Somerset Hills YMCA Expansion & Renovation Communications

[ about ]

Somerset Hills YMCA, a branch of Greater Somerset County YMCA, underwent a 45,000-square-foot capital expansion and renovation throughout 2019 and into early 2020. The full-service facility would remain open despite ongoing construction throughout the building. However, there would be significant disruption, including relocated programming, closing/reopening of various entrances, and frequent changes in member traffic patterns. The in-house team was tasked with keeping members and front-line staff informed to help minimize member frustration resulting from prolonged disruption caused by construction while generating and maintaining positive anticipation of new spaces, upgraded equipment, and more program offerings at the project’s completion.

APPROACH & OUTCOME

Recognizing that the Y served all ages with a broad range of programs and services, targeted messaging (in addition to general facility-wide communications) was crafted for audiences including childcare families (daycare, early education, school-age child care, summer camp), adults utilizing the fitness center, league participants and families participating in youth sports programming in the gymnasium, seniors participating in group exercise classes, adults engaged in chronic disease management classes, and special needs youth programming. The various methods through which each audience preferred or was otherwise already accustomed to communicating with the Y were considered. This approach to execution helped ensure that relevant information reached the right people while maintaining established trust by leveraging familiar channels.

A comprehensive multi-channel communications plan was developed, prioritizing the timely and accurate dissemination of information to front-line staff about upcoming changes in advance of all externally facing communications. Key components of the strategy involved providing audience-specific messaging for key staff to deploy at various stages, stepping up an internal campaign encouraging members to sign up for text alerts informing everyone of last-minute changes, producing a set of Y brand-compliant construction-themed general notification posters to cover most anticipated needs, creating a set of fillable PDF flyers in a Y brand-compliant layout and providing them to facilities staff to empower them to communicate last-minute changes to contractor schedules of work, maintaining excitement for the project by illustrating the before/after effect of the changes through color-coded floor plan infographics, posting real-time behind-the-scenes progress on the Y’s website and social media, and various additional ancillary tactics and timely communications. Concurrently, Somerset Hills YMCA was winding down operations at its satellite location 3.5 miles away, requiring specialized communications to mitigate potential membership losses, disruption in regular routines, and provide a welcoming atmosphere minimally on par with established expectations. Flexibility, anticipating challenges, empowering front-line staff, and maintaining a general sense of calm and understanding were critical to successfully navigating this exciting and challenging chapter at the association’s flagship branch.

I provided counsel to senior leadership regarding overall communications strategy, customer experience messaging, and key messaging cadence with respect to the unique challenges and opportunities this complex project presented. Additionally, philanthropic communications, key messages, and calls to action were incorporated in email communications, on the website, in social media, on connected cardio equipment walk-up screens, and via impactful in-branch temporary signage and vertical banner displays.

Across the board, these expansive integrated marketing communications efforts helped keep member frustration at a minimum while generating anticipation of the member experience to come. This same approach was used when Hillsborough YMCA underwent its renovation project and experienced a similar level of day-to-day disruption during construction.

MY ROLE

Messaging Strategy, Project Lead, Interdepartmental Liaison, Illustrator & Graphic Designer

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & TOOLS

• Strategy: Audience Segmentation | Brand Messaging | Brand Stewardship | Communications Strategy | Content Calendars | Creative Problem-Solving | Cross-Functional Collaboration | Customer-Centric Mindset | External Communications | Integrated Marketing Communications | Internal Communications | Multi-channel Marketing | Nonprofit Marketing | Organic Social Media | Reputation Management | Stakeholder Management | Visual Information Design
• Creative & Production: Content Creation | Creative Services Management | Creative Team Leadership | Earned Media | Owned Media | Video Content | Web Design
• Tools: Accrisoft Freedom Website CMS | Adobe Acrobat Pro | Adobe Illustrator | Adobe InDesign | Facebook | Google Docs | Google Sheets | Hootsuite Social Media Management | Instagram | LinkedIn | Microsoft Word | SimpleTexting | SMS Text Messaging | X/Twitter