Housing Associations are great organisations, and they should be recognised in the positive role they play. Providing good quality homes at affordable rents for over six million people in England, they build a quarter of England’s new homes. Additionally, they invest back into the communities they work in. This provides essential services to help people out of homelessness, domestic abuse and unemployment.
The importance of strategic PR for for Housing Associations.
However, social housing has always had a certain ‘stigma’ attached to it. The media, hungry for the latest bad news story, often treat housing associations as soft targets, quick to jump on any mistakes they make. The truth is that there are a vast number of good news stories to tell that often get lost, unreported and unnoticed. Ultimately, housing associations face continued criticism, so the need for reputational management is essential. Without it, the confidence of tenants, stakeholders, partners and potentially the workforce could be affected.
A well planned Housing Association PR strategy is essential.
Housing Association or Registered Social Landlord Public Relations is all about reputation. If a Housing Association has a good reputation, it needs to be protected and nurtured. If a Registered Social Landlord has a bad reputation, a well planned Property PR strategy, over time, can rectify this.
Public Relations through media, is a powerful, effective and cost-efficient means of communicating with a diverse audience. A well-researched and considered strategy allows you to control the message and to target specific groups appropriately.
A Registered Social Landlord PR campaign can include some or all of the following:
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- Journalist introductions and meetings
- A sustained programme of contact with key journalists
- Writing and selling Housing Association press releases
- Registered Social Landlord press trips and product demonstrations
- Writing and placing of features and topical comment
- Writing and arranging advertorial
Key Communications aims and objectives for a Housing Association PR campaign
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- To ensure that tenants and other customers are made aware of the services you provide. Written text made publicly available should be accessible and that means reports should be written in plain language, no jargon or acronyms.
- Boost and promote tenant involvement through regular communication and feedback, using this constructively will improve services.
- To increase your profile as a dependable, top performing organisation, responsible for managing your homes to the highest standard.
- To build on existing positive and effective relationships with local, regional and national media.
- To build on existing relationships with the people and partners you work with, and work collaboratively for the improvement of community.
Know your audience
One of the most important aspects of communicating well, is knowing who you are communicating with. It’s essential to understand your audiences and their needs.
The various audiences housing associations need to communicate with will be varied. Tenants range from young to old, community organisations scale from small to large, and developers deal with small to large scale builds. Only when you understand your audiences better can you target messages and be confident they will reach those intended.
Proper PR have a solid understanding of your organisation will ensure you strategic PR for Housing Associations and Registered Social Landlords that’s targeted to deal with the inevitable crises and challenges which come from the media on a daily basis.
Additionally, our proactive skills will communicate the positive news. This in turn will enhance the reputation of your brand. The result, is an organisation that achieves more favourable and consistent media coverage. Further enabling you to communicate effectively with your strategic audiences and partners, and create a more dynamic, high profile and positive reputation.