The first activity to energize new residents is recruiting and training community ambassadors who will host people who express interest in visiting or moving to your community. Many of the people attraction programs we evaluate miss this vital step and are not adequately prepared to respond to leads and follow-through in an organized and timely manner.
Some of the best people to recruit for this role are individuals who have recently moved to your community or alumni in the same age group as your target market. People attraction is very much about relationship building, so seek out people who enjoy interacting with new people and who convey a positive attitude.
Once you have your army of ambassadors in place, begin to proactively engage alumni, visitors and potential newcomers and stay connected with them on a sustained basis. This is where you can fully deploy the mediums you selected for reaching your target audience in step four above.
The third activity that is essential to retaining new residents is proactively welcoming and inviting newcomers to become involved as active citizens and leaders. Here is where an interesting twist comes into play. A number of communities we work with struggle to recruit people for traditional boards and committees, while enrollment in activity-oriented groups such as biking clubs and art classes are growing. The message here is to focus on creating fun and engaging ways for newcomers to become involved in your organizations!
If you would like to visit about how to develop an effective people attraction strategy for your community or region, please email Craig to schedule a free telephone consultation.
If your community is seeking to recruit new residents, it's not too late to participate in our webinar series on people attraction and community branding. The three interactive sessions, running through mid-November, will help you develop a plan that your community can implement immediately. Register here and we will send you the recording of the first session for free!
