How to reach a diverse audience

Jump to 'How to reach a diverse audience'

When setting up a Commonplace site, it is important to think not only about the site content but also about the marketing strategy and how to reach as wide an audience as possible. 

Your public consultation should be representative of the local population, which requires thinking about how to reach groups of people who might be less likely to engage. 

How to Reach a Diverse audience

Here are 5 suggestions to increase the diversity of your responses:

Survey Mode is a great way to reach different communities in the area through face-to-face events. For this to be successful, the surveyor/volunteer must be a member of the community who understands the local issues and also speaks the same language as local residents. 

You can then upload these paper surveys and combine it with the digital survey responses received. Learn how to add a Surveyor here.

2. Start a focus group with members of that community

Produce workshops and webinars which will help build attraction to the project. This can be done before or after launch. This gives the group an opportunity to comment on the site and share it.  

In addition to this, produce workshops and webinars that will build on the subject of conversation. Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have closed off discussion forums which can be a gateway to identifying specific demographic to a certain topic of conversation. Learn how to set up a webinar here.

3. Reach out to local organisations/groups

Reach out to local groups that might be interested in the consultation, as well as BME groups (Black and Minority Ethnic) and offer a paid partnership to promote the site. 

Have a marketing pack ready for them to easily share information about your project: photos and videos, a QR code, and social media sharing samples for different channels (e.g. via e-mail or WhatsApp). This will help you reach more of the community and maintain diversity in results.

4. Use translation tools to reach different communities

For some residents, English is not accessible. They can download an extension on their browser to translate the text on the page they are viewing. We recommend you add the following instructions to your site in the languages spoken by the specific community you are trying to engage with:

"Please use Google Chrome as your browser and install the Google Translate extension found here. Once installed, please visit the page and select your desired language using the extension or by right-clicking on the page."

Commonplace also has a range of multi-language translation packages. To find out more discuss with your Customer Success Manager.

5. Create Posters with QR codes

In a world that has become more digital, using posters with QR codes helps to engage younger audiences (that are more technically-minded) and also groups that frequent specific locations, such as a school, a shopping centre, a GP surgery. Generate a QR code, create a poster with the QR code and analyse what groups you were able to reach.

Learn how to generate a QR code here.

Contact Support

If you find you still have some questions or you’re unsure about something, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our dedicated technical Customer Support Team