Push vs. Pull Strategies for Municipal Communication
Most municipalities want to improve their communication strategy with residents. Before you look to implement a new way of communicating with residents, it’s important to understand the two main strategies for resident communication: Push vs. Pull.
A pull strategy puts the responsibility on the resident to come to you for information. A great example of a pull strategy is a municipal website. The municipality puts key information on the website, and it is the responsibility of the resident to go and look at the information on occasion to see what is new. It’s important to keep the information interesting and up-to-date on your website. This will help influence the resident to want to go and look at the website. In summary, a pull strategy requires the resident to take a more active role in finding out the information themselves.
On the other hand, a push strategy simply “pushes” the information directly to the resident. A perfect example of a push strategy is a notification system, like Savvy Citizen. Notification systems deliver the information directly to the resident via their phone (push notification or text message) or e-mail. Whether the message is a garbage delay, a rescheduled municipal meeting, or an emergency event, a push strategy ensures that the message reaches the resident.