TS Provides Support for Daly City Newsletter
Developing a community newsletter is an investment for most municipalities. Staff has to decide what news and events to spotlight, organize information and resources, and make sure it’s printed correctly and sent to the right people. These are some of the challenges Daly City has overcome in working with Tripepi Smith to develop and publish its quarterly community newsletter, the Daly News.
“Newsletters are one of the best ways a municipality can keep its community in the know and be transparent about hot topic issues,” said Tripepi Smith President Ryder Smith. “It takes a lot of work: coordinating with staff, paying close attention to city council meetings, and reading local news. The key to success is good planning and understanding what is, and is not, important to the community.”
While Daly City has always had a quarterly newsletter, Tripepi Smith was hired to redesign the publication and do much of the heavy lifting in developing its content. Shifting responsibilities from staff, who were responsible for writing stories and spotlights, to Tripepi Smith’s writers and graphic designers has given them extra time to focus on their work for the City.
“The community newsletter is a priority for the City Council and is well received by the community,” said Daly City City Manager Pat Martel. “However, staff resources are stretched and need to be focused on core responsibilities. As a capable and high quality alternative for delivering this communication service, Tripepi Smith has done a great job understanding our community, paying attention to the big issues, and working with staff to develop good content that helps residents better understand what’s going on.”
For municipalities considering publishing a newsletter, Smith suggests that municipalities plan out what will be in the newsletter before taking any steps forward.
“First, create an editorial calendar. Decide well in advance what stories are going to be featured in the newsletter, who is responsible for writing them, and who the subject matter experts are to get background information from,” said Smith. “Typically, you want to start three months in advance. Give your staff enough time to do their day-to-day work, and tackle the story writing one bite at a time.”
Communicating with residents with an effective method that is also well received will always be a challenge for municipalities. While newsletters present an opportunity, municipal leaders should understand their staff capabilities and plan accordingly.
“Our newsletter helps ensure our community understands what’s happening in the City and feels informed and involved. Tripepi Smith does the heavy lifting for us, and right now, that’s more resource efficient and effective than handling this important function in-house,” said Martel.
About Daly City
Known as the “Gateway to the Peninsula”, Daly City is located at the northernmost edge of San Mateo County adjacent to San Francisco and extends from the Pacific Ocean on the west to nearly San Francisco Bay on the east. Daly City, central to two of the Bay Area’s major job growth zones of San Francisco and San Mateo counties, has become a regional hub for retail, healthcare and small business. Because of its central location, diversified economy, excellent transportation links, and a growing young and productive labor force, Daly City’s future for economic growth is bright.
About Tripepi Smith
Tripepi Smith is a marketing, technology and public affairs firm located in Orange County, CA. Its clients include for-profit, nonprofit and public agencies throughout the state of California. Its unique mix of marketing and technology prowess provide a competitive advantage for organizations seeking to leverage the Internet to achieve their communication goals. The firm also provides full content creation services, including: ghost writing, collateral development, photography, video production, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, email marketing campaigns and website design and execution. Tripepi Smith clients include: City of Culver City, City of Rolling Hills Estates, City of La Puente, City of Tracy, City of Cupertino, City of Duarte, City of Millbrae, City of Daly City, City of La Cañada Flintridge, City of Fountain Valley, City of Paramount, Rowland Water District, Valley Water Company, California Contract Cities Association, California City Management Foundation, League of California Cities, Institute for Local Government, Renne Public Law Group, Avenu Insights and Analytics, Inland Empire Utilities Agency and Climatec Energy Services.