If you've got an important message to communicate to our community but don't know where to start, this is a reminder of all the channels, tips and tricks at your disposal.

Firstly, we've got two useful guides, one for communicating with staff and one for communicating with students that outline all our key channels - from newsletters, web announcements and social media, to digital signage, posters and events. The guides contain detailed information on choosing the right type of content and channel for your audience, tips on creating engaging content and how to submit content to be included in university channels.

As well as the guides, we've created a Communications Toolkit on Sharepoint. This online hub is full of resources and information to help you be an excellent communicator. There are comms plan templates to get you started, as well as sections on images, logos and branding, audience insights and accessibility, and measuring your communications.

Emailing staff

For many communicators, email may seem the obvious and most direct way to reach their audience, however colleagues always feed back that they receive too many emails, so it should be considered very carefully before being used:

• Is the content strategically import or business critical?
• Is the message relevant for the majority of your audience?

Emailing students

Students' preferred method of communication from University staff is email, but they also report being overwhelmed by the amount of messages they receive, meaning they may not engage. Please consider:

• Is your message relevant to all students? If so, please submit it for inclusion in the weekly all-student News in Ten/Doctoral News emails
  
• Is your message for students in a specific department, course, or group? Then please contact your department administrator, or central support team

Email and other channels

Overloading people's inboxes will disengage them, so the more considered and targeted you can be with your messages, the more likely you are to achieve the awareness and engagement you are looking for.

For both staff and students, please always look at whether the other channels listed in the guides above are more appropriate first.

If you think your message requires an all-staff or all-student email please contact comms@bath.ac.uk or a member of the Internal Communications team who can work with you on your request.

If you would like to explore your communications options at the university in more detail please reach out to the relevant person in the Communications Department.

We look forward to hearing from you!