Welcome to Your Communications

WELCOME TO YOUR COMMUNICATIONS

ENGAGEMENT PLAN

To achieve our vision of connecting communities and people through the creation of relationships, we need to raise awareness of the Ambition for Ageing programme and encourage the wider community to get involved.

To aid the development of each LDL’s communications and engagement plan we have created the following template designed to support you as you set your engagement and marketing objectives and start to explore how best to engage your stakeholders and audiences to achieve them.

Setting clear objectives early on and thinking through the purpose, accessibility and inclusivity of every engagement activity and every piece of communication will help you to reach the right people and allocate budgets appropriately. In turn this will ensure that you and the programme as a whole make a real difference to local people and communities.

CONTENTS

1.COMMON TERMS DEFINED

2.INCLUSIVITY & ACCESIBILITY

3.ENGAGEMENT AND MARKETING OBJECTIVES

4.TARGET AUDIENCES

5.COMMUNICATIONS AND ENGAGEMENT CHANNELS

6.COMMUNICATIONS AND ENGAGEMENT PLAN

APPENDIX: INCLUSIVITY & ACCESIBILITY GUIDE

1.COMMON TERMS DEFINED

In designing this template we have tried to unite the principles and techniques used in the field of marketing and communications with those used in community engagement.

The challenge is to match the professional language used in marketing to our way of working within the VCSE sector and to the general ethos of Ambition for Ageing. For instance, we think of older people as active co-producers of the programme rather than passive consumers or“customers”. We try to promote social change rather than trying to sell a product.

As such, we have provided you with definitions of key marketing, equality, accessibility and inclusion terms, but leave it up to you to choose the wording you feel is most appropriate to describe your engagement, marketing, communications, promotional or awareness-raising activities.

MARKETING

Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.

This means the ideas, the brand, how you communicate, the design, print process, measuring effectiveness, market research and the psychology of consumer behaviour all count as part of the bigger picture of ‘marketing’.

An understanding of what customers need and value, is central to marketing.

Learning your customers' needs and how you can add value through marketing activities paves the way for a successful business in the long term.

The official academic definition from The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM)

COMMUNICATIONS

The imparting or exchanging of information by speaking, writing, or using some other medium.

Oxford Dictionary

As such communication is more executional and is the point where a brand, business or initiative tries to engage with its customers, stakeholders or audiences to inform, educate or encourage some action e.g. to buy.

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

The means by which firms attempt to inform, persuade, and remind consumers – directly, or indirectly – about the products and brands that they sell

Kotler and Keller

Sometimes referred to as MarComms this is again more executional and reflects the communication of coordinatedpromotional messagesdeliveredthrough one or morechannelssuch as print, television,advertising orpersonal selling.

ENGAGEMENT

Community engagementis the process by whichcommunitybenefit organisations and individuals build ongoing, permanent relationships for the purpose of applying a collective vision for the benefit of acommunity

Wikipedia

To yield tangible results all partners or participants in the community engagement process need to be recognised as equal, and inclusive practices embedded throughout to ensure a level playing field. Continuous, open, and transparent communication is vital to lay the foundation for meaningful exchanges of skills, knowledge and resources to mutual benefit.

In other contexts engagement describes the process of developing and sustaining any kind of working relationship between one or more individuals, groups and organisations for the purposes of helping them to understand and act on the needs and issues affecting them.

MARGINALISATION

Marginalisation is predominantly a social phenomenon by which a minority or sub-group is excluded, and their needs or desires ignored. Some forms of marginalisation take place at every level of society and are therefore considered structural. This is particularly the case for marginalisation on the basis of protected characteristics. However, marginalisation may also be situational. As such it may result from a range of factors at a particular time and place in relation to a particular person or group.

PROTECTED CHARACTERISTICS

The grounds upon which discrimination is unlawful.

Equality and Human Rights Commission

The characteristics are: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

DIVERSITY

The concept of diversity centres on the understanding that each individual is unique and has something unique to offer. It requires us to move beyond simple tolerance to embracing and celebrating the different contributions we make. Inclusive practices are key to creating diverse environments. Diverse environments allow for a broader range of perspectives to be brought to bear on any issue. As a consequence more effective and sustainable solutions can be found.

ACCESSIBILITY

The quality of being easily reached, entered, or used (by people who have adisability)

Oxford Dictionary

Traditionally accessibility refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for disabled people.In this context accessible design ensures both "direct access" (i.e. unassisted) and "indirect access" through compatibility with a person's assistive technology (e.g. a computer screen reader). However, the concept can also be applied more widely to describe the process of designing products, devices, services or environments in a way that considers and removes all people’s access barriers, be they physical, psychological, social, practical, or financial.

INCLUSIVITY

An intention or policy of including people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalised

Oxford Dictionary

To achieve inclusivity we need to recognise the diversity of people’s needs and experiences and address them through a combination of inclusive design (i.e. designing products, devices, services and environments in a way that makes them accessible to, and usable by, as many people as possible without the need for special adaptation) and targeted intervention (i.e. design that addresses accessibility and usability needs of a particular individual or group).

2.INCLUSIVITY ACCESIBILITY

In order to reach the widest possible audience and achieve the Ambition for Ageing outcomes we need to ensure that our communications and engagement methods are accessible and inclusive.

To start with we suggest mainstreaming the highest possible general standards of accessibility and inclusivity across all of your communications and engagement activities. In addition, we recommend the development of targeted communications and engagement to meet the specific needs of marginalised people and remove potential barriers.

We have provided a short guide to common accessibility and inclusivity measures as an appendix at the end of this document alongside links to further information and resources. However, this is not an exhaustive list and some of the individuals and communities you will seek to engage are likely to require additional adjustments and supportive measures. If you are unsure about the needs of a particular individual or group, we recommend asking relevant experts such as local community leaders, support organisations or the Equalities Research Coordinators for advice.

3.ENGAGEMENT AND MARKETING OBJECTIVES

Your engagement and marketing objectives are goals that set out what you wish/need to achieve in order to deliver the vision and ambition of the programme at a local level.

When deciding what they are it is sometimes helpful to use the SMART criteria to ensure your objectives are; Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic/Relevant, Time-bound.

Please also refer to the overall Ambition for Ageing Outcomes below for guidance as well as the Communications Toolkit for a reminder of the overall programme vision and value.

• The majority of older people in Greater Manchester engaged by the programme will identify their neighbourhood as more age-friendly.

• In areas supported by this project; an increased number of older people will undertake activities of interest and the capacity of local assets will increase.

• Initiatives to reduce social isolation will be mainstreamed into public, private and voluntary and community sector delivery.

• The contribution of older people to civic, cultural and economic life will be recognised in Greater Manchester strategies.

Please use the below form to document your engagement and marketing objectives.

OBJECTIVES / SPECIFIC
What are you going to achieve, where, to what extent? / MEASURABLE
How are you going to measure success? / ACHIEVABLE
Who is responsible for achieving this? / REALISTIC
How do you know you can achieve this? / TIMED
When are you going to get this done by?

To engage small, local businesses to make a contribution to age-friendliness

10 per ward
Financial or in kind contributions, change of policies to help older people, regular attendance at monthly ward panel meetings

Monitoring data: Number of small businesses signed up as partners in each ward
Monitoring data: Number of business reps attending ward panels at least twice in four months
Ward Action Log: Financial and in kind contributions made by partners

Jane Smith in ward a & b
John Baker in ward c

Have convinced 20 local businesses to get involved in health forums over 3 months last year

Early March – end of June 2016

4.TARGET AUDIENCES

In advance of creating a plan it is necessary to consider the different audiences you wish to engage with.

A key goal of the Ambition for Ageing programme is to reach a wider community, including those who are most at risk of marginalisation and isolation. As such we encourage you to consider not just the differentkey categoriesof audiences (e.g. local business, local people, and local public services) but also the different groups and subgroupswithin these as their needs may vary significantly. See figure 1 below for ways of potentially segmenting your audience.

Figure 1: Audience Segmentation

It is also worthremembering that different characteristics, identities or risk factors may intersect to form new subgroups or categories. See figure 2 below for an illustration of this point.

Figure 2: Intersectionality

To get you started please refer to the below list of example audiences (identified by 5 of the LDLs at the second Orientation day 2015) as well as the Inclusivity & Accessibility guide on page 22 as you consider individual audience needs and how these affect your communication and engagement with them:

Older people
Local business (opticians, pubs, vets etc.)
Age UK groups
Housing providers
Council
Community groups
CCGs
Regeneration groups
Care home owners
Existing volunteers
Staff
Churches/faith group

Please use the below form to document your broad audiences, subgroups and any inclusivity and accessibility considerations and requirements.

AUDIENCE / AUDIENCE SUBGROUP / INCLUSIVITY & ACCESSIBILITY

5.COMMUNICATIONS AND ENGAGEMENT CHANNELS

Once your audiences have been identified, the next step is to consider the available and appropriate channels to help you reach your audiences in a way that meets their needs.

We encourage all LDLs to consider traditional as well as non-traditional, and universal as well as targeted channels to ensure we reach the widest possible audience, including individuals and groups who are most marginalised. To get you started, below is a shortlist of channels plotted out by 5 of the LDLs at the second Orientation day 2015:

Face to face/Peer to peer
Events
Local organisations
Local news agent/Post office/Pub/Bookies
Local dog walking groups
Local newspapers
Bumping opportunities (e.g. bus stops)
Hospital radio
Email
Forums
Social media

Please use the below form to document your communications and engagement channels.

CHANNELS

6.COMMUNICATIONS AND ENGAGEMENT PLAN

The final step is to consider how you will achieve yourengagement and marketing objectives by mapping out how you willengage your different audiences in an inclusive manner using the accessible channels at your disposal.

The below,along with the previous forms and the communications checklist that follows this tablewill help you to do this. It covers the different aspects to think about and prompts you to identify which of your key messages to include. For more information about the key messages see page 13 of the Communications Toolkit. The first two rows have been filled in with examples for your reference.

AUDIENCE/ SUB GROUPS / INCLUSIVITY & ACCESSIBILTY / PURPOSE / KEY MESSAGES / CHANNEL / OUTPUT / RESPONSIBILITY / DELIVERY
Local businesses / Inform and encourage them to support / Change, Caring, Sustainable, Positive, Learn, Equality / Email
Direct Mail / Email campaign
Printed A5 flyer / Jane Smith / March
People with dementia living alone / Lots of different needs depending on the individual(see guidance on p.27) so makes more sense to ask expert professionalsto engage individuals they work with on one-to-one basis / To ensure seldom heard voices inform our work / Change, Caring, Sustainable, Positive, Learn, Equality / Admiral nurses, community nurses, care workers, social workers / Training/briefing session for relevant health and social care professionals / Jane Smith / April

COMMUNICATIONS CHECKLIST

All communications from Ambition for Ageing should take the following checklist into consideration:
Who is the target audience and what are your audience’s needs in terms of accessibility and inclusivity?
What do we hope the piece of communication will achieve? You should consider what you want the reader to:

Know: what do you want the audience to know? Does the piece reflect your key messages?
Feel: is the message relevant and appropriate for the audience?
Do: what do you want to achieve as a result of your communication?

Are the channels you are planning to use the most accessible, appropriate and effective to achieve the widest reach and the reaction you want from the target audience? / Does it inform, educate, promote or build the reputation of Ambition for Ageing?
Does it reflect our key messages: change, caring, sustainable, positive, learn and equality?
Does it promote age friendliness?
Does it credit or reference the relevant people?
Is the piece correctly branded?
Has personal information been removed?
Is the content accurate, worded in a polite and respectful way and adheres to copyrights?

APPENDIX: INCLUSIVITY & ACCESIBILITY GUIDE

Please see below our short guide to common accessibility and inclusivity measures alongside links to further information and resources. Again, this is not an exhaustive list and some of the individuals and communities you will seek to engage are likely to require additional adjustments and supportive measures.

If you are unsure about the needs of a particular individual or group, we recommend asking relevant experts such as local community leaders, support organisations or the Equalities Research Coordinators for advice.

MAINSTREAMING ACCESSIBILITY AND INCLUSIVITY

General resources:

“Principles of Inclusive Communication: An information and self-assessment tool for public authorities” (The Scottish Government)
“How to produce information in an accessible way” (Social Care Institute for Excellence)
“Am I making myself clear? Mencap’s guidelines for accessible writing” (Mencap)
“Accessible Information Ladder” Guide and Checklist (Inkl Comms)

Plain English: The Plain English Campaign defines Plain English as “a message, written with the reader in mind and with the right tone of voice, that is clear and concise”. The main ways by which you achieve this are:

Keeping your sentences short
Preferring active verbs
Using 'you' and 'we'
Using words that are appropriate for the reader
Not being afraid to give instructions
Avoiding nominalisations (i.e. not turning verbs into nouns)
Using lists where appropriate

For a number of free guides see

Readability: The average reading age of the UK population is 9 years, i.e. they have achieved the reading ability normally expected of a9 year old. The Guardian has a reading age of 14, the Sun has a reading age of 8, and this template has a reading age of 17.

We suggest aiming for a reading age of 9 or below as this is appropriate for a large proportion of the population. It may also provide greater access for people with learning difficulties, cognitive impairment and people whose first language is not English.

To calculate the reading age of your messages or documents use online tools such as or This one also suggests specific sentences for improvement.

Inclusive language: The way we use language is constantly evolving and so is what is considered discriminatory or inappropriate. The best way to avoid inadvertent use of discriminatory language is to get feedback on draft communications from a diverse reference or reading group, but we appreciate that this may not always be possible. You can also access a range of recommendations online related to protected characteristics:

Disability
UK Government inclusive communication guide
The English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) inclusive communications guide
Gender and sex
(
British Sociological Association
Sexual orientation: LGBT Inclusive Comms, Stonewall)
Race - British Sociological Association

Inclusive imagery: Since “apicture is wortha thousandwords”, it is crucial to reflect the diversity of your local community in the images and visual cues you use for mainstream communications. This means representing people of different ages, abilities, sexes, genders, races/ethnicities, religions/beliefs, sexual orientations and classes.

In addition or as an alternative you may include visual cues such as symbols commonly associated with particular groups, logos of partner organisations, etc. (e.g. “rainbow” for LGBT people). By doing so you directly increase your reach because you demonstrate to a wider range of people that your message, activity, event, service, organisation, etc. is directed at them and their community.

It is particularly important to include images related to new audiences and to people who are often excluded as here the need to remove potential barriers is greatest. For instance, we recommend using images of same-sex couples and gender variant people to reflect the lives and experiences of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) community.