On stepping into East Staffordshire Sure Start Children's Centre the visitor's senses are immediately assaulted by a wall covered in 40 colourful, glossy A5 sheets, each detailing a particular activity or service offered on site.
This reflects the centre's ethos - that effective communication is key to everything it does - and is borne out by the high profile it currently enjoys. This is not just with target users and multi-agency partners but with the wider world as well. Politicians, schools and children's services are all on the radar of its PR effort, which takes in regional newspapers and radio. It regularly produces branded leaflets and e-newsletters as well as driving its messages home by text and through its website. The centre's distinctive logo has gained wide recognition.
Field marketing also recently yielded results, with staff visiting local supermarkets to speak to parents and distribute leaflets outlining its services and childcare provision.
Centre leader Peter Gerrard stresses that information needs to be of a high quality and should also be succinct. He is not afraid of what he calls 'saturating people's consciousness' and believes that ultimately, this is a way of maximising service users.
'Our newsletter which goes out to 2,000 families is nicely produced and is designed to be accessible,' he says. 'We recognise the importance of getting important messages across without overloading people with information. Where appropriate, soundbites can be used very effectively.'
The centre was in the first launch phase and reports that since 2004 it has reached nearly 4,000 individuals through its outreach work and wide-ranging activities. It currently has 85 professionals working on site, engaged in a range of services including occupational therapy, paediatrics, daycare and outreach.
The communications drive benefits from a dedicated publicity officer who began as an administrator but has developed her role to include overseeing the centre's PR strategy. However, all staff are trained to be communication-savvy.
Mr Gerrard says it is important to reach other agencies that work with the centre's target users. 'One of the problems that exists in multi-agency working is a lack of understanding about each other's roles,' he says. 'We have been addressing this with effective communications, including a DVD which demonstrates exactly what we do here and how people can work together.'
A sophisticated website supports all the centre's activities and is always bang up to date.
'People can watch DVDs on the site, check out our latest achievement report and find out everything they need to know,' says Mr Gerrard. 'With so much going on here, it is important that everything is covered. If we can attract one person on the basis of a certain service or activity, they are bound to return for others. It's all about reaching as many people as possible.'
