TSA Delivers for Saratoga
The City of Saratoga has completed a Communications Assessment with assistance from Tripepi Smith. In an effort to enhance community engagement and outreach about City initiatives, the City embarked on a four month review process to identify its relative strengths and weaknesses in communications and to define a course of action to further enhance communications. The result of the project with Tripepi Smith was an extensive written report with over 60 actionable steps the City could consider taking to advance communications in the community. Tripepi Smith presented its final report at a special City Council meeting on August 31st.
“The City of Saratoga understands the importance of quality communication with the public,” Saratoga City Manager James Lindsay said. “The City does its best to engage and educate Saratoga residents on issues and projects that affect their lives, but we understand that there is always room for improvement. Tripepi Smith brought significant expertise and experience to the assessment and delivered a detailed and compelling report. Our communication efforts will benefit from implementing the report’s recommendations.”
Tripepi Smith’s Communications Assessments are a unique offering to public agencies that aid cities in adjusting to the dynamic world of Internet communications and changing resident habits. What worked ten years ago does not work as well today, yet the opportunities to cost-effectively connect with residents in new ways has exploded. The assessments executed by Tripepi Smith help cities understand their “market” for resident engagement and deliver a gap analysis to point the city toward improvements in their communication efforts and processes. Examples of other cities in California that have benefitted from the Communications Assessment process include: Livermore, Norwalk, Duarte, and La Cañada Flintridge.
“Saratoga is a wonderful oasis in the midst of Silicon Valley, and it is clear that the Council and Staff at the City are working hard to keep it a highly-desirable place to live. The City has made significant investments in communications and has a great core of communication capability,” said Ryder Todd Smith, President at Tripepi Smith. “The team at City Hall were easy to work with and showed real commitment to absorbing and implementing our feedback.”
Recommendations from the assessment included:
- Modifying the distribution method for the City’s newsletter to give it more visibility.
- Setting aside funds for advertising on social media to tightly geographically-defined audiences to connect with residents via their daily use of the Internet.
- Revisiting the design of the website to modernize the user interface and implement responsive design features that scale to small screen mobile devices.
Tripepi Smith is a marketing, technology and public affairs firm located in Orange County, CA. Its clients include for-profit, non-profit 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: Rowland Water District, Valley Water Company, California Contract Cities Association, California City Management Foundation, California Utility Executive Management Association, Climatec Energy Services, Urban Future Incorporated, Big Independent Cities Excess Pool, Independent Cities Finance Authority, City of Duarte, City of Saratoga, City of Cupertino, City of La Cañada Flintridge, City of Livermore, City of Placentia and City of Norwalk.