How to Boost Public Consultation Participation with Cocoriko

Public participation is a vital part of shaping better communities — but reaching the right people at the right time can be harder than it sounds. If your organization doesn’t have a large newsletter list or direct way to connect with potential participants (and most Canadian municipalities don’t), you’re often left relying on time-consuming outreach or costly marketing agencies.

At Cocoriko, we’ve seen this challenge firsthand — and we’ve built a solution. Our turn-key marketing services are designed to drive more engagement in your consultations by targeting the right residents, on the right channels, with the right message.

The Challenge

When municipalities and organizations launch an online consultation, success depends on participation. But many run into the same roadblocks:

• Small or outdated contact lists – Without a large, up-to-date database of potential participants, it’s difficult to reach beyond your usual engaged audience, meaning you often hear from the same voices over and over instead of capturing the broader community perspective.
• Limited internal capacity – Staff are often stretched thin, juggling multiple projects, and lacking both the time and in-house marketing expertise to manage targeted campaigns effectively.
• High cost of traditional marketing – Hiring external agencies can be expensive, often involving multiple layers of project managers, designers, and ad specialists — adding significant overhead — with few guarantees of community-specific results.

In the end, many valuable consultations struggle to gain the attention they deserve, and the conversation is dominated by a narrow set of voices — limiting both diversity of perspectives and the quality of insights.

The Solution: Turn-Key Marketing Campaigns

Before and after ad campaign results on live consultation

Cocoriko’s marketing services are built to solve exactly this problem. We take the guesswork (and heavy lifting) out of outreach, offering:

1. Multi-channel reach – While Meta (Facebook & Instagram) is our most common channel, we can also run campaigns on Google Ads, LinkedIn, and more — depending on your audience.
2. Smart audience targeting – We use AI alongside demographic and geographic filters to put your consultation in front of the people who matter most.
3. Flexible creative options – Bring your own visuals and copy, or let our creative team craft compelling ads tailored to your community. We can also draw from a library of pre-tested templates to help guarantee strong results and increase the efficiency of every dollar you invest.
4. Full campaign management overview – From planning your campaign, to creating the content, to launching and managing it, and finally reporting the results, we handle the entire process for you. We run ads on your behalf by using secure third‑party agency access to your accounts, making it simple and hands‑free.

How It Works

Step 1 – Audience & Strategy
We work with you to define your target audience and the most effective strategy for your consultation. While our direct management focuses on online advertising, we also provide strategic recommendations to ensure consistency across all your campaign channels. It’s like having an experienced marketing specialist on your team, guiding you every step of the way.

Demographic data on Facebook and Instagram

Step 2 – Creative Development
We refine your existing visuals and messaging or create new, high‑impact assets for your approval. You can supply your own creative, or select from our extensive library of proven, pre‑tested templates to save time and maximize results.

Example Facebook ads developed for various consultations in English and French

Step 3 – Campaign Launch & Optimization
We launch your campaign on the most effective channels and continuously optimize it in real time to maximize reach and engagement.

Facebook and Instagram ad preview

Step 4 – Reporting & Insights
We deliver a clear, concise report showing how many people were reached, engaged, and converted into participants — so you can measure the impact with confidence.

Example reporting before and during campaign(s)

The Results: Real Impact Across Communities and Organizations