Improve your communication and outreach skills

Plan your communication 

When working on a task or a project, you should clarify from the start why you want to communicate, what you're main message is and who you are going to communicate with. You should think about what the target group cares about, what you should say to them, and where and when you should say it. In this way, you increase the chance that the message will arrive, and those involved will receive the right information at the right time.

Below are three steps you can follow when planning your communication. For smaller dissemination tasks, it may be sufficient to complete step 1. If, on the other hand, you are responsible for a larger project, you should read UiT’s strategies (step 2) and set up a communication plan (step 3).

Step 1: Think it through

• what you want to achieve with the communication, i.e. what is the purpose and goal of the communication
• who you want to reach, whether there are one or more audiences
• what you want to say to them, in other words what your message is
• how to get in touch with them, whether it is through social media, on websites, in meetings or other channels
• which tools the target groups use, and which ones to choose. For example, should you use video and music to reach them?
• how to get in touch with the media, and what to do if there is a debate on the topic

Step 2: Think about how your communication can contribute to the goals of UiT

Read the UiT strategy 2022–2030 and the UiT Communication Policy (only in Norwegian), and reflect on how you may communicate and contribute to the overall goals of UiT.

Step 3: Set up a communication plan

Use what you came up with in steps 1 and 2, and set up a plan that shows the communication measures you want to implement.

One way to do this is to write down the communication goals, i.e. what you want to achieve, at the top of the document. Then you list the measures, and for each of them you describe what you are going to say (the message), to whom you are going to say it (the target group), where you are going to say it (the channel) and when you are going to say it (date/frequency). In addition, you write down a responsible person and a deadline for each measure.

Here are two templates you can be inspired by and customize to fit your project:

Communication plan Template 1 (docx)

Communication plan Template 2 (docx)

Do you need help and advice? Please contact the Communication section.