Planning your communications
This page is about all the things you should consider whenever you're planning your comms for an event, an action or even to advertise your group to the rest of the world.
We also turned those steps into a check list spreadsheet so you can tick the boxes out (it's satisfying isn't it? 😄). Go to "file" then "make a copy" to adapt the list to your needs.
For more detailed advice on planning the media for, and during, an action (including working with the press, briefing photographers, and effectively using spokespeople, see this page.
1. Get organised
✅ Roles
Who will be in charge of what?
Very often, local groups don't have the luxury of having multiple people to do each job that's needed, but if you're lucky to have more than one person to deal with the communication tasks, make sure:
- at least one of you is in touch with the rest of the action/event planners
- you're able to check your emails and/or the chat(s) your LG selected
✅ 3 questions to get started
Whether you're a team of one or more, you'll need to plan your comms ahead. Here are a few questions to ask yourself:
🔹 do you need to advertise your event beforehand (eg a movie screening, a welcome meeting...) or do you want to keep it a surprise (eg a sticky action in Barclays)
🔹 on what media would you like your action/event to be publicised? Press, social media, newsletter...
🔹 based on your previous answers: what can you do yourself, and where do you need some support (if at all)?
2. Planning your comms step-by-step
🔹 What do you want to achieve?
This is probably the most important question, as everything else will follow from there.
A few examples:
- talk to the workers of a specific company to get them to engage from the inside (eg insurers, bankers...)
- get more people to attend a specific event (eg your LG's next meeting)
- close a company for a day
🔹 What's your call to action?
Once your action/event has started, what's the next step for the non XR people you meet?
- read the leaflet you handed them
- visit a specific website to switch banks
- subscribe to your newsletter
It's best to pick only one call to action to keep things simple.
🔹 Pick a date, time & location
You can check the XR UK Calendar to verify there isn't already something planned on the same day that would prevent people from attending your event (for example it wouldn't be the best idea to schedule a local group meeting the same day as Restore Nature Now).
🔹 Pick a name
Make sure it's clear and engaging, for example:
❌ Climate Choir
✔️ Wyre Forest Climate Choir Rehearsal
🔹 Do you need visuals?
This could be a banner for a Facebook event or an email, graphics for social media, a leaflet etc.
Note that photos and videos are usually more successful on social media than graphics with text, which is good news if you're not a graphic designer!
Otherwise, you can use Aktivisda an easy-to-use design tool that has the right colours and fonts for XR graphics.
🔹 Start advertising
Unless it's a secret event, you might want to start advertising ahead of time, which could include:
- creating a Facebook event
- posting on social media
- writing a press release
- sending a newsletter
- talking to your regional group about it so other local groups in your area are aware of it
🔹 Get your event on the map
All the events happening in the UK can be found on this map (unless they are top secret actions of course!). To add yours, either ask your regional team for help or fill in the UK Comms Request Form.
3. Break the news
All these steps are optional and completely depend on the nature of your action/event. For example, a Climate Cafe event needs to be advertised beforehand but doesn't need a follow-up, whether a theatrical action will provide you with amazing photos and videos that will be successful on social media.
🔹 Send your press release if you have one
4. Follow-up
Again, these steps are optional but you might want to include them.
🔹 Sending an email out to your mailing list to:
- either thank everyone who was involved in the action and announce the next steps (if you already have this information)
- or welcome people who recently subscribed to your mailing list as a consequence of your action (and maybe invite them to an in-person or online meeting)
🔹 Posting more photos and/or videos of the action on social media to use the momentum and get more people to follow your account(s) and engage with your posts.