Developing a communications plan

View the PDF version of this guide.

Effective communication is crucial to maximising the reach and impact of your research. Opportunities to share your work and generate meaningful engagement can arise at any stage of a project - during its development, upon completion or even long after it's finished.

Having a clear communications plan in place increases the likelihood of identifying and capitalising on these opportunities. It ensures that your key messages are delivered to the right audiences, through the most appropriate channels, and at the right times. A communications plan helps prevent valuable research from remaining confined to academic circles and instead promotes broader understanding, application and impact.

Why develop a communications plan?

To raise the profile and drive understanding of your research
To build partnerships and find collaborators
To find and secure funding
To influence change in industry, policy or practice
To achieve or demonstrate impact
To build your reputation

The following six steps will help you to develop an effective communications plan. Your plan should be a living document and you should revisit and update it regularly (at least once a year)
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1. Set communications objectives

Begin your plan with a set of communications objectives that are SMART – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timely.

Communications objectives are different from the objectives of your research/activity itself. Instead, ask yourself:

What are the likely outcomes of this research?
Who will benefit and how?
How can I involve potential beneficiaries?
Who might help strengthen my research’s impact?

A typical set of comms objectives might be:

build awareness of the project among a target audience
secure the commitment of a target group of stakeholders
influence specific policies or policymakers on key aspects
encourage participation from groups/organisations/partner bodies

2. Identify your audiences

Audience/stakeholder mapping done well will help you:

Prioritise who you want to engage with
Prioritise resource
Understand the needs of your target audience/stakeholders, tailor your messages in response and choose the most appropriate channels to get your messages across

Use the audience/stakeholder mapping grid to:

Think carefully not just about who you want to reach but why - a simple list of audiences/stakeholders is meaningless
Prioritise them according to their interest and influence relative to your comms objectives
Review your audiences/stakeholders on an annual basis (at least)

Remember that audiences are not static. People/groups/organisations can move around the grid depending on circumstances – their levels of interest and influence can change.

3. Develop key messages

Develop an elevator pitch – a top line statement describing your research – covering:

What’s the problem?
What’s your solution?
Why is it important?
What do you hope to achieve?

Develop key messages for each of your priority audiences/stakeholders considering:

Who you are talking to
What you want to say to them
What you want them to do

Your messages should be clear and concise, including a ‘call to action’ .

Use simple, accessible, active language and avoid jargon
Start with the most important information
Be creative and tell a story
Why is it important? Why should the audience care?

4. Choose the right channels

Think about how best to reach your target audiences. What communication channels will be most effective? Remember that to reach your audiences, you need to go to them. Where you feel comfortable might not be where your audience is engaged. Consider:

Research engagement: conferences, workshops, events, The Conversation
Website: case studies, blogs, video, podcasts
Digital profile: email footer, social media, staff profile
Public engagement: public talks, festivals, outreach
Policy engagement: policy briefs, submitting evidence, working groups

University channels
University channels can help support your comms activity but should not be your first choice/main activity because they have broad audiences and are not specifically targeted.

University Press Office
Connecting Research blog
Social media
Public lectures and University events

5. Plan your activities

A white and black chart Use the comms planner to bring together your audiences, messages and channels into an implementation plan with key dates and measures of success. The template is available to download.

6. Evaluate, reflect and learn

Regularly monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of your communications activities to ensure you are meeting your objectives. See our guide ‘Measuring and evaluating your communications activities’ for more information.

Set specific indicators for each activity and monitor success
Use qualitative as well as quantitative measures
Use analytics tools to monitor online engagement e.g. Altmetric
Log invitations, comments, positive feedback
Review your audience/stakeholder mapping once a year

Your plan is a living document that you can adapt and update. Review your activities regularly to ensure you are making the desired impact and getting the required results.