Tips for Successful Community Campaigns & Outreach
How to Better Engage Your Community with CEC & CSC Campaigns
Evelyn Laferriere, February 2026
Know Your Audience & Make it Relevant
People care about things that are relevant to their lives, that they can relate to, or that impact them in some way. How can you target this campaign to the specific community members you are trying to reach? Are the people in your community voicing how expensive their electricity is? Are they super passionate about clean energy? How will participating in this campaign improve their lives, protect their community, and/or save them money? Make the campaign something that your community specifically will care about.
Consider Audience Segmentation & Targeted Messages
Part of making communication relevant for people is recognizing that you cannot take a one-size-fits-all approach. What is relevant to one group of your community may not be relevant to others! How can you share your message to reach these diverse groups? Maybe you use social media to reach younger folks, and you send post cards in the mail to reach long-time residents. Maybe you discuss saving money in messages sent to some groups and highlight GHG emissions reductions to others.
Do Not Reinvent the Wheel
Build upon relationships that are already established in your community. Is there another organization that is doing similar work that you can partner with? What organizations are already established and respected by your community members? Can you leverage the communications reach of other local organizations? Does your municipality have a social media page, website, or newsletter that is well read among community members? What about local media? Determine all the other organizations and media options that can help you spread the word about the campaign. Local high school & college students are a great source of volunteers (especially for tasks like hanging up fliers around town – as long as they always have a buddy with them when knocking on doors).
Use Multiple Media Types (Print Media & In-Person are Still Great!!)
Do not just rely on one type of media, such as email, to reach community members. Use a combination of many types (and consider which will resonate best with the audience you are trying to reach). Getting a postcard in the mail, or a door hanging flier on a front door can be a great way to catch people’s attention. Oftentimes, our email inboxes and social media feeds are inundated with messages. Print media can help break through the noise. Use a combination of social media, emails, fliers hung up around town, postcards/door hangers, announcements on the radio, and local TV (if available to you). In addition, tabling at farmers’ markets and other events already happening in your municipality can be a great way to have one-on-one conversations with residents.
As an example, the Village of Canton had volunteers walk around the Village, knock on doors, hang fliers on doorknobs and around town (library, local shops, etc.), posted on Facebook, had local organizations share in their monthly newsletter, wrote a press release for the local paper, and a volunteer was interviewed by North Country Public Radio. They also tabled at local farmers’ markets (and a local 5K race!) with the North Country Clean Energy Hub to help spread the word.
Be Solutions Focused, Joyful, and Hopeful
Climate Change and other environmental issues are scary and stressful. So are expensive energy bills! Your community campaign and other CEC/CSC outreach efforts should not add to the stress. Your messaging should be hopeful and show how it is going to have a positive impact on your community and help solve local problems. It should also be fun! Maybe people who participate get a cool sticker, or you share entertaining videos on Facebook. Maybe you put up a poster in the local park tracking how many people have participated in the campaign, or you have a tracker on the municipality’s website. This can help make it engaging and entertaining for residents. Most importantly, as municipal representatives and volunteers working on these outreach activities, bring your own joy, hope, and laughter to the outreach.