When the Town of Belhaven first reached out to us, they were looking for a way to better connect with their community. Belhaven is a waterfront town in Beaufort County, North Carolina, with a population of 1,403. Like many small municipalities, they wanted to modernize their approach and make it easier for residents to access important information. 

Belhaven had a clear vision—they wanted a mobile app that could streamline communication between the town and its residents, offering things like event updates, town information, alerts and notifications.  

This is exactly what Info Grove is built for. Belhaven wanted something quality, practical and user-friendly. A customized branded app wasn’t a priority, so the town opted to use the Info Grove Municipalities option, which is available for small towns.

A Collaborative Approach

We kicked things off with a deep dive into what the town needed. We talked through their goals, their challenges, and what they hoped to achieve with the app. One thing that stood out to me was their focus on community engagement. They wanted to make sure that residents felt connected and informed.

During our collaboration, we worked closely with Belhaven’s team, which was a smooth process thanks to their clear communication and commitment to the project. The app content was tailored to their needs, featuring tools for event notifications, push alerts, and even a section dedicated to local business listings. It was important to us that the content wasn’t just functional but also intuitive for users of all ages.

Empowering the Belhaven Team

Belhaven had a strict deadline for launching the app before their July 4th parade, as such we knew that we would have to change our process a bit. Since the parade was weeks away and would be a great opportunity to introduce the app, we decided to hold our marketing session mid-project instead of post-app launch. The main reason was to enable the Belhaven team to work on their marketing strategies for when the app is accessible to the community.

Belhaven prepared a creative marketing campaign, prominently featuring a giant rubber duck on a golf cart during their parade. This playful and eye-catching approach, combined with a QR code, significantly boosted the app’s visibility and helped drive downloads. The town’s proactive marketing and engaging promotional strategies played a key role in the app’s successful rollout, setting a solid foundation for ongoing community engagement. 

As with any app launch, we provided the Belhaven team with a training session to prepare them to take control of their app and content. The team at Belhaven was able to leverage the app during the parade as well as after to share pictures of the parade and additional information with the residents. As of the end of August of 2024, Belhaven has had a successful uptake of over 62% of its target audience, the fastest we have seen with any of our customers.

Always Improving

Every project offers a chance to grow, and this one was no different with the main challenge being a launch timeline of just 3 weeks. What made all the difference was the strong partnership we had with Belhaven and that we were leveraging the Info Grove Municipalities app. Their collaboration and input were invaluable, helping us find solutions that not only met their needs but also enhanced our own expertise.

The feedback we received from Belhaven since the app launched has been incredibly positive. The town’s residents appreciated having a reliable, easy-to-use tool at their fingertips. And for us, it was gratifying to see the app making a real difference in how the town engaged with its community.

Looking back on the project, what stands out most to me is the collaboration and trust we built with Belhaven. It was more than just delivering an app; it was about creating a new way for this community to be engaged and supported by the community representatives. 

If, like the Town of Belhaven, your municipality or town is looking to take the leap and develop a mobile app, book a call with the team at Info Grove to learn how our platform could be exactly what you’re looking for.

Karim Mansour is an Inside Sales Representative at 14 Oranges, the creators of the Info Grove platform.