Comms Procedures 😎
In order for the Comms Team to best support you, it is important that we are briefed as soon as possible with all of the necessary information. After submitting your brief, a member of the team will be in touch to discuss the next steps. These procedures are in place to allow us to provide the best possible service to you and your team and where these are not followed for a good reason, we are not able to guarantee support.
This page is for internal use by Students’ Union staff only and should not be shared to external parties. If you are a student or student group, please speak to a relevant Full Time Officer or member of staff e.g. Societies/Sport to discuss your request and they will be able to advise further. If you are an external organisation, commercial marketing opportunities are available at www.lancastersu.co.uk/advertise.
What do we do?
Communicating effectively to students and other stakeholders is an essential part of planning any project, campaign or event. The Comms Team is able to support with this by producing a range of materials including print items like posters, banners and merchandise; social media content; e-screens and newsletters; and web sites, pages and articles. Effective communication is regularly highlighted as an area for improvement for the Students’ Union but it is important to note that the Comms Team are only able to produce material based on the quality of the brief provided and the timescale given; the more time and detail given, the better we are able to support.
Comms Requests
Whether you’re launching a new campaign, fancy some printed stash, have a story for an article or require amendments to a webpage, it’s essential that a comms request is completed so that we can work efficiently.
If you are an agent on Freshdesk, this is the current preferred method for comms requests. To do this, raise a new ticket and in Group, ensure that Comms and/or Design is selected. Please ensure that you include as much information as possible when completing your brief and stick to the timeframes below to allow us to get to work as quickly and efficiently as possible. A member of the Comms Team will be assigned and will follow up with you.
If you are not an agent on Freshdesk, please complete this Qualtrics form. We expect to streamline these procedures in the near future.
When do I need to complete a request?
Projects, campaigns and events
Is it time to start prepping for the next elections? Introducing a new student or officer-led initiative? Big event on the horizon? Projects, campaigns and events usually involve various pieces of communication and design and so we need plenty of lead time to plan what we are able to offer and how we can best spread your message. Comms should be one of the first bits of planning on your radar, there’s no point in planning if we don’t get time to tell anybody about it! ⏰
Let us know your intended launch dates so we can get these key dates in the diary and support you with your planning.
We require at least three weeks lead time to update an existing project and four weeks for a new one.
Website
We all love UnionCloud! 😬 It is departments’ responsibility to monitor their own sections of our website and notify the Comms Team if you require an update. We are also able to create new sections and pages as appropriate.
We require a week’s lead time for this.
Social media
Got information to share that’s not tied to an existing project, campaign or event? We can schedule social media content for you, but it’s important that we get some key info from you first. We primarily use Instagram Stories and can consider Posts for more significant items. We also use TikTok, Facebook, X (Twitter) and LinkedIn depending on the type of information. If your social media post is part of a wider project, campaign or event, please refer to the lead times above.
We require a week’s lead time for this.
Ad-hoc design
On occasion, you may have ad-hoc design work to be completed as a one-off like ordering promotional bottles, printing decals and signage or publishing a report. Please complete a comms request as early as possible and we will be able to advise further on print lead times and cost etc. Print items become more costly for the organisation the later they are ordered and so it is much better value to plan ahead.
Report an issue
Something not working right on the website? Spotted an out of date link elsewhere? QR codes need updating? Get in touch with a member of the team and we will fix it as soon as possible.
Urgent communications
On occasion, you may need something communicated urgently such as an event cancellation, schedule change or safety information. Please contact a member of the team directly to discuss. We are not able to guarantee support out of office hours. Communications that ought to have followed the timeframes above may not be considered urgent.
If you’re ever unsure of anything, or just want to talk through some ideas, just get in touch to schedule a chat ☕