We recently had a chance to join the Honorable Kathleen Kennedy Townsend at some important, innovation-oriented meetings in Washington DC, including the Georgetown Center for Retirement Initiatives’ gathering of states, and NAST. Join us we meet one on one to capture three retirement security priorities and other key nuggets.

If you build it people might come, but more likely — without marketing — they’ll have no idea your program exists. Even if they know it exists, they might not understand it or think it isn’t for them. Good marketing ensures people can easily find and access the services they need, maximizing the efficiency of public programs and the positive impact they have on the folks they serve.

Joel Metlen is a pioneer of the state facilitated retirement savings space, joining OregonSaves in September of 2016. Stepping into a very entrepreneurial space within the Treasurer’s office, Joel helped establish the program’s marketing plan and direction, shaped its outreach and engagement approach, and worked tirelessly in the early days to ensure the program would get off the ground in good shape with both employers and employees. We talk with Joel here about best practices around outreach and engagement.