People Connect With People

The Decibel Impact Series

July 29

How Community Living Options Builds Awareness Through Authentic Storytelling, Community Engagement & Targeted Marketing

FEATURING: Alex Furman, Marketing Manager, Community Living Options

HOSTED BY: Alison Costello, President, Decibel Media

ABOUT THE CONVERSATION

For Community Living Options, marketing starts with people.

In this episode of the Decibel Impact Series, Alex Furman, Marketing Manager at Community Living Options, joins Decibel Media President Alison Costello to discuss how the nonprofit builds awareness, strengthens community relationships and supports recruitment while staying grounded in the people and mission it serves.

The conversation explores why community partnerships are essential for nonprofit organizations, how targeted audience segmentation can outperform broad awareness efforts, the importance of consistent and inclusive language, and why authentic storytelling remains one of the strongest tools marketers have.

Community as a growth strategy

Why relationships with local organizations, partners and peers are central to CLO’s visibility and impact.

Making a small budget work harder

How earned media, partnerships and community engagement can reduce reliance on paid advertising.

Audience segmentation that works

Why a targeted approach delivered stronger traffic than treating the general public as one audience.

Recruiting through values

How language, inclusivity and organizational culture help attract the right people.

Authentic storytelling

Why putting consumers and staff at the center of the story creates stronger emotional connection.

READ THE CONVERSATION

Prefer to read? See the video transcript below.

00:37 Supporting Adults With Disabilities

Alison Costello: Would you take a moment to introduce yourself and tell us about your role at Community Living Options?

Alex Furman: I’m the Marketing Manager at Community Living Options. CLO is a nonprofit that supports adults living with intellectual and developmental disabilities through skill-building programs, specialized adult care and supported independent living.

Our focus is helping people build skills, participate in the community and live as independently as possible.

01:43 Community Integration at the Center

Alison Costello: Is community engagement a big part of your role?

Alex Furman: Absolutely. It was one of the things that drew me to CLO. From the CEO to our direct support professionals, the focus is always consumer-first.

We get people out into the community, help build skills and support them in working toward jobs and other goals. That community integration piece is huge.

05:42 What Marketing Success Looks Like

Alex Furman: For the organization, success starts with consumer satisfaction. We want to continue pushing those satisfaction scores higher.

For marketing, it’s referrals, recruiting and awareness, but it goes beyond that. It’s getting our name out into the community and continuing to build relationships so that when someone hears Community Living Options, they already know who we are and what we stand for.

09:24 Relationships as the Lifeblood of the Organization

Alex Furman: We’re constantly attending open houses, chamber events and events hosted by peer organizations.

Fostering those relationships is really the lifeblood of organizations like ours. We need to come together and create a strong community so that no matter where someone goes, they feel supported.

12:01 Making a Nonprofit Marketing Budget Work

Alex Furman: In a nonprofit environment, you have to get creative with your advertising budget.

We lean heavily into partnerships, earned media, user-generated content and organizations supporting each other. We promote their work, they promote ours, and there’s a lot of overlap.

Paid media is actually much lower in our mix.

13:26 Why Audience Segmentation Matters

Alex Furman: We developed different audience profiles and tailored the omnichannel approach to each one.

I saw a marked increase in traffic from those curated profiles compared with an “everybody is your audience” approach.

The general public really isn’t an audience. You have to narrow it down and create a more targeted message.

15:42 Recruiting Through Language & Values

Alex Furman: Recruitment is really a journey of language. The message needs to stay consistent throughout the entire journey and be tailored to the audience.

We’re also very mindful about how we talk to and about the people we support. We lead with positive language, inclusivity and respect.

That culture resonates with people who work here and people who are considering joining us.

18:23 The Community Living Options Marketing Playbook

Alison Costello: If someone in health and human services were approaching marketing with a clean slate, what advice would you give them?

Alex Furman: People love people, and people love genuine people and genuine messages.

We strive to put our consumers and staff in the spotlight. There’s always a story to be told.

Part of being a marketer is being a storyteller, finding the unique stories that are buried and bringing them forward, because that’s what people connect with.