5 points of attention for your communication strategy

How do you make sure people really feel heard? In participation projects, communication is more than just informing — it requires listening, tuning in, and mutual trust. These tips – appeared in an earlier blog about participation – help you to organize your communication strategy more effectively.

1. Start involving stakeholders as early as possible

How and how often you do this can be decisive in the activation of your target group. For example, a quick follow-up after the first messages ensures more involvement. At the same time, it makes it easier for newcomers to join. This way, you involve the entire community in the progress more quickly.

Also ensure consistent follow-up. Has a milestone been reached, a decision made or an interim result achieved? Then these are the moments to inform, activate or consult your target group. You can determine many of these moments in advance because you have thought out the phases of your trajectory well. But be careful: always leave room for flexibility in your participation plan. In this way, you can make choices during the trajectory based on the knowledge and experiences you gain in the neighbourhood.

2. Use the knowledge from your stakeholder analysis to determine the form and frequency

In your analysis, you want to get a clear picture of what your target group's network looks like, what their cultural background is and whether they often visit certain places. Are the community centres well-attended? Then hang a poster there. Are they young people? Then you know that you don't have to place an advertisement in a door-to-door magazine, but you can increase your reach via social media. Or, for example, by hanging posters in the skate park. Ensure a good mix of different forms and channels. Also think about the frequency.

3. Make sure your communication is inclusive

Don't just focus on the active, visible citizens, but also on the "silent middle". Advisor and trainer Aart Paardenkoper states that this group can sometimes surprise you: "The silent middle sometimes strongly differs in opinion from the already known stakeholders and speakers." Do those involved register via a website? Then ask a few short questions to get an idea of ​​who registers. Do you see that a certain group is underrepresented? Then see if you can reach them in other ways. For example, by sending the invitation via (door-to-door) newspapers, flyers or e-mail. Or by sending something to this target group more often.

Also keep in mind that not every resident, tenant or other stakeholder will join at the same time. Some want to participate in a brainstorming session every week. Others just want to stay informed. And the rest will only take action once there is a concrete framework.

4. Make the threshold as low as possible

Of course, the question always remains: how do I stimulate participation? How do I ensure that my target group really actively participates? Well, by keeping the threshold as low as possible! Make sure that your message is clear. What are you inviting the readers for? What can they discuss or decide about? Where can they go with questions about the invitation? Make sure that you tell this in a way that the average Dutch reader understands. In other words: write at B1 language level.

5. Find ambassadors

These are people who have a stake in the participation process. You can of course pull the cart every time, but it works much more effectively if someone from the community does it themselves. Make sure that they promote the project through their own channels. Also ask the ambassadors for their opinion and advice. And think together with them about how they can breathe life into the participation platform. For example, by using a poll to let people vote on certain statements. This creates interaction and more active participants. And it is ultimately the most effective way to keep the hippos at bay.

Want to learn more about participation and get practical tips from experts in the field? On Tuesday 20 May 2025, Babbage is organising the event 'The Power of Participation & Communication', especially for communication professionals within the (semi)government. An inspiring day at Aristo Meeting Center at Utrecht CS where we zoom in on participation in all facets.