search engine looks at the words on the main
pages of the Web site, whereas AltaVista looks at only page titles and
meta tags (keywords listed in the Web site's HTML code to help search
engines locate your site).
Partnering with other Web site hosts
There are opportunities to reach other audiences through the Internet
by using interest group Web sites (e.g., off-highway vehicle users,
anglers, farmers). However, you'll probably reach national audi-
ences through such Web sites, not necessarily the citizens of your
watershed. Explore these sites before deciding to use them in your
program.
The Internet is becoming more important to local watershed outreach
efforts by the month. Its primary value lies in providing access to
general water science information, databases like EPA's Surf Your Wa-
tershed (www.epa.gov/surf) and those hosted by other public agen-
cies, and environmental news from state and national groups like the
Conservation Technology Information Center at www.ctic.purdue.edu.
Consider asking to have your Web site's URL added to other organiza-
tions' links pages. This approach increases the number of visitors at
your Web site without costing an arm and a leg. Visit various related
Web sites and send them e-mails with a request to add a link to your
site on their site. Offer to add their link to your site as well. This is
one of the easiest and cheapest ways to spread your message.
Step 4: Package the Message
Parti
-------
Using listservers
E-mail is the preferred communication medium among many citizens,
business people, and agency officials because it can be accessed at
convenient times and provides a written record of the communica-
tion. Active watershed projects often find it useful to establish e-mail
lists through the help of a listserver to keep participants updated on
meetings, policy discussions, and other matters. Implementing this
communication link is simple and allows stakeholders to keep abreast
of developments at their leisure.
Establishing an e-mail list is not difficult. It can even be in the form
of a "round robin" exchange, where list members are the designated
recipients of the first message and simply press "reply to all" to post
messages to the entire group. Many state and federal government
agencies already host lists in-house, and you might be able to add a
new list to their server easily. Other independent organizations might
choose to start lists through Web sites.
Majordomo is a free program that automates the management of Internet
mailing lists. Commands are sent to Majordomo by e-mail to handle all
aspects of list maintenance. Once a list is set up, virtually all operations
can be performed remotely, requiring no intervention on the part of
the list manager. Visit www.linuxwebmasterfree.com/majordomo.html
for more information. Other sites that offer free lists and online
message boards include groups.yahoo.com, groups.msn.com, and
www.topica.com.
What does it cost?
Outreach campaigns can be costly and labor-intensive, especially those
that use TV PSAs, special events, printed materials, videos, or targeted
mailings. The table on page 76 provides estimated costs for some types
of outreach materials. Contact individual vendors for actual prices.
When you defined your goals and objectives in Step 1, you determined
available funding and staff members for the project, as well as potential
partners. This is a perfect opportunity for your partners to lend a hand
[or funds). Ask them to volunteer to pay the production or shipping
costs of materials. For more information on how to obtain funding or
in-kind services, refer to Part 2: Implementing the Campaign.
EPA discussion lists
EPA's nonpoint source pollution
and septic system listservers
host lively discussions on is-
sues of interest to watershed
groups. Visit www.epa.gov/
epahome/listserv.htm to learn
how to subscribe to both.
Parti
Step 4: Package the Message
-------
76
Costs for various outreach materials
Category Item Cost (per 1000)*
Giveaways
Printed materials
Magnets
Posters (1 1 " x 17", 4 colors, glossy paper)
Canvas Tote Bags
1 color, 2 sides
2 colors, 2 sides
Stickers (one color, 3" diameter)
Lapel pins
Key holders
Printed fact sheets (2-sided)
1 color
2 colors
4 colors
Trifold panel brochure (1 1 " x 25.5")
1 color
2 colors
4 colors
$300 for 2-color business card size
$1,000
$3,100
$3,850
$300
$1,150
$1,500
$600
$840
$960
$1,600
$2,100
$2,400
Category Item Cost (per item)
Display booths
Bus advertisements
Billboards
Web sites
Newspaper ads
Movie theaters
Other
Tabletop
10'x10'
Panels on bus interior (bus boards)
Vinyl panels on entire bus exterior
Billboard
Register domain name
4" x 6" ad
30-second PSA
Stock photos on a CD-ROM
$500-$800
$1,500-52,500
$ 1 00-$ 1 50 for 1 -1 2 months on 20-60 buses
(production costs vary from region to region)
$1,250/month per bus (fees may be
large metropolitan areas; production
from region to region)
higher in
costs vary
$700-$1000/month
$8-$70 for first 2 years
$300-$5,000
$1,400/weekin 16 theaters
$30-$400
*Notes: These costs are only estimates. Contact individual vendors for actual prices.
2003 prices
Step 4: Package the Message
Parti
-------
77
PROCESS CHECKLIST
Step 4: Package your message
Q Am I getting the message to my target audience with this
format?
Q Is the format appropriate for the message?
Q Is the format appropriate for the target audience?
Q Does the format exclude any members of the target audience?
Q Does the format favor any members of the target audience?
Q Does the format grab the attention of the target audience?
Q Do I have the resources necessary to prepare and use the
selected format?
Q Do I have access to the skilled staff needed to prepare and use
the selected format?
Q Will I have enough time to produce and distribute this format?
Q Will I be able to distribute messages in this format effectively?
Q Will I have enough materials for the entire target audience?
-------
(78
X
What's in Step 5
• Who delivers the message?
• Size does matter
• Timing is everything
• Staffing the effort
• Piggybacking your message
The ripple effect
By building partnerships with
diverse members of the commu-
nity, you can educate them first
on the issues, and then they can
communicate this information to
their constituents. For example,
ranchers are more likely to
believe information and accept
recommendations from other
ranchers than they are to believe
information from another source.
'/ Distribute the message
Once the message has been packaged in the desired format,
you can proceed with distribution. Fortunately, you've already
considered distribution mechanisms somewhat while researching the
target audience and selecting a format. Further activity during Step 5
includes taking a close look at the level of time, resources, and work
required for distributing the message. Are you going to mail all those
posters? Do you need to buy mailing tubes? Do you have the ad-
dresses? Better still, is there an existing publication you can piggy-
back onto so you can reach the target audience without the hassle of
mailing anything yourself?
Common means of distribution are by direct mail, door-to-door, by
phone, through targeted businesses, during presentations, as hand-
outs at events, through media outlets, and by posting your message
in public places. Consider which distribution method(s) is best for
your group. Local governments, for example, might choose to add
inserts to utility bills, whereas local community groups might prefer
door-to-door visits.
Who delivers the message?
In addition to how you are going to deliver the message, you should
decide who will deliver the message. Analysis of the target audi-
ence can help you determine who the most trusted members of the
community are. An organization trusted by the public can use a
staff representative of its own. If the organization is a government
agency, it might be effective to have a member of the target audi-
ence deliver the message. Many groups select local celebrities, news
reporters, or other respected members of the community to be their
spokespersons.
The organizers of the Pequea-Mill Creek project in Lancaster County,
Pennsylvania, had their work cut out for them when trying to reach
the farmers with their message. Project staff knew that the farmers
would be tough to sway if the message came from the wrong person.
Rather than using only participating local, state, and federal staff,
they asked local veterinarians interested in water quality and herd
health to get involved. The vets spoke to the farmers in the area and
encouraged them to implement the recommended BMPs. The orga-
nization also used the farmers themselves to help spread the word.
They formed teams of two or three farmers and took them to par-
ticipating farms, where :he farmer teams talked about the BMPs and
their pros and cons. G 0 Check out the Getting In Step video.
Step 5: Distribute the Message
Parti
-------
Part I: Developing your plan
79
Peer pressure can be a good way to encourage positive lifestyle
changes. As mentioned in Step 2 and in the box to the right, the
Empowerment Institute's Sustainable Lifestyle Campaigns use neigh-
bors to create social cohesiveness and get citizens involved. Five to
six neighborhood households—an EcoTeam—meet several times over
a 4-month period, with the help of a step-by-step workbook and a
trained volunteer coach. The team members support each other in re-
ducing waste, conserving water and energy, buying environmentally
protective products, reducing air and water pollution, and encourag-
ing other neighbors to get involved. Consider using the residents of
the community as a good option for spreading your message.
Size does matter
The mail
The mail delivery system can be the best distribution vehicle if the
target audience can be defined geographically or if you have access
to a mailing list that encompasses your audience (e.g., developers,
teachers). The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has established procedures
for bulk mailings, and it's advisable to contact the post office early to
discuss the pros and cons of this delivery approach. For more infor-
mation on bulk mail, visit www.usps.gov.
Post cards
Post cards are an inexpensive way to expose the target audience to
your message immediately. When cards arrive in the mail, there's no
envelope to open.
You might think that your mail is a card because it's a single sheet of
paper. But to qualify for USPS post card rates, a card must be rectan-
gular, at least 3J/2 inches high by 5 inches long by 0.007 inch thick,
and no more than 4Vi inches high by 6 inches long by 0.016 inches
thick. Stickers, magnets, and other items should not be attached to
postcards. The USPS has strict rules about attachments.
Letters
Your organization can use letters to send surveys, newsletters,
posters, and more. Keep in mind that the USPS is very specific about
its requirements. To be eligible for mailing at the standard postage
rate for First-Class letters, a piece must be rectangular, at least 3 ¥2
inches high by 5 inches long by 0.007 inch thick, and no more than
6 inches high by 111/2 inches long by Vi inch thick. The postal service
charges extra postage for mail that's too stiff, too square, or unusually
shaped. Such mail can jam postal equipment and make processing
difficult. These problems cost the USPS time and money—and could
ruin your mailing.
Benefits, benefits,
benefits!
The Empowerment Institute
(www.globalactionplan.org)
has developed Sustainable Life-
style Campaigns in Ohio, Mis-
souri, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania,
Washington, New York, Massa-
chussetts, Oregon, and Virginia.
Neighborhood EcoTeams are
achieving the following average
resource savings per year:
• 35 to 51 percent less garbage
• 25 to 34 percent less water
used
• 9 to 17 percent less energy
used
• 16 to 20 percent less fuel used
for transportation
• $227 to $389 saved
"I've lived in the neighborhood
for 21 years, but getting to know
my neighbors started 3 years ago
with an EcoTeam. We knew a lot
of people by sight, but now we
know them much better. There
is a lot more friendliness on the
streets now. It's given us the feel-
ing of being embedded in the
community and having roots. I
highly recommend the Neighbor-
hood EcoTeam process."
—Sarah Conn, EcoTeam member in
West Newton, Massachusetts
Parti
Step 5: Distribute the Message
-------
8O
Bulk Mail 101
The USPS offers discounts for bulk
mailings because you do some
of the work that the USPS would
otherwise do. To mail at bulk rates,
you need to:
• Get a mailing permit (one-time
fee of $150) and pay an annual
mailing fee ($150 per year)*. To
keep your mailing permit active,
you must send a mailing at least
once every 2 years.
• Pay postage using pre-canceled
stamps, a postage meter, or a
permit imprint.
• Make sure that your addresses
are current.
• Presort the mailings by ZIP code.
• Take your mail to the post office
where you hold your mailing
permit.
To qualify for bulk mailing discounts,
mail at least 500 identical pieces for
First-Class (maximum weight of 13
ounces) and 200 pieces for Standard
Mail (maximum weight of 15.99
ounces). Identical means they are
the same size, shape, and weight.
In addition to bulk mail rates,
nonprofit organizations may be
eligible for additional mailing
privileges. The post office offers
nonprofit groups discounted mailing
rates. To apply for nonprofit mailing
rates, visit the USPS Web site at
www.usps.com/businessmail101/
misc/nonprof itApplication.htm.
*2003 prices
Another option for mailing larger items (e.g., posters, large news-
letters) is to fold them into letter-size pieces. Folded pieces can save
time and money because you're not paying for or stuffing envelopes.
A good way to close the documents is to use wafer seals or tab stick-
ers. Don't use staples because they can catch in postal equipment.
Large envelopes and newsletters
The USPS uses the words flats and non-letters to refer to large en-
velopes, newsletters, and magazines. Whatever you call them, flats
must have one dimension greater than 6 inches high or 111A inches
long or Vi inch thick and be no more than 12 inches high by 15
inches long by 3A inch thick.
The maximum size for a flat gives you plenty of room to put lots of
material in the envelope. But keep in mind that the more you put into
an envelope, the more it weighs. And the more it weighs, the more
postage you pay, especially for First-Class Mail. Is it possible to fold
your flat-size piece to letter-size? If so, you can save lots of money
because you'll pay the lower letter rate.
Now that you've set up your bulk mail account, to whom should you
send your package or your community survey? Make your first stop
your organization's mailing list, if you have one that is updated fre-
quently. Direct mail software can help you target mailings to specific
ZIP codes. Information on such software is available on the Internet.
Search for "direct mail software."
E-mail
A cheaper and faster way to spread the message is through e-mail.
Newsletters, flyers, calendars, and more can be sent with the click of
a few buttons. A popular software program for creating e-mailable
documents to help send your files is Adobe Acrobat (www.adobe.com).
Able to convert just about any document into Portable Document
Format (PDF), it ensures that your files are displayed and printed the
way you intended and can be protected from unauthorized access
and alteration. Be sure to keep your e-mail list up-to-date, and don't
send more than a few messages a month, or you might risk becoming
"spam."
Timing is everything
Once you've figured out how to deliver your message, the next step
is to figure out when to deliver it. For a major community event, give
the community plenty of time to add it to their calendars. And as de-
scribed in Step 4, any distribution to involve the media must be sent
well in advance.
The response you are looking for from the target audience can affect
when you distribute your message. For example, if you have prepared
Step 5: Distribute the Message
Parti
-------
Part I: Developing your plan
81
calendars, you need to have them distributed in November, when
people start shopping for the next year's calendar. If you are promot-
ing fall fertilization, residents need to receive the flyers at the begin-
ning of spring before they consider purchasing additional fertilizer,
and possibly again in early fall.
Once your message has been distributed, it's very likely that your
organization will be deluged with questions from the media, local
businesses, schools, and members of the public. Be prepared for both
positive and negative comments. Once you get an idea of what they
want to know, prepare a list of Frequently Asked Questions for your
staff members or volunteers to have on hand.
Staffing the effort
Now that your organization has created a message and chosen its
format and means of distribution, the question of resource needs is
likely to come up. Think about forming partnerships with local and
regional organizations that work on related issues. Also look to busi-
nesses and schools that would be interested in providing funding or
staff time. Think about tying your message into a business or organi-
zation activity already in place to save time, money, and effort.
DISTRIBUTION
Building Blocks:
Distribution
In Step 4 (Package your message), the hypothetical Herndon County
developed water bill inserts, subway transit posters, and full-size educational
oster
:hth«
TARGET
AUDIENCE
posters. County staff made arrangements with the local water authority to
include the water bill inserts in their quarterly bills to county residents. The
water authority was eager to oblige because they had been looking for ways
to reduce drinking water treatment costs. They knew that if residents were
able to significantly reduce water pollution to the local lake (also t
drinking water supply), water treatment costs would dro
The county also used a bulk mail account with the postal service to send the posters to
targeted audiences (e.g., lawn and garden stores, garden clubs, homeowners'
associations, lawn care companies), as well as the local community college.
To help pay for the cost of displaying the posters in the subway, the
county teamed up with the Herndon Chapter of Trout Unlimited. The
chapter paid the subway poster fee for 6 months and also donated
iu
300 for p
rintina c
osts.
e county's
Parti
Step 5: Distribute the Message
-------
82
Meteorologists
used to spread
the word
^
Recognizing that television weather
forecasters are very effective at
explaining complex scientific issues
(e.g. Doppler radar) and that they
are trusted and well respected in
the community, EPA joined with
the National Environmental Educa-
tion and Training Foundation, the
American Meteorological Society,
StormCenter Communications, and
the Center for Watershed Protec-
tion in an innovative project to
recruit and train broadcast meteo-
rologists to educate their viewers
about watersheds.
Chief Meteorologist Bob Ryan with
NBC4 in Washington, DC, fre-
quently discusses the Chesapeake
Bay Watershed as part of NBC4's
watershed project, "Where the
Atmosphere Meets the Earth." The
partnership's interactive Web site,
http://watershed. i nteractive-
environment.com/main, provides
real-time water quality data, wa-
tershed news, quizzes, and related
links. Piggybacking their message
onto the weather forecast allowed
the project partners to reach an
already captive audience.
Recruit volunteers
A massive outreach campaign can take up considerable staff time to
ensure success. The cost of door-to-door visits, phone calls, and other
in-person activities might exceed your current means. The KOPE kids
of Utah overcame this barrier by partnering with local artists, biolo-
gists, horticulturalists, and others to get the message out in their fight
to save Hidden Hollow from development. These people had a special
interest in the project that made them willing to volunteer on behalf
of the creek. |j 0 Check out the Getting In Step video.
A large organization might be able to donate staff from other depart-
ments until the campaign ends. If funding is available, hire a few
interns or an entry-level person. Also look to your partner organiza-
tions for additional staff members. They might be willing to pay their
employees for their time, saving you valuable funding. It's likely
those employees are already involved with and knowledgeable of the
issues, saving training time as well.
A more affordable method is to poll for volunteers. Advertise in the
newspaper, on the local college campus, or during community events.
It's likely you'll run into several citizens who are already interested in
the issue, those also known as early adopters. In turn, their increased
knowledge and participation will help them spread the news in their
peer groups. Ensure success by gathering volunteers from the target
audience.
Piggybacking your message
Piggybacking, or attaching your message onto someone else's message,
is the easiest and usually most effective way to distribute the message.
If the target audience receives a certain periodical or service (e.g., town
newsletter, utility bill), it will be more effective to include your message
in that publication. For example, if you're trying to reach pet owners,
you might want to advertise your message in the local vet's newsletter.
It will also increase the likelihood that members of the target audience
will actually read your message because they're already familiar with
the publication. Piggybacking helps you to reach the audience, and it
helps the editor of the host publication generate content for the next
issue—a win/win situation for everyone.
Go on the road
Conferences, workshops, and other events are also ideal for piggyback-
ing because they can be fairly expensive to conduct on your own. If a
local kennel club is sponsoring a dog show, ask if you can set up an ex-
hibit on the importance of picking up after pets or if the show organiz-
ers are willing to distribute free poop scoopers with your program logo
to the attendees. Keep yourself informed of conferences and events in
which members of the target audience will be involved, and contact
Step 5: Distribute the Message
Parti
-------
Part I: Developing your plan
83
the event organizers to see how you might be able to piggyback your
event or message. Offering staff time and other in-kind services will
make your request more appealing to the event organizers.
Work with local businesses
Using selected businesses to deliver your message can increase the
likelihood of reaching the target audience and save money on post-
age. For example, if you develop a brochure on oil recycling, ask to
display the brochure at auto parts supply outlets. Keep in mind that
businesses will be more likely to distribute your materials if there is
an added benefit to them. So if you ask septic tank pumpers to dis-
tribute refrigerator magnets containing information on what should
and should not go into a septic system, include a space on the mag-
net for the customer to write down the hauler's name, phone number,
and next service date.
PROCESS CHECKLIST
Step 5: Distribute the message
Do I have the resources necessary to distribute the message?
Will I have enough time to distribute the message?
Will I be able to distribute messages in this format effectively?
Have I chosen the appropriate marketing method for my
message?
Am I distributing my outreach materials effectively?
Parti
Step 5: Distribute the Message
-------
'
84
What's in Step 6
• Why evaluate?
• When to evaluate
• Types of evaluations
• Where do I go from here?
• Evaluate the outreach
campaign
Evaluation provides a feedback mechanism for ongoing improve-
ment of your outreach effort. Many people don't think about how
they'll evaluate the success of their outreach program until after the
program has been implemented. Building an evaluation component
into the plan from the beginning, however, will ensure that at least
some accurate feedback on outreach program impact is generated.
Ideally, feedback generated during the early stages of the project will
be used immediately in making preliminary determinations about
program effectiveness. Adapting elements of the outreach effort
continually as new information is received ensures that ineffective
components are adjusted or scrapped, while pieces of the program
that are working are supported and enhanced.
Why evaluate?
Outreach programs often involve a tremendous amount of effort
and resources, and evaluation will help you build support for on-
going funding and save you time and money. Justifying the pro-
gram—showing how it supports achievement of the overall goals and
objectives—means identifying what worked, fixing what didn't, and
ensuring that outreach continues to enhance the watershed program.
You need to know what worked and why so you can build on it or
make adjustments in the future. Perhaps you used foundation or
other funds that require a demonstration that water quality actually
improved or other measurable progress was made. Whether solicit-
ing funds from private or public sources, you'll be in a much stronger
position if you can show that your program worked.
The success of outreach programs depends on how well they're
conceived, planned, implemented, and adapted. Evaluating success
is not difficult if you initially develop concrete, measurable objec-
tives against which your achievements can be compared. In addition,
focusing the outreach effort on discrete target audiences provides a
manageable approach for both implementing the outreach program
and measuring its success.
When to evaluate
Although evaluation is the final step in a multistep process, it starts at
the beginning of the project. As explained in Step 1, evaluation tools
must be built into your outreach campaign at the beginning and along
every step of the way to ensure that accurate feedback is generated.
This method is commonly called adaptive management. Adaptive
management is a process for continually improving your goals and ob-
jectives, messages, formats, and distribution mechanisms by learning
Step 6: Evaluate the Outreach Campaign
Parti
-------
85
from the tasks you've implemented. Adaptive management keeps you
from charging ahead blindly and being paralyzed by indecision later. It
helps you learn from your mistakes and build on your successes.
Because you're selling ideas, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors with your
outreach campaign, not products and services, you won't have product
sales goals to help you evaluate your success. Therefore, you need to
be in tune with your campaign so you can set measurable benchmarks
along the way. Be on the lookout for evaluation opportunities when
creating formats or deciding on a distribution method. For example,
when you're building a Web site for your campaign, make sure you
add a hit counter or are otherwise able to monitor Web traffic so that
you can see how many people visit the Web site after PSAs are run on
television or after a community event. Don't leave evaluation until the
end of the project because you might be out of money by that point.
Types of evaluations
Outreach programs typically have interrelated sets of objectives and
tasks linked to a specific goal, such as improving water quality. The
goal of the program—improving water quality or, more specifically,
reducing phosphorus loadings by half over the next 5 years (for
example)—is typically supported by a number of objectives, which
might or might not have specific outreach components. An outreach
program evaluation reviews the following three sets of indicators:
• Process indicators. Indicators related to the execution of the out-
reach program itself (activity indicators), (e.g., What effect did
the effort have on the process? Did people attend the meetings?
Did the message get to the media?)
• Impact indicators. Indicators related to achievement of the goals/
objectives of the program, (e.g., What effect did the effort have
on behavior or water quality?)
• Context indicators. Indicators related to how the project functions
in the community as a whole, how the community perceives the
project, and the economic and political ramifications of the project.
Context indicators can provide some background and perspective on
why certain approaches appear to be working well while others are
not. (e.g., Was the effort well received by the public?)
The following table presents a hypothetical set of indicators related to
a watershed outreach program. Note that some of the indicators mea-
sure direct environmental impact (e.g., phosphorus or solids concen-
trations), whereas others measure attributes of the process employed
to achieve those impacts (e.g., number of workshops). The worksheet
in Appendix A (page A-3) can be used to build in evaluation measures
for each step when you first develop your outreach plan. Appendix D
provides an evaluation worksheet that can be used when evaluating
your campaign during and after the steps are implemented.
Mill Creek project
combines process and
impact evaluation to
show results
To evaluate whether stream bank
fencing improved water quality,
NRCS project staff used several dif-
ferent indicators. Some indicators
measured changes in water quality,
while other indicators measured
how successful they were at reach-
ing the audiences. All of these
indicators strengthened their evalu-
ation program so they could make
adjustments based on the informa-
tion collected.
Some indicators measured were the
following:
• Number of farmers who showed
interest by contacting project
staff (impact and context)
• Number of articles published in
the local media outlets (process)
• Number of farm tours given
(process)
• Miles of stream bank fenced
(impact)
• Water quality measurements
of suspended solids and fecal
coliforms (impact)
'
Check out the Getting In
Step video.
Part 1.
Step 6: Evaluate the Outreach Campaign
-------
!
86
Examples of indicators for various goals, objectives, and tasks
Goal
Improve water
quality
Objective
Task/Activity
Objective A: Reduce
phosphorus loadings from
subwatershed X
Objective B: Reduce
erosion and sediment
from construction sites
Offer free soil testing to row
crop farmers
Conduct workshops for
homeowner lawn care
Train job site
superintendents in proper
erosion and sediment
control practices
Conduct random
inspections of construction
sites to review erosion and
sediment control practices
Indicators
Overall Indicator: Attainment of water quality criteria
and designated uses (impact)
• Reduction in soluble reactive phosphorus
concentrations (impact)
• Total acres of soil tested; farmers reached (process)
• Number of farmers applying fertilizer based on soil
tests (impact)
• Number of workshops held; total attendees
(process)
• Target: 40 percent decrease in total suspended
solids and turbidity measurements (impact)
• Number of training sessions held; total number of
attendees (process)
• Pre/post tests on knowledge of erosion and
sediment control practices (impact)
• Inspections conducted; resulting scores; referrals
of low-score sites to training program (impact)
• Inspection score trends over time (impact)
Process evaluations
Tasks or activities required to achieve each objective
Process evaluations focus on implementation of activities as they
relate to budget requirements, schedules, staff resources, and tasks or
activities. Process evaluation occurs as the program is being imple-
mented, early enough in the outreach delivery process to allow modi-
fications before too many resources have been expended. Evaluating
planning processes and program activities as they occur increases the
likelihood that outreach programs will achieve their objectives. The
evaluation resembles a plan-do-check-act procedure.
Process evaluations help determine whether sound objectives were
developed, target audiences were properly analyzed, and appropri-
ate messages were crafted. Continuous evaluation during the plan-
ning and implementation process helps clarify program objectives
and keeps activities sharply defined. Evaluations can also occur after
completion of each step in the process by reviewing the proposed
plan with staff and analyzing decisions at each phase or after each
task or activity. Conducting cursory pretests of materials on represen-
tative samples of the target audience and confirming tests with focus
groups also provide valuable evaluation information.
Step 6: Evaluate the Outreach Campaign
Parti
-------
87
This sort of "early warning system" can include logging the costs of
specific activities, checking the frequency of material distribution,
making contact with distribution outlets to see if materials were
received in a timely manner, reviewing media clippings to determine
how news releases and articles are being published, monitoring the
number of responses to messages (attendees at an event, responses
to surveys, callers to information lines), tracking workshop atten-
dance registration, and gathering information through focus groups
or surveys to determine distribution effectiveness.
Impact evaluations
Impact evaluations assess the outcome or impacts produced by the
outreach program and are directly tied to the original objectives. This
type of evaluation measures the effect of an outreach program on the
target audience by asking, "To what extent did we achieve our objec-
tive?" Typical performance measures under impact evaluations include
increased awareness, knowledge of an issue, changes in perceptions or
behavior, repeat participation in a targeted activity, and goal-oriented
measures of water quality improvements. Be aware that sometimes un-
intended outcomes can result from an outreach program, and if there is
evidence that such outcomes are prevalent, the evaluation can attempt
to capture and define them so the program can be revised.
Hotlines help in
evaluation
The Bear Creek Watershed
Project in west Michigan set
up a hotline for homeowners'
associations to use when they
see that builders or residents
aren't complying with the
new stream buffer ordinances.
Project organizers monitor the
number of calls received.
R5FI Check out the Getting In
Step video.
Georgia surveys elected officials to focus
coastal outreach efforts
The recently implemented Georgia Coastal Management Program (GCMP) was faced with the chal-
lenge of educating a rapidly growing public about the natural resources on which its sought-after
quality of life is based. Because most land use decisions are made at the local level, much attention
has been focused on local government and elected officials.
To develop a personal relationship with those local officials, staff from the GCMP conducted face-
to-face surveys with more than 80 of them. "We asked them what the most important natural
resource issues were in their communities and how they thought the Coastal Management Program
should focus its efforts," said Beth Turner of the GCMP. The results showed that 75 percent of local
government officials recognize the importance of protecting groundwater resources from saltwater
intrusion and contamination, but only 25 percent of the officials mentioned nonpoint source pollu-
tion as a natural resource issue for their communities. "We know that nonpoint source pollution is
a widespread problem in our coastal area, and the fact that the elected officials are not aware of it
shows us where to concentrate our outreach efforts," Turner stated.
- Beth Turner, Georgia Coastal Management Program
Part 1.
Step 6: Evaluate the Outreach Campaign
-------
88
Measuring impact §
in Hawaii ib
In 1995 the City of Honolulu devel-
oped an environmental education
program to increase citizens' under-
standing of nonpoint source pollu-
tion so that they would change their
behaviors and business practices.
Honolulu's campaign included a
series of TV PSAs featuring local and
national celebrities.
In 2001 the city conducted a tele-
phone survey to measure awareness
and the impact of the program. Of
those contacted, 63 percent agree
that major pollution of the ocean
and streams is caused by rainfall
moving over and through the ground
and carrying away pesticides, fertil-
izers, and other pollutants (up from
53 percent in 1 995). The survey also
showed that people are learning
about many of the new programs:
78 percent have seen a stenciled
storm drain, and 45 percent have
heard of the Adopt -A-Stream
program, (www.cleanwater
honolulu.com)
Assessment tools for impact evaluations consist of focus groups,
surveys, interviews, and, of course, actual measurement of improve-
ments in water quality. A common impact evaluation tool is to com-
pare behaviors, attitudes, or beliefs of the target audience before
and after the outreach program is implemented. If you intend to use
the pretest/posttest approach, it's critical to obtain target audience
baseline information on the issues linked to the program objectives
before the outreach program is implemented so comparisons can be
made.
Design your pretest and your program with the end result in
mind—attainment of the objective, whether it be related to knowl-
edge or awareness of an issue or a change in behavior (e.g., adopt-
ing BMPs). When planning an impact evaluation, it's important
to clearly identify the time frame for measuring results because
the true impact of a number of programs is realized long after the
activities have ceased. It can take 7 to 10 years for water quality
improvements associated with the implementation of BMPs to be
detected.
Another impact evaluation approach is direct measurement of ac-
tions taken by the target audience. For example, if your outreach
program encouraged residents to leave grass clippings on their
lawns, you could measure the amount of yard waste going to the
landfill before and after the program is implemented. Oil recycling
can be measured by tracking recycled oil dropoff trends at area col-
lection centers. The Empowerment Institute's Sustainable Lifestyle
Campaign, which uses neighbor-to-neighbor outreach to encourage
natural resource conservation and protection, measures success in
terms of household utility cost savings.
Setting targets in terms of the indicators that will be used during the
evaluation provides a yardstick against which progress can be mea-
sured. For example, the target value for total suspended solids and
turbidity might be 40 percent less than current readings. A target for
soil testing might be to test 80 percent of all row crop fields within
300 feet of a waterway.
Targets should be ambitious but not unattainable. For example, the
multistate Chesapeake Bay Agreement of 1987 set targets of 40 per-
cent reductions in phosphorus and nitrogen inputs by 2000. Neither
goal was obtained, but the work performed in pursuit of the goals
did result in significant nutrient reductions: about 80 percent of the
targeted reductions were achieved.
Context evaluations
Finally, examining contextual information related to the audience,
the outreach program, and the watershed issues under study can
Step 6: Evaluate the Outreach Campaign
Parti
-------
89
provide some perspective on what's working, what's not, and why.
Assessing how the project functions within the economic, social, and
political environment of the community helps to uncover aspects of
the objective, message, audience, format, or distribution mechanism
that might be affecting results. For example, choosing an inappropri-
ate messenger can compromise the success of a project regardless
of other factors. Other community or cultural factors can also play a
huge role. Such factors include perceptions that one group is bearing
a disproportionate burden for correcting water quality problems, cost-
share funding eligibility criteria are unfair, or preferential treatment is
being afforded to some stakeholders. Focus groups that examine the
social, economic, political, and cultural context of your project can
identify problems that weren't noticed during the planning or execu-
tion phase.
Care must be taken when designing evaluation tools to ensure that
targeted variables are being accurately assessed. It is often difficult to
trace water quality improvements directly to a specific program or ac-
tion, just as it is difficult to attribute purchasing behavior to a specific
advertisement or product attribute. A little creativity, some insight,
and a variety of different perspectives are important ingredients for
designing evaluation programs.
Measuring impact
in San Diego
The City of San Diego conducts
an annual phone survey that
reaches about 450 households
to determine changes in behav-
ior and increased awareness of
watershed issues. This impact
evaluation provides the informa-
tion the city needs to help shape
its Think Blue stormwater
media campaign for the next
year, including deciding where
to put their resources and what
issues they need to focus on.
R5FI Check out the Getting In
Step video.
TARGET
AUDIENCE
Building Blocks:
Evaluation
After running the transit ads for 6 months, distributing the
water bill insert in two bill mailings, and distributing more than
500 posters, the hypothetical Herndon County conducted a
post-project, random-digit-dialing survey of county residents
to measure the impact of its "Fertilize in the Fall. That's All!"
outreach campaign on local attitudes and behaviors. The county
found that 70 percent of county residents were aware
that lawn fertilizer is a significant contributor to local
water quality degradation (a 50 percent increase
from pre-campaign estimates). In addition,
more than 55 percent of residents said they
planned to change their fertilizer habits and
fprtili
p onlv in the fall
Part 1.
Step 6: Evaluate the Outreach Campaign
-------
'
9O
PROCESS CHECKLIST
Step 6: Evaluate the outreach campaign
Q Do I have a baseline on the target audience's behaviors, beliefs,
and attitudes?
Q How will I know whether the target audience has received the
message?
Q What tools will be used to assess the impact of the outreach
campaign?
Q Can those tools be used if the campaign changes?
Q What will be done with the results of the evaluation?
Q Who will be responsible for tracking budgets and schedules?
Q Do I have the resources to conduct pre/post survey or evaluation
techniques?
Q Is the outreach campaign accountable to the public, government
agencies, another organization, or other funding sources?
Where from here?
Congratulations! You've just completed all the steps necessary to
develop an effective, executable outreach plan. Use the worksheets
in Appendix A to help organize your plan and identify possible gaps.
In "Part 2: Implementing the Campaign" you'll learn how to put your
plan into action.
-------
91
Part 2: Implementing
the Campaign
In Part 1 you learned about the six steps of outreach and how to
develop an outreach campaign plan. In Part 2 you'll learn some tricks
of the trade to get you started on implementing the campaign you've
planned.
Developing an operating plan
From the outreach plan you developed in Part 1, you need to create
a "to do" list in tabular format (like the one on page 92) to figure
out who's going to do what and by when, and to identify how much
each task will cost. This table will become your day-to-day operating
plan. Don't worry if there are holes in the table. You can beef up staff
numbers by forming partnerships with other local agencies and orga-
nizations, and you can increase your budget by applying for grants
or obtaining in-kind services. Tips are provided below to help you
secure additional resources—both people and dollars.
The key is to outline your operating plan based on what will achieve
the objectives in the overall campaign plan you developed in Part 1.
When you first create the table, focus on the activities and the time
frame needed. If you determine that you can't complete the activities
because of lack of funding or staff, you can make choices to scale
back certain activities or phase in activities over time. You can find a
blank operating plan matrix to use in implementing your campaign at
the end of Appendix A.
What's in Part 2
• Developing an operating plan
• Scheduling
• Determining resources and
support
• Keeping up the momentum
• Overcoming barriers to success
• A final thought
-------
Sample Operating Plan Matrix
Goal: Increase awareness of residential nutrient runoff and encourage behaviors that will reduce nutrient pollution in local streams and lakes.
Objective: Post educational posters in Greater Herndon/Carlisle Metropolitan Transit Authority subway stations.
Activity/
Product
Develop 5
posters for
7 subway
stations and
post them.
Evaluation Indicators
• Number of posters
hung
• Number of hits on
county Web site
before and after
posters are hung
• Post-project random
phone survey to
measure impact of
posters
Time Frame/Due Date
• Contact subway authority:
February 1
• Develop text/theme for each
poster: February 15
• Develop layout: March 17
• Send to printer: March 24
• Hang posters: April 1 (prior to
Earth Day)
Responsible Party
Communications
director of county
Water Division
in Public Works
Department
Resources Needed
Staff time
40 hours
Dollars
• Printing: $2,000
($1,000 to be
donated by Trout
Unlimited)
• Subway ad fee:
$300 for 6 months
(possibly donated by
transit authority)
Status/Comments
Communications
director will contact
Greater Herndon/
Carlisle Metropolitan
Transit Authority
director to inquire
about procedural
requirements and
whether they might be
willing to waive subway
fee for 6 months.
Objective: Educate local businesses about proper nutrient management by developing and implementing a speakers bureau.
Develop
slide show.
handout
materials, and
evaluation
form
Conduct
three 2-hour
presentations
• Based on evaluation
forms collected, how
well the materials
were received
• Number of attendees
at presentations
• How many
presentations were
made
• How many follow-
up phone calls were
received because of
information presented
• Based on evaluations,
whether attendees
benefited from the
presentations
• Develop draft slide show text:
January 77
• Identify appropriate photos:
January 1 7
• Develop 1-page evaluation
form: January 21
• Submit materials to reviewers:
January 22
• Finalize all materials and
make copies: January 31
• Make initial calls to
businesses to gauge interest:
January 10
• Secure meeting locations:
January 20
• Send invitations: January 27
• Conduct presentations:
February 19-21
Public affairs
assistant
Public affairs
assistant to schedule
presentations
Community liaison
to give presentations
Staff time
60 hours
Staff time
Schedule
presentations:
15 hours
Presentations:
three 2-hour
presentations
(6 hours)
Dollars
Handouts: $10
Name tags: $5
Dollars
Meeting facility
(donated by local
businesses)
Pizza and soft drinks
for meeting: $50
Try to have a good mix
of business types in
each presentation.
At presentations, look
for attendees that could
be potential presenters
for future presentations.
N
-------
93
Scheduling
Your day-to-day activities can be translated into a working calendar.
Update it frequently and provide it to your workgroup. You can show
when items need to be mailed, who needs to be called, when press
releases have to be e-mailed, and so forth.
Determining resources and support
Once you've started filling in your operating plan and your work-
ing calendar, you'll know why determining available resources and
support to implement your campaign is the next critical step. You'll
need three basic things to launch your campaign: staff, technical sup-
port, and financial support. Do you have the resources to conduct the
background research to develop your plan? Do you have the resources
to implement your plan? If your plan is larger than your budget, think
about ways you can alter the plan or consider looking outside your
organization for support. In addition, consider forming partnerships
to pool funding and expand potential impact. Partnerships can often
help sustain an effort after initial seed money has been spent.
How partnerships can help
Environmental issues are often too complex and too expensive for
one group or organization to tackle on its own. That's where part-
nerships can be useful. A partnership is a voluntary collaboration
of agencies, organizations, or other groups or individuals that have
joined to work toward a common goal. Partnering can play an instru-
mental role in the success of your campaign. In times of shrinking
budgets and increased public demands, many agencies can benefit
from the resources and support that cross-agency, public-private, and
private sector partnerships can offer.
Partnerships have many advantages, including providing access to
resources; increasing effectiveness, efficiency, and public influence;
allowing for creativity and innovation; and improving communication
between typically adversarial parties. Partners can also offer staff, ac-
cess to and support from their membership, publicity, political influ-
ence, or financial resources. In addition, partnerships lend credibility to
your effort when you're seeking funding and delivering your message.
Partnerships can be structured formally, informally (loosely organized),
or somewhere in between. Formal partnerships are those established
by law, initiated through formal public agency action, or incorporated
under the laws of a state. Most formally organized watershed groups
are nonprofit organizations that meet the charitable, education, scien-
tific, or other requirements outlined for tax-exempt corporations under
Section 501 (c) (3) of the federal Internal Revenue Code.
Part 2
Implementing the Campaign
-------
94
Media partners help
carry the load
When tasked with increasing public
awareness and understanding of
watershed issues, the Lake Cham-
plain Basin Program (LCBP) turned
to its local NBC television affiliate,
WPTZ, in February 1999. WPTZ's
broadcast region nearly mirrors the
Lake Champlain watershed, reach-
ing 600,000 residents of New York,
Vermont, and Quebec. After several
scoping meetings, WPTZ and the
LCBP began a unique partnership:
Champlain 2000.
Champlain 2000 promotes suc-
cessful projects that protect and
enhance the Lake Champlain Basin's
water quality, natural resources, and
cultural heritage through various
television promotions. The LCBP's
outreach staff provide story con-
cepts, contacts, and further informa-
tion about each story on the Web
site (www.lcbp.org). Although WPTZ
maintains all editorial control, the
news team solicits the LCBP's help
to maintain a balanced viewpoint in
all stories. News stories cover issues
like urban lawn and garden runoff,
buffer strips, and volunteer water-
shed groups. By leveraging outreach
staff time with WPTZ's estimated
$200,000 commitment to Cham-
plain 2000, the LCBP is increasing
awareness and understanding of
watershed issues at a minimal cost.
Informal partnerships can accomplish a lot even though they're
more loosely organized than formal partnerships. Some partnerships
might form as logical outgrowths of your objectives. For example, if
one of your objectives is to create door hangers with tips for home-
owners, the local Girl Scout council would be a logical partner to help
strengthen the message and distribute the flyers. Although informal
groups might not be eligible to receive as many grants or resources, by
aligning themselves with nonprofit organizations or public agencies,
they can often find access to funding without having to go through the
hassle of setting up a corporation or applying for tax-exempt status—
allowing them to focus instead on the issue of concern.
Where to find partners
State or local environmental organizations should be the first place
to start looking for partners. Identify local organizations likely to be
interested in watershed issues, such as the local Farm Bureau, the
Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts, local stormwater utilities, or watershed
and other environmental organizations. Then look to local agencies
and organizations charged with protecting water resources, such as
sanitation districts, planning commissions, water authorities, or other
county or municipal government agencies. Federal, state, regional,
or local agencies might also have programs with goals and objectives
similar to yours. Federal agencies like EPA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, the National Park Service, and others are often looking for
ways to partner with local governments and the private sector to help
them get more bang for their environmental buck. They see local
agencies, nonprofits, and private organizations as credible sources of
local environmental expertise. Smaller and more local interests can
offer the ability to generate public buy-in that often can't be obtained
by the federal government.
Businesses tend to look for projects that help the communities where
their employees live or where their customers purchase and use their
products and services. Businesses can be persuaded to take part in the
partnership to improve their public standing and eventually increase
their profits. Also, sometimes businesses are required to give away a
percentage of their revenue every year to various causes. Why not to
your cause? Many private firms jump at the chance to donate what
they consider "small potatoes" ($500 to $2,000) to pay for giveaways,
event space, or printed materials in return for positive press coverage.
Securing funding
Although partnerships can help spread the workload and provide
some resources, eventually you might discover that you need to se-
cure additional funding to launch various aspects of your watershed
campaign. Develop a project expense budget sheet or use the "Re-
sources Needed" column of the sample operating plan matrix shown
on page 92 to list all of the required goods and services you'll need,
along with an estimate of the cost for each. Don't forget to include
Implementing the Campaign
Part 2
-------
95
travel expenses, supplies, and vendor services, in addition to direct
labor. Also note the in-kind services your project partners have offered.
Once you know what you have and what you need, you can set out to
secure funding to take up the slack.
Whether you decide to apply for grants, solicit donations, or tap into
in-kind services from potential project partners, funding sources can be
found in all sectors. The more sources you identify, the better your chanc-
es of finding the funding you need to meet your campaign objectives.
Foundations
Because foundations are legally required to donate at least 5 percent
of their assets each year to qualify as foundations, being in the right
place at the right time can put you on the receiving end of such dona-
tions. Be sure to check each foundation's guidelines and deadlines for
funding proposals. In addition, most foundations have specific mission
statements, so make sure when applying for funds that your application
focuses on their needs and goals. Visit The Foundation Center (http:
//fdncenter.org) on the Internet to learn about foundations in your area.
For a small fee you can access an online searchable foundation direc-
tory to search more than 70,000 grantmakers and more than 150,000
grants. If you don't have Internet access, you can get a copy of the
database on CD-ROM by calling (212) 620-4230.
Nonprofit organizations
Nonprofit organizations, professional societies, and associations might
also be willing to provide financial support for your campaign. The
Chronicle Web site (www.philanthropy.com) includes articles and grant
announcements from nonprofits. You can search the Chronicle database
to find out what funders have provided money for projects like yours in
the past. The site also provides links to information on fundraising, vol-
unteerism, technology, academic centers on philanthropy, and publica-
tions for nonprofit professionals.
Federal funding sources
Hundreds of federal agencies and organizations provide grants and other
assistance to aid in watershed protection projects. The primary advantage
of federal grants is that state and local governments and other eligible re-
cipients do not have to use their own resources to pay the specific eligible
costs that the grant monies cover. Some grants, specifically challenge
grants, are designed to help you leverage resources or raise more money.
For example, an agency might provide a grant on the condition that you
match it, dollar for dollar, with donations from your members.
For a complete listing of federal funding sources, visit the Catalog of
Federal Domestic Assistance (www.cfda.gov). This Web site provides
access to a database of all federal programs available to state and local
governments; federally recognized Indian tribes; domestic public, quasi-
public, and private profit and nonprofit organizations and institutions;
In 2001 environmental
organizations received
$6.41 billion in financial
support from individuals and
foundations. Developing a
partnership can be a valuable
tool to help your group tap
into new funding sources.
-Giving USA 2002 (American
Association of Fundraising
Counsel's Trust for Philanthropy)
Getting help
Many organizations are willing
to provide in-kind services like
• Accounting/bookkeeping
• Legal counsel
• Fundraising support
• Advertising/public relations
advice and support
• Staff training
• Clerical support
• Facility maintenance
• Facility use
• Equipment use
• Transportation
• Volunteers
Part 2
Implementing the Campaign
-------
( 96
V
Innovative state
funding sources
Section 319 Nonpoint Source
Success Stories Volume III high-
lights the on-the-ground success
of EPA's Clean Water Act section
319 Nonpoint Source Program.
In addition to featuring success
stories from each state, the re-
port includes a special section on
innovative state funding mecha-
nisms such as bond initiatives,
low-interest loan programs,
grants, and land acquisition pro-
grams.
Programs highlighted include
Georgia's Greenspace Pro-
gram—a voluntary, noncom-
petitive, county-based program
that provides grants to eligible
counties if they develop and
implement plans to permanently
protect at least 20 percent of the
county's geographic area as natu-
ral, undeveloped greenspace.
Pennsylvania's Growing Greener
grant program, which has funded
55 watershed assessment and
protection plans, restored 3,603
acres of wetlands, and cleaned
up 279 miles of streams affected
by acid mine drainage is also
described. The report is available
on the Web at www.epa.gov/
owow/nps/Section319III.
specialized groups; and individuals. You can use a variety of search
mechanisms to find funding sources for your campaign. The site pro-
vides eligibility requirements, information on application and award
processes, and proposal criteria for each funding source. The catalog
can also be obtained in print by calling 1-866-512-1800.
EPA's online Federal Funding Database for Watershed Protection
[www.epa.gov/watershedfunding) is also useful. The Web site gives
users access to a database of approximately 100 programs offering
financial assistance (grants, loans, cost-sharing) specially geared
toward watershed-related projects.
Keep in mind that applying for grants can sometimes be costly and
time-consuming. Grant writing requires trained staff to determine
grant opportunities and submit detailed grant applications. The
awarding organizations often take months to process applications and
award grants. Even then, because of the intense competition for the
limited pool of grant funds, state and local governments and other
potential recipients might find it increasingly difficult to acquire fund-
ing for projects.
State funding sources
Most state environmental, wildlife, or parks agencies offer grant or
loan programs (or both) to protect and enhance state environmental
resources. For example, the Michigan Department of Environmental
Quality's Community Pollution Prevention Grant Program provides
$500,000 in grants to local governments and planning agencies to
establish innovative, sustainable pollution prevention practices. In
addition, all states provide grants for the control and prevention of
nonpoint source pollution through EPA's Clean Water Act Section 319
Grant Program (www.epa.gov/owow/nps/funding.html). These grants
can fund local field days, demonstrations, tours, workshops, and other
educational events and activities that promote the implementation of
best management practices to protect water quality. State education
agencies also offer grants that can be used for environmental education
and outreach, especially classroom education. Keep in mind that most
state grants require some percentage of local matching funds. Also, the
funds might not be available to all organizations.
Local and private funding sources
Banks and some corporations offer charitable donations that can help
support your campaign. According to the American Association of
Fundraising Counsel's Trust for Philanthropy, corporate contributions
were 4.3 percent (more than $9 million) of all giving in 2001.
Amazingly, however, most of the charitable money donated to non-
profit organizations by the private sector comes from individuals;
only a small portion is given by foundations and corporations. In fact,
the estates of those who have passed away contribute more money
each year than all U.S. corporations combined.
Implementing the Campaign
Part 2
-------
97
Leveraging Resources
Making the money you have go further is always a challenge, but it can be done. Here are a few
examples of how to leverage resources:
• Look to partners. Identify in-kind services that partners or others can contribute, such as volun-
teer labor, free publicity, food or beverages donated for events, transportation, and technical or
legal advice.
• Buy some ad space and get some more for free. For example, as mentioned in Part 1, Step
4, the City of San Diego leveraged the media spots it purchased for more than $250,000 to get
local broadcasters to contribute 774 free airings of its PSAs.
• Quid pro quo. Offer benefits to those from whom you need help. For example, if you'd like the
local newspaper to print educational newspaper inserts on your watershed festival for free, of-
fer to list it as a sponsor on all festival materials, offer exclusive interviews on the festival for the
paper, and offer the opportunity to have a vendor booth at the festival at no cost.
• Let others do the work for you. Train the people that are most likely to act on and spread
your watershed message through train-the-trainer workshops. For example, teach local Mas-
ter Gardeners how to adopt integrated pest management practices to minimize using harmful
pesticides. In exchange for the training, ask trainees to conduct at least three workshops on their
own to train their friends and neighbors. If you need help developing a watershed logo but can't
afford to hire a design firm, ask the local high school art department to host a logo contest. Offer
the winner recognition in the local paper along with a $500 college scholarship.
Keeping up the momentum
Achieving a substantial change in behavior doesn't happen overnight.
It might take months or even years before you're able to evaluate
whether your outreach campaign encouraged behavior change. This
lack of immediate results can sometimes discourage campaign orga-
nizers to the point that the campaign fizzles out. This discouragement
can be worsened when campaign organizers move on to other jobs
or out of the area. One way to keep the momentum going through-
out the life of an outreach campaign is to set small, achievable goals
throughout the process. These mini-milestones can be used to show
success and keep your project energized.
Overcoming barriers to success
All of us have experienced failure, and watershed campaigns are no
different. It's how you learn from the failures that is the true measure
of long-term success. Following are several barriers that can keep
your campaign from being successful. Understanding what they are,
how to recognize them, and how to overcome them will give your
campaign the strength it needs to be sustainable. As your campaign
progresses, look for areas of concern and respond accordingly. Adapt-
ing your program during implementation to adjust to changing condi-
tions is highly recommended.
-------
98
Tips to keep your
project's wheels in
motion
• Develop a slide show or create
a 1-page fact sheet to keep the
process going.
• Use environmental indicators—
tools to simply and quickly
measure environmental
improvements (such as Secchi
disk measurements or miles of
stream bank revegetated)—to
communicate progress rather
than complicated indicators like
biochemical oxygen demand.
• Identify and commit the
resources needed to achieve
your objectives early in the
process. Running out of money is
probably the number one reason
why watershed campaigns fail.
• Consider piggybacking your
messages onto communication
formats produced and distributed
by partner organizations.
• Work with the news media to
distribute your information.
Regular communication with
newsletter editors and media
reporters about what you're
doing, who's involved, and why
you're doing it usually reaps
benefits.
• Continue to recruit new
campaign partners and leaders
to avoid burnout and ensure a
continual flow of new ideas and
resources.
• Build networks with other
organizations in the community
that are working on water
quality issues. Working in
coalition with other groups
results in new energy and new
ideas.
Poor coordination and planning
Many times failure of a campaign is the result of starting off on the
wrong foot. Most often that means stepping forward with no clear
strategy or plan on paper for how to conduct a watershed outreach
campaign. Your efforts will be in vain if you don't sit down with all
of the key players in the beginning and define your goals, identify
your target audience, determine your messages, decide on the formats
and distribution mechanisms for those messages, and figure out how
you intend to measure your success. And it's not enough to just talk
about it. Write it down. Whether it's 3 pages or 300 pages, a well-
defined written strategy will ensure that everyone involved agrees on
how the project will be conducted and who is responsible for doing
what.
The very nature of working at a watershed level requires that you
coordinate with all the counties, cities, organizations, and stake-
holders in the watershed when developing a watershed outreach
campaign strategy. If you don't have all of the correct stakeholders
involved from the beginning, you can't be sure that your campaign
will address all of the local social, economic, political, and ecological
conditions that must be considered in developing an effective plan.
In addition, involving the right key players from the beginning builds
trust and support for the project, distributes responsibility, creates
more innovative solutions, and is more cost-effective. Including all
the necessary stakeholders in watershed efforts is critical to achieving
behavior change among those stakeholders. Remember: People don't
resist change; they resist being changed. Everyone finds it easier
to support ideas they've had a hand in developing. Consider how
you can involve the people whose behavior you ultimately want to
change.
Lack of communication
When the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing, your
outreach campaign will fizzle out. Be sure to keep everyone involved
in conducting the campaign informed about issues that arise during
various campaign stages, changes to the original strategy, and lessons
learned along the way. In addition, be sure to let people know when
you achieve successes, whether small ("We got 50 hits on our new
Web site within an hour of the launching!") or large ("Within 3 years
after we started our 'Fertilize in the Fall. That's All!' campaign, the
amount of nitrogen entering the lake had decreased by 30 percent").
Political wrangling and changing regulations
Politics plays a role in everything. If the chair of the county board
of commissioners supports the goals of your watershed campaign
but is replaced by a less-supportive commissioner, your campaign
could screech to a halt. Successful watershed groups usually avoid
Implementing the Campaign
Part 2
-------
99
political wrangling and contentious public debate by working quietly
and individually with stakeholder groups to address disagreements in
a satisfactory manner. For example, who pays for cleaner water is at
the crux of many discussions, but nearly all studies on public willing-
ness to pay for better water quality show overwhelming support for
higher fees, taxes, and water/sewer bills if it means cleaner water.
Identification of key public values, alliances with likely supporters,
and aggressive outreach and education programs targeted at impor-
tant stakeholder groups and the public can help generate support for
watershed initiatives and ease resistance among those who will share
the financial costs—usually, the public.
Regulatory changes also require close communication among stake-
holder groups, the regulated community, and elected officials.
Changes in local zoning ordinances, permit requirements, or other
regulations might affect your campaign. Watershed groups can help
regulators stay abreast of the changing regulatory scene by meet-
ing periodically with agency staff, discussing upcoming issues, and
offering support for educating key players in the regulatory field and
among the regulated community. Stay on top of local politics—who
talks to whom and who supports what.
Fear of the unknown
The fear of failing at the daunting task of watershed education and
behavior change can cause delays in getting the job done. Likewise,
"paralysis by analysis" has ossified many well-intentioned people
who aren't comfortable making a decision until the data overwhelm-
ingly confirm the chosen actions. In the real world, we make lots of
decisions (buying a vehicle, selecting a college, etc.) with far less data
than optimally preferred. There will always be unknowns: people
might resign from your staff to accept other jobs, a tanker spill could
occur in your watershed, funding could dry up, and so on.
Collecting data and using them to plot a course are important. How-
ever, don't be so distracted by your research or fear of the unknown
that you fail to pursue your objectives aggressively. Remember Admi-
ral David Farragut at the battle of Mobile Bay: despite facing the new
torpedo technology, he went on to win the battle.
Letting money drive the process
Although your budget might be limited, developing a plan that fits your
budget can be a nearsighted approach. Don't skimp on your goals,
but try to match your group's resources to their role in attaining those
goals. If you include those goals in the original plan, you'll be prepared
once these resources are obtained down the road. Also, along the way
you might develop partnerships that provide funding for planned ac-
tivities you thought you could not afford.
Working together
For tips on working with stake-
holders, reaching consensus,
and resolving conflict, read
Getting In Step: Engaging and
Involving Stakeholders in Your
Watershed. It's available on the
Internet at www.epa.gov/
owow/watershed/outreach/
documents.
Part 2
Implementing the Campaign
-------
1OO
Funding for watershed projects is usually limited. Groups often find
themselves chasing limited dollars. The funding "tail" might wag
the project "dog" if you don't take precautions. Successful projects
identify the types of actions needed to protect or restore watershed
health and then pursue funding or other support for those actions.
When opportunities come along for low-priority activities, careful
consideration is required to determine whether chasing this funding
and executing the associated nonessential tasks will detract from pre-
viously identified—and important—activities. Passing on funding that
would reorient your entire project or distract your group from key
actions identified to protect or restore the watershed might be tough,
but sometimes it's necessary to maintain your focus, momentum, and
progress toward your group's established goals.
Letting the process bog you down
Means are as important as ends, but take care to avoid letting the pro-
cess become the goal. Momentum is lost when too much time is spent
on the process rather than the project. This phenomenon is summed
up in the postmortem report "death by meeting." People don't mind
attending meetings if they're necessary, short, and results-oriented.
However, meetings that occur only because "it's the third Tuesday of
the month" and drag on for hours without any clear sense of purpose
are the death knell for stakeholder-based groups. Involve people, com-
municate, and take time to meet occasionally, but beware of situations
where your volunteers are spending more time in meetings than on
watershed work. Most action occurs outside meetings. That's where
people are needed, and that's where they usually want to be! Keep up
the momentum by making participation fun and exciting.
A final thought...
We hope this guide and the accompanying video have inspired you to
go out and start your own watershed outreach campaign. Remember
that there are no hard-and-fast rules. These tips are provided to help
you get started, give you some new ideas, or provide more informa-
tion to expand your program. The most important thing is to believe
in your goal and work hard to meet it.
We'd love to hear how you used this guide, what you liked or didn't
like, and the lessons you learned while conducting your outreach
efforts. Please send us your comments through the feedback link at
www.epa.gov/nps/outreach. Good luck!
Implementing the Campaign
Part 2
-------
Appendices
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Appendix D
Building Blocks Worksheets
Identifying and Removing Barriers
to Behavior Change
Behavior Selection Matrix
Outreach Campaign Evaluation
Questions
Appendix E Want to Know More?
-------
A-1
Appendix A:
Building Blocks Worksheets
"O
c
TO
C
O
'-pj
TO
4^
c
O)
E
T3
O)
i/l
M_-
"o
c
Z3
C
TO
-Q
Z)
O
4^
O)
Z)
"O
01
c
T3
TO
_g
O)
>
o
c
O)
01
o
H — '
'c
~O i/l
C 0)
/TT I J
TO ~
l/l J5
— i 1—
ing phosphon
impervious su
"E °
— > 4-J
U O)
C Zi
,"O
1 =
-^ T3
o 8
2 o
Q_M—
>*~O
±i c
-^ ro
3 _-
^§
S'-s
re C
51
§£
•^ o
a; u
^lc
P
Jr u
O (T3
LJ- ^2
C =
.= 0
> '^
~ 0
Q fc
t/i
CD
_^
ro
o
C
("0
l/l
E
re
a>
l/l
"?c
u
O
c
_0
'+^
Z3
"o
Q.
4-J
C
O)
+^
Z3
C
O)
U
^
-a
cu
—
5
-t-j
re
_C
4-J
1/1
O
>
re
t~
O)
-Q
a>
01
f and encoura
q=
O
C
^
L_
4-J
C
O)
+^
Z3
^
TO
'+^j
C
O)
T3
'i/l
a^
"s
w
i/i
i/i
O)
c
a;
TO
TO
O)
i/i
TO
£
U
C
15
O
a
i/i
TO
a;
TO
d commercial
c
TO
TO
C
O)
"O
'l/l
a;
E
o
H —
'"o
c
3
+^
c
a>
Z3
c
O)
u
Z3
T3
O)
cc
fl)
w
1
15"
0
c
_o
'^
fD
15
>
LLJ
C
.0
^^
.Q
™
^^
• K
O
+J
eo
E
^
o
Ll_
dJ
01
ns
IS
a!
5
^
dj
u
C
_gj
•5
^
t5
01
^
^
rtl
ty
1
15"
0
I H —
E^
o >,
"O O)
C > i^
2 3 •£
"i a>
tj" ^
.Si,-- ffi
O^"ro 2:
cLT^ ^r
^ ^ c
l/l 'ZZ. ^
0 .21 0
Q- -a u
'i/i
C
TO
L_
4-J
>* 'TO
5 E E
> O) ^/
^2 4-J =±
3 SO Zi
1X1 S^ CQ
("0
c
±i .^ £2
l/l 4-^ s_
c p. a)
m ^ i/i
s^ ^ C
4- -a —
>, 0) =
ie S£ f
_Q ai 'i^ a> ai
— ! 4-J 1 4-J 4—1
15 ifl — ifl m
1/1 0 Zi 0 >
i_n o u_ o *5»
i/i" a; — ~O
1 gJl^«^1
a; -^'1±^^ 010 ^3 2
^ E-oc^2S^
c — 5 -^ ^ ^ S. 5 '5 --
a;< -9ra^^^a;'3s
N « ,
:=ij _C >— !- ^Saij-j
t ™ ?io3^^§g^
ai-C >!_oco;iUa)
LJ- i — >O>,O4-jOii/ic
O)
Q.
^ g
TO ^-8
** L_ "
i/i ",« ro *—
a5 £ <" —
11s!-
< > "^ c o "°
i^ -— O) u c
O) J= U "O > C TO
% => v £ ™ & .° is*
%5 ^™^ ^5 E
5 TOLn TO-Q-S^ TO
S'+^rNiainj^OOJ
TO c -.^>^yi;± CLi^
a; -S-2T-- °^= 4- ^
Sfi^stcs'igg.
aJajolEO+^-izg^
U- C.ti ^ ^4-^^
^Eg££c.gj35
-------
Summary Sheet
Driving Force:
Goal:
Objective:
Objective
Target Audience
Message
Format
Distribution
Evaluation
-------
Evaluation
Steps
Process
Impact
Context
Goal and Objective
Target Audience
Message
Format
Distribution
-------
<•"
Operating Plan Matrix
Goal:
Objective:
Activity/
Product
Evaluation
Indicators
Time Frame/Due Date
Responsible Party
Resources Needed
Staff time
Dollars
Status/Comments
Objective:
Staff time
Staff time
Dollars
Dollars
-------
ix B:
Identifying and
Removing B
Behavior Change
Knowing why people do things and what might make them change a particular
behavior will help you identify the most appropriate ways to convince the target
audience to adopt the behavior you're recommending. Use this/worksheet to help
uncover the barriers to behavior change so that you can remove or minimize the
barriers before you develop your message. Answer the questions in the Barriers
column on the left; then circle the ways you intend to remove or minimize the
barriers in the Barrier Breakers column on the right. (Be creative! Develop new
Barrier Breakers for your situation and add them to the list.]
Is it expensive for the
target audience to
perform the behavior?
Why?
Barrier Breakers
in
(B
CD
• Subsidize the cost.
• Find a cheaper way for the audience to
engage in the behavior.
• Use partners to offset the costs.
• Provide incentives to encourage the
behavior.
• Piggyback onto an existing activity to
lower the cost.
k If it's too expensive for
\ 7 homeowners to install
| j permeable-pavement
driveways, offer reduced
tax assessments to help
offset the cost and act as an
incentive. Another idea would
be to work with homeowners'
associations to sign up individual
homeowners and pool them
together for discounted bulk
orders.
O
c
O
u
UJ
(C
Q.
-------
B-;
Because planting
trees along streamside
property is both time-
consuming and expensive
for homeowners, partner with
a local nursery to provide
discounts to anyone planting
trees for this purpose. Promote
the nursery in your effort, and
provide tip sheets on how and
when to plant the trees.
If shoppers exhibit an
unwillingness to buy recycled
products, encourage them
frequently with positive
messages about how important it
is to "close the recycling loop." An
annual, month-long "Get in the
Loop" campaign in Washington
State reminds shoppers to buy
recycled products through in-store
promotional materials and identifies
specific recycled-product choices
right on the store shelf.
When recruiting local Girl
Scout troops to conduct
a beach cleanup, hold a
mini trash-pickup training
session to show them things to
avoid (such as used syringes and
toiletries) and when to ask for
adult help.
To combat the stigma
associated with the real
or perceived health risks of
picking up pet waste, use
humor when developing your
message and formats.
S2
Does it take more
physical effort
to perform the
recommended
behavior than the
opposing behavior?
Why?
O
1
I
I
Does the
recommended
behavior present a
risk to the health and
safety of the target
audience or their
family members (e.g.,
area designated for
stream cleanup in or
near known gang
hangout, poison ivy,
or fears of disease-
causing organisms)?
Why?
Barrier Breakers
• Piggyback onto an existing activity to
lower the effort required.
• Provide physical or monetary assistance to
promote the behavior.
• Provide monetary rewards or recognition
to encourage the behavior.
• Highlight others in the target audience
engaging in the behavior to show that it's
not as difficult as perceived.
Educate the audience on real and
perceived risks.
Remove risks by offering safety tips.
Provide statistics to show real risk levels.
Provide security.
Provide preventive health services (e.g.,
hepatitis shots, etc.).
Identifying and Removing Barriers to Behavior Change
Appendix B
-------
Barrier Breakers k /f you're promoting soil
Is it difficult to get \ I testing to homeowners to
the information or \ f prevent overfertilization,
resources needed to • Educate the audience on how to adopt * provide free soil test kits,
adopt the behavior? the behavior. available at select locations or
.... ., . , , by sending an e-mail request
Why? • Make it easy to get the resources or
. , .. .. to the county soil and water
information needed by posting it online,
... ,. .. ,'• u-t • conservation district.
providing alternative locations to obtain
materials/information, and taking needed
materials/information to the audience.
ts
OQ
O
O
uj Are there other
s_ physical or economic
barriers?
(Please list.)
w
'
Appendix B Identifying and Removing Barriers to Behavior Change
-------
B-,
Make it socially acceptable
to have a not-so-lush lawn
by finding homeowners
willing to use alternative
vegetation or reduce their
fertilizer use and asking them to
post signs on their lawn that say
they have a water-friendly yard.
Work with local schools
to develop household
hazardous waste education
campaigns. Have students
take home "Nontoxic Home"
pledge forms to ask parents
to commit to reducing their
reliance on toxic household
products. After the parents
have committed to this small
pledge, ask them to make a
larger commitment by hosting
a community Household
Hazardous Waste Pickup Day at
the school. Provide stickers for
parents to place on products
that say "toxic," "recycle," or
"save" to serve as prompts for
the whole family.
_o
o
u
(A
0.
V.
O
^m*
(C
Is there social
pressure to avoid
the behavior?
Why?
Is the behavior
contrary to
community norms?
Why?
Is there fear of
social disapproval
or rejection for
performing the
behavior?
Why?
How do members of
the target audience
feel they might be
perceived by their
peers if they adopt
the recommended
behavior?
Why?
Is the behavior
consistent with the
target audience's
self-image?
Why?
Barrier Breakers
• Research current community norms and
reasons for those norms through focus
groups.
• Develop messages that make it seem
socially desirable to perform the behavior.
• Provide frequent and strategically placed
prompts to remind people of the behavior.
• Identify early adopters in the community,
and partner with them to spread the
word and convince others to adopt the
new behavior. They can help develop new
social norms that include environmental
behaviors.
• Use community gatherings and events to
show that social pressure is perceived and
not real.
• Clearly communicate the percentage
or number of people that are currently
engaging in the recommended behavior.
• Try to gain small commitments from
members of the target audience to
engage in "easier" behaviors before
asking them to adopt the "harder"
behavior. Sociologists and marketers
agree that getting people to say "yes"
to something small makes it easier for
them to say "yes" to something larger
later on because people like to be viewed
as consistent. (Remember: Written
commitments are more effective than
verbal commitments.)
Other emotional
or psychological
barriers?
(Please list.)
Identifying and Removing Barriers to Behavior Change
Appendix B
-------
(C
OQ
0)
O)
•o
_o>
o
Does the target
audience need to
learn new skills
to perform the
behavior?
Why?
Barrier Breakers
Provide training on the new behavior.
Recruit early adopters to demonstrate the
new behavior in daily activities, at events,
or during training sessions.
Create train-the-trainer
sessions for volunteer
stream monitors so that
they can train others and
expand the volunteer pool.
S2
0)
Does the target
audience know
the benefits of
the recommended
behavior?
Why?
• Show the immediate consequences of
both adopting and not adopting the
behavior; convey consequences (positive
and negative) in your message.
Does the target
audience know
the impacts of the
opposing behavior?
Why?
Identify and communicate actual or
estimated environmental, social, or
economic impacts (e.g., statistics, before-
and-after photos) of the opposing
behavior and the recommended behavior.
Appendix B.
Identifying and Removing Barriers to Behavior Change
-------
"•
Provide statistics on the
number of dogs in the
county that need to be
picked up after, or the
number of stream miles owned
by private landowners that need
to be buffered.
Does the target
audience believe
that individual
actions are not
significant enough
to improve the
environment?
Why?
Barrier Breakers
• Provide statistics on the collective impacts
of individual actions.
Are there other
knowledge barriers?
(Please list.)
Identifying and Removing Barriers to Behavior Change
Appendix B
-------
C-1
Appendix C:
Behavior Selection Matrix
Before you complete the Behavior Selection Matrix, take a few minutes to review
the following questions. Remember: There are no right or wrong answers to the
questions in the matrix. The answers are mostly subjective and will depend on
the circumstances surrounding your locality's issues and concerns.
Which behavior will result in the highest reduction in pollution?
Based on information you have regarding current water quality or environmental
conditions in the project area, try to determine which of the behaviors you listed
will result in the greatest reduction in pollution if a large majority of the target
audience adopts the behavior.
Which behavior will be the most affordable to promote to my audience?
Consider both the short-term and long-term costs that your organization might
incur while trying to promote the adoption of this behavior. Think about the costs
of outreach materials and formats, how the materials will be distributed, and who
will help you distribute them. Consider whether you'll be able to defray some of
the costs by piggybacking onto existing efforts. For example, if you're promot-
ing the use of alternative landscaping designs to conserve water resources in a
particular community, is there an existing community newsletter you can use to
distribute your message? If so, you will be able to save yourself the expense of
printing and distributing your own materials.
Which behavior will be the most affordable for my audience to adopt?
Estimate all the costs that an average member of the target audience will incur
when adopting the recommended behavior. Think about expenses related to gas,
wear-and-tear on vehicles, the cost of taking time off from work to get to the
recycling facility before it closes, expenses associated with alternative or green
products (which are usually more expensive than conventional products), and so
forth.
Which behavior is the most attractive to the people in my community?
Think about which behavior most resembles current community norms and at-
titudes. Which one will make people seem like smart, savvy neighbors?
For which behavior will it be easiest to show a link to the problem?
Because most people don't fully understand the link between what they do at
home and the quality of our environment, being able to show a clear cause-and-
effect relationship between behaviors and their effects on the environment is very
important. Agricultural demonstration projects have been a successful in helping
people make connections between behavioral changes and environmental results.
For example, by planting trees and other vegetation along stream banks, farmers
-------
C-2
can prevent rapid stream bank erosion. If farmers that have vegetated their stream
banks invite their neighbors to come and see how their experiment has slowed
erosion, the other farmers might be convinced to do the same on their land.
Showing a link for other behaviors might require more complex strategies. For
example, because it's difficult to see a septic tank leaking or to understand the im-
pact lawn fertilizer can have on a waterbody, it could be more difficult for people
to accept that their behavior might be negatively affecting the environment.
Which behavior is the most sustainable?
Which behavior will promote a solution that will have the greatest pollution re-
duction effect over the greatest amount of time? Does one behavior eliminate the
problem, or does it simply reduce the impact that problem might have? Educat-
ing homeowners about the proper type and amount of fertilizer to apply on their
lawns will reduce the amount of nutrient runoff into streams, but encouraging
alternative landscaping in place of a lawn could eliminate the need for lawn fertil-
izer altogether.
Which behavior will have additional water quality benefits?
Sometimes it's possible to kill two birds with one stone. If your community devel-
ops a septic system maintenance plan to reduce the amount of nutrients entering a
waterbody from faulty systems, it is likely that bacteria levels will decrease as well.
Multiple water quality benefits also could result from encouraging homeowners to
landscape with native plants. Natural landscaping can reduce the amount of water
homeowners need to use for watering their lawns, decrease the use of yard fertil-
izers that can result in runoff of excess nutrients to streams, and even reduce the
amount of stormwater runoff that occurs during rain events. To determine addi-
tional water quality benefits a behavior might have, consider whether the behavior
addresses a source of multiple pollutants or the possible effect reducing one pollut-
ant might have on other pollutants common in the environment.
Which behavior will get the highest consumer response?
Consider the ways in which each behavior will affect the consumer. If homeown-
ers are educated about the amount and type of fertilizer their lawns need, the
homeowners are likely to purchase the correct type of fertilizer if it could reduce
their cost or the amount of time needed to apply the fertilizer. Also, a product ad-
vertised as environmentally friendly is more likely to be purchased if it is reason-
ably priced. If such products are noticeably more expensive, however, the benefit
of their being environmentally friendly might not affect the consumers' actions.
Which behavior has the fewest barriers to overcome?
There are many reasons why a person might not adopt sustainable behaviors. The
behavior might be too costly to implement, the person could be unaware of the
potential benefits of certain behaviors, or he or she could feel pressured by peers
to behave in a certain way. To gain a better understanding of the potential barriers
people face, fill out the worksheets provided in Appendix B.
Behavior Selection Matrix Appendix C
-------
Behavior Selection Matrix
Objective:
Behavior
Evaluation Questions
Score from 1 to 6 (1 being the least likely; 6 being the most likely).
Note: Behaviors may receive the same score if applicable.
Which
behavior
will result in
the highest
reduction in
pollution?
Which
behavior will
be the most
affordable
to promote
to my
audience?
Which
behavior will
be the most
affordable
for my
audience to
adopt?
Which
behavior is
the most
attractive to
the people
in my
community?
For which
behavior will
it be easiest
to show a
link to the
problem?
Which
behavior is
the most
sustainable?
Which
behavior
will have
additional
water
quality
benefits?
Which
behavior
will
get the
highest
consumer
response?
Which
behavior
has the
fewest
barriers to
overcome?
Total
Score
(sum of
columns
1-9)
Instructions:
1. Score each behavior based on the evaluation questions (1 being the least likely; 6 being the most likely).
2. Obtain behavior score by adding the scores for each question.
3. The behavior with the highest score is the recommended behavior.
n
w
-------
Appendix D:
Outreach Campaign Evaluation
Questions
Process Evaluation
Are the planned activities being implemented according to schedule?
Is additional support needed?
Are additional activities needed?
Do some activities need to be modified or eliminated?
Are the resources allocated sufficient to carry out the task?
Did the target audience receive the materials distributed?
D-1
What feedback has been received, and how does it affect the remaining outreach campaign objectives and activities?
How do the technical activities related to the campaign issues affect the campaign?
-------
fD-2
Impact Evaluation
Were the campaign objectives achieved?
Did the campaign change the behavior of the target audience members?
Are there measurable improvements in water quality?
Context Evaluation
Was the campaign right for the target audience?
Did it effectively address watershed issues for the target area?
Did the campaign compete with other social or economic issues?
Were the formats and messages appropriate?
Was the campaign controversial?
Outreach Campaign Evaluation Questions Appendix D
-------
Appendix E:
Want To Know More?
This appendix provides information on additional sources of outreach materials,
watershed management planning, media relations, and other tools that might be
useful to your program. Although this list is by no means inclusive, it represents
some of the best materials available. Wherever possible, a contact, phone number,
and Web site information are provided.
Developing an outreach program
Bridge Builder: A Guide for Watershed Partnerships (Facilitator's Handbook)
The purpose of this handbook is to make the facilitation of watershed planning
and management as easy as possible. Many exercises, transparencies, forms,
checklists, and other sources of information and examples are included through-
out the text. To obtain a copy of this handbook, contact Conservation Technology
Information Center, 1220 Potter Drive, Room 170, West Lafayette, IN 47906-1383.
Phone: (765) 494-9555; Fax: (765) 494-5969, Internet: www.ctic.purdue.edu.
Community Culture and the Environment: A Guide to Understanding a
Sense of Place
Produced by EPA, this guide provides a process and set of tools for defining and
understanding the social and cultural aspects of community-based environmental
protection. Contact the National Service Center for Environmental Publications at
(800) 490-9198 or e-mail ncepimal@one.net and ask for publication number
EPA942-B-01-003.
Conservation Partnerships Field Guide
This field guide to public-private partnering for natural resource conservation is
designed to help both the novice and the experienced practitioner successfully use
partnerships as equitable, effective, and efficient means of achieving results. It in-
cludes an overview of projects and partnerships. The field guide is available from
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Training and Education, 4401 North
Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203, or call (703) 358-1711.
Designing an Effective Communication Program: A Blueprint for Success
This handbook will guide you through the crucial steps involved in designing
an environmental communication program. From designing your program to
increasing the effectiveness of communication materials, this guide has it all. It's
available through the University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources and
Environment, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, at (734) 764-1817.
Directory of Funding Sources for Grassroots River and Watershed
Conservation Groups 2001-2002
The directory profiles foundations, corporations, state and federal agencies,
and nonprofits that support small, nonprofit watershed groups, as well as a few
sources that support tribes. It includes contact information, grant sizes, and a
brief description of each source's particular interests. Contact River Network at
(800) 423-6747 or www.rivernetwork.org.
-------
E-2
Environmental Partnerships: A Field Guide for Nonprofit Organizations and
Community Interests
This guide introduces partnerships and explains what makes them successful and
how to make them grow. It's available from the Management Institute for Environ-
ment and Business at (202) 833-6556, or call The Dryden Press at (800) 782-4479.
Getting in Step: Engaging and Involving Stakeholders in Your Watershed
This guide provides the tools needed to effectively engage stakeholders to restore
and maintain healthy watersheds through community support and cooperative ac-
tion. Available online at www.epa.gov/owow/watershed/outreach/documents.
Getting The Word Out in the Fight to Save the Earth
This book includes hundreds of practical and proven examples of how to effec-
tively communicate your environmental message. It explains how any nonprofit
group can expand and activate its membership, influence government officials,
mobilize the news media, and shape public policy in the fight to save communi-
ties, regional ecosystems, and the earth. Available through the Johns Hopkins
University Press, Baltimore, MD 21218.
How to Create a Storm Water Pollution Prevention Campaign
This manual is for neighborhoods, community groups, governments, and others that
want to protect and improve water quality. It was produced by the Environmental
Health Coalition, which has created many community-based programs that have
served as models throughout the country. For more information, contact Environmen-
tal Health Coalition, 1717 Kettner, Suite 100, San Diego, CA 92101, (619) 235-0281.
How to Save a River: A Handbook for Citizen Action
This handbook presents the wisdom gained from years of river protection
campaigns across the United States. It covers the general principles of action,
including getting organized, planning a campaign, building public support,
and putting a plan into action. Contact River Network at (800) 423-6747 or
www. rivernetwork. org.
Know Your Watershed: Watershed Management Starter Kit
Want to start a watershed management partnership for your local watershed? This
complete kit includes five guides (Getting to Know Your Watershed, Building Local
Partnerships, Putting Together a Watershed Management Plan, Managing Conflict,
and Leading and Communicating}, a 13-minute video (Partnerships for Watersheds],
10 companion brochures, and an application to the National Watershed Network. In
other words, it includes everything you need to get started. It's available from Con-
servation Technology Information Center, (765) 494-9555 or www.ctic.purdue.edu/
Catalog/WatershedManagement.html.
Leadership Identification Guidebook
Leadership is an important part of any successful conservation partnership. This
guidebook provides methods for identifying community leaders and tells how to
involve them in promoting the goals of the conservation partnership. It will also
introduce you to the concept of group dynamics and teach you facilitation skills
that will enable you to get the most out of your meetings. The guidebook is avail-
able through the NACD Service Center, PO Box 855, League City, TX, 77574-0855,
(800) 825-5547.
Want To Know More? Appendix E
-------
E-3
Making Waves: How to Put On a Water Festival
This publication is a great help in providing direction and ideas for organizing
your own festival. Use Making Waves to plan an event in your school, county,
or state. The water festival concept has been an enormously successful way to
educate children and adults about water and water-related resources. This new
version includes updated samples of fundraising letters, forms, news releases, and
more. Also check out Making More Waves: Ideas from Across the U.S. and Canada
for Organizing Your Festival and Making a Bigger Splash: A Collection of Water
Education and Festival Activities. All are available through the Groundwater Foun-
dation at (800) 858-4844. (Cost: $12 each)
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation—Public Involvement Handbook
Community participation, enhancing the public's trust, managing conflict that
might arise, and developing and carrying out a public involvement program are
some of the subjects in this handbook. Also included is a section of ideas and
techniques that can be applied to a variety of situations. Developed in 1995, the
handbook is available through the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation,
Harrisburg, PA. For more information, visit www.mccormicktaylor.com/training_
proj_PIH.htm.
River Talk! Communicating a Watershed Message
River Talk! is a hands-on guide for people who want to be more efficient and ef-
fective in encouraging key sectors of their communities to become involved in de-
signing river messages that resonate with target audiences. Contact River Network
at (800) 423-6747 or www.rivernetwork.org.
Starting Up: A Handbook for New River and Watershed Organizations
This guide provides information for groups on how to get organized, includ-
ing funding and procedural advice. Contact River Network at (800) 423-6747 or
www.rivernetwork.org. (Cost: $40)
Watershed Restoration: A Guide for Citizen Involvement in California
Some of the best science and technical tools available to citizens involved in
coastal watershed management are available in this guide. Although it was devel-
oped for California, this well-constructed guide might spark ideas for use in other
watersheds. Published in December 1995, it can be obtained by contacting the
U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra-
tion, Coastal Oceans Office, 1315 East West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910.
Phone: (301) 713-3338; Fax: (301) 713-4044.
Watershed Toolshed
The Ohio Watershed Network, a statewide information and education network
in support of local watershed protection efforts, maintains an online Watershed
Toolshed which includes the module "Planning a Watershed Education Program."
The module provides guidance to anyone interested in developing a watershed
education program targeting specific audiences to help them make informed deci-
sions to protect water quality. The Network also provides a listing of watershed
groups in Ohio, the Ohio Watershed Academy, and other resources and references.
Available online at http://ohiowatersheds.osu.edu/index.html.
Appendix E Want To Know More?
-------
E-4
Existing outreach programs
For the Sake of the Salmon (4SOS)
4SOS is a regional organization operating in Washington, Oregon, and California
whose mission is "to restore salmon to levels which ensure healthy, sustainable nat-
ural populations and support productive fisheries." 4SOS supports multi-stakeholder
efforts to raise awareness and build consensus. Resources for communication,
working with the media, and outreach can be found at www.4sos.org/wssupport/
group_support/message.asp.
Maine Department of Environmental Protection's Nonpoint Source
Awareness Campaign
Maine's Nonpoint Source Awareness Campaign started in 1995 as a collaborative
effort between the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and
the State Planning Office to raise awareness about nonpoint source pollution
prevention. Together these agencies produced the "8 Simple Steps" campaign and
a series of radio and print messages. In 2000 the agencies began to develop more
tailored materials and campaigns for their specific program needs. For more in-
formation, contact Kathy M. Hoppe, Maine DEP, 1235 Central Drive, Presque Isle,
ME 04769. Phone: (207) 764-0477; e-mail: kathy.m.hoppe@state.me.us; Internet:
www.state.me.us/dep/blwq/docwatershed/npscamp.htm.
Project NEMO
NEMO uses geographic information system (CIS) technology to educate landown-
ers and municipal officials about nonpoint source pollution and watershed protec-
tion. Contact Chester Arnold, University of Connecticut Cooperative Extension,
Haddam, CT. Phone: (860) 345-4511; Internet: nemo.uconn.edu.
RiverSmart
RiverSmart is a national public education campaign designed to show people how
simple changes in their everyday activities can protect America's water resources.
RiverSmart is a project of River Network, the nation's leader in supporting more
than 4,000 local river and watershed groups nationwide that are working to save
rivers. River Network Partner groups are placing RiverSmart television, radio, and
newspaper ads in media outlets across the country. For more information, visit
www.riversmart.com.
Think Blue San Diego
The City of San Diego believes the key to cleaner ocean waters is public educa-
tion. That's why they created the "Think Blue" educational campaign. "Think
Blue" educates residents, businesses, and industries about the causes of storm-
water pollution and the pollution prevention behaviors everyone can adopt. For
more information, visit www.thinkbluesd.org.
Want To Know More? Appendix E
-------
E-5
Social marketing
Fostering Sustainable Behavior
Doug McKenzie-Mohr and William Smith developed this 175-page book on en-
vironmental marketing in 1999. The book is a compilation of the strategies and
methods that collectively form the basis of community-based social marketing—
a proven breakthrough in the field of environmental education and outreach. It
was written for those involved in designing, implementing, and evaluating public
education programs with the goal of promoting sustainable behavior. For more
information, visit www.cbsm.com.
Developing a Communications Plan: A Roadmap to Success
This guide provides a roadmap for developing a communications plan. Read-
ers can learn valuable processes, such as prioritization exercises and feasibility
screens, as well as how to manage the challenges of building an effective consum-
er education plan from the ground up. Available from the Huron River Watershed
Council (HRWC), 1100 North Main Street, Suite 210, Ann Arbor, MI 48104. Phone:
(313) 769-5123; Fax: (313) 998-0163.
Hands-on Social Marketing: A Step-by-Step Guide
Written by Nedra Kline Wienrich, this guide explains the concepts behind social
marketing theory and provides handy case studies and other resources. Contact
Sage Publications by e-mail at order@sagepub.com or visit
www.socialmarketing.com.
Strategic Marketing for Nonprofit Organizations
This book, written by Philip Kotler and Alan R. Andreason, forms a conceptual
and practical foundation for marketing in nonprofit organizations. Its coverage en-
compasses the entire marketing process, providing valuable insights on strategic
evaluations, positioning, market targeting, and more. For more information, visit
http://vig.prenhall.com.
Listservers
NPSINFO
NPSINFO is a forum for open discussion of nonpoint source pollution issues. It
is sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Wetlands,
Oceans, and Watersheds. Possible topics for discussion include agricultural
nonpoint sources, urban runoff, technology, educational and funding alterna-
tives, coastal nonpoint sources, forest management, best management practices,
hydrological modification, and aquatic habitat modification. NPSINFO welcomes
news articles, short abstracts, announcements, and conference notices, as well as
questions, answers, and opinions. For more information, visit www.epa.gov/nps/
changes.html. To subscribe, send an e-mail to join-npsinfo@lists.epa.gov. Leave
the subject line and message body blank.
Volunteer Monitor
The Volunteer Monitor listserver is a national forum for volunteer monitors.
EPA established the list to encourage communication and information exchange
among the nation's growing number of volunteer environmental monitoring
Appendix E Want To Know More?
-------
E-6
programs. You'll receive news on coming conferences, workshops, special events,
and new publications. This site is also a discussion forum and networking tool
that volunteer monitors of all types use to ask and respond to questions about
volunteer monitoring methods, data quality, data management issues, and more.
Whether your group monitors wetlands, streams, or lakes, sign up and get into
the loop. To subscribe, send an e-mail to join-volmonitor@lists.epa.gov. Leave the
subject line and message body blank.
Outreach materials
Around the Home and On the Road
This 32-page publication is full of useful tips on pesticides, household chemicals, ero-
sion, water conservation, and more. The guide is intended to educate people about
their role in the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem, but it's also useful beyond the coast.
Copies are available from Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, 6600 York Road, Suite
100, Baltimore, MD 21212. Phone: (410) 377-6270; Internet: www.acb-online.org.
Chesapeake Bay Community Action Guide: A Step-by-Step Guide to
Improving the Environment in Your Neighborhood
This guide includes information on storm drain stenciling, stream cleanups, re-
forestation and tree care, and more. Contact Metropolitan Washington Council of
Governments at (202) 962-3256 or visit www.mwcog.org.
A Citizen's Handbook to Address Contaminated Coal Mine Drainage
EPA developed this guide to familiarize citizens and grassroots groups with the
history and chemistry of coal mine drainage (CMD) from abandoned mines. It
provides an overview of the step-by-step process of contaminated CMD cleanup
and the role that citizens and grassroots groups can play in that process. Ask for
publication number EPA 903-K-97-003. EPA documents are available from the
National Service Center for Environmental Publications, P.O. Box 42419, Cincin-
nati, OH 45242-0419. Phone: (800) 490-9198; e-mail: ncepimal@one.net; Internet:
www.epa.gov/ncepihom.
The Clean Water Act: An Owner's Manual
This small booklet explains crucial sections of the Clean Water Act, points out
how to get involved in regulatory decisions, and tells the stories of others who
have done so. Contact River Network at (800) 423-6747 or www.rivernetwork.org.
Clean Water in Your Watershed: A Citizens Guide to Watershed Protection
Using Enviroscape watershed education models, children and adults learn by
applying chemicals (drink mix) and loose soil (cocoa) throughout a typical com-
munity and then making it "rain" to immediately see the water pollution these
activities could cause. Contact Enviroscape, c/o JT&A, Inc., 14524-F Lee Road,
Chantilly, VA 20151. Phone: (703) 631-8810; e-mail: learn@enviroscapes.com.
The National Watershed Library
The National Watershed Library lists many education and outreach tools
for specific audiences like farmers, homeowners, and teachers. Visit
www.ctic.purdue.edu for more information.
Want To Know More? Appendix E
-------
E-7
Nonpoint Source News-Notes
EPA's Nonpoint Source News-Notes is an occasional bulletin dealing with the con-
dition of the water-related environment. To download the newsletter and search
back issues, visit the Web site at www.epa.gov/owow/info/NewsNotes.
Surf Your Watershed
Through this online service, you can locate your watershed and discover its condi-
tion and the partnerships working to protect it. Find information on population,
area, land use, environmental issues, watershed groups, and water quality. You
can also generate maps of your watershed at www.epa.gov/surf.
Volunteer Monitor
The Volunteer Monitor newsletter facilitates the exchange of ideas, monitoring
methods, and practical advice among volunteer environmental monitoring groups
across the United States. Available at www.epa.gov/owow/monitoring/volunteer/
vm_index.html.
Water Environment Web
This Web site provides a collection of Water Environment Federation resources
and outside links related to watersheds. Included are publications, background
information, coming events, and networking areas. www.wef.org/WaterNews.
Watershed Academy Web
Through the Watershed Academy Web, EPA offers a variety of self-paced training
modules that represent a basic and broad introduction to the watershed manage-
ment field. Modules take 1A hour to 2 hours to complete. Courses include Top Ten
Watershed Lessons Learned, Introduction to the Clean Water Act, Wetland Func-
tions and Values, and more. For more information, visit www.epa.gov/watertrain.
A Watershed Approach to Urban Runoff: Handbook for Decisionmakers
This handbook outlines a process for understanding your watershed; explains
the watershed management approach to assessing, planning, implementing, and
evaluating; gives an overview of assessment and management tools; and provides
detailed insights into structural and nonstructural best management practices and
sample site plans. The guide can be obtained through the Conservation Technol-
ogy Information Center at www.ctic.purdue.edu.
Watershed Protection: Catalog of Federal Funding Programs
The Catalog of Federal Funding Sources for Watershed Protection is now online as
an easy-to-use, searchable Web site. The site provides information for watershed
practitioners and others on 84 federal funding sources that may be available to
help fund various watershed-related projects. The site updates EPA's original Cata-
log of Federal Funding Sources for Watershed Protection (EPA 841-B-99-003), which
was previously published in 1999. For more information, visit www.epa.gov/wa-
tershedfunding.
Watershed Stewards Project
This community-based watershed restoration program is committed to restor-
ing salmon and other life-forms that depend on healthy watersheds for survival.
Members join with top resource professionals, forming cooperative relationships
Appendix E Want To Know More?
-------
E-8
between private industry, government agencies, and academic institutions, to
build public awareness of the importance of watershed stewardship. For more
information, check out the project's Web site at www.northcoast.com/ ~ fishhelp.
Working with the media
Communications Tips for Positive Media Relations
The following Web site, hosted by the Mississippi Department of Education's
Office of Information and Safety, provides a list of helpful suggestions for orga-
nizations working with the media for outreach purposes: www.mde.kl2.ms.us/
extrel/network/nettip.htm.
Culvert Action: How to Interest Your Local Media in Polluted Runoff Issues
This manual is intended to provide assistance to anyone seeking to educate the
public about polluted runoff through newspapers, radio, and television. It's avail-
able from the Lindsay Museum, 1931 First Avenue, Walnut Creek, CA 94596.
Phone: (510) 935-1978.
The Green Room: Media Writing for Environmentalists
The Green Room will show you how to get media coverage, how to implement
a media campaign, and the importance of the campaign. The site will take you
through each step from drafting press releases and hosting media events to devel-
oping a long-term communications strategy. Visit www.green-room.org for more
information.
Media Facts: A Guide to Competitive Media
Published by the Radio Advertising Bureau, this guide will help you understand
and evaluate the strengths of various media formats. To download a copy, visit
www.rab.com or call 1-800-252-RADIO.
Media Relations Guidebook
This guidebook provides tips to help you make effective use of the media in your
area to promote watershed protection. It outlines the process of writing news re-
leases and announcements. The guidebook is available through the NACD Service
Center, P.O. Box 855, League City, TX, 77574-0855. Phone: (800) 825-5547.
Press Release Writing
The Press Release Writing Web site provides several articles and tips for organi-
zations beginning to write PSAs. Visit www.press-release-writing.com for more
information.
Public Service Advertising Research Center
The Public Service Advertising Research Center is an online information library
dedicated to public service advertising. The site provides a PSA bibliography,
media profiles, an interactive broadcasters' cafe, case studies, and help sites. Visit
www.psaresearch.com for more information.
Radio Marketing Guide and Fact Book for Advertisers, 2002-2003 Edition
Use this guide from the Radio Advertising Bureau to determine how radio can
help you attain your outreach goals and market your cause more effectively. To
download a copy, visit www.rab.com or call 1-800-252-RADIO.
Want To Know More? Appendix E
------- |