Finding the right way to engage the community.

In a world full of electronic communications, is there still a place for the good old-fashioned doorknock?

When it comes to community engagement, we know that there are a number of inexpensive methods we can use. We have social media, dedicated websites and QR codes linked to online surveys to name but a few.  We also know that there are always going to be the ‘hard to reach’ people who may not have access to, nor an inclination to engage online.

Communicating with geo-targeted or predefined segments of the community can also unwittingly skew the results in an unrepresentative way, and lead to a false sense of security or an unexpected community backlash down the track. We often seek to compliment online community engagement with a face-to-face component, such as community drop-in sessions or community workshops, so there are multiple ways people can have their say.

The team have done a number of doorknocks for major projects and have recently seen a shift in the number of people we can engage, and their attitude toward strange folks in high-vis vests and clipboards knocking at their door. I once heard someone say, “no one will ever get tired of being asked their opinion” and this appears to hold true on the front verandas of many neighbourhoods we have been engaging with recently.

Yes doorknocking can be time-consuming and labour intensive – not to mention, hard on the feet and the vocal chords, but it’s still incredibly worthwhile. In smaller communities, doorknocking can be relatively quick if done in a group, but we know that in larger remote communities, this can involve a lot of driving between properties.

Image of a front door mat. Welcome home to Spectrum Comms — Welcome home to Spectrum Comms

Since Covid, working from home, for at least some of the working week, has become increasingly common for a large part of the workforce. When you add in retirees, stay at home partners with small children, shift workers, students, home businesses, farmers, people who just get home early like some trades people, there is a large catchment of community available to engage. And even if someone isn’t home, you then have the ability to leave a ‘sorry we missed you’ card with the time you dropped by and a project contact number.

Another advantage of doorknocking is that with a well-presented and knowledgeable crew, it can be a very genuine and transparent way to communicate with the community and seek direct feedback - which is of course written down and then recorded in your CRM of choice. Personal interactions can also lead to people opting to receive further information from the team throughout the project.

Sometimes doorknocking is a must. In a recent project, we sought feedback on upcoming nightwork and asked whether community members would be agreeable to two extra nights of out-of-hours work per week in addition to the three already in place. The additional out-of-hours work would expedite the project, and we were pleasantly surprised that more than 95 per cent of community members were agreeable to the proposal. Our team’s ability to communicate clearly about the reason for the work and provide clear information about noise levels and project impacts was key in getting this result.

You never know how people will respond when you are doorknocking, and in the case of the extended work hours, we were pleasantly surprised. Of course, the obvious advantage of night work was that it would shorten the project duration, however there were many community members in favour of the project and wanted it to succeed.  We were even surprised by one parent who said that the white noise from the construction equipment helped her baby to get to sleep.

There will always be a dog we are sure is giving us some bad vibes, or other wildlife that gives us a scare from time to time, but very rarely – and there are protocols we establish in advance with the Door Knock crew.

You may have to go back and revisit the properties of people that weren’t home on a different day at a different time to get the engagement numbers you want, but it can still be quicker and significantly more inclusive and friendlier than arranging a town hall!

Sometimes a good ole’ doorknock can be the winning engagement method.