Campaign – Community Relations

UNM Sandoval Regional Medical Center

Community Speakers Bureau and Physician Outreach Program

Rio Rancho, perched on the northern edge of the Albuquerque metro area, is the third-largest city in New Mexico. Yet even with a growing population and thriving business environment, the community suffered from a lack of medical facilities. But that all changed in July of 2012, when doors opened at the University of New Mexico Sandoval Regional Medical Center.  As a way for the new facility to introduce itself to the community, UNM SRMC launched a community outreach program that included a speakers’ bureau and a referring physician education effort. The goal was to form new relationships and strengthen existing ones with the surrounding community the hospital was built to serve.

The Waite Company was tasked with implementing both programs. Team members used on-the-ground research as well as post-event surveys to bolster the development of the outreach initiative. The speakers’ bureau placed medical and administrative leaders from the hospital wherever the discussion of a diverse array of current healthcare topics could find an interested group of listeners. The referring physician program was an ongoing series of small, educational events aimed at forming stronger relationships with Sandoval County physicians. The events were intended to introduce the state-of-the-art hospital and its exceptional group of providers to the area’s medical community. With budget constraints, the challenge of educating as many community leaders as possible fell not only to relying on SRMC leaders to volunteer their time, but also to presenting to groups that didn’t require advertising to drive turnout.

The program objectives included completing one or two speakers’ bureau events per month and at least two referring physicians events per year. In addition, TWC collected feedback results on surveys. By identifying clear objectives and developing tracking mechanisms to properly evaluate the campaign results, TWC was able to demonstrate successes for the client and also identify areas of improvement along the way.

As part of the larger program, several other community relations efforts were conducted in 2014, including take-home magnets for K-12 students and an informational event for about 40 school nurses. TWC also provided social media content for SRMC’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.. “The results of the 2014 community relations campaign in Sandoval County were extremely positive,” said Melissa Romine, Executive Director of Communications and Outreach, UNM Sandoval Regional Medical Center. “The Waite Company’s focus on measurement and accountability, and their systematic approach to outreach, helped SRMC accomplish its goals of improving and strengthening relationships throughout the community.”

Feature Story

Augustin Plains Ranch

A Proposal for Rainwater Harvesting Gains Momentum in New Mexico

Drought in New Mexico is nothing new, but in mid-2014, the drought was exceptionally severe. The demand for water in New Mexico exceeds the supply even in the best of times. As a result, leaders and entrepreneurs are always looking for new sources of water to support the state's growing population.

One such project is the Augustin Plains Ranch (APR). Located in west central New Mexico, APR is seeking to develop a sustainable rainwater/aquifer harvesting and transport project that will bring about 54,000 acre-feet of water every year to New Mexico communities in need.

In 2013, The Waite Company (TWC) was hired by the Augustin Plains Ranch (APR) to provide general public relations and media relations services. As part of this ongoing campaign, TWC sought to capitalize on earned media opportunities, including the development of feature stories.

Using our in-house Cision database of reporters and media outlets, TWC monitored editorial calendars to identify opportunities relevant to APR and contact those reporters and publications accordingly. In early 2014, one such publication became interested in the project. Water Conditioning & Purification, a monthly magazine with a circulation audience of about 18,000 water treatment professionals.

WC&P requested that TWC's feature story not only describe the project, but also demonstrate how the water might be used by a business, should it become available. In particular, they were looking for how it would impact a sod or landscaping business.

At the time, TWC was also representing a fertilizer developer and native tree grower from Belen, New Mexico. Soil Secrets, owned by Michael Melendrez, provides organic soil additives to customers that promote healthy tree growth in New Mexico's arid environment. TWC contacted Melendrez and asked if he would be interested in participating in a story that highlighted his business and his opinions on water availability, and he agreed.

Tying the two viewpoints together was a challenge given that that neither company was aware of the other prior to the story and did not necessarily want to appear as an advocate for the other. One excerpt from the article that illustrates the wall of separation we built is this: "On the demand side of the New Mexico water equation, Melendrez and countless others push for conservation and more efficient water use and delivery.  On the supply side, the race is on to find new sources of water for the growing population centers of the state..."

The result was an originally produced feature story that accurately depicted both viewpoints on water availability, and creatively captured the unique contributions they both make to New Mexico and its water-challenged environment.

"A Proposal for Rainwater Harvesting Gains Momentum in New Mexico" ran in July 2014 and was the most creative and widely read feature story published about the project to date. Both APR and Soil Secrets used the story in company marketing materials and shared the article on their websites and social media outlets.

The story provided key message points to an audience that was relevant to both. Soil Secrets, which runs an aggressive online business, was able to mention its soil fortification products, enzymes, fertilizers, and conditioners to a national audience of 18,000 water leaders.

Readers also learned that APR: "...could provide up to 54,000 acre feet of water for cities, industry, agriculture and the environment. Plans for this project call for collection and isolation of rainwater from the hills that abut the ranch. Instead of evaporating, the water would be collected, diverted and sunk into the ground, recharging the aquifer like a battery."

Both companies expressed great satisfaction with the story.

Campaign – Public Service

beWellnm, New Mexico's Health Insurance Exchange

Outreach and Education Activities

In February 2015, TWC successfully completed what was quite possibly the most extensive, intensive, non-political, grassroots outreach effort ever conducted in the state of New Mexico. The campaign was awarded a Silver Cumbre Award from the NMPRSA in 2015.

The program was designed to provide a critical, community-based link between the broader marketing and advertising campaign and the exchange’s one-on-one enrollers. Basically, we educated New Mexicans on how health insurance works in a more comprehensive fashion than is possible in a billboard or TV ad, ensuring that they were ahead of the game when it came time to sit down with an expert and actually enroll in a plan.

The program was comprehensive, with multiple, blended outreach strategies. Between December 1, 2014 and February 15, 2015, 222 organizations allowed us to communicate with their members and constituencies for event mobilization purposes. One hundred thirty-eight elected officials were invited to local events, with 16 press releases issued, and 13 newspaper advertisements and seven radio advertisements (one of them in Spanish) placed. Sixty church pulpit announcements were made, 53 free bulletin or newsletter advertisements were placed, and 71 organizations assisted with the distribution of flyers and/or posters. One hundred fourteen schools either hosted or were invited to a NMHIX event, with 41,415 students receiving backpack flier invitations. Sixty seven events were held, most of which combined the promotional efforts of several organizations.

Though we certainly don’t take credit for all of the enrollments, we’re proud to report that year-over-year enrollment in NMHIX plans jumped from about 30,000 to about 50,000 during the 2014-2015 open enrollment.

In March of 2015, TWC shifted its outreach focus to those individuals who qualified for enrollment due to “special circumstances,” and that program was heavily weighted toward small businesses. Between March and November 2015, TWC conducted more than 10,000 live phone calls, 125 events for small businesses and worked with agencies across the state, including the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions, to raise awareness of health insurance options.

TWC remains under contract with the NMHIX and is continuing outreach and education programs during the current open enrollment period.