Key audiences

This guide will help you understand who you’re communicating with, what matters to them and which channels are most effective to reach them on. You don’t need to communicate with everyone at once and your target audience is rarely ‘everyone’. Try to just focus on the audiences most relevant to your objective.

Tailoring your message and channel improves understanding while reducing misinformation and saving time.

Start by asking: Who do I most need to reach right now and why?

Core RHE audience groups

Local residents and community groups

Who they are: Parish residents, community groups, local volunteers, village hall committees

What matters to them:

  • How housing will affect the village
  • Who the homes are for
  • Whether they will have a say
  • Protecting the character of the area

Best messages:

  • Focus on local need and local people
  • Reassure that schemes are small-scale and shaped by community input
  • Use plain English and local examples

Best channels:

  • Face-to-face meetings and drop-in events
  • Community pages and groups on social media platforms
  • Parish newsletters and noticeboards
  • Local press and radio
  • ACRE social media pages

Landowners

Who they are: Private landowners, farming families, estates, trusts

What matters to them:

  • Legacy and stewardship
  • Generating an income
  • Long-term impact on land and community
  • Trust, discretion and clarity
  • Avoiding speculative development

Best messages:

  • Emphasise values-led, small-scale approaches
  • Highlight local need and community benefit
  • Reassurance that the scheme is being made for the community, by the community
  • Reassure about planning controls and long-term outcomes

Best channels:

  • Direct conversations and meetings
  • Personal emails or letters
  • Local media
  • LinkedIn (for professional landowners)

Parish and local councillors

Who they are: Parish councillors, clerks, local elected members, MPs, regional mayors, combined local authorities, county councillors

What matters to them:

  • Evidence of local need
  • Community support and consultation
  • Alignment with policy and local plans
  • Managing local concerns

Best messages:

  • Position RHEs as independent and evidence-led
  • Position ACRE as the national charity behind the RHE programme
  • Emphasise collaboration and transparency
  • Highlight the council’s role in shaping outcomes

Best channels:

  • Formal meetings and briefings
  • Email updates
  • Council newsletters and websites

Housing providers and sector partners

Who they are: Housing associations, local authority officers, sector organisations

What matters to them:

  • Deliverability and partnerships
  • Providing more social and affordable housing to meet local housing need
  • Policy context and funding
  • Community engagement and risk management

Best messages:

  • Use clear, professional language
  • Emphasise RHEs’ local insight and convening role
  • Highlight successful case studies

Best channels:

  • Formal meetings and briefings
  • LinkedIn
  • Email bulletins
  • Sector media and webinars

Local and regional media

Who they are: Local/regional journalists, editors, radio producers

What matters to them:

  • Clear news angles
  • Human stories and local impact
  • Access to credible spokespeople

Best messages:

  • Lead with people and place
  • Keep explanations simple and timely
  • Be clear about what is and isn’t decided

Best channels:

  • Press releases
  • Direct email or phone pitches
  • Follow-up conversations

Key reminders for RHEs

  • One message does not fit all audiences
  • Keep language and tone appropriate to the audience
  • Local relevance is more important than volume
  • Consistency builds trust over time

ACRE would like to be kept informed of any leads that you secure, just to avoid duplication on anything they might be working on.

Please email Max or Shaun with any activity.